Saturday, March 22, 2014

Freezer meals for after Baby comes

Today marks 33 weeks of pregnancy for me. Yay! Only three more weeks and I will be considered "full term." I cannot begin to tell you how weird it is to have made it this far, and have no complications whatsoever at this point, after all we went through in November and December. TWO fetal surgeries, first to fix twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and to separate the fates of the boys should one die (as he, sadly, did three weeks later), and then a second surgery to patch my ruptured membranes.

I have held off getting ready for the baby's birth for a  number of reasons. First, I was worried he was going to pass away like his brother, not an unlikely scenario. I still worry about that - for no known reason, absent of any medical or scientific explanations, even perfectly healthy surviving twins have a much greater chance of suddenly and inexplicably passing away in the womb. Personally, I think losing their other half is just too much for their little hearts to handle. 

Secondly, I figured that if I held off preparing for birth until it was actually safe to go into labor, it would mentally help keep me from going into premature labor. This was a very real concern when my water broke at 18 weeks, and didn't stop leaking for almost a month, even after surgery to patch the membrane. At this point, this really is no longer a concern, and less and less so as time goes on. In fact, I have a feeling I may go overdue with this little one, something I certainly want even less than any other time. Once he is full term, I'd rather he came as soon as possible, so I can stop worrying, and we can just close this chapter and move on.

This past week, with the temperatures rising, my fatigue increasing, and time running out on the remainder of this pregnancy, I started preparing for the inevitable arrival of this little one. Part of that is planning, and then precooking and freezing meals for after the birth. I absolutely LOVE having about 4-6 weeks worth of meals fully cooked and ready to go, which will not only cut down on time spent in the kitchen, but also on trips to the grocery store. 

In fact, my "Spend Zero in March" challenge was largely motivated by the fact that my freezers are bursting, and I realized I did not have enough room to spare to freeze hardly any ready meals.

I should add here that my husband and mother-in-law are both incredibly helpful whenever I have a baby, and would gladly cook for the family. But it's just easier for everyone involved when we can simply shelve that chore for a few weeks. I have a hard time sitting back and doing nothing while everyone around me is doing my work for me. And let's be honest - they just don't cook the way I do! ;) Likewise, the ladies in our church are wonderful about bringing meals to families that just added a new baby, or are going through a hardship such as illness, etc. With this pregnancy alone, they have already brought meals to our family for at least 3 weeks. I don't want to take advantage of their generosity and time any more if I can help it by pre-freezing meals. Plus, our family eats as much at one meal as others eat in several days, making it quite expensive to take dinner to us. 

Here is a list of the items I am hoping to cook ahead of time. The list is not complete, yet - I would like to find a few new recipes that my family will love, and that are freezer-friendly. But there is enough here to keep me busy until I come up with more meal ideas.

Breakfasts

quiche
cinnamon raisin bread
chocolate chip orange scones
waffles
ready-to-bake biscuits
French toast
Breakfast burritos
Oatmeal cake
Lemon poppy seed muffins
pancakes
cinnamon crumb coffee cake
topping for fruit crumble (use canned peaches or cherries)
German apple cake w/ yogurt glaze
croissants (ham & cheese, plain, chocolate)
cream cheese danishes

not frozen:
oatmeal mixes
muesli
granola

not premade, but easy to throw together:
eggs
toast (w/ butter, honey, or PB)
yogurt parfaits w/ fruit and granola

Easy lunches (if there are no dinner leftovers):

PB&J sandwiches
ready-to-grill cheese sandwiches
meat, bean & cheese burritos
shredded cheeses (for omelettes, quesadillas, pizza)
ham and cheese pinwheels

not premade, but easy to throw together:
wraps, sandwiches
salad (w/ ham, eggs, cheese)
omelets
tuna salad

Dinners

spaghetti sauce (make spaghetti fresh)
sloppy Joes
chili
meatballs in sauce (make ziti fresh)
taco meat
salmon burgers
meatloaf, gravy, mixed veggies (make potatoes fresh)
chicken and dumplings (ready to cook in crock pot)
taco pasta bake
orange chicken (ready to cook in crock pot)
mandarin chicken

Desserts

cookie dough balls (ready to bake)
pecan tassies
cheesecake

Other

oatmeal cookies for lactation
pizza dough and sauce (for pizza, bread sticks, calzones, mozzarella sticks)
hamburger buns
corn muffins
bread
tortillas (corn & flour)
breaded mozzarella sticks
chow mein
garlic bread



Yesterday, I was able to bake French bread and turn it into garlic bread, pre-make and freeze the dough for about 6 dozen cookies, bake a double batch of pecan tassies and freeze most of those, and assemble 5 quiches, four of which went into the freezer.



Note on changes I made to the recipes: Cookies: cut the sugar and chocolate chips in half, use white and dark chocolate chips, and use whole wheat pastry flour in place of white. Quiche: use smoked mozzarella, sharp cheddar, and creamy jack for the cheeses, add smoked turkey breast and broccoli to the filling; make my own pie crust. French Bread: use 3 cups all-purpose white flour plus 1/4 cup gluten in place of bread flour, and also omitted the whole wheat flour since my starter is 100% whole wheat and I wanted the crispy crust and fluffy crumb that only white flour can provide. My sourdough starter is very active, and some of the kids don't like the sourdough taste to be too strong, so I only let my dough rise for 6 hours.


Today so far, I have made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce, most of which will be frozen, as well as several family-size servings of chow mein. In my big crockpot, about 5 lbs of chicken breasts and thighs are simmering away, covered in salsa and cilantro pesto. Tonight, when it is cooked, I will shred the meat to use in a couple of different dinners such as tacos, enchiladas, etc.

By making double batches of meals we are currently eating, and combining recipes that use similar ingredients so I can chop and dice everything at once, cooking extra really does not take much longer than my daily cooking.

What are your favorite meals to precook and freeze? Please share in the comments below! I am still looking to bulk up my meal list, and welcome any good suggestions. 


Monday, March 17, 2014

Large Family Tip - Matching Socks

All of us are probably too familiar with the never-ending chore known as "laundry." In our house, we tackle "Mount Foldmore" somewhat like this:

1. We have hampers for dirty laundry in strategic spots around the house, that get emptied and sorted at least daily into the hampers in the laundry room. (Solomon or Isaac can sort, all the younger kids make sure dirty laundry gets put in hampers.)

2. In the laundry room, as soon as one washer load is ready to be run, we run it. (Solomon or Isaac)

3. Once the laundry is washed and dried, it gets sorted into baskets of clean "foldables", "hangables", and "socks". (John or Miriam)

4. John and younger fold and put away all the "foldables". Isaac and Solomon hang up and put away all the "hangables". This happens almost daily. With an average of three loads a day, that really is the longest we can go, or our clean hampers will start piling high. Once a week on Saturdays, I try to get every last piece of laundry washed and put away, as a sort of "reset" button. 

All this is done in the office (next to our laundry room), and taken to each room once everything is hung/folded. While they work, the kids enjoy listening to audio books, or occasionally watching something educational on the computer if there is a lot of work to do.

Only 13 years into marriage, thanks to having lots of little helpers, I can say we have the laundry monster mostly tamed. (Of course now that I said this, some major mess will happen and put me behind, like kids throwing up all over their bedding.) But, the one aspect that has continued to be a major thorn in my side is SOCKS. Every mother would agree, I know!!!! 

Let's do some math. We have 9 people that each wear socks, every day. 9 pairs per day, or 18 socks. In a week, that makes for 126 socks. But that would be in a perfect world. In reality, most of my kids go through TWO pairs of socks each per day, either because they take off the first pair and lose it, get it dirty, decide they need to change styles in the afternoon, etc. Realistically, we go through about 15 pairs of socks per day, or 210 individual socks per week. 


That's over 200 socks that have to make it from the kids' feet, to the hampers, through the washer and dryer, into the sock basket, and then be paired up. The possibilities of what can go wrong are endless. For every 10 pairs we wear, we probably get 5 out after the wash, and the rest are "singles" for a season until we clean out under beds, between the washer and dryer, in shoe cubbies, etc. Frustrating? YES! For every dozen socks we own, we probably average two complete pairs.

I have tried to come up with different ways of keeping socks together during the laundering process, which would eliminate the need to try and find pairs. For a while, we tried safety pins. It worked ok, but there were several problems: my younger kids needed help with them, the bag of pins would get left out and spilled, open pins would be left lying around, the pins corroded in the wash over time, it was hard to get everyone in a habit of "pinning" their socks, etc.

Then, some months back, I found a "basting gun" at Jo-Anns in the quilting section. It is a very simple device, similar to a price gun for affixing price tags. This seemed like a better, easier, quicker, and more interesting way of pinning socks with their mate before throwing them in the laundry. Initially, the kids were so excited they were motivated to pin their own socks, as soon as they came off their feet. 



When the excitement wore off, I told everyone to fold their dirty socks together before throwing them in the dirty hamper. While they can't go through the wash folded, it does make it easier, because at least the socks can still be kept together in an instant, no tools required. Then, when the hampers get emptied and sorted into the laundry room hampers each night, whoever is doing the sorting will unfold the socks, baste them together, and then put them in whatever dirty hamper they belong in. 

Once the socks some out of the wash, we toss them, still connected, into the "single socks" hamper. When one of us sits down on Saturday to match socks, it's as easy as picking connected pairs out of the basket, removing the little plastic (easy enough to be done by hand), folding the socks into a pair, and tossing them into the "paired socks" hamper, ready to be sorted into each child's sock drawer. 

This system is not foolproof - socks still disappear because our little kids have a tendency to leave their laundry wherever they happen to pull it off. BUT it has been a MAJOR improvement in conquering the sock matching challenge. Several months into it, my older boys (who do the laundry sorting) still think it's fun to use the basting gun, which is permanently stored in the laundry room. 

Some tips for using the basting gun:

- I would NOT recommend this for basting a quilt. But it does great with socks!
- I highly recommend using a 50% off coupon if you are going to buy one. 
- Keep it out of the reach of little kids. The tip is very pointy and sharp.
- It's a little tricky to learn how to "baste" together two items on the first try, every time. But if you follow the instructions and make sure the layers of fabric are flush against the gun, it works like a charm.
- When removing the plastic "pins", work over a small trash can so you don't end up with little red plastic pieces everywhere. 
- Socks seem to fare better when they are pinned in such a way that ends of the pin are on the outside of the fabric, rather than the inside (where they are more likely to get caught on the elastic). 

How do YOU tackle the laundry / sock monster? 

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Update on "Zero Spending" March Challenge

A week and a half into my "spending zero in March" challenge, I must report things are going exceptionally well. If you remember, my only exceptions to the "zero spending" rule were:

milk, cream, cheese
produce
animal feed
essential toiletries
any medically indicated expenses
gas, vehicle repairs
To be honest, it has been so easy that I have hardly even noticed any difference yet. As far as groceries, dairy and produce is all I have bought so far this month: milk, some bananas and ginger from the store, plus my weekly produce co-op I organize. 

2 bunches of chard, 2 pink grapefruit, 10 Granny Smith apples (about 3 lbs), 1 bunch asparagus, 9 avocados, 3 heirloom tomatoes (about 1 1/4 lbs), 2 pints miniature heirloom tomatoes, 10 oranges (about 3 lbs),4 mangoes, about 4.5 lbs mild Hungarian peppers - all certified organic

Can you believe all that came to only $23/share?? The avocados were beautiful and just perfectly ripe. We had 4 of them with guacamole and homemade corn chips for an appetizer that night. The rest, I pureed, mixed with lemon juice, and froze to have on hand for whipping up guacamole in the future.

In other exciting produce news, the warehouse had sweet Hungarian peppers last week. This may not mean much to anyone but me, but this is a very, very rare treat, and even more so in organic. In all my years of living in the US, I have only found these Hungarian peppers less than a half dozen of times, and only for the second time in organic (peppers tend to be sprayed heavily, so it's definitely worth it). They made me equally homesick and happy. Nothing brings tears to the eyes of an expat like smelling Hungarian peppers! You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. 

 
Since my freezer stash of these peppers from last year was virtually gone, I sprang for an entire bushel of them, for an extra $17. John helped me wash, seed, core, and slice the peppers. In all, we ended up with 5 gallon-size freezer bags, plus left some fresh for eating right away. The kids kept snacking on them all morning while we were working with these.


In addition to getting a great deal on the produce basket, I scored a killer deal on some organic raspberries and blueberries by the case. I bought one of each, and the kids ate most of them (that's 12-6 oz clam shells of each) fresh, though I was able to get some of the raspberries in the freezer.

Plus, I have been gifted this week with homegrown turnips, carrots, beets, mustard greens, oranges, French baguettes (made by a real French person!), and extra raw milk and cream from a friend I don't ever even get our milk from. I have been busy making my own kefir, yogurt, sour cream, and quark from the extra milk. Later this week, I may try my hand at making fresh mozzarella - something I have been wanting to do for a while now.

In all, I have spent less than $140 so far this month on food, and neither our pantry, nor the fridges or freezers are even any leaner than they were last week, all while we have been eating just as well and as much as ever. At this rate, I will be able to keep this challenge going for a whole lot longer than a month - at least in the grocery category, which is our biggest expense each month.

Tonight, as I was putting in my (very minimal this time) order from Azure Standard for the aforementioned items that are excepted from this challenge, I learned that they started a program several months ago where they give their drop point managers a certain percentage of their drop point total in purchase credit. Talk about a pleasant surprise! Since I didn't know this credit had been building up for the last several months, I have enough to mostly, if not fully, cover whatever little I was going to order to keep me going until the May delivery.

My spending on things besides food has been minimal. I have gotten gas once, and also bought dog food. While I never recruited my husband to participate in this challenge, he has been mindful of how to help me with my goal of spending near-zero. For example, our kids typically participate in a weekly P.E. class for homeschooled kids. In March, there were only going to be 3 classes instead of the typical 4 because of spring break, and we missed one of those last week because of a different field trip we were going on. Not wanting to spend a full month's tuition for half as many classes as usual, we decided to skip the P.E. classes this month. Instead, he took all 7 kids on a bike ride this morning to make sure the kids still go their exercise, and I got my much-anticipated weekly break. Cost: free, and the kids had a blast.

God has really been blessing this challenge in exceptional and unlikely ways! If nothing else, it has been exciting and fun, but I am also very happy about the money we are saving. In addition, I am learning how to make some new things I have been wanting to try. For entertainment, we are pulling out crafts and projects that we already have in the house, or participating in free activities and field trips. My husband and I had an "at home" date night on Sunday night complete with a candlelit 3-course steak dinner.

It always cracks me up to see what blog posts of mine people will go all crazy over. Well, the March Challenge was definitely an unlikely candidate, but boy, did it draw some hateful comments! I guess saving money and using what one already has is a little-regarded skill these days. Some were suggesting my husband get a second job instead. Every economist will tell you that saving money is much, much more effective than earing more, because the latter always leads to people spending more, and having a bigger overhead in general. Others were accusing me of working too hard, when in reality I saved myself major time and trouble by hardly going to any stores all week. Making bread at home is a snap, and something I do all the time, not just this month. The kids are benefiting from the less-than-usual running around (on errands), and so is the house because I am here all day making sure boisterous little kids don't trash the place while I am at the store.

I am hoping to give you another update on this challenge in a week or so.


Honestly, it has been a great experience all around so far. There are definitely some changes I will keep incorporating even when this month is over, and I may keep the "eat your pantry" part going well beyond March since our stores are not even running any lower yet, at all.



Monday, March 3, 2014

An Interesting Challenge for March

Last Saturday, I was cleaning out, organizing, and taking inventory of our freezers. I had been meaning for some time to do a so-called "pantry challenge" - seeing how long I could go using almost exclusively foods I already have in my pantry, fridges, and freezers. 

Because we buy most all of our foods in bulk or by the case, we have more food in the house than the average family. Of course, we go through tons of food each month, but it's a revolving inventory that never gets depleted. 

I was inspired to do a "pantry challenge" partly because it would force me to use up random odds and ends that have accumulated over time, and partly because it can never hurt to save some money (even if it is more of a "cashing out" of our items in stock, rather than reducing our overall consumption). We would really like to pay off the medical bills that we are still making payments on before the cards they have been charged to start accruing interest. Thanks in no small part to the many who have so generously donated to our medical fund (honestly, thank you SO MUCH, we truly appreciate every single donation!), we have been able to knock out one bill after the other. Just this month, we were able to pay off one of the two remaining massive hospital bills. By reducing our spending this month, we could increase our financial wiggle room again, since it was pretty much wiped out by paying such a large sum at once. 

As I was thinking about this, it occurred to me that I would like to try and cut out just about ALL spending this month. There are no holidays, no birthdays, or other major events that would really suffer if I implemented a "zero spending" policy for myself. We are well stocked on food, and most basics like toiletries. Not spending any money on clothes, entertainment, hobbies, books, dining out, field trips, etc. will likely be painful at times, but we certainly don't NEED to have any of those things this month.

Later that same day, I was thrilled to find that one of my friends on Pinterest had just pinned something along these lines - what a wonderful resource to stumble across! Plus, it really validated my idea as something that was possible, and had successfully been done before by many others. 


This no-spend challenge is called "31 Days of Living Well and Spending Zero," and is hosted on the popular "Living Well, Spending Less" web site.

I was so excited to find this just in time, and to get started right away! Saturday happened to be March 1st, so I jumped into Day 1, "The Ground Rules" Obviously, like most people, we have monthly bills for mortgage, utilities, etc. that we will still have to pay. In addition, there are other exceptions that everyone needs to decide for themselves what they will still need to spend money on.

Below are my ground rules, complete with exceptions:

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Grocery and other items I may buy this month:

- milk, cream, cheese (and possibly other essential dairy products): these are items that have a short shelf life, so we do not keep more than a week's worth in stock. Being pregnant and having lots of kids at home, I do not feel it would be beneficial to our health to cut these out for the remainder of the month once we run out. However, I should be able to make most of our dairy products like kefir and yogurt myself from the milk and cream. I will try to reduce spending even on these items by not buying more until what we currently have in stock has been used up completely. We have chickens for fresh eggs, and plenty of butter already in stock.

- produce: Like fresh dairy, this only keeps so long. Poor baby Stephen can't go for weeks without his daily allotment of bananas! However, I will again try to reduce spending on this category by using up the abundance of frozen and home-canned goods we have in stock, as well as taking advantage of any free produce that comes my way. Some of my friends share the abundance from their gardens with me, and free citrus is everywhere this time of year in Arizona. 

- animal feed: I only ever keep one month's worth of feed or less in stock, so we will need to buy some more before the month is over. 

- essential toiletries: while we do have a generous stock of most items, those that are bulky we keep in smaller quantities. I may still buy: TP, tissues, diapers (I would use cloth, but don't have any in Stephen's current size), wipes, laundry soap, and whatever other essential staple we may run out of.

- any medically indicated expenses: really, the only thing I could think of would be an unexpected doctor visit. We already have plenty of supplements and a well-stocked (natural) medicine cabinet.

- gas, vehicle repairs: We are down to one vehicle for our family, but to think we can go an entire month on what is left in my tank is not realistic. However, I will again try to reduce spending in this area. Not going shopping should help with that! :) Seeing as our van is still very new and under warranty, I don't expect there to be any repair expenses. I do need to take it for an oil change this month, but we still have a free one from the dealership left.

Things we have already committed to paying for this month:

Just our mortgage and regular monthly bills for utilities, phones, my insurance, etc.

Things I may absolutely NOT spend money on this month:

- groceries beside exceptions listed above

- toys, clothes, dining out, books, entertainment, hobbies, any household items or furniture, gifts, field trips (unless they are free), convenience items such as paper plates (ouch), etc.

- services such as hair cutting, car wash (not even the $5 self service we always use), etc.

- Pretty much anything not listed in the exceptions above

Unlike just doing a "pantry challenge," cutting all spending on the above actually WILL reduce our overall spending, as these are not items that will need to be replaced or made up for at a later time (unlike an empty fridge). Only three days into the month, and I have already turned down two books I really wanted, as well as a great clearance deal on some maternity items I would like, but definitely don't need. Tomorrow, we are going on a field trip (tickets for which were purchased last month, whew!), and I will be extra careful to pack a very generous sack lunch for us all, as we will not be buying food out if I don't bring enough.

Other Rules:

- This challenge applies only to me, not my husband. He is not a big spender anyway - I buy most everything we use in our home. 

- I will not send my husband to the store to have him shop for me "by proxy" to get around my zero-spending policy.

- I will track all spending through an app on my phone.

- In mid-March, I may order from Azure Standard whatever I will need for April 1-14. Their delivery in April is not coming until the 14th, so if I skip the March order and delivery, I would have to keep the challenge going for 6 weeks. I will limit myself to absolute must-haves that cannot wait until the delivery in mid-April. 

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These are just my ground rules - what works for me may not work for someone else. The idea is just to have a frame work of what is and is not allowed, when the temptation to buy something is strong.

The challenge for Day 2 was to organize my pantry. I had already organized the freezers the day before, and since my pantry gets organized every month when Azure delivers, that was all that was necessary. 

Today's goal was to come up with meal ideas. While our regular dinners won't need much tweaking (yet?), I figured since I am already on a "reduced spending" and "simplify life" kick, I need to tackle our breakfasts while I am at it. 

Typically, our family eats a cooked breakfast and a cooked dinner each day. Lunch is leftovers from the previous night's dinner (I always cook a double batch for dinner to make sure there are enough leftovers). As much as I love a good breakfast, they can be time-consuming and expensive. For the month of March, there are only two options available for breakfast each day: oatmeal, or eggs. Both are cheap and nutritious, and can be prepared in a variety of ways to mix things up a bit. I may make an exception on the weekends and make a special breakfast if there is time, but if there isn't, that's okay, too.

For lunch, to cut costs, I will only serve dinner leftovers from the night before if we had a relatively inexpensive meal, such as soup or a casserole. If, on the other hand, I served something that was very heavy on the meat side, I will only make enough for that night's dinner, and then serve one of the following simple, inexpensive, yet nutritious lunch options that can be prepared by one of the kids if I am short on time: sandwiches/wraps, salad, Mexican food bean burritos or quesadillas, etc. Again, there is much room for variety here. Some sandwich ideas are: PB&J, tuna, cheese (grilled or not), ham or turkey, egg, cucumber, etc. Since I am not buying bread, this means I will need to stay on top of baking bread each week from grain I already have in stock.

Soooo... three days down, 28 to go! Have you ever done a challenge like this? If so, do you have any advice or insight to share? If not - do you want to join me in this challenge for the rest of March???!? Please chime in below!