Pantries and Preparedness. Make your own...

This week we are looking at saving both money and pantry space by making more things ourselves.  While I have always made things i.e. crafty things, it is in more recent years that I have been making cleaners, washing power, wool wash, baking mixes and so on.  Many of these things are surprising!  Not only are they very quick and easy they save a lot!

I got hooked on this when I decided we would stop buying our Friday night pizzas a few years ago.  For about a year we had a takeaway night and most often it was pizzas from a local shop that was amazing.   I started to make my own dough and copied some of their beautiful toppings.  When I figured out the savings I was completely shocked and thought they couldn't even be correct!  I was saving a whopping $2,600 a year.  One simple change saving this much was a shock.  
Since then I calculate the annual costs of all kinds of habits and purchases!

Gradually I have made more and more things myself.  Many things we buy we don't even realise that they are so easy to make!  A recent one is dark brown sugar. That stuff is expensive in the supermarket.  I use it often in my fruit cakes.  So it was with great surprise that I found out it is just ordinary sugar with molasses added.  It is as easy as adding one tablespoon of molasses to one cup of white sugar and stirring it.  Seriously!

For maximum savings the way to go is to consider making whatever it is you are always buying, that will save you the most. Start there.  It could be pizza or it might be fabric softener. But if it is a regular at your place you will find that over a year the savings will be considerable.

This subject will take a couple of weeks I think! But lets get started!

One of my most regular makes is Miracle Cleaner.  This stuff replaces so many cleaners and any need for air freshener as well.  Also it replaces anti germ wipes.   You can find the recipe here.
This also means you just reduced chemicals in your house as another benefit. The big trend is cleaning products that are safe or natural and they are expensive. You can make your own so cheaply.

The dusters in the jar are pre moistened for wiping down surfaces and dusting sessions. They smell beautiful!

I also make my own dusters/cleaning cloths to go with this.

I keep a supply of super soft flannelette for when someone is sick as well as they are so much softer than tissues or hankies!


My next best recipe is wool wash and also liquid laundry wash. These work so beautifully, smell just gorgeous and last ages.  You can find these in my sop making series here.

I have been able to give these as gifts as well.  The wool wash makes things softer than you can imagine.  All my blankets, underlays, quilts etc are washed in this. 

A beauty "make your own" is scrub and I wrote this here about an at home treatment you can do that is very close to salon microdermabrasion. (Except over a hundred dollars cheaper.)  Being cheap you can do it weekly which will always have better results than something you do a couple of times a year.  There are so many beautiful treatments you can do yourself.


Another area is making ready to bake mixes. I like to make ready to bake Cornbread mix. But there are so many you could do!

These cookie mixes were given to Chloe by a friend.  How good do they look!?  What a nice gift!

When Harper was smaller we worked out my crockpot full of baby food saved $80 per batch compared to the little pouches or jars you can buy.  We are about to be back to that with Scarlett!

Others include make your own Cream of anything soup mix! This is a serious saving!  
These can be found here and the comments on this post contain a lot of hints too.

Ready mixes can be beautiful gifts!  From all the dry ingredients for soup to hot chocolate they look good in a jar with a label and instructions.  Having mixes ready in the kitchen can mean whipping up a batch of cookies, scones, muffins etc is really fast.

Thinking of Hot Chocolate ... it is winter here.  Good weather to make up some of this.  Compare to store bought mixes and you will be amazed!  You can find MOO  (Make our own) Hot Chocolate  here.

Recently I found out about making your own baking flour (which I shared last Monday) and I am amazed that I keep finding out new things that can be simply made.  Cath from The Cheapskates Club explained it well.  She said clever marketing over time has convinced us we need to buy all kinds of things that we don't and they should be bought at the supermarket. So our lists have got longer and longer with things that are unnecessary and/or can be easily made!  From paper towels to fabric softener our Grandmothers would be laughing.
You can read Cath's article here and follow it up with thirty easy make your own recipes here.  Even if there is one recipe on this list that you can adopt it will be a significant saving.
If you let this sink in it is quite mind blowing.  There is so much we can leave off the shopping list.   Much of the time the homemade version is healthier as well.

Coming up we are going to look at our pantries from this point of view. Instead of trying to store everything we could need what about storing the ingredients to make everything we need?  This frees up so much space and saves so much money.  Everything changes!

It is a huge subject! From beauty to cleaning, cooking and even in the garden making our own has the potential to change your budget enormously.  Pick something to try.  Most are so easy.  Calculate the yearly savings, repeat!  There are things we haven't even considered we can make ourselves as we are just used to the idea that they are bought!  Think "could I make this" and you will see what I mean!

There are exceptions. A few things I get from Aldi are so nice and so inexpensive that it wouldn't pay to make my own. So you have to do a few quick sums! Possibly the biggest savings are things that replace something really expensive or something that replaces numerous products i.e. Miracle Cleaner.  
Even with things that are inexpensive to buy it is good to know how to make them  anyway! There might be a time you cannot buy them!

One of my goals this week is to find more things I can make myself, work out the savings and try them out.

What "make your own" recipes do you use?
Is there anything that you would love to know how to make yourself?

Have a very good week!  I have to empty all the cupboards, pantry, china, glassware etc from the kitchen and living room to get ready for my floor to be replaced.  I'm thinking of it as a massive early spring clean.  xxx

Feather your Nest Friday, 9 June, 2017.

It was a really big week!  The best part was we headed down to the farm for the weekend to celebrate Dad's 80th Birthday.  It was a lovely weekend! The whole family gathered and we had a big birthday dinner on Saturday night.
Years ago Dad nearly died before he turned 60 and I remember that birthday so well. And here we are twenty years later.  When he turned 60 he was given five years to live by the way!  

Some of the best fun was seeing Harper with the farm animals. She had cows lambs, ducks, chooks, puppies and others to pat!

Harper cautiously looking at puppies! 

It was so nice I could talk about it for a week! 

Dad with Scarlett.

On the way down to the farm we stopped at an op shop and on the way home another one.  Andy got a beautiful fine pure wool grey knitted vest which he just loves (for $2.50) and a heap of books.  I found beads,  a top, and pumpkins that just came in from a local farm. And lemons!

At the farm I also picked Bay Leaves and Mum sent us home with venison as well.

Chloe lives nearby and we drove over to her house for an afternoon. We arrived to fresh baked biscuits and cups of tea.

Each day was sunny and beautiful.  We saw hundreds of cockatoos, water birds, Blue Wrens and Rosellas... and so many more.

It was like a little holiday and I took heaps of photos around the farm. 

Mum keeps interesting things at her front door....

I had my eye on that bird nest!

And there are various spots with wood ready for the fire place.  There is always a big fire going.

A while back I posted about the farm and showed a bit about the kitchen and Dad's old stove and things which is here.

Most of Mum's garden is native flowers.  There was a gum tree just covered in pink!

During the week we had good news and bad news.  The good news is that it looks like insurance will cover new floors in the kitchen and lounge/dining area. The insurance floor guy came on Tuesday and said "yep, that's stuffed"  confirming our suspicions!  There is someone else coming yet and hopefully they can go ahead and get this done.

The bad news was the job that promised Andy 30 hours a week hasn't delivered.  They had him at conferences and appointments but haven't delivered work.  It's been weeks. We can't afford to wait around really.  Luckily he has had private work to keep him going so far.  But it is nerve wracking.   With this and floors that look HORRIBLE I thought of "do the next thing" and just kept doing what needed doing.  Ages ago I wrote about this quote that I learned from Elizabeth Elliot.  It has helped me so much so many times.  Do the next thing.

During the week some of my money saving efforts included making two big pots of Chicken Soup. First I made the stock then I added everything else.  I think I made almost 15 litres of soup!  One lot went to Lucy's house as they have had colds.  Lots was frozen for days when Chicken soup is needed.

I made two trays of ham and cheese scrolls.  This was meant to go with the soup and provide lunches. 

The scroll recipe is just the same as my bread recipe, rolled out and filled.  All the Sour Dough recipes can be found via the index on my side bar.

As far as I can see anything you might put on a pizza is good in scrolls! 

Then I had another go at making Raisin Bread.  This time I added a lot more fruit.  Success! It is beautiful. I think there might be a bit of difference between Australian Raisin Bread/toast and the US.  

My recipe ended up being my couple of cups of starter made into a sponge with a cup of water and a cup of flour. Once that was bubbling like mad I added:

2 tablespoons milk powder,

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 

3 tablespoons of raw sugar,

1 and a half tablespoons soft butter, 

1 cup raisins,

1 cup chopped apricot, 

1 cup sultanas,

3 cups bread flour (or substitute)  plus extra.

I kneaded everything but added the fruit near the end (in the mixer) and then the mix was too sticky so I gradually added more flour until it was a nice soft dough that held together.

This made two loaves.  After the first rise I divided it in two, placed in my pans and let rise a couple of hours in a pre warmed oven that I turned off. I was really cold here!  They were beautiful!  I baked in pre heated oven for 20 mins.

They are all sliced up now and most is frozen.  At a cafe last week I saw this for $4.50 per slice!  It is less than that to make a whole loaf!  It is so yummy toasted.  Now I have it to our taste it will be a regular.  Alter the fruit, sweetness, spices to your own taste.

I trimmed my own hair,

Froze a bag full of celery tops,

Pruned all the roses out the front of the house,

Mended a pair of my jeans,

And I took advantage of a half price sale on some vitamins we buy.  To my surprise with this I was given a whole bag of free stuff!

The best things for me were a moisturiser and a good mascara, also some vitamins. There are a few things to give the girls and one item to go into the present cupboard. 

So that is my week!  I need to have a quiet moment to work out my Vicky Challenge total.  It should be good.  

Lucy has started a blog!  It will suit the young Mum's with little ones.  You can see some of my ways have rubbed off on her 😊  It is here The Pitter Patter of Tiny Feet.  All encouragement is welcome! She is right where I remember being so well with two little girls just like me! 

How did you build up your nest this week?  I hope there were some ways to get ahead, save and feather your nest generally! 

Have a lovely weekend! xxx

The Christmas Challenge. Op shops and thrift stores.

As we approach mid year I am thinking about how my present cupboard is looking.  A lot of gifts have gone as we have had some major birthdays!  It was looking healthy and now not so much!

Aside of trying to make things all year and starting in January this cupboard gets built up with bargains I see. Many of these are after the event type sales i.e. after Mother's Day the stores clear all kinds of nice gifts.   Other times I just find amazing specials and grab those.
A lot of the time these are things that will go with a homemade present... i.e. a heart shaped tin and then I will bake a cake in that.  Or pretty pens that I will put with a pack of hand made cards... little things that kind of finish off a homemade gift. These are really handy!

Another area is buying tape and wrapping paper etc when I see those on good specials. Recently Aldi had just gorgeous papers and I couldn't believe the prices!  These are the times to stock up.  Aside of saving a lot you never have to rush out to the shops for these kinds of things.

Op shopping is another big help in gift giving.   The things I have found!  Brand new current cookbooks seems to be one thing I always find. Some of these are $60 or more in the stores and I have paid $5 or so.  I will put them with a kitchen towel or something I have made and these make a lovely gift for a cook.
As I like to make little hamper type gifts I get most of my baskets and containers for these in op shops.  Some years I have accumulated baskets and spray painted them to make Christmas hampers.  But if you watch all year you will find all kinds of supplies and save a fortune.  Also then at Christmas you are not running around looking for containers to put your cooking gifts in.

As for actual gifts you have to know people pretty well and what they like.  If you know someone who collects things this is handy!  There are a lot of things I would be thrilled with as a gift that could come from an op shop!  My number one would be beautiful old jars or a box of preserving jars!

Beautiful photos from Rachel!  

I can think of several people that feel the same!

Others for me would be a basket of craft supplies...  velvet ribbons, millinery organza or velvet flowers,  knitting yarn,  old lace, pretty brooches,  (for decorating things like gift soaps)  vintage boxed hankies, pearls  ... a basket of vintage sewing threads.  Actually the more I think about it the list just gets longer and longer!

I know someone who collects vintage aprons so I always watch for those.

Chloe loves lots of vintage things so I have a list for her.

I gave Lucy a Glo Mesh wallet which she adored and all her friends wanted one. 

Others love hand embroidered linens and doilies. 

I started collecting embroidery in my teens. I ended up with so much of it I sold a lot at one stage to an Adelaide designer. I sold a whole garbage bag of them!  I only ever used to pay 20c or so for them. This lady ended up ordering cot blankets from me for her twins!  This was all very handy at the time!

I love pretty tea pots, pink side plates with roses and jugs! And crystal!  These all are just beautiful for a tea time themed gift basket or to present Hollywood Bubble bath!   Trays are also lovely as a gift as they can be used like a gift basket.

For all of us that are cooking bread then old style bread pans, deep muffin tins and loaf tins would be a find!   Actually I adore old rolling pins, hand mixers/beaters, whisks, bowls...

Susan found vintage pink parfait glasses!  

Things like these can be exquisite gifts to the right person who would love them! 

It is a matter of knowing what people just love, collect, wish for.  In these cases op shopping can be a great source of gifts.  

I have found leather cases, binoculars, designer shirts and beautiful hats to add to Andy's collection. He has been over the moon happy with these kinds of gifts.   I watch for old vests, fob watches,  books and a list of other things that I know he would love!

Years ago a friend of mine was dreaming of fancy leather cowboy boots.  In the city these were a few hundred dollars.  I knew her size and I was in a country op shop and found some for $5!  She lived in these and wore them when she worked in London.  She had people offering to buy them from her!  They were used in a photo shoot for a magazine!  She thought they were the best gift ever! 

Op shopping is also wonderful from the pantries and preparedness aspect as well but that is another post! 

Giving these kinds of gifts is a little like giving something you have made. It takes a bit of confidence. But once you really know what someone likes and you realise the retail value of things you might realise how perfect some of these gifts can be. It might be something someone has always wanted!  In fact it might be something that someone normally could never afford!   

On the weekend we went to two country op shops and I had some beautiful finds.  It is so much fun!   The fun part of it doesn't hurt at all! 

Have you had any good op shop finds?  Could this be a way to gather containers, gifts, supplies that could help you? 

I hope your week is going well!  I have A LOT to report on Friday already! xxx

Pantries and Preparedness. More on Sour Dough and bread making.

Sorry to be late with this post!  We have been at the farm for my Dad's 80th Birthday.  It has been lovely and very special.  I got lots of beautiful photos. One of my aims was to get good photos of Dad with the Great Grand Daughters.   Plus it was like a little holiday and so nice!

Now to my preparedness post!

Sour dough starter will be arriving in mail boxes in all sorts of places soon so I thought I would go on with Sour Dough tips this week.  This isn't what I planned so hopefully next week will be the easy mixes and recipes.

The photos in this post are from you all! 

This is from Rachel. Look at those goodies and the beautiful dried Peppercorns! 

There is "Sour Dough" on the right hand side in the index. The getting started post is here.  These are the instructions to get your dry starter going and begin making bread.

While I've been researching more things I can make myself I was amazed that you can make bread flour or bakers flour yourself!  Bread flour is much more expensive than regular plain flour and when you get going in bread making this puts the cost up.
The reason you need bread flour is that it is slightly higher in protein than regular flour. That slight amount is enough to make a difference to how your bread rises.  The reason is that both the starter and the yeast in your loaf of bread likes to feed on protein.

These cinnamon scrolls were made by Kelley!

To make your own bread flour you can add Vital Wheat Gluten to your plain flour.  There seems to be differing ideas on how much to add.  And there is a cost to buying this product and I am not sure it works out cheaper yet.  If you are interested in that sooner than I can report on the results just google "how to make bakers flour" and there is plenty on it.  Health food shops appear to sell it and it is available online.
(It is important to note bread flour is not "bread mix" as we are just talking about flour. Bread mixes are generally all mixed in with salt, bread importers and other things to save you all the trouble. They are commonly produced for bread mixers. Overall these are more expensive again. This is also something that you can make up yourself for quite a big saving!)

The information about making your own bread flour led me to some other discoveries.  If yeast likes protein so much and the difference between bread flour and plain flour protein content is only about 2% then there are other ways to add protein to your baking mix.  I am going to be trying this out a little bit more. So far so good.
Instead of using bakers/bread flour I am using plain flour and adding either a spoon of powdered milk or an egg to my mix.
I noticed with the sticky buns the rise on them was huge! They contained eggs! Ahh!
I will still buy bread flour to feed my starter and keep it going but for the actual baking I am now on plain flour plus protein.  I will let you know how this goes over the next few weeks!  This means Aldi flour will become my main bread making ingredient and less than half the price of the bakers flour I was buying!

Jane's Sour Dough bread (from Nanna Chel's and my starter) and beautiful pull apart bread.

 I was talking with Patsy as she started her own starter from scratch.  She did not feel it was right yet as it was very bubbly and bubbly quickly after feeding but it did not increase in size.
Many blogs I read have you half your starter, throw half out and feed the remaining. Why I will never know!  I suggested Patsy ignore that and feed it up and get making things!  So far it sounds like she is on to a winner now! So I thought I had better mention this. I have never noticed the starter increase in size other than because of the actually added flour and water. I keep adding and it gets bigger but not in a "rising" kind of way.

Next I started researching getting your bread to rise as I was worried about the cold weather.
Normally I get some warmth into things especially when working on the second rise before cooking.
Some of the ways I warm things up are:
Put my baking pan in the oven for a few minutes to warm it. Turn the oven off. Then when my dough is ready to go into the pan let it rise in the now only slightly warm oven.
Put the pan in the car if it's in the sun.
Soak my baking pan in a sink of hot water. Just before filling it dry it, pop the mix in and wrap a towel around the base.
Heat up a hot pack and sit it under the dish...
Sit it in the window if its sunny and warm.
Sit the bowl in a few inches of warm water.
These have all worked really well.

Maria's Chocolate and Berry Brownies. 

She made these low sugar for her husband. They look amazing!

My research paid off though!  I found out professionals usually have a proving box.  This always has something in it to provide moisture/humidity. I didn't know that!
A perfect substitute (if it is big enough) is your microwave.  You boil a cup of water and immediately set that on one side and put in your bread. Close the door.  The heat from the boiling water is enough to warm up that little space and the humidity will make the yeast very happy!  I think you could do this in your oven too, perhaps with a larger container of boiling water.

Next I found that your rising dough absolutely should be covered. Covered in a way that actually doesn't touch the dough but still keeps the air off it.  Without a cover the top of the dough dries out slightly and forms a bit of a crust. This crust is tough enough to keep it from rising more.
So a loose cover is a good idea.
This information seems to be good for the first rise and the proving box seems to be good for the second rise... as the steam seems to stop this crust issue.  So more experiments coming there!  Perhaps it is a case of either or... both these methods might stop the crust forming.

Finally I found that slashing or scoring your bread is a good idea as this also helps it to rise into a nice shape. Like cakes sometimes do, a loaf can split or rise oddly and that is the reason for scoring... it helps it to rise nicely without spilling over in some weird place.  Two or three slashes into the risen dough, about 1 cm deep, just before cooking, seems to be the formula.

It is so exciting to see bread or a tray of buns or scrolls rising sky high as you know they are going to be beautiful!  So hopefully these little tips will be a help to someone.  Also I hope the information about the protein and making your own bread flour will save you money.

I truly think if what you are doing is working keep doing that. If you have trouble with bread being too dense, not rising enough etc then try some of these ideas.  Bread making is a bit science and a bit art I think.  Dough has a "feel" to it and after a bit you come to understand how it should feel.
I figure this would be like making pasta but I just haven't gone there yet!

What are your tips for bread making and yeast cooking?
If you requested starter I hope it arrives this week or soon!
I hope you have a very good week!  I have a lot to report on Friday already! xxx

Feather your Nest Friday, 2nd June, 2017.

It just became real to me that we are in June! We have four weeks left to make the most of the first half of the year!
And it is winter! So far we have had beautiful days and really cold at night.

This has been a catching up week.  I have cleaned, re arranged and organised. It is nice to have the house back to pretty much normal and renovations over.  

Finally a few more finished photos...

Just so you get an impression of what we went through this was taking the spa out...

This was when it was gone...

During the clean up...

To be honest, it is hard to be in a good mood when this is your only bathroom (we do have another toilet though!)

Even renovating one room seems to mess with everywhere else as you have to find places to put stuff and dust and mess still manages to escape rather than be confined to one place!  

The finished result is something I am really pleased with and a surprise overtime I walk in!


Apart from cleaning, sorting and setting up my bathroom cupboards this week I got a few more things done.

I mailed out Sour Dough to everyone who asked.  This was quite a job!  I covered the whole dining room table with baking paper then covered that all with a thin layer of starter. You should have seen it!  It looked like the worst mess!  It all dried in 48 hours and then I packed it up,  got all my envelopes ready and started getting the ready to mail.  Then off to the post office on Monday!
I might offer this again sometime but this lot is done!


I tried the Sour Dough to make Raisin Bread. I love Raisin Toast and had not thought to make this.  I also saw ONE slice of Raisin Toast in a cafe is $4.50! I know I can make a couple of loaves of it for under that!

It worked fine but I am not posting the recipe until I perfect it. This recipe was too light on fruit and spices even though I put in extra. So I will do it once more then post the recipe.
Mind you Andy loved it and there is heaps in the freezer sliced ready for toasting.

Lucy gave me more flowers. She is having some kind of clean out and I am the beneficiary! lol I just say yes to flowers!

These will end up in vases in the next week or so. 

I filled the soap dispensers with odds and sods from almost empty containers and a shampoo I didn't like.  (soap is soap)

Things were marvellous until Wednesday night we were in bed and suddenly it started raining.  I thought it was odd as it had been so perfectly clear during the day.  Then it started pouring. Then I thought this is funny as it is pouring but there is no noise on the roof.  !!!  I flew out of bed and Andy remained still as he he deaf as a post (drummer)!  In the passage I could hear it was much louder and I got to the kitchen and it was flooded with hot water and steam everywhere!  I started yelling "Andy Andy turn off the water!"
I had just washed, ready to store,  all the old towels and bath mats. I also had washed up Mum's towels and bathmats because we had been using her bathroom. I grabbed all of these and threw them on the floor and kept grabbing more.   It took over twenty towels and mats to almost soak it up.  Then I was mopping.  
It turned out to be a split dishwasher hose.
Firstly what do minimalists do when things like this happens? I keep reading blogs that say you only need to towels per person, throw the rest out!  Luckily I had so many on hand.
The next day was spent re washing all of these with loads and loads of washing.
The kitchen floor is damaged however.  I hope insurance comes through and it all turns out ok.

I want to show you how the chickens are growing. They are getting more and more blue...  the colour is called blue but obviously it is a grey blue. Still they are getting to be big fluffy blue birds!

If you noticed I am late posting today this will also explain I haven't totalled up my Vicky Challenge yet.  But this week I am adding in my savings on the bathroom.  Going from the cheapest quote we got we saved $6000 and I am counting this in the challenge as it was a lot of work!  But that will boost up my weekly average! 

I hope you had a good week!  How did you feather your nest, build up your home, save money, get ahead? 

Enjoy the weekend! xxx

The Christmas Challenge. May 2017. Part 2.

Just before the new month (and the start of our winter) this is the second part of what everyone has been up to during May.

First of all I found out some of what Jane had been making because she sent me luxuries for my new bath!  Gorgeous cotton crochet wash cloths, soaps and bath bombs!  This was just beautiful and lovely!

Thank you so much Jane!  I am sill at the stage that every night it seems like such a treat to have a bath.  

Jane has also been sewing. It is almost her Grand Daughters first birthday.  Everything was made using patterns and fabrics she already had.

They are all warmer things as we are coming in to winter.  I think your daughter in law will be thrilled Jane!

Cookie has been using up left over ribbons to make roses.  She says they are fun and easy to make.  I think they would be lovely on clips for a little girl or as parcel ribbons. Or incorporated into embroidery also would be interesting...

Jeanette crocheted a shrug.  I love the shape of a shrug myself as I am a cardigan wearer and scarf wearer...  This is her youngest daughter being a model...

Beautiful daughter Jeanette and beautiful shrug!  

And I am happy today to include Lucy!  I am noticing she is doing some of the things I loved to do when the girls were young. She saw pin up boards in a gorgeous catalogue.  She sent me the pictures and we agreed that something very similar could be made for a fraction of the cost.

I didn't help except for sourcing the butterflies and on how to paint them!  

These look lovely in Harper's room and  cost a fraction of the ones we loved.  Yay!
Lucy is starting her own blog. This might be good for the young Mum's as she likes doing things that look lovely but don't break the bank!   I always have thought you really can have just about anything if you can figure out how to make it!

Between last weeks pictures and this weeks we can say that May was a very productive month!
Ok now to June!  We are almost mid year!  I don't know how time has gone so fast!
Tomorrow is the first day of winter.   This is the quietest time in the garden and outside generally and so usually I make lots of things!  I really want to add a lot to my present cupboard during the next three months!

I hope your week is going well!   We have sunshine after days of rain! xxx

Pantries and Preparedness. Making most of space... an issue for all of us!

I have been busy on my preparedness the last couple of weeks with organising my bathroom related products and also over the counter tablets and medicines.  Having a nice set of shelves has given me somewhere to keep everything together.

I found some baskets that sit just right on top of my shelves. They are pretty big so will hold lots!

Also now I have a decent sized wall cabinet which can hold (out of harms way) tablets and medicines.  The thought of not having pain killers after a life time of migraines is too much for me!  I buy things like this on big specials.   Apart from safer storage I can see what I have (which is a lot).  I found some just right containers that fit perfectly inside this cabinet.
At one time I didn't even know that over the counter medications came on special.  They sure do!  I often see big packs too so much cheaper than regular prices.

This is it so far. Still a little way to go!

As I was doing this Rosanne said to me to get rid of packaging and I would fit in much more i.e. toothpaste boxes.  As soon as I did this I had so much more room!

All of this has meant going through all my supplies and re organising basically everything. Now I have made space where I had none!  But I have better track of things!

Vicky was talking about this subject with me too.   She spoke about it in terms of downsizing.  This can be applied when literally downsizing your home,  trying to make the most of the space you have, wanting to store more when you are thinking your shelves are already full!
She wrote this for us:

Today I would like to talk about downsizing. I think everyone has either been in a situation where we have to downsize or possibly will be at some point in our lives. 

The decisions can be so hard as to what to keep and what to get rid of?  Smaller spaces can be so challenging and using a space to it's fullest potential difficult. You can look back to some of the examples that were shared in previous posts for ideas, just don't forget to look up and down, under and over to maximise space. 

The downsizing I want to discuss today is pantry downsizing. What? We're trying to build pantries and I am talking about downsizing? 

I am by no means talking about getting rid of everything in the pantry at all, but having been doing this for so long I wanted to share some examples of downsizing so we all know that actually getting rid of things in the pantry is ok and why. 

Over the years I have over couponed and gave boxes and boxes of those coupon deals away to others, they made great gifts, but 400 bottles of laundry soap take up a lot of space. So I have one set of shelves in my gross old laundry room that holds enough supplies to last me a long time and plus I have the stuff to take up making my own again should I not get anymore free or really cheap. So I downsized and gave the rest away. 

From experience deodorant also can be had cheaply, but it was a good thing I did gift the most of it and only kept a year's supply because deodorant may not technically expire, but if it gets old it stinks. Like an old bottle of perfume. 

Our tastes have changed some over the years and of course the people who live here have changed too. So with 40 boxes of cereal sitting on a shelf and it not getting eaten it finally dawned on me that my youngest is not a cereal eater. So those were given away. 

Other things that we didn't eat, but they had useable ingredients like pasta, beans or dried veggies I kept the ingredients we do use and the rest went to the chickens or dog food. 

And most recently since I don't seem to need as many I am downsizing the feminine hygiene products. I will gift the bulk of them to my DIL and keep a few packs for emergencies and some of the tampons for part of emergency lighting or medical supplies. 

Since I paid pennies on the dollar or nothing for any of these things it isn't costing me much to gift any of it to others and it gives me room in the pantry to stock what we eat now. I still have plenty of pouches and boxes of instant foods for emergencies like power outages and I have either a year's supply or close too it of most of the things we do eat since my plan should we need to implement it is simple foods that are hearty and filling. 

So do you need to revisit the pantry and evaluate what you have? Have your tastes and eating habits changed? Are you stocking for someone else as well and have their tastes changed? If so it is ok to downsize and make some room and fill the shelves with the bargains that you now eat and use. 

I have gotten some flack for giving so much away, but I am quite confident with what I have, can grow and the wild edibles we have that we will not go hungry. The skills that we acquire and the pantry knowledge we learn guarantees success in building the pantry! 

XOXO

Vicky

Thank you Vicky! She is busy as she has been totally re doing two whole rooms of her house. One room will be her new pantry! So we are all working away on our pantry projects!  I can't wait to see the finished result.  It is Vicky's Victory Pantry! 

Recently I pulled out everything from the kitchen cupboards, washed them out and put it all back in again in a better order... and of course as you go you find things that need to be tossed out, you know NO ONE is ever going to eat and things that don't even belong in your  pantry!    After all of this I was surprised how much spare room I had!  And now I can find everything and know exactly how much I have of any given category!

This week Rosanne was doing the same.  It was good as all week we encouraged each other to keep going!  At one stage she was telling me so much was out on the bench she doubted she would ever get it all back in again! (above)

But she did and you can see the boxes she covered in contact to form organisation trays. 

What an impressive pantry!  

Reducing packaging certainly creates space. Many boxed items are half air! When you open them they are half empty!  

The other thing is there is often a choice on how you store things. There can be several versions of the same thing. Take stock... you can buy stock as a ready to go liquid in cartons.  It also comes in tubs in a concentrated form. You could use a canned soup. You could use stock powder or stock cubes....  

The amount of space this all takes up o your shelves will vary enormously!  If space is an issue then this is a subject worth thinking about.

The ultimate space saver would be to make your own stock and save your money and pantry shelves! I do this but I would also  keep some alternatives i.e. I keep stock powder for just in case.  But that is a small tin that goes a long long way!  

And this leads us to next weeks subject.  Things that you can make yourself from very basic ingredients.  This will save you an enormous amount of money and a huge amount of storage space!  It will likely save you a lot of chemicals as well.    Knowing how to make these basics from scratch is a very good skill as well.  Most are super fast and easy!  Each time you adopt one your grocery expenditure shrinks!  Or look at it this way... as you spend less you can build up your pantry more with those savings!  It is all a win/win! 

I can finally move on from sorting out bathroom supplies but it was really good and now I know exactly what I have.  Big improvement! 

How did you improve your preparedness or build up your pantry last week?

We have pouring rain here.  I hope to get everything back in place around the whole house and gets lots done.  Have a very good week! xxx