When a single mom is sick

For me one of the hardest things about being a single mom is when one or both of us is sick. I've had to haul my sick son to the store late at night to get him medicine. There's no one to make soup or get medicine for me when I'm sick. And while family & friends care about you; no one wants to risk getting sick by coming over. So I've tried to be prepared to take care of myself.

First of all, coupons have helped me be well stocked on over the counter medication. I can usually get $7-10 medicines for $.50-$1. That saves a lot of money over buying them full price when we get sick. But what I like best is the wide variety of medicines I have at home when we do get sick. I never have to run to the store at night; I almost always have something we can use. And I've discovered some medicines I like more I'd never tried before.

The other thing I really love is my home canned chicken vegetable broth. It is absolutely heavenly when you're sick! I had a very sore throat last winter, didn't even sleep for several days because of it. I tried every over the counter & herbal thing I could find, & this broth was the only thing that gave any relief. It was also a huge blessing after I had my gall bladder out. Now it's easy to make, so you can make it when you're sick. But I like to make it ahead & can it. Then when I'm sick all I have to do is open the jar. I went through 5 quarts last time I was sick! I find that I like the flavor when I'm well, but REALLY like it when I'm sick. And it's very inexpensive to make!!

This amount fills 1 crock pot. I use my "quickchop" on this; another kitchen gadget that actually works. Since you strain out the vegetables at the end (I feed them to my chickens), you only have to coarsely chop the veggies.

10 cups water

2 tsp salt

1 white onion

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

12 chicken bouillon cubes (buy at Costco & lasts a long time)

Cook in crock pot 4-8 hours (I do 2 hours on high, & 2 hours on low).

Strain vegetables out.

I pressure can it in quarts at 15 lbs pressure for 15 min.