Victoria Hill Farm

I have to admit that lunches at my house are pretty easy.

My husband's company provides him with lunch every day and my kids are homeschooled, so I don't have to pack any lunches. Lunches for us usually consist of sandwiches. My boys love the old peanut butter and jelly standby, and would eat it for three meals a day if I let them (we'll stick with one meal a day). My daughter and I are a little more discriminating. We simply cannot bring ourselves to eat pb&j every day. We usually eat whatever leftovers are in the fridge from dinner the night before. If there aren't any leftovers, we eat a can of soup or a sandwich of lunch meat. And that's that. No planning involved.

When Hubby is home on the weekends I have to plan our lunches out a bit more. Green salads from our garden are always a good bet. Tuna and egg salad sandwiches or cheese quesadillas are good, too. Or something simple like frozen fish sticks or chicken nuggets. As you can see, lunch is all about convenience. Dinners are really our big meal of the day.

For an afternoon snack we try to do something like baby carrots or peaches we canned during the summer. Or we may do graham crackers, or make cheese and cracker "sandwiches," or even go for some unhealthy stuff like homemade brownies or cookies.

I have found that snack foods are some of the most expensive convenience foods in the grocery store, so we rarely eat things like snack cakes or chips.

I have found that for us, being frugal is all about taking the time to make things from scratch. Did you know you can make fruit leathers, a.k.a. Fruit Roll-ups in the oven (or a dehydrator) very easily? How easy is it to combine three ingredients and pop some peanut butter cookies in the oven? Instead of buying bags of microwave popcorn (the butter can cause "popcorn workers lung"), we throw some popcorn kernels and some oil in an electric air popper.

My goal that I have been working on for some time now is take all those name brand convenience foods we pay so much for and find a way to make them from scratch at home. And it's not just about being frugal. Making them at home eliminates most of the chemicals and preservatives found in store-bought items. Pick up a bag of microwave popcorn and read the ingredients. Now compare that to the two ingredients (kernels and oil) we use to make it at home.

Yes, it takes more time to make things at home. Is there time you are willing to give up? How about that television show you always watch, or how about cutting down on your computer time? Just an hour a day spent baking and creating in the kitchen can lead to all kinds of new discoveries. And how much better would it be if the kids helped? They can learn to be creative and gain some quality, fun time with mom or dad.

I'm not saying it's for everyone. If you absolutely abhor making things from scratch or if you honestly feel you don't have the time, that's okay. Only you can decide if you are willing to trade some of your time for a healthier family that spends less money and is more self-sufficient.

Because my last post on feeding my family for $150 a month seemed to generate such interest, I guess I'll just expand on that theme for the next few days.

I've got to go to the church in just a bit, where I will be volunteering all day. So for today we'll just concentrate on what my family does for breakfast. Tomorrow we'll get into lunch, then we'll do dinner, which is a bit more complicated. Then we'll look at menu plans and shopping lists.

Let me start by saying I have a love/hate relationship with cold cereal. I love it because the kids can fix it themselves, freeing me up to do other things (like drag myself very slowly into my clothes).

I hate cold cereal because we can go through one box in two days, so unless you have a great coupon it's not very economical. And let's face it - cold cereal is generally not very healthy.

On the bright side, it's easy to find coupons for cereal. And if you combine, say a $1 off coupon with a sale of say, $2 a box, you can get a box of cereal for $1 (you can get them regularly priced without coupons at Aldi's for $1.29 - $1.89).

So yes, I buy cold cereal - but I am slowly but surely working my way away from it. In the meantime, I buy only cereals that have a bit more nutritious value - like raisin bran or shredded wheat. My kids never get cereals with bright colors or marshmallows unless a coupon enabled me to get the cereal almost for free.

So were does that leave us when we are not eating cereal? Many days I will fix homemade biscuits, and the kids enjoy them with butter and/or jelly. I would love to get my picky kids to eat oatmeal, and am slowly working toward that goal. "The Simple Dollar" did a great tutorial on making homemade "instant" flavored oatmeal packets.

You may notice that I haven't yet mentioned what Hubby likes for breakfast. That's because he chooses to skip breakfast on weekdays so he can get a few extra minutes of sleep. On weekends, we usually have homemade pancakes on Saturdays and scrambled eggs and grits on Sundays. We raise a few chickens that provide us with all the eggs we need without having to buy any. And if you're not southern and don't know what grits are... well, I can't help you - you darn Yankee!

Just kidding! Can you believe I've eaten grits all my life but didn't really know what they were or where they come from? But I looked it up just for you!

According to Wikkipedia, grits are an American Indian corn-based food common in the Southern United States, consisting of coarsely ground corn. It is traditionally served during breakfast. Traditionally the corn for grits is ground by a stone mill. The results are passed through screens, with the finer part being corn meal, and the coarser being grits.

I buy our grits from a produce store that sells only local food items. The grits come straight from a nearby mill. I keep them in the freezer. They don't really freeze but it keeps out bugs and keeps the grits fresh.

Another frugal option for breakfast that I'm trying to get kids to eat is muffins. They can be made the night before and will therefore be ready for breakfast with no preparation in the morning.

As far as breakfast drinks go, I let the kids drink milk (if they are not getting it in their cereal) or water. That's it. Occasionally (with a coupon) I will buy orange juice and they are allowed to drink that.

By the way, you may notice from some of the links that I use recipes from the Hillbilly Housewife Web site. If you are looking for really frugal recipes, this is the place to go. I have been using the Web site since Miss Maggie owned it. It has changed hands but the new owner does a great job, too, and I love the monthly e-mail newsletter. She also has recipes for homemade pancake syrup. I am going to try this very soon because we go through a lot of syrup.

Hint: If you're looking on that site for breakfast foods, everyone in my family but me hated the cornmeal mush. I liked it, though, so you never know.

I love to answer questions, so feel free to leave one on the comments or e-mail me.

Homesteading doesn't lend itself to having a lot of money leftover for vacations, so we keep ours cheap and simple, yet fun!

Today we took the kids on a field trip to a county park. This particular park is in a neighboring city and offers a small wildlife habitat, a petting barn, a carousel, a mini-train, paddle-boats, miniature golf, camping and a fishing lake. That's me, above, with the kids in the nature center. No, I'm not really shorter than my kids, lol, they are standing on a ledge while I am standing on the ground.