“Mind the door dear; don’t trip on the ledge.”
I would hear this from my grannie every time I carried the big pot of hot water out through the kitchen door. She’d also say “don’t let the door slam behind you,” but the door would slam. I never figured out how to stop the door from slamming.
Looking back, it was a sunny day when my grannie and I pulled the wringer washer out of the pump house. Grannie half filled the washer with water from her hose. Then she grated her homemade soap bar into the tub.
My job was to carry the big pot of boiling water outside and dump it into the washer. Every now and again I managed to get it there without spilling it! The machine agitated the quilts as grannie worked the treadle with her foot.
These quilts were heavy when they were wet and I needed a stick to pull them out of the washer, and once rinsed in a second tub they weighed what felt like a ton. Then we had to peg them sopping wet onto the clothes line.
One day I asked why we didn’t use the ringer on the machine to ring some of the water out of the quilts and she said, “Look at what you are doing!”
I turned to see the quilts hung to dry with water draining from them onto the vegetable garden. Then she said: “Dear, work takes energy.”
She explained further. “Every job you do uses up some of your energy. So you see dear, if you can finish three jobs with only the energy required for one you are way ahead.”
I could see two jobs being done in washing the quilts and hanging them to dry; while at the same time watering the garden.
“What is the third job?” I asked.
The answer was eradicating the potato bugs. Grannie had shown me the potato patch and the plants were suffering from an infestation of potato beetle.
“Remember how I told you that soapy water kills potato bugs? When we’re done here we’ll drain the soapy water into buckets. Then we’ll pour that water over the potato plants. Those potato bugs will be running for the hills. Soapy water acts like an insecticide. Once those blessed beatles are gone my plants will recover,” grannie said.
Three jobs done: Landry clean, garden watered and potato bugs gone.
Back to today, my husband and I are often asked how we manage to get it all done. A large family, vegetable gardens, chickens, cutting firewood to heat our house, volunteering at the food bank and keeping a clean house (OK so the last one is a bit of a stretch).
It’s like making a meal plan. You can see from your plan what needs to be done and when. You can make enough of one food to last over three or four days.
Here’s an example, baking potatoes and squash together to create yummy side dishes for five days:
- Monday — baked potatoes
- Tuesday — twice-baked cheesy potatoes
- Wednesday — baked stuffed squash
- Thursday — shepherd’s pie topping
- Friday — mashed potato
Work plan:
- Monday — Bake enough potatoes for three meals. At the same time, make the best use of your hydro by baking the squash for Wednesday night. Serve plain baked potatoes.
- Tuesday — make twice-baked cheesy potatoes using the extra potatoes you baked on Monday. See recipe below.
- Wednesday — serve baked squash for variety.
- Thursday — Boil enough potatoes (with skin on — also known as in the jackets) for the shepherd’s pie topping and the mashed potatoes for Friday. For shepherd’s pie topping, mix half the mashed potatoes with the same amount of squash you baked on Monday.
- Friday — Mashed potatoes leftover from Thursday.
We’ve cooked potatoes and squash only two times but we’ve created enough side dishes for five meals. Five meals using only two meals worth of energy.
The same way we manage how much money we spend we also plan and manage how much of our energy we use.
Save money now
Rebate Apps
My favourite one is Receipt Hog. It’s a free app. Easy to use. Snap a picture of any receipt. That’s it. Money builds up in your personal account, which you can redeem at different levels to be used with Amazon, Pay Pal or Visa. We are about to redeem for a $40 gift card. That $40 will restock winter pantry staples. No cash out of our budget!
Turn earlier baked potatoes into cheesy twice-baked potatoes.
Recipe
Cheesy Twice Baked potatoes
- Set oven at 375 F
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- Cut cold baked potatoes in half
- Scoop out the potato meat carefully so the skins stay intact
- For 2 cups of mashed potato meat
- Add 1 tsp of garlic and onion powder, 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese, 1/3 cup of milk, sour cream or yogurt
- Stir well
- Scoop the filling back into the empty skins
- Top lightly with a sprinkling of more cheese
- Set the filled potato shells in a single layer on the baking pan
- Bake at 375 F until hot and crispy — about 20 minutes
These little triumphs of deliciousness freeze well. You can re bake them from frozen at 350 F.
We often make extras and tuck them away in the freezer for snacks or lazy dinner sides.
