so, what have you stopped buying prepackaed or made and make your own now?

Thank you. I have read about that method, I just have not done it...yet!

 

I use whipping cream & my food processor for my homemade butter. We only make occasionally & I like to add extra flavors to it sometimes. We really like it, though. I'd make it more often if the cream was cheaper.

 

If you use cream, BE SURE it says "heavy whipping cream". The "light" cream won't work!

 

In regard to making butter:

I buy raw milk. When we drink/use it, I shake the cream into it (it settles on the top). If I used it for butter, should I skim the cream and only use the milk, skim the cream and only use the cream, or use both cream and milk?

 

Not sure. Why don't you make it a science experiment and find out? Try all three ways! (I would GUESS you would use just the cream).

 

My first MIL used to make her own butter. They kept a cow. You skim the cream and use the cream. It has to clabber first. She had a glass churn, about gallon size or so, with a screw-on top that the paddles were attached to. There was a crank, with the gears on top to drive the paddles to churn the butter. Still tiring, but easier than shaking in a quart jar. She put the cream into the churn to let it clabber, rather than have it in another container and pour the clabber into the churn -- she didn't say so, but sort of indicated that this was essential somehow to the butter-making process. You have to wash the butter once it's made, to get the whey out so it doesn't sour as fast -- she never salted her butter but kept it in the freezer. It was wonderful!

 

Clabber? I am not familiar with that term.

 

clabber = curdle or sour

 

We never clabbered our cream at all for our butter but we did let the milk settle and just use the cream part. Also we never found it necessary to wash our butter because it went immediately into the fridge or freezer. We also only made it in small batches every week.

 

I don't know if these items really count much , but instead of buying canned chili I make my own in the pressure cooker, soups in the pressure cooker, and I rarely purchase boxed cereal but instead cook hot cereal. Also, if the kids want cookies, instead of buying packaged ones,one of us bakes homemade. We also cook our cornbread from scratch, not the premixed kind. But since my kids are old enough to do some of the cooking it's really not a big chore on me like it is when all of your children are too little to cook.
Also, we do not use the packaged taco seasoning mixes. I just put 1-2 Tablespoons of Chili Powder, 1 Teaspoon of cumin, some hot sauce to taste, chopped onion and some chopped fresh garlic , to 1 lb of hamburger.I almost forgot : After browning the meat and onions, and then draining the meat, add 3/4 cups of water to the meat and the seasonings and let simmer for about 15 minutes. You can adjust the seasonings to taste depending on how plain or spicy your family likes the taco meat.

 

Same here. I was ten years old when my Mom left and all of my older sisters had moved out.I don't remember my Mom ever teaching me anything about cooking. So I had to teach myself to cook with cookbooks. I started with a cookbook for kids that my Dad got me. I burnt a few roasts when I was cooking at a young age. I would want to go outside to play for awhile and when I came in to check on the food it would be burnt, of course. LOL.
Would you like to share bad spaghetti stories that inspired me to learn to be the one doing the cooking ? We had a babysitter once that cooked us up some spaghetti noodles and then set a bottle of ketchup on the table to put on them. I think she must have grown up during the depression or something. We lived just a couple of blocks from a grocery store so there really was no reason we couldn't have gone to the store to get something else to cook to eat but she was really just an awful cook.

 

No biscuit or pancake mix for us. Pie crust too is always homemade at our house. We hardly ever buy spaghetti sauce anymore either.

 

I forgot to mention I stopped buying the flavored rice mixes. I found recipes to make my own on hillbilly housewife and now I get my own flavored rices for for just pennies.

 

Neat Thread! Butter can also be made in the electric mixer. Whip the heavy cream just as you would for regular whipped cream, except keep on whipping. Before long, it will start sticking together in little clumps. Keep whipping until the whey and fat separates. Drain the whey, and press the globules together. Salt it, if desired, and press into a form. Use the whey in pancakes.

 

How?

 

Joanna, what's your sourdough starter? I can't find a good one
I make my own bread (including sandwitch) granola, cookies, stocks, stews, soups, manicoti (just learned how to make that)
I am learning how to make just about everything, although I can't seem to make a good spegetti sauce

My mom taught me 2 things to cook 1 Anything out of a box and 2 casseroles (neither of which my husband will eat) so I have learned along the way too.

 

Just substitute it for the other liquid. If the other liquid was sweet milk, add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda to get extra light results.
I'm wondering if it could also be used in the sour-dough recipes.
Some people even drink it!

 

Bump!

 

We have a large electric roaster that I use for slow cooking when a have a group of friends or family coming. This gave me the idea to use it for making chicken broth.

Place 3 cut up chickens in it with onion, celery, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, any other seasonings for making regular chicken soup and water to cover chicken. I like to use a little rosemary and parsley. I will sometimes use only chicken leg quarters if I find a good sale on them.

After it is all cooked remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Pour broth into bowls and place in fridge. I do not water down, even if the flavor is strong. After completely cooled you can skim the fat from top of broth, then package and freeze. Some I put into freezer containers, some I freeze in ice cube trays that I have for this purpose (they tend to keep flavors, so don't use them for regular ice, lol) and bag the cubes once frozen. These can be used for a quick flavor in mashed potatoes, etc.

I always put some of the broth into a large pot on the stove. Add a good portion of the chicken and either make dumplings or add noodles (veggies too if desired). Then package and freeze the rest of the chicken in one meal batches for another day. I always have a quick grab for fast meals. Chicken tetrazinni, chicken salad, etc.

One meal that day, 3 or 4 more meals in the waiting, plenty of broth without preservatives.

 

I almost forgot to ask. What is the recipe for the chicken nuggets. My DS could live on those and DH takes them in his lunch. What a money saver for our family.