Provident Living.........waste not want not
I grew up in a home where both my parents were industrious and thrifty. We grew our own vegetables and fruit, kept chickens and pigs. My dad brewed his own beer, cultivated flowers and roses and distributed vegetable hampers to grocery stores. My mom sewed most of our clothes when we were younger and always made our bedding. Mom knitted, crocheted, baked, and canned. They managed to do all this while maintaining full time jobs. They were hard workers!
One of my fondest memories as a teenager was when my dad made 'bubble and squeak'. He did not waste anything and always had a way of turning left over food into delicious meals. On Sunday nights he would take all the Sunday lunch leftovers and make 'bubble and squeak', It consisted of a little bit of this and that, vegetables and meat, all cooked together with onion and garlic, and a little bit of brown gravy thrown in for good measure. Sometime we had it on leftover rice, a bun or slice of toast. It was delicious! I really miss those 'bubble and squeak' days!
I have always believed in being thrifty. I enjoy the challenge that is frugal living. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are encouraged to live within our means, avoid debt, pay tithing, develop self reliance, use our resources wisely and give charitable service. These principles are collectively known as Provident Living. As a family we are striving to practise these principles. We still have some way to go but we are trying to improve each day. Frugal Living has always been part of our life, by choice and out of necessity. We are constantly seeking ways to use our resources well. I simply cannot abide waste. We feel that living a frugal and provident lifestyle brings abundant blessings into our home. Here are some ways in which we practised frugal and Provident Living in the past few weeks.
While cleaning out my fridge, I turned some bruised golden delicious apples into Madison's favourite Apple Cinnamon spread (not quite as sticky as jam but thicker than apple sauce)
I made a "bottom of the jar" sauce to add to my savoury mince which we had on top of baked potatoes for dinner that night. I simply put alittle boiling water into each jar (Worcestershire - tomato - sweet chili sauces), shook the bottom of the jar contents loose and added it to the cooking minced meat along with a chopped onion, alittle brown sugar, 4 tablespoons of brown onion soup powder, 1 beef seasoning block and a 50g sachet of tomato paste. Yum!
I added some slices of a left over piece of cucumber to a jar of pickling juice. We had the pickled cucumber on burgers last night. Yum!
I turned 3 over ripe tomatoes into tomato puree simply by skinning the tomatoes and blitzing them in my blender with Italian herbs and garlic. I added this to a stew the next day.
Nic and Liam learned the basics of preparing, sealing and painting walls from a professional painter/builder when they participated in a church service project which involved painting the house of a single mother in our congregation. What a blessing! They learned as they served. Thank you Douglas for sharing your knowledge! When we paint our house, we will be able to do the work ourselves!
As a birthday surprise for Madison, I booked a skin analysis and makeup makeover for her at Dischem's beauty and skincare counter. This was a cost-free event.
We visited The Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens on 22nd of May (my late father's birthday and a pre-birthday celebration for Madison). Entry to the garden was free for the day, so we made good use of the opportunity and hiked to the waterfall, where we had a picnic. While there, we participated in a Biodiversity Awareness campaign and added our hand prints and signatures to the Mobile Pledge Wall.
We made birthday cards using recycled scraps of paper, cardboard and ribbon.
We used E-Bucks earned from fuel purchases to buy Madison's birthday gift at Dischem.
We borrowed books needed for homeschooling projects from our local library.
go to www.lds.org for more on Provident Living.
One of my fondest memories as a teenager was when my dad made 'bubble and squeak'. He did not waste anything and always had a way of turning left over food into delicious meals. On Sunday nights he would take all the Sunday lunch leftovers and make 'bubble and squeak', It consisted of a little bit of this and that, vegetables and meat, all cooked together with onion and garlic, and a little bit of brown gravy thrown in for good measure. Sometime we had it on leftover rice, a bun or slice of toast. It was delicious! I really miss those 'bubble and squeak' days!
I have always believed in being thrifty. I enjoy the challenge that is frugal living. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, we are encouraged to live within our means, avoid debt, pay tithing, develop self reliance, use our resources wisely and give charitable service. These principles are collectively known as Provident Living. As a family we are striving to practise these principles. We still have some way to go but we are trying to improve each day. Frugal Living has always been part of our life, by choice and out of necessity. We are constantly seeking ways to use our resources well. I simply cannot abide waste. We feel that living a frugal and provident lifestyle brings abundant blessings into our home. Here are some ways in which we practised frugal and Provident Living in the past few weeks.
While cleaning out my fridge, I turned some bruised golden delicious apples into Madison's favourite Apple Cinnamon spread (not quite as sticky as jam but thicker than apple sauce)
I made a "bottom of the jar" sauce to add to my savoury mince which we had on top of baked potatoes for dinner that night. I simply put alittle boiling water into each jar (Worcestershire - tomato - sweet chili sauces), shook the bottom of the jar contents loose and added it to the cooking minced meat along with a chopped onion, alittle brown sugar, 4 tablespoons of brown onion soup powder, 1 beef seasoning block and a 50g sachet of tomato paste. Yum!
I added some slices of a left over piece of cucumber to a jar of pickling juice. We had the pickled cucumber on burgers last night. Yum!
I turned 3 over ripe tomatoes into tomato puree simply by skinning the tomatoes and blitzing them in my blender with Italian herbs and garlic. I added this to a stew the next day.
Nic and Liam learned the basics of preparing, sealing and painting walls from a professional painter/builder when they participated in a church service project which involved painting the house of a single mother in our congregation. What a blessing! They learned as they served. Thank you Douglas for sharing your knowledge! When we paint our house, we will be able to do the work ourselves!
As a birthday surprise for Madison, I booked a skin analysis and makeup makeover for her at Dischem's beauty and skincare counter. This was a cost-free event.
We visited The Walter Sisulu Botanical Gardens on 22nd of May (my late father's birthday and a pre-birthday celebration for Madison). Entry to the garden was free for the day, so we made good use of the opportunity and hiked to the waterfall, where we had a picnic. While there, we participated in a Biodiversity Awareness campaign and added our hand prints and signatures to the Mobile Pledge Wall.
We made birthday cards using recycled scraps of paper, cardboard and ribbon.
We used E-Bucks earned from fuel purchases to buy Madison's birthday gift at Dischem.
We borrowed books needed for homeschooling projects from our local library.
go to www.lds.org for more on Provident Living.
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