The Homeschool Mom of 2

Well, it is that time of the year again. The education of our children is in full swing, we are trying to prepare our homes and lives for winter. We are very busy indeed. So, how can we make life a little easier on ourselves without spending a lot of money?

By preparing some food items that we will use on our own, and stocking our cupboards and freezers with them. By doing this, we will save money, energy and time for us and our families. Here are some ideas to get you started.

* Mac and cheese can be made quickly. Add some meats (not tuna!) And vegetables to make this a healthier choice. Freeze in quart size freezer bags in individual servings. Be sure to get all of the air out when freezing anything. You can make numerous boxes of mac and cheese at once, all with the same add-ins or split it into mixing bowls adding different add-ins per bowl. Whatever you do, cook all of the pasta in 1 big pot to save energy and time, and be sure to label before freezing. If taken out of the freezer the day before you need this, they will make great lunches. (I use a homemade mac and cheese recipe that is healthier than boxed.)

* Make an assortment of muffins and wrap them individually with plastic wrap. Bake a bunch of batches, mixing like batches in one bowl. If you have four or more batches being mixed into one bowl, delete an egg. Bake them all at once in the oven to save time and energy costs. You can put the wrapped muffins into gallon size. Get as much air as you can out of the bags, label and freeze. You can take these out the day before you need them. You can have them for snacks with milk, or at breakfast. For breakfast, try these:

1. Muffin, fruit and milk.

2. Muffin, yogurt and juice.

(You can do the same with the pancakes and french toast below.)

* Make up a bunch of batches of pancakes. Freeze in a gallon size plastic bag on its side, between pieces of freezer paper. Label and freeze. You can pull these out as you need them. We sometimes like to top one with apple pie filling, but this is just a treat.

* Make many batches of french toast, flash freeze, cut into thirds and freeze in snack size zipper bags. Then put all of the bags into a gallon size bag. Label and freeze. Pull out to go with your other breakfast items.

* Make freezable casseroles, freeze as individual servings for another lunch choice.

* Freeze leftover vegetables, vegetable and/or pasta water, and meats in separate containers in the freezer. Once in a while, you can pull them out for a homemade soup.

* In the evenings, you can chop and prepare a lot of foods for the next nights dinner. In the morning, you can put everything into the slow cooker and turn it on low. This will make an easy dinner for later.

* Be sure that you make a trail mix for snacks. I put ours into snack size zipper bags with 1 small treat (bagged in the candy aisle). My children are allowed one a day, and can only have the treat if they eat the rest of the mix first. If you do not believe that your children will do that, I would suggest that you do not put the treats in the bag. Instead, if they eat the snack, give them the treat separately. These can be put on a snack shelf.

* Always keep fresh fruits and vegetables on hand for snacks and salads. The vegetables can generally be cut up once or twice a week and stored in individual containers in the refrigerator. I will also make up individual salads every few days to store in the refrigerator.

* You can also freeze lasagna and other pasta meals in casserole pans. Take them out early the day before you will use them, and they can be baked for dinner. Or freeze them in individual servings for lunches.

If you do the things mentioned above, you will have quite the store of prepared foods to make your days easier. You will be able to spend more time running errands, educating your children, and spending time with your family.

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Shannon Buck is a homeschool mom of two residing in a small town in Maine. You can contact her at thehsmomof2@aol.com, or visit http://www.thehomeschoolmomof2.com or http://www.thelowincomewayoflife.com.

One thing that makes my life easier at times is creating a snack shelf. I do this for my daughters sometimes. It helps to save me time during the week, which can be spent on educational or family activities.

A snack shelf is easy to create. Do it after you go shopping, while you are putting groceries away. Make sure you have all of the supplies that you may need on hand when you begin. You may need zipper baggies, a cookie jar, reusable containers or other supplies. You will also need a cupboard or a shelf for storing everything.

This is what I do:

I have a box of snack size baggies available, as well as a cookie jar and a large mixing bowl. I also have crackers, nuts and other ingredients on hand.

* I usually have 2 or 3 types of crackers available. Crackers are things that children will eat way to many of, so I look on the box to see what an actual serving size is. Usually, each type of cracker has a different serving size. I put only 1 serving size in each snack size zipper baggie. These are placed in a big mixing bowl on the shelf.

* On rare occasions, I may buy a bag of chips as a treat. This usually occurs during the summer. I use sandwich baggies for these if they are big chips, or snack size baggies if they are small. They may have a bag every couple of days. When children are very active, this helps to replenish salt. They really only need one bag a week, but I do not mind them having a bag every couple of days if they are otherwise eating healthy meals.

* I like to keep a small jar of peanut butter on the shelf so that they can put it on their crackers if they would like.

* I also like to put fresh fruits on the shelf, and any canned ones that are available for snacking.

* The last thing that I like to do is make a trail mix. The amounts and ingredients vary according to what we need (and what is cheap) at the time. Here is the basic recipe:

4 cups of assorted store brand Chex Cereal

½ to 1 cup of nuts

1 small candy per bag

1 cup raisins or 1 dried fruit per bag

1 cup seeds

This makes a generally healthy snack. I store them in snack size zipper baggies and put them into the cookie jar.

It is a good idea to have your children’s first snack of the day be a piece of fruit. I also would not allow snacking for an hour or so before a meal. This could ruin their appetite. You could even set up a set schedule, like snacks at 10:00, 2:00 and 7:00. Whatever works best for your family.

This also makes it easy for grabbing snacks as you are on your way out of the house. It will be cheaper in the long run to do this, because you do not have to keep stopping at convenience stores while you are out.

If you wanted to go a step further, you could dedicate a shelf in the refrigerator for pre-made (by you) drinks in small 1-serving containers. The ones in the store are generally more than 1-serving. For instance, 1 serving of juice is only 1/4 to ½ cup, depending on the type. It is also a good idea to keep water bottles filled during the summer months. These can all be easily grabbed on your way out the door as well.

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Shannon Buck is a single, homeschooling mom of 2 residing in a small town in Maine. You can visit her sites at http://www.thehomeschoolmomof2.com and http://www.thelowincomewayoflife.com

 

 

 

 

 

This is a great time of the year to grill, but some of us do not have grills. What do we do for summer meals?

We eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables, raw. We also eat more sandwiches this time of the year. Smoothies are wonderful treats, and every so often we will have a cream soda float.

 

Be creative, and use a lot of vegetables in your salads and sandwiches. Here is one of my favorite sandwiches:

2 slices whole wheat bread

slice of cheese

thinly sliced turkey

shredded lettuce

shredded carrots

shredded cucumber

shredded radicchio

tomato

shredded cabbage

pickles

 

One of my favorite vegetable salads:

romaine lettuce

cherry/grape tomatoes

chives

carrot

celery

cabbage

cold chicken

shredded mozarella cheese

 

One of my favorite fruit salads:

cantaloupe

honey dew

grapes

pineapple

watermelon

topped with lowfat vanilla yogurt and a sprinkle of shredded coconut.

We do not have a lot to do this summer, because we did so much in the spring. We are mostly just keeping up with the regular stuff, and doing yard work.

___ Finish cleaning out shed.

___ Gardening.

___ Shaking out the rugs, and leaving them out during a rain storm to be cleaned.

___ Sweepeing all corners, ceilings and walls of cobwebs.

___ Wash top of fridge and replace the trash bag we keep up there.

___ Mop all rugs.

___ Dust furnace area.

___ Vacuum all registers, and wash all register covers.

___ Hang pictures/decorations if needed.

___ Give things away that we no longer need.

___ Dust inside of china cabinet.

___ Clean out files.

For those of us who are not very organized, spring cleaning can be a mighty task! But it doesn't have to be. I have been working on organizing our home. I have a plan in place for each day, month and season. There are things that I used to do each spring that I have moved to other seasons, but there is still a lot to do this spring.

I have come up with a plan, with a lot of things being delegated to my daughters. They are teenagers and need to be able to do these things before moving out of our home. I kept a lot of items for myself as well.

I have this new plan set up on Adventures in Organization. You can see it there in full if you would like. Scroll down to the links. Look at our cleaning charts to see what we each do.

This is a quick list of the most important things that should be done before summer. Most of these things are done in March or April in our home, though the garden preparations is usually done in May.

Inside:

* Take care to get rid of any cobwebs.

* Wash out light fixture covers.

* Wipe outlets and light switches.

* Dust all rooms.

* Vacuum all rugs, throw rugs, under cushions, under furniture and around edges.

* Go through and wash all bedding, curtains, spring and summer clothing, throw rugs and blankets, throw pillows. Make list if items needed. Hang them all outside to dry.

* Go through and wash all fall and winter clothing. Make a list of what is needed. May be able to get things on clearance. Hang them all outside to dry.

* Wash all windows.

* Wash all floors. Wax if necessary.

* Wash top of refrigerator.

* Clean oven.

* Get rid of things no longer needed.

 

Outside:

* Pick up trash and debris from last fall.

* Prepare garden beds and planters.

* Put out yard decorations.

* Set up lawn and patio furniture.

* Wash outside of all windows.

* Do any painting and repairs.

 

If we can do the items on this list, we are doing well. If everyone works together, everything will be done in no time at all.

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Shannon Buck is an unorganized homeschool mom of two, living in a small town in Maine. You can visit her site, Adventures in Organization, at http://www.adventuresinorganization.com.