starting with meats

Meat was only bought if it was on sale and I could make at least two meals out of it. I always tried to squeeze a third if not four meals out of the meat.When you are feeding a large family of seven plus friends that are meat and potato folks that are big eaters ( I have a friend that calls me a truck driver because I eat like one). Squeezing an extra meal out of meat is a miracle to being with.

I tried to get a roast of some sort every week. Preferrable chicken or beef. It took four chickens or one good size turkey, (I have a daughter that still cringes when she sees turkey on the table besides at the holidays) to feed us one meal.I would then simmer the carcuss in the stock pot and pick the rest of the meat off the bones. This would be split between broth and meat for homemade noodles(flour,salt,eggs),chicken (or turkey) dumplings and if I was lucky a pot of soup with what ever veggies was in the crisper along with either some rice(not instant) or pasta.If there was enough meat to make a stir fry I would go that way.

A beef roast started with root veggies.Second time was either with noodles(the kids preference) or beef vegetable soup.Sometimes there was enough for stew instead of soup. I would add dumplings to make the stew stretch or put the "stew" in a pie shell and make pot pie instead.

Pork roast was with root veggies, then shredded and tossed with BBQ sauce.Now days I would save some back to make Brunswick stew.

If we got a ham, I roasted it and we had that the first round, then sliced and diced it up for ham steaks, ham sandwiches, ham salad, diced ham for eggs, salads and the bone for bean soups. I can make a lot of meals out of ham.

Hamburger went to meatloaves that followed was sliced cold for sandwiches later and what ever was left went into red sauce for pasta.

I tried to cook ten pounds of hamburger for sloppy joes made from scratch and taco meat made from scratch. It let me keep the sodium and sugar levels down.Sloppy joes also made sheppards pie while taco meat ranged from tacos to enchilidas, burritos,taco casserole and added to cheese to make dips.

I made chili from hamburger(hubby does from sausage), it would make chili soup, then walking tacos, the Cinncy chili over pasta, then taco salad, or even nachos or a casserole with chili with corn bread baked on top, kind of like a tamale pie?

Pork chops,pork steaks, beef steaks etc wasn't on the table much. Couldn't afford the price with how much we needed to put on the table.

Staples in the home

We have went thru the sleet,freezing rain and snow right along with those howling winds.The roads are not something to be out and about on yet.

Landlord brought over a generator so the steers in the barn would have water, which means we get water also. Something city folks take for granted is having water when they don't have power.

Even so I stocked water for flushing toilets,cooking/drinking and made several pots of coffee to put in the thermos we have. Just encase we can't get out to the generator to turn it on.

BUT the worst thing I have dealt with is a child calling me telling me they are low on groceries and aren't sure they will have enough to eat before they can get back to the store. First part of that is my immediate reaction to load up my car with food and haul it over an hour(none of the kids live closer than an hour) and FEED MY CHILD.

The second part wants to kick their rear because I preach,nag and so forth about keeping certain foods in the house at all times.

The following is the main list. It is what I call my basic staples. You don't see Bisquick or anything like that. That is on hubby's basic staples list.LOL

Flour, all purpose and bread if you can afford it also
corn meal
rice, not instant
oats, not instant
cream of wheat
pasta of any kind
yeast, keep it in the freezer
eggs, large
corn starch
baking soda
baking powder
worchestershire sauce
soy sauce
apple cider vinegar
lemon juice
salt and pepper
cream of tartar
nutmeg
cinnamon
paprika
chili powder
garlic powder,fresh if you can afford it and will use it.(jar in frig in not bulbs)
onion powder, dehydrated onions, fresh onions if you will use them
basil, dried
oregano,dried
bay leaf,dried
thyme, dried
rosemary,dried
vanilla
cocoa
sugar
brown sugar
maple syrup or karo syrup or both if possible
oil, canola and olive or at least vegetable oil
lard...I do not use shortening for health reason. Lard doesn't bother my chorlesterol
butter... another one that I only use
milk,dry milk, evaporated milk, and condensed milk
sour cream
velvetta,American cheese or mild cheddar,cream cheese
potatoes
raisins
dried beans...navy or Michigan, pinto, kidney and black
tomato juice
tomato sauce
14 veggies of different colors not just corn and green beans
7 fruits, not just bananas and apples
popcorn, at one time it was microwave when it was just mine then hubby added regular popcorn. Now I wouldn't feed microwave popcorn to my family since I know it's not good for them to be eating those tryglycerides.

Tomorrow I will start telling what I would cook from this list as I did when I was raising our children and money was really tight