Pine Spring Farm: November 2015

I decided to write this post as a friend posted on how little she spent o groceries and how little time she had spent on the shopping. My friend's facebook post quickly filled with comments and questions on how she did this bi weekly trip of groceries for 4 on less than $200. She began saying she meal planned. She is a stay at home mom who runs her family's hobby farm. They do their own meat and have eggs from chickens she keeps. She has sold eggs and helped off set the cost of the feed. She started by saying she meal plans. When she goes to the store she makes one trip. She knows what she is going to need for two weeks and sticks to her list. I find I am on the same page.
We live in WNY in the hills of the Finger Lakes and I try hard not to do loads of shopping trips. The closest grocery is 12 miles and is the most expensive. The next option is 23 mi and I have 3 stores to chose from. The third option is 34 mi and I have many options available to me in a small distance. The price of gas has gone way down since my twins were babies and gas was $4.08/ gallon! With a 15 passenger van and going from a family of seven to ten I really began to see how I needed to been organized and save every place I could. I started with meal planning and limiting my grocery trips. MONEY SAVED right off the bat! Who doesn't like extra money?
First just because the plan is in place does not mean we actually eat what is on the menu that day. Sometimes I put the food in the crockpot and oops it didn't get turned on. or I turned it to high came back at dinner time and it was unplugged the whole time! So sometimes we switch up another nights meal so that we can eat quick and save the evening. I am writing this knowing what's for dinner until Saturday. I just couldn't find anything for the crockpot I thought would work yet. I have a craft sale on Saturday and so I will google some items I have in the freezer and come up with something. I often theme my meals to the day of the week. My kids can be a bit oh, it's soup night... or hurray it's pizza night! I do my meals like this. Monday is soup day. Tuesday is Mexican and Friday is Pizza. Other nights are a blend of quick, crockpot, or big homemade depending on our activities. On Mondays I make bread/rolls and a soup. Sometimes I will take left over bread and make croutons to add to the soup. I try to not do the same soup in a 2 month span. We had Clam Chowder (a favorite), Minestrone, Sausage Kale, Broccoli, Potato Corn Chowder, Salmon Chowder, Taco Soup, Chicken Noodle and tonight was Vegtable Beef. I know next week is Clam Chowder because it is a holiday week and we do special meals up to Thanksgiving. Of course with Thanksgiving comes turkey. So I will plan turkey soup for the following Monday. So I only have to find what soups will go on which Monday. I can also plan to do soups that look interesting to try and plan it into the next month then when I go shopping I will get anything I don't have I need for the recipe. See how easy that is! Every Monday I know what we are doing!
Now I am amazed when working moms say I don't have time to do this. I do work away from home doing nursing now and again. I prefer not to because I can easily fall behind in housework and keeping up with grading school work my kids do. Meal planning has saved my hide when I was working. I was able to chose meals that my older kids could finish and get to the table because I was not home to do it. (2014 I worked Thurs so we did pizza. I made crust ahead, the oldest did the prep and baking) On nights that we had 4H or another outside activity I planned the meal to suite our needs.
AND I own 5-6 crockpots. Yes I have a large family but I also freezer meal plan. Without these crockpots I would never get the things I want put away for those quick meals. I find I can roast a few chickens in a couple crockpots and make a side for dinner. Now I can have chicken, vegatable, or rice done for a meal in a couple crockpots. Before dinner or after me or my daughter will pick the extra chicken meat, or scoop out the extra rice and put either in ziplock bags or freezer containers. With precooked meat I can always make a skillet casserole in a hurry with rice and a veggie in about 30 minutes. What mom wouldn't want that? A working mom can do this and I found it is easier than the all day cook and freeze meal planning on the one day I could do something fun.
I always try to make three times what I need. Three times you say what are you thinking? Well I feed hungry men. My boys eat more then their father! They are out with me working the farm. My oldest does the large animal chores and all my kids do firewood. They get hungry. I always try to make most meals be the next days lunch. Even my hubby has the same lunch. I also like to put away extra rice meat cooked dry beans for a day when the oops the crockpot didn't get turned on! There is my three times. Now I don't do this every meal but a few times week and before long I have a bit of backup stash to even plan regular meals. I make dry beans in my crockpots. Some for diner. Some for lunch. Some for another night. I don't throw away those menu plans come the next year I can come up with ideas for meals we haven't had or old favorites.
When I shop I also buy in bulk. I rarely if every buy processed or pre-made meals. One reason is my kids have major food allergies. No soy and no food coloring. It makes for a whole food diet and that is not really a bad thing. I buy large amounts of beans, flour,oatmeal, sugar, rice, pasta and only veggies frozen in extra large bags. Not sauced or spiced. I don't buy box cereal, pasta with seasonings or sauces. I don't buy frozen meals or store bake goods or lunch meats. This type or buying drives up the bill. We also raise our own meat so that saves money. I find if I have to buy a meat because it ran out before the next animal was ready I buy bulk. I also add to meats with dry beans. You never really notice in Mexican meals or sloppy joes or casseroles. Bulk last. I find spending a little on containers or even picking up frosting containers at the grocery store helps me keep items without bugs and rodents coming and getting into them. Once you learn to cook with basic whole foods mixing and matching with spices you can plan so many meals with what you have on hand. Example Tues is Mexican. We love it. We don't have tacos every Tuesday. In the summer we do taco salads a lot because I gaden and we have loads of lettuce. We love burritos so that is most often what we have but I will make mexican lasagna with the burrito shells, tomorrow I thought we would try taco bread. It is taco filling in crescent bread dough. I always have ground beef, corn, dry beans, cumin, chili powder, onions and flour on hand for mexican meals. Think though take out the spices and what other meals can be made? I hope some of what I wrote will be useful or give you ideas that help you gain time in you everyday life.
The first step is to start even if it is one week The relief of knowing what is for dinner, planning easier meals for late days and busy evenings. Crockpots help to start the night before so less stress the next morning or evening. You won't believe how much time you will gain to put to another area once this becomes habit!

Pine Spring Farm is a family farm located in the Finger Lakes Region of Western New York. We are all about growing things, kids, animals, plants,and love. We have 110 acres of woods and pastures. Some we rent to a large local farmer and some we do things ourselves. We are a large family of 10 and own cows, horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, goats, rabbits, dogs, and cats that are often dropped and welcomed to the barns. We are a homeschooling family as well enjoying learning about how to do many of our interests. We garden, raise our own meat, process our own chickens, cut firewood, and do all of our activities together no matter how little or big we are. We raise Golden Retrievers and have puppies available about once a year. We also sell meat chickens and are starting to expand to pigs and beef in the coming years. The kids are involved heavily in 4H in our county. They show animals yearly at the county fair. When I am not busy out on the farm I love to craft. Often crocheting while giving spelling tests! I do craft sales in the fall when things begin to quiet down. I do sewing and crochet items and sell items at the local sales.We love the change of seasons as there is always something different to do. We are thankful for each and every family member to enjoy and every opportunity we have to learn and do something new together.