Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Huge List of Screen Free Activities for Summer Fun

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This is the point in the summer that my kids are too hot to play, too hot to work, too hot to move, and too hot to care. Therefore, reaching for a device to play a game or zoning out to Netflix feels like the best option.

Knowing this is true for kids of all ages {Laura raises her hand while trying to cool down with a Coffee Milkshake} I asked my friend Kim to use her brilliance and creativity to come up with a list of ideas we can suggest to our kids, all of which do not involve a screen.

Huge List of Screen-Free Activitiesfor Summer Fun

Sounds good? Here we go!

List of Screen Free Activities for Summer Fun

1. Read, of course…

We’ve already talked about all the good books to read! (Did you see this list?) First and foremost, cooling off under the fan with a good book is a perfect screen free option this summer. Look over our list of great book suggestions. Join our Summer Reading Party. Read, read, read!

2. Have a Board Games Tournament

Huge List of Screen-Free Activitiesfor Summer Fun

Select any of the following, making adjustments depending on your kids’ ages. If your kids are old enough, enjoying any of these games in tournament form could be a blast! Even if your kids are “too old” for little kid games, sometimes it’s fun to pull them out and have a “Throw Back Game Day!”

  • UNO
  • Skip Bo
  • Rummikub
  • Chutes and Ladders
  • Farkle
  • Checkers
  • Monopoly
  • Scrabble
  • Bananagrams
  • Rummikub
  • Headbanz

3. Have Fun With Bubbles

  • Have Bubble Races – Hold your bubble on your wand and see who can go the farthest.
  • Set up a Bubble Obstacle Course – Create an obstacle course and try to get through it without your bubble popping.
  • Hold a Bubble Contest – Compete for who has the biggest bubble, smallest bubble, one that flies the highest, one that lasts the longest…
  • Make Big Bubbles – Use lids from different sized cottage cheese, yogurt, or sour cream containers to cut into fun bubble rings. Dip the the rings into the tubs of homemade bubbles, made as directed below. This makes great big bubbles!
  • Check out these Bubble Guns for an extra level of fun!

Need a Homemade Bubble Recipe?

Homemade Bubbles
 
Save Print
Author:
Ingredients
  • 12 cups water
  • 1 cup dish soap
  • 1 cup cornstarch
  • 2 Tablespoons baking powder
Instructions
  1. Mix ingredients in a bucket or tub, stirring gently.
  2. Allow mixture to sit for one hour before having bubble fun!

4. Use Sidewalk Chalk in a Fun New Way

  • Use Water – Dip your sidewalk chalk in water and see how that changes the color and consistency of the art.
  • Have Sidewalk Chalk Contests – Compete for who can draw the silliest, biggest, smallest, brightest, largest, most accurate, etc.
  • Use Sidewalk Chalk to Decorate Rocks – It is like dyeing Easter eggs, only with chalk and rocks!
  • Spread the Love – Write a message of love, encouragement or fun on a neighbor’s sidewalk. Leave a Welcome Home message on a vacationing family’s driveway. (Note from Laura: This is my favorite of all the ideas Kim came up with!!)

5. Enjoy Outdoor and Backyard Games

  • Ladder Ball
  • Bocce Ball
  • Kubb
  • Lawn darts
  • Soccer
  • Water Balloons
  • Hopscotch
  • Jacks
  • Four Square
  • Obstacle course / Outdoor Olympics
  • Hold jump rope contests, hulahoop contests, or roller skating contests
  • Leaf, bug and flower collections or tree identification game
  • Cloud identification and imagination game

6. Set up Some Water GamesHuge List of Screen-Free Activitiesfor Summer Fun

  • Jump on the trampoline with sprinkler underneath
  • Use a fun sprinkler to add fun to the play
  • Slip and Slide
  • Fill a kiddie pool with ice cubes and water

7. Set up Sand Box Fun

  • Use the sand to draw pictures
  • Bury small toys in the sand box and let the kids hunt for them
  • Add water to build castles and other creations
  • New sand toys and shovels are always fun
  • This dump truck won’t rust if left out in the rain
  • Durable watering can, shovel and rake

8. Go on New Adventures

  • Park Hop – Go from one park to another in your town and surrounding areas, take a friend, have a picnic
  • Have a Progressive Dinner – Start with salad at one house, hors d’oeuvres at a second, main course at another and end up with dessert at a final house
  • Go Geocaching – With a smart phone and some hiking shoes, you can make this happen. Don’t have a smart phone? Try a handheld GPS.  You will have to scout your locations in advance and bring a list.
  • Go on a Treasure Hunt or Scavenger Hunt – Create a series of clues and a treasure at the end.
  • Go a New Way – Have a destination to which you like to bike or walk? Try taking a different route.
  • Look Online – Use the internet to find new, fun, free things to do in your area
  • Camp out in the backyard – If you can’t do over night, then pitch the tent in the yard for an instant playhouse/fort/hideaway

9. Set up Creative Indoor Play

  • Sensory Bins with Rice, Beans, or Salt – Let kids play in containers of rice, beans or salt. They can draw letters, shapes and pictures.
  • Play with and draw in Shaving Cream
  • Make Homemade Playdough (Mix 2 cups baking soda, 1 cup cornstarch and 1.5 cups warm water. Stir all together and bring to a boil over medium heat. Pour into something to cool. Once it is cool, knead it and you can play away. If you want to add color, put food coloring in the water before boiling the mixture.
  • Paint with Water Colors – Cover the dining room table with large sheets of paper and let the kids paint away
  • Make a Selfie – Take a large sheet of paper and trace the child’s whole body. Let them decorate and draw the shape to resemble themselves.
  • Hold a Talent Show – Do Mom and Dad have talent? What about the kids? Show it off! Don’t forget the video camera!
  • Get out Simple Art Supplies – Use pine cones, pipe cleaners and googly eyes to create a miniature family
  • Have a Lego Contest
  • Hold a Coloring Contest

10. Cooking TogetherHuge List of Screen Free Activities

  • Make Popsicles
  • Hold a Chili Cook-Off
  • Make a Picnic
  • Hold a Cooking Contest (i.e. Who makes the best cookies?)
  • Take advantage of this time to Teach Your Kids to Cook

Fun Kid Friendly Recipes

What are some of your favorite Screen Free Activities to suggest to your kids? Leave a comment to share!

Some of these links are my affiliate links.

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The Day We Became Owners of a Dollar Coffee Club (and an Instant Pot)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Today is a big day, my friends.

I finally broke down and bought an Instant Pot (this 8-quart one!) after so many of you told me how much time and effort it would save me in the kitchen. Nothing like being one of the last people on the planet to jump on a bandwagon, huh? So…Instant Pot for the win?! Well, I’ll keep you posted. :)

After this purchase, we did something even bigger than that.

After hearing about and trying out a variety of fabulously healthy coffees, teas, and other delicious drinks with huge health benefits and experiencing wonderful results, and then after asking dozens of questions and researching ingredients and asking a double dozen more questions…

Matt and I bought a coffee shop.

For real.

It’s actually all online, so we won’t be brewing java, pouring it into mugs, and topping drinks with whipped cream and syrup, then serving them in a traditional coffee shop way. But this way is many times better because…

a) These drinks all have big health benefits.
b) These drinks cost much less than a typical coffee shop $4+ per cup, and
c) These drinks are delivered to your very own porch.

(How exciting is this?!)

javita

During the past 11 years of our family’s health-seeking journey, we’ve been approached about dozens of “be all and end all” products that promise to heal everything that ails you. I’ve given many of them a fair try, taken time to read their ingredient list, and heard of people’s results. Some have been good and I’m happy for all who have benefited from what they offer.

But I’ve never felt much like jumping on board or sharing them with others – often because I haven’t loved the ingredient lists I read in each product. And here’s one thing I’ve noticed that has raised a big red flag to me about many of these “cure all your ailments” products:

I’ve seen people go from eating fast food every day and drinking lots of soda and almost never eating a veggie…to trying these new products while at the same time switching over to eat a healthy diet and start exercising. Sure enough, they see results. They lose weight and they feel better! Well, of course they do. They are finally eating nourishing foods and exercising after so many years of neglecting these healthy habits. So was it the product that helped or was it the good food and exercise that helped? I think it’s hard to know.

Plus I don’t believe there’s a one-size-fits-all product that heals all ailments, but that’s a whole-nother conversation. ;)

Why we bought a coffee shop

Is it enough to say: YUM! Healthy coffee, tea, and tasty cold sweet drinks!?! 

Those are certainly a perk, but there’s quite a bit more to it that that. :)

I will not say, “We found amazing drinks that will cure all migraines, eczema, diabetes, energy levels, learning struggles, focus and memory issues, joint pain, allergies, and help you lose weight too!” Many people have been helped in all these areas and more because of these drinks, but I’m not going to brag on these as “be all and end all” products.

What I will say is this: Matt and I are significantly impressed with what we have found in this company called Javita. We had never heard of it until a trusted friend (who has had many years of training and study in natural supplements and herbs) told us,

I can’t believe how much I love this and how good I feel about drinking these and giving them to my family. You could grow and harvest all these herbs in your yard yourself, or you can just drink this coffee or tea that already includes them. I know you love coffee. You have to try this.

Trying it was as easy as sitting down with a friend and sipping a cup of coffee and tea together. First things first: both drinks taste delicious. I trust my friend Nikki because she knows more than I do about herbs, but still, I read the box. I read info on her website. I ordered a few boxes of a variety of the drinks they offer just to check it out for a while. After all, I had to know, “Is this really as good as it seems?”

Sure enough.

The Coffee and Tea that can actually improve your health

Allow me to introduce you to Dollar Coffee Club.

Beyond healthy varieties of coffee and tea, Javita carries tasty drinks pouches that you can stir into water that boost the immune system, aid in digestion, offer benefits for athletes, help regulate blood sugar, and reduce joint pain (I have a whole story to tell you someday about Flex).

javita cold drinks2

I think one of the biggest brags I can make about these drinks is that we started feeling the benefits from them while making no other changes to our lifestyle. We started drinking these after many years of already eating nourishing foods, drinking plenty of water, and exercising regularly. I believe this offers a true test of the benefits of these drinks.

And I guess the fact that I’m writing about them for you today and that other tiny fact that Matt and I invested in our very own Javita coffee shop tells you how we really feel about the goodness of the coffee, tea, and other drinks.

If I’m going to drink coffee every day, shouldn’t I be drinking one that helps keep my body and mind balanced? I sure think so.

How many ingredients?

Ah, the ingredient lists. They are gloriously short. Hallelujah! I didn’t recognize every item on the lists at first, but that’s because I am not an herbalist and have not done the research (until now). Now my research tells me that the ingredients in each of these drinks are absolutely pure, good, and beneficial for many different health needs.

My favorite Strawberry Lemonade FLEX drink supplement facts look like this:

javita flex

My favorite Burn + Control gourmet coffee blend ingredient list looks like this:

javita ingredients2

The coffee actually brags of being “weight loss coffee.” I found that interesting and am very happy to share that fact with people. But I don’t drink the coffee to lose weight and I’m not sure you should either, even though that might be an added perk for some. I’m drinking the coffee, tea, and other drinks because they are pulling toxins from around my organs, cleansing my insides, giving me pure energy, helping me to think more clearly, and helping me to feel more emotionally balanced.

I can’t wait to share what the Flex Drink has done for me, but I feel like that should be another post for another time. (Just know that Flex is my second favorite behind the coffee drinks, because of how it takes away pain in a way that has made me ask more than once, “Is this too good to be true?”)

I will not bombard you but I want you to know that Javita products are absolutely worth trying. Matt and I are sold on them for so many reasons that I’ll continue to share as we embark on this Javita journey, and we’re so glad to add them to our daily diet. Our boys are still at church camp right now but you can bet that when they get home we’ll be giving them  Rush (before their sports work-outs), Defend (for immune system health), and Flex (any time they are in pain in any way).

I guess I should also mention that we love the taste of every single drink we’ve tried. Truly, these are fun and tasty and I’d feel naughty like I was drinking kool-aid and strawberry lemonade but I’m drinking herbs and coffee and becoming healthier so hoo-rah!

How much do the drinks cost?

They are $1.00 each when you join our Dollar Coffee Club. This is huge savings if you’re used to buying coffee shop drinks. But it can seem high if you’re used to brewing coffee and tea or making sweet drinks at home.

I’m a home-coffee brewer, and here’s why I still feel that a little over a dollar a drink is a wonderful price: They are taking the place of many of our other supplements (and the coffee I was regularly buying) and they are keeping us from having to go to our natural doctor as often. This offers significant savings for us. And it’s a great perk that our new supplements come in the form of fun drinks! This is so much more enjoyable compared to chugging down vitamins and swallowing pills.

javita coffee club

Let me break down my highest recommendation for you if you’d like to try these drinks.

There are other ways of going about trying these and enjoying the perks of all Javita offers, but this is what we did at first and what I recommend so you can enjoy these and see what you think. Simply become a part of our Dollar Coffee Club:

  1. Click here to head over to our Dollar Coffee Club site.
  2. Click on the orange “Get Started” button.
  3. Click on the country where you live.
  4. Decide if you want to become a Member of the club, or simply a Customer —>

I highly recommend becoming a Club Member so that you can get your drinks for just $1 each (member price) and so that you can share the products with friends and family and make a little side money on boxes of drinks that they order.

You’ll get 2 boxes of coffee or tea to get you started as a Club Member. Then you can order boxes of all the drinks to your heart’s content and share them with others too!

HINT: When signing up to become a member, you’ll see that you can opt into a Club Connect App. Keep it if you like, but it comes with a $4.95/month fee and for that, I don’t feel it is worth it! I opted out of that one. :)

Become a Dollar Coffee Club Member or Customer!!

Have questions?

Let me know. I’m new at this too, but I’ve tried enough products to love them and to have learned some specific recommendations depending on your family’s needs. My email address is: [email protected].

I can’t wait for you to try these great drinks and I really can’t wait to hear more about how you like them!

Check out our Dollar Coffee Club here.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Simplest and Best Grilled Chicken (My Very Favorite Summer Food!)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

You should know that there is much significance in me sharing that this Best Grilled Chicken is my favorite summer food. After all, do you know how many great summer foods there are to compete with this chicken?

There’s cold watermelon. There are strawberries, which can be made into this amazing Strawberry Cheesecake Parfait. There’s fresh corn on the cob (hello, I’m from Nebraska). There are peaches and nectarines. There’s asparagus and okra (sure I’m weird, but these actually are summer favorites of mine).

I guess the best news is that all of the above mentioned summer food choices can be served with The Simplest and Best Grilled Chicken, creating the best meal on the planet, amen and amen. (By the way, remember how our grill was broken? My genius husband was able to fix it. I am so very thankful!)

grilled chicken3
What I love about grilling is that all I have to do is throw out some simple fruit and veggie side dishes to complete the meal. Anything goes with this chicken. Any veggie. Any salad. Any kind of potato, pasta, or rice. Any fruit.

And even better: You can make it with any sauce you like!

Great Sauce and Dressing Ideas to Marinate The Simplest and Best Grilled Chicken

If your time is limited, you can do what I’ve been doing lately and buy a few sauces pre-made to have on hand for Simple Recipes like this. Homemade sauces are awesome, but as I’ve shared, right now I’ve got to pare back to keep my schedule a little lighter. So I’m not making everything from scratch right now (and I’m smiling more often).

I do read the labels (no high fructose corn syrup or other nasty ingredients allowed!). I am searching for good prices. But I’m appreciating the ease of opening a bottle and dumping it on chicken to marinate for our dinner. Sooooo simple!!!!

Do you see how easy it is to make real food for your family? And do you see how delicious real food tastes? (Wait. Can you see how food tastes? Who even wrote that sentence??)

Lemme just say this: If you’re afraid of real food and the word “healthy” makes you cringe and think of sprouted beans and tofu (I cringe at those too!), let go of the fear and make yourself some of this chicken with a slice of watermelon and some steamed green beans on the side. It’s as easy as that and you will learn that real food is the best thing you ever ate!

My Favorite Grilled Chicken Tip

My Best Chicken Tip

I’ve shared this before, but let me share again that the secret to making perfect chicken on the grill is to use boneless chicken thighs instead of boneless chicken breasts. Breasts get dry quickly. Thighs retain juiciness and the flavor is unbeatable.

Bonus

Boneless chicken thighs are usually less expensive than chicken breasts. Who knew?

Simple Grilled Chicken

Simple Grilled Chicken (My Very Favorite Summer Food!)
 
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Author:
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2-3 pounds boneless chicken thighs
  • 2 cups of your favorite marinade (bbq, teriyaki, Italian dressing, etc.)
Instructions
  1. Place chicken in a single layer in a 9x13 inch dish.
  2. Spread dressing or sauce over the top.
  3. Cover and allow chicken to marinate until grill time or for at least two hours (overnight is fine!)
  4. Grill marinated chicken on low heat for 20-25 minutes, watching to be sure chicken is cooked evenly on both sides.

What are your favorite summer foods?

More Simple Recipes

Join Simple Meals

Make life even simpler when you sign up to receive our weekly Menu Planning Packets. One tiny price, loads of weekly help. Read about this and sign up here!

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lilla rose summer sale celtic paula

Lilla Rose is having a Summer Sale Thursday–Saturday – FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $50! (Must select “Free Shipping” at checkout.

This sale can also be combined with the monthly special for July. (One free bobby pin with a $40 purchase, and two free bobbies with a $50 purchase!)  So yes, with just a $50 order, you can get both free shipping AND two free super-strong bobby pins that will NOT slip out of even super-fine hair.

So many lovely styles to choose from! Plus there are beautiful new natural hair sticks and cute new summery U-Pins, such a ladybugs, sand dollars, sea turtles, and flip flops!

Sale runs Thursday, July 13th, 2017 at 7am Pacific, through Saturday, July 15th at midnight Pacific. This is a sale you won’t want to miss!

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

33 Simple Summer Recipes and Tips (New Freebie for Simple Meals Subscribers!)

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I thought it was hot here in Nebraska until my friend from Las Vegas told me about the temps they get there. Phew! What’s it like where you are?

You know me, though. I never complain about the heat because I love summer, sunshine, and being warm. I’m cold all winter so I embrace all the heat of summer while I can!

However, I don’t like heating up the house to cook or bake during the summer. Why run the air conditioner and the oven at the same time??

What should we do though because we all still eat three meals a day at home during the summer. Man shall not live on fruit smoothies alone. So what else is there?

Beat the Heat cover

Simple Meals members have already been enjoying Weekly Menu Planning Packets that offer mostly oven-free meal ideas for the summer. But what about breakfast and lunch? And what about snacks?

Beat the Heat has 33 Simple Summer Kitchen Tips and includes 49 real food recipes to use this summer that will keep your kitchen from heating up!

This resource is packed with ideas to get you through the summer. All real food ideas. Bunches of recipes. Oodles of tips for ways to have fun feeding your family delicious treats, light lunches, great snacks – you will love this!

This new eBook is a freebie for all of our Simple Meals Members. This is our only paid subscription (though super inexpensive!) offer here at Heavenly Homemakers and for good reason. Members get a thorough menu planning packet every single week! All the thinking and planning has been done for you. Your grocery list is made for you. You get bonus ideas, time saving tips, and extra recipes. This comes to your inbox every Thursday morning so you can plan for the next week. And the best part is that every single recipe and meal we suggest that you make is ridiculously simple.

Nothing complicated. All real food. All family friendly. Spend very little time in the kitchen. Endure no stress if you forgot to thaw meat (there’s a back-up plan for that!). Simple Meals really is making people’s kitchen lives easier!

All for one little dollar per week!

This week, members will get this fabulous Beat the Heat bonus resource along with all their regular menu planning info! We’ll send it out in this week’s regular Simple Meals Planning Packet email. Then to be sure we’ve caught all new members who want this, we’ll send it one more time on July 20. So join Simple Meals before July 20 for sure so you can receive this Beat the Heat booklet in your inbox with your planning packets!

Get all the details about Simple Meals here!

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Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

Learn Your Letters/Learn Your Numbers Learn to Serve Package Giveaway (For you and a friend!)

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This giveaway is extra fun because you can win a package for yourself and one for a friend! Share this with a friend so she can enter too, then you all have double the chances at winning!

malachi_apple_pie_344

What is Learn Your Letters (and Learn Your Numbers), Learn to Serve? It’s a complete early learning curriculum kit that helps you teach your young kids basic counting and reading skills and at the same time…

Teach them to serve others.

Teach them to think of others. Teach them to be creative in their service to others. Teach them to be comfortable with older people, younger people, sick people – all people with needs.

Learn Your Numbers Learn to Serve cover sm

Read all about Learn Your Letters/Numbers, Learn to Serve packages here. This downloadable package contains hundreds of pages of ideas and instructions for activities to help your kids learn letter sounds and counting skills. They’ll memorize scripture associated with each letter sound. You’ll read Bible stories together.

LYLLTSfrontpage2b_sm

There are printables, book selections, and all kinds of service ideas! There’s so many ideas, you can’t possibly do them all, but that’s part of the fun. You can pick and choose what works for your family and your individual kids and run with it!

See all the details about Learn Your Letters and Learn Your Numbers, Learn to Serve here.

Want to win a package set for yourself and for a friend? Enter to win the Rafflecopter below. Tell your friend to come enter to. Then you both double your chances of winning!

I’ll draw a random winner on July 14. Watch for an email sharing about the winners!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

“Processed Food” I Buy on a Regular Basis

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It’s true. I buy processed food all the time. Check it out…

groceries feb 172

What you see there is none other than cases of processed Spaghetti Sauce, Salsa, and Canned Black Beans. Processed food, baby. Store-bought, canned, jarred, food right off a shelf.

And you thought you knew me.

But there’s more…

groceries-11-2

Are those hotdogs? What is this world coming to? Oh, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet:

groceries feb1710

This might come as a surprise, but I do not have a maple tree in my yard to tap in an effort to provide our family with this golden pancake and waffle topper. Also – and it might hurt to hear me say this – I don’t always take time to squeeze limes. Indeed, I have stooped so low that I actually buy jars of lime juice to make my Guacamole. Can we still be friends?

Those baked beans though. They are on my shelf ready to be served with the hotdogs you saw above, but you’ve already seen my Beanie Weanies and you haven’t abandoned me yet. Pizza sauce? In a can? Well, thank goodness that at least it is organic.

I’m not even done. There’s more for you to see:

groceries feb179

That there is a box of spaghetti noodles. There are a couple ingredients in that cream that I would rather not know about, and see that cheese? That’s 10 pounds of Colby jack all wrapped up in a package.

So here’s an idea…

Let’s change our thoughts about processed food

Not all processed food is bad.

When I first started making the switch from “bad food” to “good food” I got an idea in my head that all processed food was evil, that I must make everything from scratch in order to be a “good mom” and canned food would never again enter my home.

Eleven years later I have come to terms with the fact that someone else can juice my limes. Having shelves full of canned pizza sauce and black beans in my pantry makes my life so much easier I smile every time I see them. I open and use jars of salsa like there’s no tomorrow but guess what?

It’s all still real food.

It’s all real food!!!! Do you hear what I’m saying? The “processed” food I buy hasn’t been turned into something horrible. The spaghetti sauce in those jars is made from actual tomatoes and spices (and nothing else because I’m careful about the ingredients in my jarred and canned food purchases). These items started as food and ended as food and they help me put Simple Meals on the table like a boss.

This is what we must consider when choosing food from a shelf, a box, a bag, or a can:

Is this real food and does it nourish?

There are all kinds of processed “foods” that I don’t even call food because they do nothing to nourish and everything to harm. If it started as one thing (corn) and came out completely different (high fructose corn syrup), it isn’t real food and it doesn’t nourish. If it took a detailed process to create in a factory (margarine) instead of starting as one thing (cream) and becoming something good for us naturally (real butter), it isn’t real food and it doesn’t nourish.

Don’t be afraid of a box, jar, or can.

groceries 3181

Read the labels. Do your homework. Consider what’s actually inside the container. Ask: Is it real? Does it nourish?

Sometimes these are the foods that help us get through a day in peace and with a smile.

What are the “processed foods” you keep on hand to help make your real food life easier?

P.S. As many of you requested, I am slowly but surely making a list of items and brands of “processed food” I trust and purchase. Don’t hold your breath, but know that you can look for that list in a few weeks.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

A FREE Way to Help Your Kids Learn This Summer!

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Have you checked out ABCmouse yet? If not, I definitely recommend that you take advantage of this fun freebie! It’s a great way to help your kids learn. :)

abc mouse free trial!

Obviously my kids are old and huge and they no longer like to sit in my lap and learn letter sounds while playing fun computer games. But still, I went through the process of setting up an account to see how easy it is (and how easy it is to cancel!). Both were simple!! And in the meantime, I played with a few of the learning games to see if it was worth your time to set this up for your kiddos.

Oh yes. It’s worth your time. This learning app is fantastic, fun, and for 30 whole days – FREE! What a great way to enjoy some fun learning this summer with your little ones.

If my kids were still little, I would sign all four of them up for this. This is exactly the kind of learning fun they loved during those little years. And it is the kind of computer time I loved to let them enjoy. It’s safe, adorable, easy to navigate, and of course, educational. (You don’t have to tell your kids that part though!)

You can sign up here to help your kids learn with the ABCmouse freebie!

These links are my affiliate links.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

The Day I Got Mad at Groceries, Part 2 (Is Balance Possible?)

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Read Part 1 – The Day I Got Mad at Groceries and Food in General here.

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groceries 411

After processing with you some of my frustrations with being able to achieve balance when striving to…

  • Save money on groceries
  • Fill us with nourishment
  • Satisfy my teenage sons’ huge appetites
  • Not spend hours in the kitchen
  • Keep up with life during a busy season

…I headed to the grocery store.

I had my list ready to go. I also had our full calendar in mind, knowing all too well what the next two weeks held for my family. Which was bigger – my grocery list or my to-do list? Oh, now that’s a tough one.

So I prayed for a balanced approach to my shopping. God is not above me asking for help in selecting food for my family. God cares about every detail. He knows my desire to be a good steward and also my need to not over-burden myself in the kitchen. He knows what’s on my calendar. He knows how much my boys eat. He knows we need a new vehicle. He knows.

groceries june 17

At the store, I filled my cart with a wonderful variety of fresh produce from strawberries to peaches to zucchini to peppers to apples to asparagus to watermelon to avocados. I got all the produce at wonderful prices thanks to price-matching.

Then I compromised and bought a few loaves of bread, even though I know how to make it myself. I bought pre-made frozen hashbrowns, even though I know how to make them myself. (By the way, the only ingredient in the Mr. Dells brand frozen hashbrowns is potatoes. The lack of fillers made me add three bags to my cart!) I bought several packages of nitrite-free, uncured beef hotdogs for fast and fun lunches on the grill. I bought bottled BBQ Sauce, even though I know how to make it myself.

Truth: Everything I bought was still real food. (Yes, I realize I’m pushing it when talking about hotdogs. Work with me here. They’re trying. Really they are.)

I got good deals. I was careful about everything that went into my cart. But doggonit, when I want to make Grilled Chicken this week, I’m gonna open up a bottle of pre-made BBQ Sauce, dump it on, and go about my day.

I think we all have to:

  • make decisions about what works for our family and what doesn’t.
  • realize that just because something had been working for our family, sometimes a change is in order.
  • ask God for clarity, peace, and help in all areas in our lives.

My conclusions about groceries…today

Actually, I have no conclusions. I conclude that what I conclude today may be different from what I conclude next week. Right? Often if it’s best if we just think about today. I trust God to make it all clear to each of us when it comes to saving money, eating well, and saving time.

Today’s conclusions are:

  • I will continue to follow Simple Meals plans because without them, I’m lost and frustrated at dinner time. The recipes and every aspect of these plans are so easy I barely have to work and I rarely have to think. This is how I’ll continue to do dinner.
  • With that, when a recipe calls for BBQ sauce, spaghetti sauce, salsa, or beans – it’s coming out of a jar, bottle, or can because it is still real food, the price is still reasonable, and I don’t have time to make every single ingredient from scratch right now.
  • Lunches and Breakfasts might need to be some of the same choices over and over for a while. This will cut down on my need to think so hard, and make it easier for the boys to help themselves.
  • As long as I always have plenty of fresh or frozen fruits and veggies to fill the table, I can relax about the occasional hotdogs or pizza.

Balancing Nourishment, Time, and Cost When Grocery Shopping

What have you found helps you most when trying to find balance in saving money, eating well, and saving time in the kitchen?

Freebies for you!

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Top 10 Money Saving Recipes

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The Day I Got Mad at Groceries and Food in General

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This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

A few weeks ago I talked about how our family is having to tighten our budgeting belt right now as we build up our savings again after needing to replace our van right after investing in a new business venture for Matt (radon mitigation).

groceries feb178

Naturally, I challenged myself to see how I could cut back on our enormous grocery budget, even though a few weeks before that I’d shared that there was no way I could cut back because…

We eat a lot of food.

I felt all kinds of blah about this, because cutting back didn’t seem possible and also I am trying very hard during this season in life not to…

Go crazy.

This time of life filled with a houseful of teenagers with all their friends and comings and goings and activities and growing experiences is very much like (except very different from) my years of raising a houseful of babies. Those were lean and busy years too, also a time in which I was trying to avoid going crazy (while the Blue’s Clues theme song played on repeat in my subconscious). All of life cost less then, seeing as we didn’t have a slew of teenage boys included on our car insurance policy and their shoes and appetites were much smaller.

But the busyness. And the needs. They were/are so great! (“Great” shall be used twofold in this context as the needs are great and the needs are also great. How great that they need me! How great are their needs! This is all so great.)

Through the busy seasons…

These are the years we might need to compromise a little on making all food from scratch and settle for the occasional pre-made tortillas and take-and-bake pizzas. I felt it in the baby-raising-years, had a bit of a reprieve as my kids got old enough to buckle and wipe themselves, but am back to feeling the pinch of time, money, and energy as I am in a season of “hold on for dear life” with my teenage and adult kids.

Add to that the fact that one by one my boys insist on graduating high school and moving out of my nest and I feel the need to use every minute with them for a greater purpose. As I watch these years with kids at home vanish before my eyes, I refuse to use any of this precious time with my back turned to them while I spend time on a task like making Mozzarella Cheese.

All this was going through my head one day recently as I made a grocery list.

“Save as much money as possible!” thought I.
“Nourish us well; this is so very important!” came my next thought.
“Take time to enjoy the family; save your energy; save yourself; buy the pizza!” – and with that I got angry.

Is it even possible to do all of this at the same time? To save money, to eat good food, and to not spend hours in the kitchen while making it all happen?

The Day I Got Mad at Groceries

Yes, I know about the thing called “balance.” I’ve written about it, danced with it, poked and prodded at it, and as of today, I came to the conclusion that while balance is a great word and a great goal for which to strive, today I’m going to have to settle for…

Fine. Good enough. Okay, I guess.

The key word here is “today.” I believe in the long run everything actually will balance out because I truly am intentional about saving money, filling us with nourishment, and not spending all my time in the kitchen. Balance wins out in the long run. But that will no longer be my focus. Right now my focus has to be…

Today.

I can’t look beyond today. Today I might feed us all salads and veggies and grass fed meat and beautiful bowls of fresh berries. I might even do it while saving a bundle of money through price-matching and gardening and being resourceful and cooking from scratch. If that is what today looks like, then yay for today!! But tomorrow? Tomorrow…

I might buy pizza.

And sure, I’ll serve it with a salad and slices of pineapple, but I won’t have saved money and I will have filled us with some empty carbs.

This has to be okay, because okay is the best I can do.

The best I can do is actually something to be celebrated. The best I can do truly is the best. Whether it’s a frugal meal that only cost $1.00/plate or a super nourishing meal filled with fresh greens and veggies, or a corndog on a stick that came out of a box.

The best I can do is what offers my family the best of me.

And with that, I’m no longer angry with food and will head to the grocery store.

To be continued…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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With the High Price of Vanilla Beans, Should You Make Homemade Vanilla Right Now?

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I’ve been making Homemade Vanilla since 2009. Why?

  • To save money
  • So I can trust my vanilla to be pure and healthy
  • Because Homemade Vanilla is ridiculously delicious

How To Make Vanilla Extract

See, most vanilla extracts on the market have sugar added. I don’t want that, of course. Also, most have been watered down, so they aren’t as strong and flavorful as I’d like. But Homemade Vanilla is completely pure, extremely flavorful, easy to make, and makes awesome gifts! However…

The price of vanilla beans has risen drastically.

In the past three years, the price of vanilla beans has gotten crazy high! Making Homemade Vanilla used to be super cost effective, saving oodles of money compared to buying it. Since there are so many other benefits to making it, it became a no-brainer to me!

But now there’s a major vanilla bean shortage, so the price has risen dramatically. (This stinks for those of us who want to make vanilla, but my research tells me that this is a much worse situation for farmers whose livelihood depends on good crops. We are simply inconvenienced; but these farmers are hurt deeply by this. With this news, suddenly my concern for my homemade vanilla price takes a back seat in the world of “what actually matters.”)

With the high cost of Vanilla Beans, does it still make sense to make Homemade Vanilla Extract

Does it still save money to make Homemade Vanilla?

Having said all of this, I wanted to share that I recently crunched some numbers again to see if it even made sense to make a batch of homemade vanilla right now. I was pleasantly surprised, and want to share my findings with you!

The upfront cost still seems high, but read all the way through to discover how to get the most bang for your buck.

It is most cost-effective to make a gallon of Homemade Vanilla at once, instead of making a small batch. A gallon will last a very long time, or you can use it for gifts! (Homemade Vanilla is an awesome gift at Christmas for friends, family members, and teachers!!)

Price Break-Down to make a gallon of Homemade Vanilla

50 Vanilla Beans: $200 (use the code HOME to save 20%!)
3.5 liters of 35% alcohol Vodka: $30
Total Cost: $230
Price per ounce: $1.80

This makes an 8-ounce bottle cost $14.40.

Remember, the quality of vanilla is ultra strong, not watered down, with no added sugar.

Cost of High Quality Purchased Vanilla

Imitation Vanilla is made of nothing real, so I recommend avoiding it even though it’s cheap. The best pre-made “pure” Vanilla Extract I could find at Azure Standard costs $2.20/ounce.

This makes an 8-ounce bottle cost $17.60. This is more expensive than homemade, but more importantly —–>

Note the ingredient list of this purchased vanilla (listed in this order):

  • water
  • 35% alcohol vodka
  • vanilla bean extractives

Not only is purchased vanilla extract more expensive, it is watered down, so not nearly as strong.

So Homemade Vanilla Extract wins the prize for being lower in cost and entirely pure.

Which leads me to my best advice and even better news about the cost:

Use Half the Amount and Cut the Cost in Half!

Because the Homemade Vanilla Extract is so very potent, I recommend that you use half the amount called for in a recipe. Doing this will double how long an 8-ounce bottle will last!

Therefore, the $14.40 it costs to make 8-ounces of Homemade Vanilla will last you twice as long, giving you what store-bought 16-ounce bottle gives. In this way, you can think of your 8-ounces of homemade vanilla being broken into TWO 8-ounce bottles which cost only – drum roll please –

$7.20 each.

And with that, I absolutely recommend that we all still make Homemade Vanilla Extract!

vanilla_beans

I forgot we get 20% off!!!

Good grief. I can’t believe I wrote this entire post and forgot to figure in the fact that Olive Nation gives Heavenly Homemakers readers 20% off! Time to crunch new numbers! I’ve been working with them for many years now, and they are happy to give us a discount. (They’ve been keeping me up to date on vanilla bean shortages and prices too. I love working with them.)

Get the best quality vanilla beans at the best price here. Use the code home to get 20% off, a code made exclusively for Heavenly Homemakers readers! Get free shipping when your order is over $50.

Discounted cost for Homemade Vanilla Extract

50 Vanilla Beans $160.00
3.75 ounces Vodka $30.00

Total cost: $190.00 (woot!)

Per ounce breakdown: $1.48/ounce
Price for 8-ounces of Homemade Vanilla: $11.84

vanilla

Make Vanilla For Christmas Gifts

One last note! Most everyone loves receiving Homemade Vanilla Extract as a Christmas gift! Because it takes 4-6 months for vanilla beans to “extract” I recommend you start a batch right away to have it ready to give in December.

I think that about covers it. Any questions? (I’m actually at church camp right now so answers will probably be delayed!) I’m so glad I finally crunched the numbers instead of continuing to cringe over the bean prices!

Fun Homemade Vanilla Labels

If you are giving your Homemade Vanilla Extract as gifts, use these pretty labels on the bottles! They can be personalized, and there are several designs you can choose from! What fun!

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