Cheap Christmas Gift Ideas

This Christmas is going to be slim for lots of people, so I thought I’d post a few cheap but thoughtful gift ideas.  Many of these gifts focus on food because  a) I tend to be practical, and b) everybody’s gotta eat!  Customize them for the individual’s taste and be creative.

Caramel Apple Basket – Fill a basket (small to medium size) with an assortment of apples and include a tub of caramel sauce.  If you want to spend the extra money, you could also put an apple slicer/corer in the basket too.

Homemade Cookies – Who doesn’t like getting homemade cookies?  Sugar cookies are wonderful this time of year, but so are chocolate chip, oatmeal, snickerdoodles, peanut butter, etc.  Be sure to package different flavored cookies separately.  Softer cookies packaged with crisper ones will turn them all soft (ask me how I know!).

Homemade Candies – Along similar lines as the cookies.  I did this one year for my nieces and nephews – made many different kinds of candy and packaged them in a snowman tin from Walmart.  It was cheap (although time consuming), but they LOVED it!

Make an afghan or quilt – If you are interested in needlework, get busy and make a simple throw or lap blanket.

Make homemade Christmas ornaments – This could be anything from painted ornaments to satin balls covered with sequins and anything in between.  Get creative and use your imagination!  There are literally tons of patterns on the internet.

Jar of caramel corn – This is great packaged in a mason jar and tie the top with a pretty ribbon/bow.  I love to put either pecans or peanuts in my caramel corn.  Another idea would be to package the Popcorn Concoction recipe I have listed on the blog.

Canned Food – There are a lot of folks struggling to make ends meet, and many people would appreciate an old-fashioned “pounding” where you give them canned/boxed goods.  There are lots of sales going on at the moment, and it would be easy to load a box or basket with many different useful items.

Spaghetti Basket – Can your own spaghetti sauce, add it to a basket with a package of dry spaghetti, container of parmesan cheese, and maybe a loaf of homemade bread or storebought French bread.  Voila!  Supper in a basket!  I don’t know any woman with a family who wouldn’t appreciate an easy night in the kitchen.

Mixes in a Jar – Rather than use one on the internet, why not use a tried and true recipe from your own kitchen?   I’ve mixed up our favorite brownie recipe, included instructions, and given as gifts in the past.   Hot cocoa is another fantastic gift idea.

Stationary/Notepads – Most everyone could always use extra paper by the phone.  Fred’s and Dollar General normally carry cheap (but cute) notepads, many with a magnet on the back so it can hang on the fridge.  I can’t tell you how many of these I’ve gone through, but they make wonderful gifts.

Read Full Post »

The Famine of 2009 article

Found this today and thought it was worth passing along.  THIS is one reason everyone needs to have food stored and also learn how to garden:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/27/11143/168/114/667032

Read Full Post »

How to cook the perfect turkey

This works with all turkeys – they don’t have to be the most expensive brand to get fabulous results.

Thaw your turkey in cold water – it may take a whole day or longer depending on the size.

Remove “innerds”, wash turkey thoroughly and pat dry with paper towels.

Preheat oven to 375.  (You bake the turkey for one hour at this temp, then lower it to 325.)

Here in the South, we normally don’t stuff our turkeys.  We make cornbread dressing and serve it on the side.  If you prefer to stuff your bird, I can’t help you with that unfortunately.     🙂

Slice one stick of butter and insert underneath the skin on the breast of the turkey.  If you have any butter left, insert it into the cavity of the bird.  Rub the turkey liberally with Cavender’s Greek Seasoning (http://www.greekseasoning.com – it is locally available here, and it’s a staple in my kitchen).   You can also turn the bird upside down so that the breast is in the bottom of your roasting pan.  This keeps it from drying out and you won’t believe how moist it makes the meat.  (The only problem with this is that it’s hard to turn a bird back over when it’s fully cooked and falling apart.)

At this point, your turkey is ready to go into the oven.  You could stuff it with a chopped onion or garlic cloves if you’d like additional flavor, but it’s completely optional.

Bake the turkey for one hour at 375 degrees, then turn the oven down to 325 and bake until the internal thigh temperature reaches 180 degrees and the juices run clear.  This normally takes 3 or 4 hours (or longer depending on how large your turkey is). Baste the turkey periodically with juices from the bottom of the pan.

I use a large enameled turkey roaster with a lid (and I do put the lid on it – it will brown beautifully).  By the end of the cook, the turkey is usually literally falling apart and the smell is awesome!

Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

Happy Thanksgiving!

I appreciate all of you who read our humble blog, and would like to wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving!

Read Full Post »

Stockpiling on a budget

I know all of us are pinching pennies nowdays, so I thought I’d do a sample of how you can add to your food storage/stockpile for about $20 a week using sale items.  Please note that Walmart rarely runs sales, but most grocery stores *do*.  Our local store puts a sale flyer in the paper each week, and I shop based on what’s cheapest.  Keep in mind that you want VARIETY in what you store.  You and your family would quickly grow tired of eating nothing but beans and rice every day.

Example using our current store sales:

10 cans veggies @ .50 cents/can = $5.00
2 cans PET milk @ $1.00/can = $2.00
2 – 5# bags flour @ $1.48/bag = $2.96
2 – 46oz cans tomato juice @ $1.18/can = $2.36
32oz dried pasta @ $2.00
2 cans fruit @ $1.00/can = $2.00
2 cans chili with beans @ .98 cents/can = $1.96
4# bag white sugar @ $2.00

All of this totals $20.28 plus tax and includes a variety from all food groups.

Or if you’d rather just stock up on canned vegetables while they’re .50 cents a can, $20.00 would net you 40 cans to add to your storage.  You will save money in the long run by purchasing this way, plus quickly add to your pantry each week without breaking your budget.

From the above list of items, you could easily make vegetable soup (which would provide more than one meal), a couple of pasta dishes (chili mac being one), fruit cobbler, chicken pot pie (just add some chicken to your list), several loaves of bread (as well as waffles, biscuits, pancakes), etc.  Your possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

Read Full Post »