The Home Mgt Journal - health and menus part two

To wrap up the health and menus section I have a master grocery list adapted from Webmomz :

Download master_grocery_list_from_webmomz.doc

There is a page of most often used recipes such as basic whole wheat bread (for sandwiches, pizza dough etc), brown rice, yogurt, and so on.

Download delicious_whole_wheat_bread_recipe.doc

There is a page of master mixes Download basic_mix_recipes.doc   to make up ahead. Much to my chagrin I must admit I seem utterly unable to teach, clean, and cook well simultaneously.  Give me any two and I am good. Add the third and I am sunk. We have done bulk cooking and mixes to solve that problem. Somehow we got away from that over the summer and boy did we suffer! It tends to not be a problem in the summer because the school schedule was lighter. Right now with contractions hitting hard in the evenings it is crucial to plan ahead. This will be even more relevant once the baby is here.

I have a leftover food safety guide Download food_storage_safety.doc  adapted from this extension office.

This link provides all the info you need to begin once a month cooking. My gripe with many OAMC sites/books is that they make 30 different dinners in that day. It did not save money because the shopping lists had multiple tiny jars of things. Instead, we take six or seven of our favorite recipes and make four of each to fill the month. Basically take one of the weekly menus and double or quadruple it. The next month try a new one.  Another option is to double all the menus each week, eating one and freezing the other. After a few weeks of this you have a month's worth of meals in the freezer.

Creative Homemaking has a nice printable menu planner that includes all three meals.  They also have some other nice ebooks you might like to print and include here such as homemade beauty care recipes.

In this section or in Other you should have an Emergency Preparedness checklist Download emergency_preparedness.doc  and go over it as a family periodically.  If you are rural like us you probably have to always be prepared for utility irregularities.

On a related note a first aid chart is essential.  A babysitter's guide Download guide_for_babysitters.doc  is also helpful. Ours is taken from here. It is easy to assume an older sibling is prepared to babysit when in fact they may not have been instructed properly.

Ok that should do it! Start printing, ladies, and please send me a note and a pic when your journals are finished!

Comments

[Cheryl]

Kim, thanks for all the links. I will check them out later on when I have more time. I worked on my binder and dividers last night and I have another question. Is yours full? I used a 2" and it looks empty. I haven't added all the pages yet, but I'm thinking I should go with a 1 1/2" or maybe even 1". What do you think?

[Kim]

Decided to answer right here this time. I agree with Cheryl, mine is not full yet. Although, I have not decided if I want a smaller binder or if I will just include more things in this one place. Some I have filed in a file cabinet fearing I wouldn't have room in the binder. Since I do, I will move them.

[Susie]

Thank you for encouraging me to do this! The info you have provided here is great!

[Wendy in VA]

Thank you *so much* for all the binder posts. I have saved all the forms and am gathering my binder supplies today and tomorrow. I especially like your emphasis on making it pretty; I'm very visual also and if it doesn't like nice, I won't use it. I thank you, and my dh thanks you! :o)

[Leslie]

Thanks Kim for putting in all this effort. I currently have 'A Mother's Rule of Life' notebook that I don't really use and I think you nailed it on the head when you said it has to be PRETTY!! I am very visual so I am going to work on converting mine into a visually pleasing, user friendly Home management notebook for the family. You and Elizabeth have inspired me... again thank you so much ;-)