More Grocery Tips from the Economides

She does her meal planning like I do, with a menu book and planning for 30 days AND inventories.  I just don't use coupons or store ads, but then again I think I might if my family was as big as theirs!

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Money Saving Tips from the Economides

The Economides are the authors of "America's Cheapest Family" and they also have several news story done about them on youtube. They put a new one up tonight and it has some great tips:

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Lunch Choices

• PB and Jelly or PB and banana sandwich
• Tuna sandwich, carrots
• Egg Salad sandwich
• Tuna cakes, veggies
• Leftovers
• Bean burritos
• PB on toast, milk
• Bev's Healthier Nachos
• Soup, crackers
• Baked potato, toppings

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Are YOU Who You Say You Are?

I was thinking just yesterday (Monday) about a post I did a while back entitled "The Diva Mentality". Some things were preached over the weekend that touched on a lot and I'm SOOOOOO glad I have a Pastor that will get up there in the pulpit and call this stuff out and label the sin and preach against it and not allow it to continue on in our church without reproof! Does your Pastor preach instant "in season and out of season"? When its not popular? Or does he try and cater to everyone and not offend anyone and send them all straight to hell with his sugar coated religion?

A lady commented a little while ago on that particular post right after I had just been thinking of doing an update on it. Coincidence? NOPE! What she said was so true!! The cries and longings for Holiness and religion undefiled are sounding off across the nation. People are thirsting for righteousness in a nation full of worldliness, sin and excessive carnality. There are a people that STILL want to live HOLY before the Almighty God who will not bow to satan! They serve only one master....GOD!

Let's continue on this whole Diva Mentality topic. Pastor was preaching this weekend and reproving the sin that others are trying to let come in and filtrate our ranks. From provocative poses from members online to seducers in the church house, these things ought NOT to be so and PRAISE GOD that I have a Pastor who will preach against sin! Perverseness and lewd photos online by so-called Christians flying the banner is a shame! I've actually lost count of the times Pastor has denounced MySpace and other social outlets which allow networking which can connect you to raunchy photos and sexual talk, cursing, etc. Others are watching you and seeing what you are all about.........are you really who say you are?? Are you friends with the world? Does your myspace show your Godly friends and their Godly pages or does it contain filth and perversion with drippings of slippery worldliness and carnality?

Where are the followers of Christ who pray night and day and read God's word continually studying to show themselves approved? Why is it everyone has time to update their ungodly Myspace but when it comes to spiritual things they think they can "wing" it without spending time with God? Pastor was just preaching that you can't eat at God's table and the devil's at the same time! Pick one and stick with it!

Pastor was just preaching about being thirsty. Not in a physical sense but a spiritual one; thirsty for the things of God. What are you thirsting for? Are you thirsting for your next movie to watch? Are you nursing your next pet sin? Do you really think you can CONTINUE in sin and go to Heaven? You must make it right to go to Heaven.....I don't care who told you different, the Bible says those that do such things SHALL NOT inherit the Kingdom of God.

When I see that there are children in my own church with MySpaces and they are full of provocative photos and gestures and cursing and friends that would shock your socks off........I wonder what in the world is wrong with the PARENTS!? This is a child we are talking about. God has ENTRUSTED those children to you and this is what you are going to do what he trusted you with?? Raise them up to be Diva's?? How about a nice teenage feminine and holy girl who is excited about entering adulthood, not because she wants to entice the men in the church but because she wants to become a Godly woman like her Mother. I guess its because her Mother is NOT a Godly woman.....so she is following her role model and thus.......a diva is born. You should know everywhere your child clicks online and what they are doing. Or just go ahead and put a "FOR SALE" sign on them for satan to take them away, cause that is where you have them headed.

Where are the families that sit around the Dad and listen as he expounds on the word of God each evening? What about family prayer? We pray every night together as a family and I believe that is why God has helped us through rough times and helped our family be strong in him! We have given our lives to the Lord and given our child to him also. And I serve notice on satan:

Satan.........she isn't for sale!!!!!

I will do to the best of my ability to raise her in the fear of the Lord and his word and live the life before her. When she is 18, its up to her but up until then, we as parents are responsible for what they do!

Pastor also talked about the fruits of the Spirit and how they don't boast themselves and they aren't "showy". I started thinking about the Diva Mentality as he spoke. The Diva is boastful and showy. She wants everyone to know how hot and sexy she is and how good she looks. That is sinful, carnal and worldly and NOT like a woman professing Godliness. She saunters about trying to entice and allure others. Just because you wear a dress doesn't eliminate you from this. I've seen some "holiness" women in dresses act this way and saunter about like Miss Thang and its sickening to me and I KNOW IT IS SICKENING TO GOD because it is lasciviousness!

Here is a wonderful article on lasciviousness. A quote from it says:

One of the more prominent used by youngsters is known as “My Space.” It is prolifically punctuated with the vilest forms of language and salacious photographs. Amazingly, these frequently are employed by those who identify themselves as “Christians,” though they obviously have no understanding of the significance of that term. Some teens use the site innocently, but they are in a “mine field” of danger and evil influence. Christian parents should supervise carefully what their youngsters are viewing, as they spend hours of their leisure time on the “net.”

I mean come on people........even the media decries its filth. It is a den of sin and a great place for pedophiles, whores, and all other forms of sexual licentiousness to run rampant. What a wonderful place to be a part of.....maybe I should sign up NOT! My Pastor told me to stay AWAY back in 2006 and he said he sure wouldn't have a page! That was enough for me.

Here is another on lasciviousness:

http://home.att.net/~jackthompson/page166.htm


Encourage each other to righteousness and good works! We are supposed to edify each other and help each other along the journey to Heaven. I'm so glad I have my Pastor's wife and other women in the church that I look up to that are Godly and a shining example of a holy woman of God! They don't have a "Diva Mentality" and they sure 'nuff don't have a myspace!

Are you who you say you are?

2 Corinthians 13:5

Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Hebrews 3:13

But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

James 4:4

Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Breakfast Choices

• Homemade WW pancakes, syrup, eggs, berries
  
• Homemade WW bagels, cream cheese, tomato
• Scrambled eggs, veggies, toast
• Scone, homemade jam, cheese or egg
• Oatmeal or Oat Bran, almonds or flaxseed, berries
  
• Shakes
• French Toast, syrup, berries
  

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Meal Planning 101; Step #5

You have prayed, with a stocked pantry, have all your inventories and you have created a calendar for your month of meals.  Now you will:

Make lists of meals

Take some paper and label with each meal of the day.  I use one side of the paper per each meal of the day: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snacks and Desserts.  Now that you have it labeled you will start with Breakfast.  It is here you will make a list of the choices you will have for Breakfast.  Continue on with each meal, listing choices for each. 

I scour recipes online, in books and use ideas I have up in my noggin for things that would be "frugal" to make.  In the next few posts, I will be listing my meal choices for each section, so you can get a better idea of what we eat and have to choose from each day. 

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Meal Planning 101; Step #4

You prayed, have a stocked pantry and also did your pantry/fridge/freezer inventories and you know what you have in your house!  It's on paper!  So the next step is to start the actual meal planning.  You will:

Make a calendar for your meals

You can print out monthly calendars online for free but why waste printer ink when doing it with an ink pen is much cheaper! :)  I take paper and simply do a calendar that contains the 2nd Tuesday of the month till the next 2nd Tuesday of the month.  Usually it is about 30 days or around there. 

This will give you a layout (which you will in later steps put meals) and it will also help you know how many meals you need for the month.

This step is just making the calendar.......I told you all I was taking this very slow so everyone understands how I do this.  

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Organizing my Daughter's Closet

My daughter is growing way too fast!  She went from a size 11 shoe to a 12.5 seemingly overnight.  I had to go replace a lot of shoes this week because of the growth spurt.  She also is growing out of her dresses, some of my favorites too!  : (  I'm buying her fall/winter clothes and its almost done!  She still has some things leftover from last year that will work this year too.

I organized her clothes, one section for dresses/outfits and the other for skirts, then tops, sweaters and jackets.  She wears a lot of tights...I love the stripes, designs, etc and how they dress up an outfit!  So I made her a drawer just for her tights lol.  I know, I know.......but hey it is my first girl and it is FUN to dress them up!  While it lasts anyway......  I also did a drawer for her scarves and gloves.

Here are a few photos of the organizing I did today:

 

  

  

 

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Baking Queen Today!

I figured since it has been pretty hot during the day, I would wait till evening to do the baking.  So I baked 6 loaves of 100% Whole Wheat bread this time, instead of the half white/half wheat.   Then I baked a batch of granola bars also. 

It hurts to type this because I burnt 2 of my fingertips OOPS!  I thought I had the oven mitt on my left hand when I grabbed the granola bar pan.....then I realized I didn't and it was too late!

I did several risings to try and get my whole wheat bread to be at its fullest, you can see in the photos below and then the finished product.  I'm going to most likely do 6 more loaves tomorrow or Friday for friends.

 

Then here are the granola bars fresh from the oven! 

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

My Daughter's First Homemade Pizza!

I taught my daughter (who is 4) how to make her own pizza tonight while I was making the regular one. She used her small rolling pin and with her apron on, rolled out her own dough. Then topped it with sauce and I shredded the cheese for her and put on the pepperoni. She was so excited and loved having her own "mini" pizza.

Then here was ours and it was delicious!  We like using whole wheat for the crust and the recipe can be found HERE.

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Meal Planning 101; Step #3

You've prayed, you have a pantry with basics stocked and now its time for Step #3:

Make Inventories

I make inventories of my pantry, freezer and refrigerator EVERY time I start my monthly meal planning.  This gives you a hard copy of what you have in your kitchen so you don't have to run to the cupboard or the freezer searching for an item.  It will also help you realize things that you need to use up within a week or within the month.  Which is the reason why I also make a separate list for things that "need to be used up" and keep it in my meal planning section of my homemaker's journal.

You can do what I do and just use a blank piece of notebook paper to write down your inventories OR you can use my free printables found here:

http://www.christianhomekeeping.com/2009/09/pantry-and-freezer-inventory-list-free.html

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Salmon Chowder

I have loved this recipe and used it for about 2 years now! It is from Crystal and there are many ways to change it up or "soup" it up lol. :) I normally don't use corn in the chowder because I like it good enough without the corn or sometimes make corn on the cob as the side. It also tastes great with cornbread!!

You can add some cheez wiz for a cheesy chowder or instead of salmon you can use tuna or some other meat or no meat at all. Use more milk for a thinner soup or less for a thicker chowder style. Get creative....its very frugal and good and with the salmon you are getting a lot of calcium.

I almost forgot......you can find the recipe on Crystal's site HERE. (I normally just make half of the recipe because its just the 3 of us but even that lasts us for 3 meals!)

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Have You Laughed Lately??

I guess Skype somehow got ahold of the Comedy Barn guy (see that video if you haven't already here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4Y4keqTV6w)his laugh cracks me and my husband up to no end LOL!

I don't endorse Skype, but it sure was funny to hear those people laughing LOL.

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Sorry for the Absence

I was getting to the next few parts in the Meal Planning and had something come up on Friday that prevented me from doing so.  

I hope that I can continue with the Meal Planning posts tomorrow (Monday).  However, I'm planning for our yard sale this Friday and that does take priority this week. 

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.

Update

Yesterday was a wonderful day! It started talking over coffee with a bloggy friend! Then I thought my day was done and on my way to do a few errands and then home but God had different plans for me. Ended up helping a friend and watched God move in that family and it was just AWESOME!

Was it over then? NOPE! It was around 9pm but I stopped by another friend's house and turns out they were just talking about us and then we knocked at their door lol. We had a good visit with them and we were driving home, I was thinking WOW.....what a day!

Today I'm cleaning up the house, baking some bread for some friends and starting to organize our huge yard sale that's coming up next week!

I will try and do a meal planning post tomorrow or the next day.....have you all read them? Has anyone read them? lol Should I go on or what?

Christian Homekeeping™ © All Rights Reserved.