Desperate Times, Delicious Measures

We are making our way through the Covid-19 crisis one day at a time. We're socially distancing, doing school at home, working from home. Everyone is home. Much of the panic buying has stopped as stores place limits on how many items you can purchase. Great! Unless you have a large family. When all my chicks were still in the nest we drank just over one gallon of milk per day as a family. With a limit of one gallon of milk per household at the grocery store that would mean venturing into the store every single day or visiting multiple stores each time we go out. yikes. We know the virus can live in droplets on the air for up to 2 hrs. Each time we go into a public place we are risking exposure. Having to go frequently isn't good for anyone. It's times like these when moms can be make an incredible difference for their families. Cooking from scratch is kind of a lost art. But the most essential building blocks are not hard at all. Just start with flour, sugar, oil and eggs and so much opens up to you. I spent the busiest years of our family scratch cooking. Remaining a one-income family, so I could homeschool and we could travel with my husband was very important. Our food budget provided the greatest opportunity for savings. Now as I see certain items with limits I am taken back to so many wonderful meals that provided alternatives to how we normally think of meal prep. When are eggs are hard to come by they must be rationed. We never think of eggs as a luxury but they sort of are :/ Eggs are for cooking and baking, we aren't just frying them or scrambling a whole dozen for one meal for our big family on the weekends. Even with just three in our home these days we go through 18 eggs in a normal week. Full stop on that front. I typically make 12 hard boiled eggs on the weekend for everyone to enjoy throughout the week. Can't be done now or I'd be in the store every week.

What is plentiful is flour and I have yet to see any limits on it. Same with butter. When a large family is home drop biscuits fill bellies, bring smiles and cost just pennies. And if you are really feeling creative making your own butter it's is so easy and it's amazing. Milk has limits, whipping cream doesn't.

https://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/how-to-make-drop-biscuits/

The staples in your kitchen can produce pancakes, waffles, bread, pretzels, tortillas, tortilla chips, bread bowls for soup, pizza crusts, pie crusts, rolls, quiche, pie, sweet breads, muffins, biscuits, crackers, PASTA and so much more. Home-made, delicious, you might never go back. Proteins and hard to come by items like eggs and milk may need to take a backseat for a few a weeks. It's okay. There are more websites than can be numbered about alternatives. Google is your friend. Moms have been blogging about cooking and creating cheap meals, farm living, budget cooking since AOL was born and of course our mothers and grandmothers had well worn cookbooks, recipes in their heads for a century before that! Call them up! We are up for this task. It takes some forethought. It takes some meal planning to drop old meal routines and create new ones. But it can be done.

Canned fruits, canned vegetables and using our proteins in casseroles, one pot meals, soups, instead of a full serving for each person stretches them. We want to reduce our shopping trips, rein in our budgets and keep everyone fed until this is over. We can do it.

I really love Taste of Home, Pioneer Woman, Large Family Table, Food Network, All Recipes. Don't despair look for some new ideas

https://www.tasteofhome.com/collection/cheap-dinner-ideas/

Last year during our Begin Retreat we included Meal Planning as a central component. The family table is the hub of all we do. Meal Planning impacts our lives so dramatically the need to manage it and run it like a professional kitchen cannot be overstated. In times like this, we can provide security, comfort and love from our well run kitchen.

Our Meal Planning Binder is available for free, as a download here. I hope it gives you a place to start if you are new at this, and if you are a pro, maybe it will give you some new ideas. We will make it through this crisis and maybe just maybe, we come out better for it? God bless you and stay well, Robin