Is your freezer full?

I know I don't blog as often as I like, thing on The Homestead keep me on my toes.  But today I must slow down just a bit to tell a few God stories.

Not to complain, but just to set the backstory - Times are lean on The Homestead these days.  Praise the Lord chicken still sells, just not as fast as it could.  (Those would be Travis' chickens, not mine!)
With that said, know we are a two frig family.  One in the kitchen and one in the laundry room for overflow.  Teenage boys are hard to fill up!  That also means two freezer spaces.  And most times those stay at or to capacity.  We also have a small reach in freezer, that was given to us awhile back that we have stored in the barn because we did not need to use it.  We were making do with what we had.  Well, this week we went dry. . . our inside freezer's went bare.  We like game meat and usually I always have some wild boar or venison in there; or fresh chicken from The Homestead or even grocery store meat I found on sale.  It came down to the last venison roast and we savored each bite.  We knew it wasn't really in the budget to load up on meats - Meat is expensive.  So we thanked God for the meat, we have had and carried on.
Early Friday morning, God told me to go get the reach in the freezer from the barn, clean it up, and plug it in.  I kinda did a double take, ok God, run that by me again.  I can't even fill the freezer space I already have and you want me to do what?  CLEAN IT!!! He said.  So clean it I did.  I carried it in and plugged it up.  As I shut the lid, I said, Ok God, I cleaned it - now you can fill it!  Ten minutes later - no joke folks - ten minutes, Travis texts me and says, someone just asked me if we wanted two coolers full of venison.

I don't know why I marvel at how God works - after all He is God.  I think I marvel most at the fact He choose to be my God.  That He cares enough to fill my freezer.

I, also, can't help but wonder - what would have happened if I hadn't cleaned the freezer?

Homemade Shower Cleaner

Have had a lot of requests for the shower cleaner recipe I found on-line.
Here it is. . .

1/2 cup of Hydrogen Peroxide
1/2 cup of Rubbing Alcohol
1/4 tsp of dish soap (6-8 drops)
2 tsp of white vinegar
1 1/2 cup of water

This did not fill my bottle, and doubling it would have been too much, so on my last batch I altered the recipe just bit - adding more vinegar and not as much water. It is working great.  It has cut the hard water from glass shower and is keeping the grime away :)

my altered recipe
1 cup peroxide
1 cup alcohol
1/2 tsp of dish soap
1/2 cup white vinegar
fill the rest of bottle with water

Let me know what you try and how it works . . .

Quick Meals

Ok, you find yourself crunched for time and you need a meal quick.
We know that picking up something is not in the budget, so what do you do?

What is your favorite throw together meal?

I will give you a few of mine to get started :)

Jar of Alfredo and bag of noodles - $2.00 for Alfredo and $.50 for noodles - just feed whole family for $2.50, if we want to splurge we add a can of white meat chicken for an extra $1.50
Pancakes or Waffles - total cost of all ingredients runs me about $2 - again if we want to splurge I might cook some bacon or sausage for an additional $2 or $3
Pizza Baked Spaghetti - fast and easy, just cook some of your favorite noodles, put in baking pan, top with a can of spaghetti sauce and then top like a pizza and bake - total cost about $5

Now tell me yours . . . I can't wait to try them.  I am always running out of time!

Homemade = Budget Friendly :)

So I have always been a friend of homemade, recently I have found that not only does homemade mean so many less chemicals, but it is very budget friendly - so we are now making our own . . .

laundry soap
bar soap
shower cleaner
dishwasher detergent

These things take much more time than picking them up from the store, but the benefits are worth it . . .

bread
waffles

My next adventure homemade pasta . . .

Don't get me wrong, I am not proclaiming that you should make these things.  I am just letting you know what we do, because I want to know what you do.

What do you make homemade that most people buy at the store?

TELL ME!  and I will probably ask for your recipe :)