Whew! I'm a little late getting around to this - I kept my nose to the grindstone, so to speak, to finish up the text for the presentation I gave this last Sunday on the rationing program and shunned all other distractions as a result. But, it's over, it went well and I'm back! As soon as I have time to edit the text I'll post it here.
In the meantime, here's this week's scenarios:
- Eggs - none available for purchase
- Canned Vegetables - scarce, only available at 1 1/2 times the usual ration points
Lately we've been bartering rides to and from school for a neighbor child in exchange for farm fresh eggs from her grandparents, so we'll have a source for eggs this week even if we can't buy them in the store.
But the extra ration points for canned vegetables this week is sort of like rubbing salt on our wound of realizing we only have 48 blue/green points per week (and NOT 192). C'est la vie.
Here's our menu for the week:
Saturday: Polish cabbage roles and cooked carrots
Sunday: Sausage loaf (historic recipe) and fresh broccoli (!)
Monday: Venison pot pie
Tuesday: Potato-vegetable soup
Wednesday: Venison-beef chili with Frito's and sour cream
Thursday: Beef-less stroganoff and (canned) green beans
Friday: Buttermilk pancakes, bacon and (canned) fruit (our last canned fruit on hand, sigh)
As you can see, this week integrates ration-free venison on two different nights. Yay!
I've been craving chili for weeks and decided it was a must for this week's menu. However, it
will be a bittersweet meal because canned/jarred tomato products are some of the most expensive blue/green items. Seriously! One 14 ounce container of ketchup is 18 points (which we needed this week because we are out of ketchup), while one 14.5 ounce can of tomatoes is 11 points. Combined they are over 60% of our weekly blue/green point ration! I was able to pull off the chili by adding in some home preserved salsa and black beans and by using lower-point black-eyed peas rather than the traditional pinto or chili beans.Typically, at some point in the summer I declare that the 10+ tomato plants I usually plant are too many and swear to plant less the next year. I don't think I will make such a declaration this year. Eighteen points for ketchup? Gee whiz!
This summer? This summer we will can our OWN ketchup, by gum!
--Rational Mama
Wow! The first thing I thought when I read this post is that I wished it were summer already.
ReplyDeleteDo you guys have grow lights yet?
Did they have grow lights in the '40s?
I'm going to ask permission of a girlfriend of mine to post her photos of her indoor greenhouse on my blog to show you how she gardens indoors and see if it's something you guys might be able to do.
Kari - we have a few grow lights, but I'm not sure they are historically accurate. I saw the pics of your friend's indoor greenhouse - a little more demanding than I have the time for but very impressive! Right now we have one container of baby lettuce sprouts in our south-facing window, with another one to join it shortly!
ReplyDelete