{ Prepping for the week }

You go grocery shopping, bring it all home and start putting it away, fully intent on using everything before it goes bad.  

 

How many times have we done that?  I used to do it all the time, but it never quite worked out the way I envisioned it in my head.  The parsley and cilantro would go bad a few days after shopping, fruit would go bad, my lettuce would wilt.

 

Then we would run out of bread some weeks and I had to run out and buy more.  

 

But over the years, I have learned that if I just take some time, some effort and some organization, I actually save a lot of money.  It's all about having the right attitude.

 

A few days ago, I took two hours to get everything sorted in the fridge. Did I feel like it? Not particularly but I knew that I had to do it, and couldn't put it off any longer.

The first on the list was a gallon of milk that had expired days prior, and I really didn't want to waste it.  so I decided to use it to make some cheese.  I used 2 quarts for Ricotta Cheese and there was about a liter left which I used to make cream cheese.

To make the ricotta cheese, I used the recipe from Attainable Sustainable.  I didn't have cheesecloth but thankfully had some muslin cotton that I used, I would have preferred the cheesecloth, but I just made do.  However, I have made a note to buy some soon.

The cream cheese recipe is on my food blog, and you can find it here.  Homemade Cream Cheese.

The only downside to any of this, is that it doesn't make a lot of cheese.  You would need a ton of milk to get a sizable amount of either cream cheese or ricotta cheese, but at least the milk didn't go to waste.

 

Here is the finished Ricotta Cheese.....

 

And here is the finished cream cheese....

While the cheese was making, I quickly got some bread loaves made, as we were out of sandwich bread.

It took no time to get the dough done and rising.  In no time I had four loaves of delicious sandwich bread for the rest of the week and the freezer. 

The last thing on my list was taking care of the two bags of lettuce I had bought.

 

We eat a lot of salad, but there's still times that my lettuce goes bad quicker than we eat it. With just a little preparation, it stays in the fridge longer and crispier. 

 

Pulled all the leaves apart, washed them all well, and let them dry on the counter.  Once they were dry, I placed them between paper towels in a big tupperware container.  

 

And just like that, in about 2 hours, I was very productive, and got everything done that I needed doing. 

It's crazy the amount of  money I have saved over the years.

The Lord has been working within me for a long time.  He has taught me so many things, even and especially about my job as a wife, mother and homemaker.  The minute I invited Him into my life, in every area, and submitted to His plans, it all fell into place.

Could not be the homemaker I am today, without Him!!!