Long day

Well it was a long day yesterday.  I got most of the list knocked off to say the least and then some.  Between cleaning and paying bills I was lost by lastnight.  I did all of it on the cheap of course.  With the walk I saved the gas since the van is out in Collins at this point in time.  Pluss I got to clear my head out with the walk and pay a bill.  Today will not be so bad around here at all once I think of it since I can get alot more done here.  With yesterday I was walking home and cut thru the one corner of the park here.  Very few folks knew that I left before 7am yesterday.  I did know the one neighbor was spying once again on me around here.  I thought it was funny that he was looking at his watch when I walked up to my place, like it made a differance that I was gone for about an hour around here.  The walk did some good for me and, I diden't have to put up with the ignorance of some of the neighbors for about an hour.  I also got to think of a new menu plan for the month while I was walking.  And yes that makes some folks mad that I do go grocery shopping on the cheap and pick up enough food for the month around here for the most part.  When I get more than just peanut butter and jelly for the 2 kitchens some can't understand why I would do such a thing.  There is more to food than just the scrapeing of the bottom of the bucket and the household does not get frustraited and beg the neighbors to feed them for a hot meal that day.  I will admit I learned to cook when I was young by watching what everyone did.  When some folks say that they can not cook I shake my head.  When I got back yesterday morning and sat down for abit I looked into the cabnets here in my place to see what I had.  I do not need to shop for awhile around here for some things.  There is pasta and a few other things around here that I will be changeing out for the menu around here.  With cooking around here I take a base recipie and mix it up and turn it into my own.  Anyway I have noticed the increase in the food costs around here in NY State over the years.  When things go sky rocketing out of range in the price you start looking into ways of cutting the grocery bill.  I use alot of coupons and discout cards for the place here.  Pluss I streach out the dollars as much as I can also while I am at it all.  When I go to Aldi I am picking up some of the groceries from there since some of the stuff there is cheaper than the regular chain stores around here.  I have built meals off the side dishes also while I am at it from the cheaper stores.  There are ways to streach out everything that you get also.  With around my place I do cook alot of rice and pasta around here.  It is a force of habbit from years ago when I was really broke and wanted to feed the household.  After things started to look up around here I did get the rice cooker/steamer for the kitchen.  When some folks walk in and smell the food going and ask what the rice cooker is I tell them.  Then they all ask why I cook in the rice cooker also.  I tell them at least it is food and does not heat up the can as bad during the week.  Also it works great for heating the leftovers for one pot dinners.  Well at least some things have been calming down with the children asking me to cook for them also.  What gets to me is that some of the children are on the system around here and some of the parents do not know how to streach out the food stamp dollars also.  When I have streached out the dollars when I was had the food stamps coming in and I am still streaching out the dollars without the stamps coming in.  Alot of what is going on is that some have not bothered to think of what to make all month for 3 meals a day also.  Now normally I do not eat the 3 meals a day around here at all and I think of dinners for the weekends around here for when my Husband is home.  This is why I can feed the household so cheap.  When some can say they can feed 4 people off of 10 dollars a meal I start to laugh.  With the cost are going up you find creative ways to get it cheaper and for more people.  I can still feed a family of 6 for under 10 dollars a meal around here.  That is out of flour, sugar, rice, eggs, real milk/powdered, onions, pasta, 4 blocks of cheese, garlic, yeast, bakeing powder, some meats, dried beans, and taters.  And yes I do get veggies also while I am at it.  Eather canned, fresh, or frozen depending on what is the best deal for when I go shopping.  All I can say is look around on the net for recipies and fallow the recipies also.  One site I love is http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ there are alot of sinceable recipies on Susannes site.  Once you get use to makeing things from scratch it becomes easier for yourself.  Pluss you can get the children involved with cooking also.