Last night I went to a class on the Constitution in SLC by the people over at http://www.freedomformula.us/. I was surprised to bump into a reader of this blog, Rhonda, who has her own blog over at  theprovidenthomemaker.com. We had a lot of fun visiting after the class was over.

Rhonda has tons of free handouts and recipes on her site. She also has many links to homemaking resources. Many of the recipes from her cookbook, The Chameleon Cook, are here http://www.scribd.com/doc/62127648/72-Page-Recipe-Book. These are basic recipes that anybody in a kitchen should know. She specializes in teaching people how to cook from scratch for cheap. She also teaches the science behind cooking so you can swap out ingredients, using what you have on hand, instead of running to the store. Thanks Rhonda! She has also has a delightful blog with lots of recipes. The above photo is her fresh strawberry pie.  The chalupa photo below is also from her. Yum!

Just going by the name of her web site, I was thinking that Rhonda might be thrifty, so I asked her for an idea of how much she spends on groceries a month per person. She gave me a figure that was about what I have spent per person in the past. Then she told me about another blogger, an LDS homeschooling mom over here at http://theprudenthomemaker.com who has the following killer figures for feeding her family:

Having lived on our food storage for so long, and still having a very reduced income (our income has been cut by over 70%; in 2007 we went 8 months without income; in 2010 we made half of what we did in 2007), we have needed to continue to have something to eat, and to build our pantry at the same time for the inevitable months when we will not be able to afford to go shopping. In 2010, we fed our family AND restocked our pantry for .70 per person per day. In 2011, we ate and stocked out pantry for .40 per person per day. (you can read the rest of it here http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/frugal-living/eat-for-less)

She feeds her family of 8 for $3 a day! Granted, this woman lives in Las Vegas, so she can grow food year-round and eat from her garden. That would really help to cut my food budget! I am not ready to move to Vegas, but I highly recommend her site anyway for lots of tips. She fed her family out of her pantry for over a year because of a loss of income. Again the site is http://theprudenthomemaker.com/. She has lots of frugal tips, recipes, sewing tutorials, and fun crafts. The photography is gorgeous! I like this page http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/frugal-living/saving-money here of tips for frugal living, although I like having two cars.

Here are more sites:

web site all about dehydrating http://dehydrate2store.com

I learned from this site that I could dehydrate my harvest of tomatoes every fall to a crisp, then grind the tomatoes up, and have powdered tomatoes. I just add water and whiz in the blender to turn back to sauce. Powdered tomatoes takes up a lot less space than canned tomatoes, which is a huge blessing because I have a very small pantry.

Here’s a web site all about couponing http://fabulesslyfrugal.com

One of the cofounders/moms says she feeds her family of 9 on less than $400 a month. I think that’s using a lot of boxed food though, which I am not hip on. I am thinking I could learn her tips to save on nonfood consumables like toilet paper and go to Brandy’s site at http://theprudenthomemaker.com, because she teaches how to shop for whole grains and whole food, although she does recommend margarine, which I don’t. She also has lots of menu ideas and is creative enough to have recipes for fall, winter, spring, and summer as well as a strictly pantry menu http://theprudenthomemaker.com/index.php/menus/winter-menu. Wow, I am impressed!