Make More Home Cooked Meals By Making A Plan
Often times I get asked questions like, “How do you do it all?” and well, the answer is I don’t - especially these past few months. Even though I’ve dropped the ball in many areas of my life I’ve still managed to get home cooked meals on the table daily. I will tell you the key to “doing it all” is to make a plan. That plan has to start with a plumbline. A what? Yes, a plumbline is a tool that is used to measure things and make them straight. How do you find what that is in your own life? Well, it’s not really that hard but it does take some time to think through. So grab a cup of tea (this one is delicious!) and a journal and lets jot some things down.
First ask yourself this question: At the end of the day what is most important to you? When you are at the end of your life thinking back what do you want to remember doing? What legacy do you want to leave behind?
Once you write the answer down it will help you to sluff off the extra things that don’t align with it. For me one of the most important things is spending time with people and enjoying truly good food. Those people are my children, friends, family and even the beautiful random conversations that happen with strangers in unexpected places. I’ve found that people really need two things. Number one is someone to listen and number two is nourishing and wholesome real food that tastes amazing. This is why my homestead has become the gathering place. And I love it.
We all know that preparing food takes time. If you are a stay at home parent you generally have the time to do this. But if you work or are busy running kids around to after school activities or your are a single parent you know that this is really difficult. I’ve found that if my children are not home I simply don’t cook, which means I usually just don’t eat much. Fortunately my children are home most of the time and often demanding 3 meals a day plus snacks. I’m glad I have them to keep my on my toes.
The only way I’ve found to make sure there are three delicious from scratch home-cooked meals on the table is that I plan it weekly. Yes weekly. I used to do monthly and oh my gosh is that exhausting or what!! I found that with a homesteading and foraging lifestyle weekly is best. This ensures I can utilize the foods that are in season right then and nothing goes to waste. When you are trying to save money and work really hard to produce the food you eat waste is nearly unbearable. We have zero food waste on this farm. Even if we don’t eat all of what we produce someone else on the homestead will: the dog, the chickens, the ducks, the goats, the rabbits and even the compost all get fed if there is excess.
So what is the plan? Well, most people think the plan starts with your notebook app open and Pinteresting things like “easy 30 minute meals” or “cheap dinner ideas” … but deciding what you will eat actually starts months earlier when you are thumbing through seed catalogs trying to decide what to grow. I will have a full post on this coming up this winter. For now let’s just pretend you’re brand new at this. You’re just starting this whole “homesteading freedom journey” and you need an easy place to jump in. Fall is a great time because even if you did’t grow a garden there is so much abundance available. Pumpkins, onions, squash, sweet potatoes, garlic and more! These foods are what will make up your weekly meal plan. One day you will have so much of this coming from your own garden you might feel a little overwhelmed so it’s nice to learn how to manage it when you just buy a few from a local produce stand or farmer… or yes even the grocery store. We all started here unless we never left the farm life that is.
So let’s take a look at how to process pumpkin first of all… here is a blurb from a Facebook post I wrote a few years ago. Let use this to help build our weekly meal plan.
Pumpkin day!!!!!
I know for most of you pumpkins seem like a Halloween thing but here on my farm it's more of a November ordeal. Once the garden has settled down and homeschool routine has been established I finally have time to deal with the pumpkins. I love November pumpkins because they keep the harvest feel for this time of year when so much is shifting toward Christmas I like to really focus on Thanksgiving. These babies were grown right here on our farm.
So let's talk pumpkin. Years ago I heard canned pumpkin isn't even pumpkin - it is butternut squash.... well I don't know if this is true but seriously it does make one think: What is actually in those cans? I started realizing all those years ago if you can’t visit the farm or make it yourself you just can’t know for sure what's actually in that can. That was the year I grew my own pumpkins for the first time ever. I grew 12 perfect little mystery pumpkins that just decided to grace my garden. I let the vine grow and grow and grow till it reached over 50' long! I didn't even know what it was until we found a hint of orange. Punpkins!!! Anyway that fall my mama helped me can thoes little guys. It took us all day long!!!!!!! Cutting, cleaning, pureeing, then pressure canning. Sheesh!!! Now I freeze my puree. Lol!!!!! I had jars and jars of puree canned for about 3 or so years when finally they were all used up. They made the best pies.
I've always tried to make the best homemade goodness I can for my family. Not with one big life overhaul but with steady consistency. We get curious and pick one thing to make better.... I challenge you in this time of abundance to can your own puree!!! (Or freeze it) The taste is fantastic!!! I've never gone back to store canned pumpkin and it's been over 10 years now.
Whether you grew your own or were gifted some or purchased them from a store here is how to make the most out of your pumpkin goodness!!! Here is a video on processing pumpkins.
1. Cut pumpkins in half (enlist the help of a tall strong handsome fella) and scoop out all the "guts" into a bowl.
2. If you have large pumpkins cut the pumpkins into pieces that will fit onto trays. Poke some holes in the pumpkins with a fork and bake at 400°F for about an hour... times will vary depending on pumpkin sizes and thickness.
3. While the pumpkins are baking clean the seeds. I pick out the big chunks of stings and place the seeds into smaller bowls as I work. Save all the bits for the compost or chickens. They love them!!! Once the seeds are picked over give them a good rinse. I find just filling a bowl with water and swishing around the seeds works well. I hate cleaning strainers. Lol!!!
4. Spread the cleaned seeds on a tray to dry. Once dry rub some olive oil on them then season with salt, chili oil, creole seasoning or whatever you like. Bake 200° for about 60mins. Absolutely delicious!!!!! This year I grew a hulless veriety called lady Godiva. Oh man! Delicious!!!!
Cutting pumpkins to make puree and baking ginger snap cookies.
5. Once your pumpkin is cooked to fork tender remove from oven and cool. Once cool peel off the shell (feed this to chickens also they love it!!!) And place pumpkin in a large bowl. Use a blender or food processor to puree. (If it's to thick add a tiny bit of water). Once pureed place in freezer bags and freeze. We usually keep ours for a year till we replenish our stock.
Enjoy!!!!!!!
Happy pumpkin day!
Pumpkin puree ready to be frozen
Way to go! You can now save money by going to the store and buying some of those tiny little sugar pie pumpkins and turn them into dozens of meals for this winter. It’s okay if you start out by using canning pumpkin… butternut squash… er… well what ever is in those cans hahaha! It’s still better than a store bought pie. wink. wink. Not that we will be eating pumpkin every single meal but this will really help form the base of my meal plan this season. Here is what we are eating for breakfast this week and links to all the recipes! Happy cooking my friend!
Monday - Lemon Dutch babies : We first had this recipe with some dear friends of ours. My kids instantly LOVED them. I was really glad they shared the recipe with me. This has become a staple in our household.
Tuesday - Fried Potatoes and scrambled eggs: We simply cube up the potatoes and fry them in tallow, lard or avocado oil until soft and crispy. (ppppsssttt lard is the absolute best) To make what my daughter calls juicy eggs add a bit of raw milk and cheese to the eggs while you scramble them. I’m gonna assume most of my readers know how to scramble eggs. But just in case you don’t hear is a quick recipe.
Wednesday - Waffles: Here is my grandmas recipe that makes the best ever!
1/2 cup softened butter, 4 eggs, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract (cream these together) Then Add 3 cups flour, 4 tsp baking powder, 1/4tsp salt (mix everything together and then slowly incorporate 1 cup of milk.
Pour small amount of batter onto the hot waffle iron. Cook until golden brown. Make a double batch to store some in the freezer. - these store really well in a 1 gallon zip lock bag. Simply pop into the toaster when you are ready to eat them.
Thursday - Sausage Links & Fried Eggs: I encourage you to source the best foods you can. It might seem like farm raised pork is expensive when you compare it to other factory raised pork…. but instead compare it to healthcare costs, or the lack thereof when you take proper care and time over what you put into your body.
Friday - Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal : This is our absolute favorite way to eat oatmeal!! Not only is it healthy it includes so many wonderful items from our homestead. I try to plan this for a day or two after our weekly raw milk pick up so I have fresh cream to whip for the topping. Delicious!
Saturday - Pumpkin Donuts with Maple Frosting : These are a fall favorite in this house! Great for a special Saturday morning treat. My kids bought me the perfect rubber spatula for helping remove the donuts from the pan. We personally opt to skip the pumpkin spice creamer and just add raw fresh cream to our recipe instead and we traded out the maple glaze for a basic maple buttercream frosting instead.
This was their first time trying the pumpkin donuts. I think they approve.
We make a 6 day meal plan because we usually have left overs or activities that pop up. We can rearrange the meals as needed. Sometimes we wake up and simply don’t feel like eating what was planned. Leaving a small gaps allows us the wiggle room we need.
You will notice not everything is totally produced on our farm. This is because like you we are still on our journey of producing food and learning to change and grow as we need to. Our goal is to purchase the best we can at the time. This method has served our family well and even through difficult times we fall back to home cooked meals rather than fast food or boxed items because of our planning and practice.
Happy home cooking to you all! Do you have a favorite fall meal? Leave me a comment down below, I’d love to hear what it is.
Learn and Grow
Esther Munroe
