A Lamp unto my Feet

Finding yourself in a sea of crazy that leaves you feeling lost and groping for light switch hoping you do stub your toe on  misplaced furniture and step on a forgotten toy. There is not a cup of coffee large enough to clear the fog from your head nor a chocolate bar large enough to calm your soul. From whence does your help come from? My help comes from the Maker of Heaven and Earth.

Speaking vividly through his word, through his creation, through fellowship and through prayer I find  the peace I've been looking for; but when I wake up in the middle of the night and my heart is palpitating and my mind is a storm I find it  hard to see the good in any situation I find it best to first remember where I am and how I got there. I need to retrace my steps to find that light switch in the dark. For He is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. He will teach me his ways and know my inmost thought if I will only set my feet upon that rock.

Remember where you are:
You are in the center of God's hand, in the middle of his presence in any given situation. He has never left the room even if you've chosen to silence him.

Remember how you got there:
A stroll through memory lane from your coming to the Lord till your present day situation puts much of life into perspective. Could it be that God brought you right into this storm for such a time as this? Or could you see a wrong turn that brought you to this place? Can there be  a lesson learned for next time or a word taken back to make things right again? Retrace your steps and evaluate the situation.

Remember WHOSE you are:
Are you in constant fellowship with God through bible study, prayer and corporate worship? Have you walked a path a bit far from his guidance?  Or have you, like peter, looked at the storm around you for just a moment and need to refix your gaze upon the  Lord of Creation? Spend time with the Lord in prayer, read the Word with an open heart, and ask for the wisdom from those who are strong in their faith. Take a moment and lay your heavy burden down at the foot of the cross and do not take it up again.

Switch on the light:
You see after reorienting yourself the light just seems to switch. Suddenly there is a peace that illuminates the darkness, the kind gentle hand of the father pulling you from the sea and a spring to your step when your able to rest in his Wisdom. He knows his plan and its well laid out we just have to trust him with the details.

MFW 1850 to Modern Times and First Grade week 11

Its been an amazing year so far! We have enjoyed learning about President Lincoln, Meiji Restoration and the Civil War! Im really proud of us for keeping up with our school work and staying on schedule! Lily learned the sounds for "oo" and started Math Mammoth level 1. Jadon memorized the poem "the Wise Old Owl" and presented it to our co-op. Logan scored well all week in Math. Benjamin aced his spelling test. Natalie completed all her work on time. We only had three days of school this week!

This week has been a bit out of the ordinary! We had Columbus Day off with Dad and did some major cleaning in the kids rooms. Then we had our Co-op Class which was fun! In our class a Dad came in and taught about clay. How the Master forms the clay and has to put pressure on it to make its shape, he squeeze both his had together to center the clay on the wheel. He lays his had on top of the clay to keep it flat and formed and giving it a good foundation for the work he will do to make it usable to him. Then he has to press inside the heart of the clay to hollow out any bad character traits to make the clay even more usable He pulls, and pushes, and cleans, and trims until he doesn't feel the clay can be shaped any more. If the clay is hardened or cracked it is no longer usable and needs to be moistened again to be refashioned again. Sometimes he has to destroy the clay into a fine dust and let it soak up the water again before its usable. It was a very powerful message.

Underwhelming my time

Im reading a book by Lisa Terkeurst titled "The Best Yes".  Im only on chapter 2 and Im seeing a theme which I've encountered many times before in my own life. An overwhelmed schedule leads to an underwhelmed soul is how she puts it in her book. I've never understood why people would choose to pack it in and feel in constant "go" mode. What sticks out most to me is this quote from chapter 3 "We become slaves to others demands and let our time become dictated by requests. We will live reactive lives instead of proactive". This is exactly where I am. I live a very reactive life. I react to other peoples drama. I react to debt. I allow other peoples schedules to dictate mine. I give up even having my own desires to run programs and the like for others. Perhaps its time to stop!

"How we spend our souls matters" Lisa says an underwhelmed soul knows there is more that God made her to do. I often feel that very thing. That i am just not doing that thing, whatever it is that I was created for! Sure Im a homeschooler, I was made for that. But I often go to bed feeling like Im missing something, usually shrugging it off to the missed load of laundry or the shoes by the front door instead of truly taking a moment to consider what I should be doing.

What is that "thing" that I will look back on and wonder why I didnt get it done? Is it merely reading the bible through in a year? Did I accomplish it by leading in worship the last year? Is it all the crafts and projects I skip in our homeschool each year? Im not very sure that those are my calling, the way I should spend my soul. Am I so overwhelmed with other demands that I dont even know what my soul is starving for? Its time to take a step back and spend the 150 extra hours I have each week searching for what my soul is starving for!

Frugal Accomplishments September 24- October 1

This week we had visitors from Burma at our house for 5 days! I was able to feed 15 people for mostly what I had on hand! I did purchase additional milk, cereal, eggs, orange juice, bread and taco shells. I used a large can of tomato sauce and made spaghetti sauce the night before they came. I had enough leftover to make  goulash another night. Broccoli beef stir fry over rice, Sausage Rice, and taco's we some of the other meals I prepared. I save a substantial amount making foods from scratch at home for 4 nights.

We also had a pot luck at church and used some hot dogs and cornmeal to make corndog muffins for the carry in dish. It costed us maybe $1.50 to make 24 corndog muffins. We also had some leftover to have for lunch another day in the week.

 The wife and I also made up homemade lunchables to take with us to the zoo along with our own water bottles. We also bought treats like granola bars and some cheese-its to make the snacks sold at the zoo less appetizing! Cost of extra "fun" foods was $15! for 15 people I think we did rather well!

I saved $28 cutting four of the boys hair at home.

I spent $100 at a consignment sale purchasing a jacket, a complete winter wardrobe in 4T, and pants, shirts, and sweaters for the older children. I purchased new looking clothes for 70% of the retail price. Our winter wardrobe is almost complete minus some winter jackets for big kids and I could use a few pieces eventually.

Our 12 Passenger van broke down this week so we have save a lot of money walking places or taking the smaller van to transport our family places. We also saved money on towing through our tow insurance. We have had our an towed a few times since owning it so its been well worth it. The Husband said he averaged it costed us $8 a tow so far! Not bad!

We borrowed a friends large van for driving to the zoo, which saved us renting.

We used zoo passes that were gifted us this summer making our trip free!

We have not had to run our air conditioner all week.

We also have had leftovers for lunch every single day this week.

I used a gift of $50 to purchase a 20 cup rice cooker.

I used a $30 gift to go out on a Mom's night with some friends for a birthday present.

We completed out allocated spending plan for October for our FPU class.

My Menu plan this week is completely covered by food we already have at home except sliced cheese for grilled cheese. So I will be using this weeks grocery money to stock my pantry with sale items. I also only have 1 vehicle so I will be staying closer to town to save on gas!

We have used the library to rent videos, check out books, and for entertainment this week.

Tips for Using My Fathers World Part 2

Tips for using My Fathers World Curriculum- Video

Menu Plan Monday

Breakfast:

Saturday Pancakes, Bacon, Milk

Sun-Fri  Continental Breakfast (HM Instant Oatmeal, cereal, muffins or bagels, crockpot casserole or boiled eggs, crockpot baked oatmeal, fruit, milk, juice)

Lunch:

Saturday Potluck Leftovers!

Sunday

• 1: Crockpot Stroganoff, Egg Noodles, Peas, brownies
• 2: Roast Chicken (save 1c and make broth), Carrots, Potato, dump cake

Mon-Fri: Sandwiches, Snack, Fruit/Veg

Dinners:

1. Beef & Bean Oven Taco’s, Salad
2. Lentil Sloppy Joes (double and freeze), oven fries, relish tray
3. Spaghetti (sauce in freezer), Salad, Garlic Toast
4. Ma Nelson's Hamburger Soup (brown 10# of meat freeze 9), Bread, Relish Tray
5. Chicken and Dumplings, Bread, Relish Tray
6. Tatertot Casserole (make 2 or 3 and freeze), Canned Corn, Applesauce
7. Chicken Nuggets, Fries, Pineapple
8. Papa Murphys, Relish Tray
9. Homemade Pizza, Relish Tray
10. Crockpot Debt Kickin Beans and Rice, broccoli, fruit salad
11. Crockpot Lentil Rice casserole (from freezer), broccoli, fruit salad
12. Christina’s easy Lasagna(make sauce and freeze 2 portions), salad, garlic toast
13. Snack Supper- Chip and Dip Night (lays and ranch dip)
14. Snack Supper- Mexican Night (rotel cheese dip and tortilla chips)

Joy Homeschool Books of the Week

Rainbow's Pick:

Mountain Wedding by Faye Gibbons

 This book is about two families. Both families' children are constantly quarreling. The parents decide to get married, and the wedding is crazy. It takes a swarm of bees and a run-away wagon to get the both the parents and the kiddos to say "I do". I like this book because it reminds me of my family! 

 

 

Batman's Pick:

The Boy on Fairfield Street by Kathleen Krull

It was a cool story that told about Dr. Suess' childhood. The most interesting part was learning about how he wrote most of his books.

Robin's Pick:

McGillycuddy Could! by Pamela Duncan Edwards

Migillycuddy Could! is a about a Kangaroo going to a farm and not being able to do what a Cow, a Roosters,  a Hen, a Sheep and a Duck can do. McGillycuddy learns that he can help the duckling be safe from the fox. I like this book because its really funny.

Superman's Pick:

Even Steven and Odd Todd by Kathryn Cristaldi

I liked learning about Even and Odd numbers in this book.  In this book your intruduced to a super organized Even Steven and a more laid back Odd Todd and how they are so very different. It was a very fun way to introduce Even and Odd numbers!

Pinkie Pie's Pick:

Kangaroo's Adventure in Alphabet Town by Janet McDonnell

Pinkie Pie really enjoyed searching for letter "K" sounds in this book. She loved all the letter shaped houses. Vixthemom thought this book was really sweet and loved the mother saying "That's okay, we all make mistakes"

Feeding 9 on a Dime: Soup

"We are making Boy Soup Mom!"

How to make soup in 3 easy steps 

Or How to Use up Your Leftovers Like a Pro

 

Simmer your Veggies:  

First drizzle your soup pot with olive oil, butter or coconut oil and saute 2 to 3 cups of veggies for  a few minutes. I like to use Garlic, Onions, Carrots, Celery to start adding potato, squash, zucchini and peppers for different flavors. This is a good time to scour the fridge for leftover veg to toss into the pot

Add your Protien:

Next add a cup or two of any type of cooked protein you enjoy! Ground Beef, diced roast, cooked chicken, bacon, cooked beans are all wonderful additions! Another great way to use up the fridge leftovers! One steak can become a meal for 9 when diced into a soup! I have even crumbled a slice of meat loaf into a soup!

Add your Broth:

Then add 3-6 cups of broth with 3to 6 cups of water and seasonings like Salt, Pepper, Bullion, Cayenne pepper, Italian seasonings, cumin and whatever sounds good! Broth is easy to make yourself with a crock pot, chicken or beef bones, garlic, carrots, celery, onion and a little salt. Just simmer for 8-10 on low. Box, can or bullion broth is fine as well. Tomato sauce or diced tomato can be added at this time.

Add your Starch:

Finally add your starch and cook through! Pasta, Rice, Potato, Barely, and Quinoa are some great options to thicken up a soup! Simmer for at least 20 min to allow the flavors to meld together nicely. During the last 5-10 minutes you can add Kale, Spinach or other greens if you like.

Always serve with a hot crusty loaf of bread and a nice spread of real butter!

1.  

Feeding 9 on a Dime: Menu February 2014

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Sunday	Granola or Cereal *fruit, milk	Roast Veggies Dessert	Snack Plate
Monday	Muffins *fruit, milk	Leftovers or Soup and Sandwich	Soup Chicken Soup Beefy Mac Soup Hamburger Soup Potato Soup WW Bread!
Tuesday	(baked) Oatmeal *fruit, milk	Leftovers or Soup and Sandwich	~Casserole~ Chicken Rotel Rice Dirty Rice Tatertot Casserole Steamed Veg
Wednesday	Waffles *fruit, milk	Leftovers or soup and Sandwich	~Beans~ Lentil Taco’s Bean Bowls Black Bean and Beef Taco Chili  All the Fixins
Thursday	(baked) Oatmeal *fruit, milk	Leftovers or Soup and Sandwich	~Pasta~ Spaghetti Chicken Cheddar Ranch Pasta Steamed Veg
Friday	Granola or Cereal *fruit, milk	Leftovers or Soup and Sandwich	Pizza Finger Salad
Saturday	WW Pancakes Bacon *fruit, milk	Leftovers or Soup and Sandwiches	Fish Hot Pot Fish and Baked Potato

*Snacks: Cheese stick, popcorn, fruit

Seven Days of Homeschooling Seven: Why a School Room?

In the beginning of our homeschool journey I wanted my house to be a home and our school to be at the kitchen table. I kept a small shelf or cabnet with our supplies and we just cleaned up each day. Over the years the bins of books for each student, teachers manuels, supplies, maps, computers, printers, CD players, co-op materials and so forth took over. The kids needed space to spread out.

We tried using the couch and floor but I found productivity went way down for us. And I didnt want little TV Trays all over the house. Then the Lord blessed us with a larger Parsonage with a basement large enough and brightly lit enough to have a real  school room! Then I located some school desks for $2.50! So now our school room has a large Mom Meeting table, computer desk and seven little desks and everyone is happy!
Inside the kids desks they have pencils, their weekly binders and some textbooks. They also keep drawings and projects. On top we've taped some number and letter strips for those who need them still. On the wall we have our whiteboard and maps. We have shelves for the numerous books we have accumulated over time. And a large sofa for spreading out with a good book or watching your Math DVD. We love the space and Mom loves to leave "work" when she clocks out for the day.

Seven Days of Homeschooling Seven: Have a Plan and Stick to the Plan

When we first began homeschooling 8 years ago I had only 3 children and used a traditional textbook/workbook style where planning was very simple. My curriculum company sent me homeschool lesson plans and nice little work books that were simply do the next page.  I just did a number of pages in each workbook and read a number of pages in each "spine". I picked this curriculum because it was what was reccomended to me by my daughters preschool. It seemed solid and simple enough. But it was extremely boring!

The second year of homeschooling I played around with different types of homeschooling. The textbook model was boring and I wanted to have FUN with my daughter, so we experimented with Charlotte Mason ideas (for
those of you who dont know, its all about short lessons and great books mostly) using Ambleside Online, Five in a Row, Sonlight, Simply Charlotte Mason and eventually just free styled using "good books" and reading a lot. While this was nice and a great bonding time in our homeschool it often left me lazy not getting much done, making excuses for not "having
school" on any given day for any given reason and The Husband was seriously doubting our decision. Not that these curricula had anything to do with that. It was more me finding myself as a teacher.

By our third year of homeschooling I added in a second student and a philosophy that went beyond the textbook model. After much prayer I  felt that just reading "good books" with no plan of action wasnt going to help me keep consistent in our homeschooling or have any type of order. How would I be sure everything was covered? How would the younger kids get what they needed? After much research I felt drawn to the 4 year history cycle and decided that I needed a curriculum that would guide my way and offer some consistency. I also needed something that combined students and was developed by someone who knew more about education than me. I bought Adventures in My Fathers world for my then 3rd grade daughter and 1st grade son. That was the year we started with Math U See as well. It was great! I had direction and a plan! The Husband was very pleased because he began to see consistency in our homeschool.

In our 4th year I added another student to the mix and began to get very overwhelmed. I learned that the look say way of teaching reading didnt produce the best spellers so I choose to use My Fathers World Kindergarten along side Exploring Countries and Cultures, and I cried! These two hefty manuels, boxes of books, homeschool laws and thr
ee little futures were looming over my head! How was I going to do this crazy homeschool thing? Was I nuts?

So I made an excel spreadsheet. It sounds hilarious now, spreadsheet? What? But no really. I made a "plan". I started to map out each student and each subject and what our next year would look like. This was great because I could see what was working, what wasnt and how much I was projected to spend the following school year. I could also see what I needed for each student coming along. Now 5 years later Im using that same file changing it as I go.

I've learned to change how I teach the same book to each child instead of buying a new thing for each one. My oldest two children got tailored curriculum for them because I just bought something new each year. My youngest 5 will get tailored curriculum for them because I just change the way I teach them till I find a way that works for them. No more buying the latest and greatest item out there, unless something truly isnt working for us and so far the only thing thats gotten any change has been our spelling and Im very happy with what we are using now.

I've also learned how to tweak My Fathers World to work for us and how to combine the different programs. I've never used every single part of a My Fathers World year in one year. I've used it all but in different ways each year. My Fathers World is just a skeleton for our school. 

Having a good solid plan helps me see where Im going and where I've been. It simplifies things for me. I have a good list and no question as to what I need for the upcoming year. I know what I will need to spend and therefor how much to save and Im not wasting money trying new things just to go back to the old. I know my curriculum well, so I know what to expect and its easier to teach the younger kids and then Im only learning new things for my oldest. Having a plan also makes homeschooling cheaper for us as we reuse curriculum and teachers guides for future students. 

Seven Days of Homeschooling Seven: Creating a Rhythm to Your Homeschool

 Its been such a wonderful blessing to have our years planned out for us with such a strong biblical foundation with My Fathers World curriculum. When we first began this curriculum I scoured the internet for other M.O.M.Y.S.(Mothers of Many Young Siblings aka Moms with Kids close in age) using My Fathers World. And while there are quite a few of us out there we tend to be too busy to blog about it. The one thing I love about My Fathers World is that it combines all of my children in 2nd through 8th grade in one nice package! But when I first looked at the Exploring Countries and Cultures grid I cried! It just felt like so "much" and I still had to teach each of the children individually in Math, Spelling, and English not to mention little ones on down the line in Phonics!  Often times I felt overwhelmed and behind, like a chicken with its head cut off running from desk to desk trying to meet everyone's needs. The more I asked around and searched the web I began to find some really great scheduling tips to make the homeschool year have a nice rhythm and the longer I homeschooled them the more natural it came to add one or two students each year. Its never been EASY just became natural over time. I'll save you the time and searching by listing some of the tips and ideas for giving your homeschool some rhythm.

This is a shot of my "schedule" made with Post-its so it can easily be changed when something doesnt work for us

1. Use your current routine as a guide. Most families by the time they begin homeschooling have some regular flow to their day, for us that would be breakfast at 8, lunch at 12, with nap immediately following, Dinner at 6, bed and bath at 8. A wise lady on a forum for Mothers of Many shared that she scheduled her school around these type of time posts and we latched on to that idea. Every school day we read our Bible and have Breakfast. At lunch we read our History and Science. At naptime we have Art, Music and Read Alouds. Between breakfast and Lunch we have our individual studies and between lunch and dinner we have chores and play time. Pretty simple! But remember as your children grow and change so can your routine.

2. Keep small idle hands busy! Small people who are not occupied with school work will get into a ton of mischief. Like the time a 4 year old let the 2 year old out of the house because "he wanted to play outside" in the cold winter and he was only wearing a DIAPER!. Things get broken, written on and strewn all over the house when Mom is occupied teaching the older ones. So keep them busy. Schedule their day by rotating activities. In our home that means little ones watch a preschool show after breakfast then come down stairs to play with some Laurie Puzzles or color quietly. Then just before lunch they can play in their rooms quietly. I just keep them rotated and a timer set to remind me to check in with them every 30 min or so. This is not a rigid schedule for them, just a natural flow from one activity to another. The timer is there for me so that I dont get wrapped up in what Im doing and forget to check in. Just teach them to stay quiet while you are having school.

3. Naptime or Reading Hour. Never ever give up naptime! Everyone needs a break from the 1 year old to the Mama! So if your not sleeping your in your designated spot reading or staring at the ceiling. :) Its just a time to relax and kick up your feet. We begin Reading hour after our Lunch and Read Aloud session,  clean up and Music, Art, Science time.  

4. Mom Meetings! Every day I meet with each of the children for a Mom meeting. For my oldest its pretty short, just enough time for her to turn in assignments for me to grade and get her assignments for that day. Mostly a check in and Q and A time. Then I move on to each of the younger 4 in school spending 15-30 minutes with each one as they need help and instruction. My Kindie and 1st grader get a bit more time as they are still in the need-mom-next-to-me stage. My 3rd grade son still likes to show me each assignment as he finishes it. I usually briefly glance but do not "grade" it till our next Mom Meeting. I even have a Mom Meeting for each of the littlest ones. For the 1 year old who still takes morning naps thats a song and rocking before his nap. Then the 3 year old gets a preschool workpage and some letter/color/shape review.

5. Student assignment books. Each of my oldest three have a student planner where we write out their assignments for that day (during Mom Meeting). These are priceless as they KNOW what is expected and I REMEMBER to check what they have done the day before. We also write in when Co-op, birthdays or planned school breaks hit as they like to be kept up to date. 

6. Bells and Whistles! I have an alarm on my phone that reminds me of important times through out the day. It rings at 6:33 a.m. when I need to get up and Matthew 6:33. It rings at 8:00 a.m. for Bible and Breakfast. It rings again at 11:30 a.m. when I need to come upstairs, wake the baby, check on the littlest guys and start our lunch. It rings one more time at 3:00 when everyone needs to get up from naptime and begin our afternoon chores. I also have an alarm preset for 20 min before Wednesday and Sunday Night church so I remember to begin to round up the troops and get out the door.

7. Light and easy Fridays! Usually we have school 4 days a week using Friday as an unscheduled light and easy day. On Friday we will do our Mom meetings only using the rest of the day for our Homeschool Co-op, Grocery Shopping, or play days. Sometimes we have school on Friday because another day needed to be light and easy for a doctor appointment that couldnt wait or other event that couldnt wait till friday and thats fine as well. Our schedule is set up in such a way that we accomplish a full weeks worth of work in 4 days and those 3 day weekends are awesome!

8. Be Consistent. The hardest lesson I had to learn was about consistency in homeschool. My first years I would base weather or not we had school that day based on how much I was up with the baby the night before or how pretty the weather was outside. And while that was a nice, laid back approach to homeschool it didnt equal much curriculum being covered or offer much confidence on the part of The Husband. When we did have a full school day it was often met with groaning. One day I just woke up to the fact that much like eating and sleeping, school was a necessary evil and in order for us to succeed we were going to have to be consistent. Homeschooling is my job and I clock in every day Monday through Thursday at 8 a.m. and clock out at 2 p.m.  Once we began to look at school this way the groaning went away and I find less excuses to "not have school today". 

My 5 P's of Grocery Savings..

When I was growing up  saving on groceries meant cheap, dented, tasteless food that my mother would gather from grocery store for pennies. And while she was able to "feed" the three of us for $15 a week at one point, often times our food was thrown away or choked down in misery! In her defense she was a working mom with two jobs and didnt have the time or the internet to help inspire her. And I did learn a lot about where to shop and how to save from my mother. When I had a family of my own to care for I really wanted to bless them with wholesome nourishing and delicious foods at home. At first I spent twice as much as I do now per person and used a lot of prepackaged ingredients. We ate well, but as our family grew our budget was not able to sustain that kind of menu. So necessity was the mother of invention, I needed to stretch what we ate with out sacrificing nourishment.

Now before I plan my menu and write down my shopping list I score the internet for frugal inspiration. Last week I stumbled upon Ben and Me and the 5 P's of Grocery Savings and was totally vindicated in our weekly use of Popcorn, Pasta, Homemade Pancakes, Potatoes and Homemade Pizza! I was so inspired I posted it on Facebook in which someone piped in about a blogspot post in the making. There are 5 things that consistently aid us in a frugalish grocery budget..

Plan.. Of course that is the first thing you hear when people talk of grocery savings, make a plan.. But Im saying stick to the plan! I plan every detail of what my family will eat in a course of a week, from snacks to sides. It helps me to use what we have. It also helps that I have an
arsenal of meals that we regularly eat so that I can take advantage of sales. I plan breakfasts and lunches the same every weekday. Oatmeal for breakfast and leftovers or soup and sandwich for lunch. Week nights all have a theme as well. Monday is Stew, Tuesday Casseroles, Wednesday Bean dish, Thursday Pasta, Friday Pizza, Saturday Fish or Meat dish, Sunday Roast. Sides are mainly the same as well. I have 4 to five recipes for each category and I rotate them or keep the ingredients stocked at all time. They all have the same basic items in them and I just need to change up something to prepare each one. Like Pasta night I have spaghetti, homemade mac and cheese, Bacon Cheddar Ranch Pasta, and Goulash as my recipes. Spaghetti and Goulash use different pasta but the same sauce seasoned differently. The other two dishes use cheddar cheese, cream cheese and milk with different shaped pasta and spices. The sides are always Salad or bread. Is planning scary? There are LOTS of free menu plans with shopping lists available on the internet to get you started. There are also some great menu plans for a small fee. 

Prepare. Another great tip I learned from other meal planners is to prepare in advance your foods. Can you chop all your veggies for the week when you get home? Can you cook extra beef or beans and freeze ahead? Can you make crockpot freezer meals after you get home from the store? What about using a 10# can of tomato sauce and make several nights worth of Spaghetti sauce to freeze for a quick goulash or old fashioned spaghetti. I like to survey the kitchen being sure we have enough tea and homemade bread for the next day, and pull out any meat for the next day while Im at it. Sometimes the best I can do is to think about lunch and dinner after breakfast and get them started either in the crockpot or thawing. Thats where my plan comes in handy. Im not searching for a food idea this way. I look at the plan and prepare what I need for that meal.

Purpose. Make a purposeful plan for leftovers. Often times when I make chili I will quadruple the recipe and save two portions for meals like Frito Chili pie, Chili dogs, or serve over baked potatoes for a baked potato bar.  When I make my giant batch of spaghetti sauce I remove a two cup portion and season it for pizza sauce or if the portion is small enough I will puree and use for Pizza sauce. And of course there's always the  Rubber Chicken idea (or in our case two or three chickens). Another way to have purposeful leftovers is to freeze the entire meal TV dinner style for work lunches or a TV dinner night. When you brown ground beef cook twice as much as you need and freeze the rest. The same can be done with beans, make double or triple the dry beans you need and freeze in two cup portions for adding to recipes. Beans are a HUGE money saver and can be added to any dish with meat to stretch it. Black beans to beef and white beans to chicken. Try making a few meals a week with Beans as the main dish, like Lentil Tacos or Black Bean burgers. Yum.

Pot Luck. We have lots of Pot Luck meals at our house to use up those leftovers. Saving up all those one or two serving dishes, heat them up and have a Pot luck style meal where everyone gets to sample all  or pick and choose what they love. This is a great way to see what is a favorite dish or what recipe needs to be recycled.

Be Picky. Learn to cook a few dishes really well. Be picky about your ingredients and dont settle for a box mix. Have you ever had homemade hamburger helper? Or a homemade biscut or cake? You will be amazed at how easy these recipes are and what a rip off tasteless prepackaged foods are. Also, when you have learned to cook foods your family enjoys the temptation to splurge on eating out is nearly gone. Lots of times we will eat somewhere and everyone will enjoy a dish so I will find a way to make it at home. My homemade version is usually better and the next time we eat out we are disappointed. When I was growing up my Mother was an awful cook, (its okay, she knew it) and when finances werent as tight, we ate out all the time! I used to struggle with the desire to eat out because the food was just better, but when I learned to cook delicious meals for my family I am  just not interested in eating somewhere else. Though I would love to skip the clean up!

And a few thoughts on Pizza, Popcorn, Potatoes, Pancakes and Pasta.. Pizza is a great place to throw leftover veggies and use Low Moisture cheese, learned that one the hard way. Another way to do pizza is rolled out jelly roll style, stuffed with cheese and meats and cut into swirls before baking. Dip these pizza rolls in pizza sauce for a different spin. We also have made our own stuffed crust! YUM! We buy Popcorn in huge bags from Sams Club. But keep it in the freezer. We love to make "hash" from potato, sweet potato, squash, apples, onion, garlic, peppers and sausage or franks. Potatoes also are in all our casseroles, soups, and are often a side in our meals, we use both white and sweet. Pancakes can be so fun! We have made them from oats, cornmeal, whole grain, apple, banana, chocolate and gluten free. These are great to freeze for another night. If your glueten free a pancake makes a great bread substitute for sandwiches and wraps and so forth. And Pasta, we buy in bulk at Sams or Costco and make our own sauces in stead of the jar or canned versions. Much less expensive.