Running out of food? Kids bored but can’t afford the entertainment? Stretching what you have and kids activities.

    First off, Food comes first before other bills right now. There will be a grace period when it comes to utilities and more than likely even rent and mortgage. If the issue is that you have been laid off...no income and already lived paycheck to paycheck, there are a number of places that are hiring right now. Amazon and Grocery stores to name 2 places. It might not be what you were making but it will be more than getting nothing at all. If the issue is that the stores near you are down to hardly a thing think Amazon. No, I get no kick backs from suggesting this. But Prime Members get free 2 day shipping on most things. The membership is $119 annually or $12.99 a month. Okay...yes that is spending more $ but is giving you access to things that may not be in the stores anymore or that you are compromised and can't or shouldn't get to a store. With your membership you also get free streaming of video and tv. So... if you are currently using Netflix, Hulu or another streaming service you can halt that and pick up this. You have the choice to go back when this is all over but this definitely offers more bang for the buck with the delivery. Not only food but vitamins, medicine and first aid items, Maybe some craft things for the kids. Virtually even more than you could ever find at your Walmart Super Center and you don't leave your house. 

Stone Soup is a European folk story in which hungry strangers convince the people of a town to each share a small amount of their food in order to make a meal that everyone enjoys

Second, a few suggestions to stretch what you do have. For meals you can be creative and invent a soup with what you have. Just because you look at a recipe and don't have all the ingredients doesn't mean it is a fail. For instance... a cream soup when you have no milk let alone cream...Make a Roux and add some sort of stock. A roux is a simple thing to make 1 part fat to 1 part flour. 

You can search how to make a roux and they will give you details and all the different darknesses of it and what that is used for. But basically you take 1 T. Butter and melt it and then stir in 1T. flour...and cook this till it is mixed well, or brown it. Keep stirring until done, don’t walk away… it will burn fast! Next , slowly add 1cup of liquid...stock, milk, tomato juice or even water. As you are slowly stirring this in you will be seeing the liquid thicken like a sauce or gravy. This can be used as a gravy, can be the base of a creamy soup, or the beginning of a cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese. Keys are...slowly pouring it in and not adding more than a cup if you want it to be thicker.

Beer, Potato, cheese soup

Saute in a separate pan some chopped onions and celery,  Boil some potatoes, and mash them...add some cheese...maybe 1/2 and can of beer, Worcestershire, dry mustard or a squirt of regular mustard...Add to the creamy Roux...salt and pepper to taste and you have dinner

No onions or celery? How about onion powder and celery salt?

No Beer.. that fine you are still making a potato cheese soup that is wonderful

Potato, Corn Chowder

Instead of mashing the potatoes add chunks and corn and you get a Potato Corn chowder. Milk and chicken stock added makes it better.

Start with sauté 1/2 a chopped onion in fat, add the flour and make a roux with the onions in there, you can add a clove of chopped fresh garlic or a little onion powder. Chop in Chunks the boiled potatoes ( don’t cook them till they are soft enough to make mashed potatoes, as soon as a fork can go in with the tiniest bit of resistance, they are ready for this soup, add chicken stock or bouillon cube and milk ( if you don’t have either your next shopping trip THESE are a MUST for good tasting meals! 

Add a can of corn, 1 tsp thyme, a little black pepper… if you have smoked paprika put 1/2 a tsp in, it will take the place of expensive bacon. 

Remember you need to make the amount of roux per soup. More if you want a creamy soup. You can also make Roux ahead of time for multiple meals and store in the fridge. 

Vegetable soup

Whatever is in your fridge, cabinet, freezer can go in a soup. For Vegetable soup saute onions, celery, peppers ...whatever you have of these are in small amount of fat in a pan. (I say fat because it can be butter, margarine, oil, Crisco...whatever you have) Add Water, stock, tomato juice or canned tomatoes not drained, Corn, green beans, chopped cabbage etc. The seasoning can be as simple as some bay leaves, thyme, and that sort of thing which would be your regular veggie soup. Or...make it Asian with Sesame oil instead of butter, soy sauce, ginger and whatever other oriental spices you may have on hand. You can make it a curry vegetable soup curry powder, ginger, cinnamon, Italian minestrone by adding Oregano, basil...more garlic than usual, Mexican; add taco or chili seasoning mix...chili powder, cumin.  Add a can or two of beans, Cook rice, barley or Pasta Separately...or even chunks of potatoes and add when you are serving the soup to make it heartier. Serve with bread, crackers, biscuits, There is a lot of Biscuit recipes that don't call for any dairy or eggs. 

Look up recipes and use the seasonings that you have to adjust these recipes to fit what you have on hand.  

Kids Activities:

   Here in Georgia we are getting a rare treat of warm weather...actually tomorrow will be too warm for me,  87 degrees. Has to be some sort of record. But it is a window to get a veggie garden started early as far as I can see. So get some seeds and start a garden outside if you can. Dollar General has the cheapest seed packets because they have less seeds than most packets, good starting size. ..if not get some started in the house in a sunny window. Start planning now for this NOT to be over anytime soon. Seriously... the worst that can happen is the plants die because it is over and you all go back to work and school and regular life and you are out a few dollars. But on the other side the best that can happen if this continues is that you are going to have something to eat that you grew with the kids and it will give a bit of relief to the food bill. 

               Other outdoor fun free to almost free

Sprinkler

If you have a tarp and hill, slip and slide

1. Play ball

Volleyball 

Any ball with a make shift net

2 straight Branches from a tree,  big enough to hold a fake net at least 3” circumference and 4 foot high.

Dig holes at least 6” down. In Georgia there is a lot of clay so we just make the dirt pretty wet, fill it back in and one it all dries, it will stay up. You can be as creative with the net as you want… a simple string or yarn across the top or the kids can hang strips of cloth or ribbon. Volley ball ready or any other made up game

Kickball

 Played like baseball except you are kicking it

Dodgeball

 One goes in the middle of a circle trying not to get hit with others attempts at throwing the ball at him or her

Jump rope, Hotscotch, kick the can 

Cards 

Rummy, Ho Gish, Memory, Double Solitaire or solitaire, click Solitaire, crazy eights, spades, card building

The other fun kids activity that would go along with the gardening is have the kids PAINT ROCKS! They can be as creative as they want but you can do a google image search for Painted rocks or Pinterest to get their minds start moving. Just scrub the rocks to get all the dirt off of them before you begin. Set up a table either inside or out in the sun and fresh air and let them do it all. From Collecting from the yard to washing to painting. I have to say...I love those rock faces the most! They are great!

Library

Your local library has summer reading programs along with a number of events thru the year that are free… including story time for younger kids. 

For my kids going to the library was a treat because they loved to read, if your child doesn’t know how to read yet, that is a good summer goal to teach them. 

AND you can take out books to read aloud to them. 

 A few really good ones are 

The Narnia Tales, Indian in the Cupboard, Mister Poppers Penguins or one of your favorites from Childhood! 

       Well that’s all for now! 

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