Super deal on prep flashlight

http://www.tanga.com/products/free-waterproof-led-magna-flashlight?utm_source=Tanga+Emails&utm_campaign=2dffaa1914-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&utm_medium=email
LED flashlight you shake to generate power.  No charge, pay only $4.99 shipping.  Less than a day left on this deal!

Awesome canning funnel

I have one of these & I love it!  It works with wide or narrow mouth jars.  What's so great is it covers the lip of the jar, keeping it clean!  Cuts down on time wiping the jars clean before putting the lids, & also cuts down on jars that don't seal.  Great Christmas gift for anyone who cans!

Cranberry Syrup

This is soooo good!  We love it on eggnog french toast especially.  I canned some since you can't buy fresh cranberries all year.

1 cup cranberries
1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Combine ingredients & bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium-high & boil 10 min.  Puree in blender until smooth, strain into small bowl.

*the original recipe calls for 1/4 cup maple syrup after it's strained.  We hated it this way...but you may like it!

Strawberry slicer works on peaches too!

I have spent so many hours trying to evenly slice peaches to dehydrate.  I didn't dare hope my new strawberry slicer would also work on peaches.  But it does!!!

I had somewhat smaller peaches.  I cut them in quarters, put each quarter in the slicer, & it was so fast!  Uniform slices with one push!!  A bigger peach may have to have a few more cuts, but it would still be a HUGE timesaver.  I'm so excited!

Very cheap portable Bidet kit

http://www.3steps.org/Site_3steps.org/Sanitation_-_Bidet.html
This is very interesting.  I do have toilet paper stock piled...but if things are bad long term, eventually you will run out.  My first instinct is...ew!  But as I watched the video, I started thinking, "hu.  That would sure be a lot better than nothing!".  And the great news is, it's super cheap!  You can probably get the squirt bottle & fabric around your house.  And buying a few gloves is very cheap as well (sometimes Walgreens has pretty durable ones on sale for $.30).  Once you had these you could have your toilet paper problem solved indefinitely.  I'm not sure I'm ready to practice now like she suggests, but I think I am going to store these items, for just in case.

More free batteries!

Batteries are still free after rewards at Office Depot & Staples this week.  Limit 2 at Staples, limit 2 a day at Office Depot.  Get a rewards card free in store.  AA or AAA 20 packs.

Prep deals at Recreation Outlet

Here's some prep deals at Recreation Outlet.
LED flashlight, pump to charge, $2.99
Solar powered radio flashlight $11.99
Portable stove (runs on butane) $14.99
Hand warmers 10 packs of 2 $7.99 (put these under your arms to generate body heat)
9 LED flashlight w/batteries $2.99
pocket knife $2.99
Emergency shovel $16.99

Solar Oven Chex Mix

I just tried one of our favorite Christmas treats, Chex Mix, in the solar oven.  Since you only bake this at 250 normally, it was easy to do in the solar oven!
Here's our favorite version for anyone who'd interested:
1 cube butter melted
2 Tbs Lawrys Seasoned Salt
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
Mix together.  Add 10 cups of Chex, nuts, pretzels, whatever you like.  Mix with sauce.  Bake at 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 min.  Goes great with eggnog!

Store a favorite Christmas treat

If we are ever living on our food storage, morale will be a big part of the battle.  So I'm trying to find a way to store the ingredients for at least 1 favorite Christmas treat.  Think how great that would be?!
My father's favorite Christmas treat is Eggnog.  To say he loves it would be an understatement.  So I found some shelf stable eggnog & ordered it for him for a Christmas present.  Borden has canned eggnog, but I had to call them directly to order it.
I also ordered some of this to try:



So what favorite Christmas treat could you store?!

Lot of free batteries this week

Staples, Office Depot & Office Max all have AA & AAA batteries that are 100% back in rewards.  You can get in the rewards programs free online.  You get the money back to spend at their store.
Office Max has a limit of 1 & it's $16.99 for a pack of 20.
Staples  is $12.99 for a pack of 20, & has a limit of 2.
Office Depot is $12.99 for a pack of 20, & you can buy 2 of each per day.
 These prices should be good through next Saturday.
This is a great way to stock up for prep (not to mention your kids Christmas toys!)

How to do sub for santa on a budget

I've been getting asked by a lot of people how I do sub for santa's on our low income.  So here goes!
I keep an eye out all year for amazing deals.  I start in the 75% off sales after Christmas.  I get $5 gift sets for $1.25.  One dollar items for $.25.  The rest of the year I use my coupons, & keep an eye out for great deals.   Shirts on clearance for $1?  I buy 5 of them.  Games with coupons for $1?  I buy some of those.  I buy yarn on sale for $1 & knit scarves all year.  I also keep an eye out at garage sales.  This year I got a box full of brand new, with tags scarves, hats & gloves for $4.  I bought prelit Christmas trees for $2.   I have 1 closet I keep all this stuff in during the year.  If there's something really great at the Dollar Store I grab a few.  Walgreens just had wooden Christmas puzzles for $.33 so I grabbed 10 of those.
Then right after halloween I find families who need help for Christmas.  I get out all this stuff & their wish lists & ages, & start matching up.  It's amazing how well things match!  This year I had 3 busy ball poppers I'd bought for $1 (clearance plus coupon).  And there were 3 kids that age on my lists.  I had 3 trees & 3 families that needed a tree.  It's just awesome!  I gave the boys hats & gloves & the girls scarves I'd knitted.  With the pile this year, I was able to do around 5 presents each child, for 6 families!  I also donated gifts to someone else doing sub for santa for 2 more families.  And I had 3 boxes of stuff leftover!  One pile I had a Christmas porcelain doll, Candyland, busy ball popper, & a playset for a boy, all brand new, & the whole pile only cost me $10!
Note:  this is not to brag.  This is again, what one woman can do, another can do!  I hear all season, from people with significantly more money than me, how they wish they could help people at Christmas too, but can't afford it.  Most people have this idea that you have to have several hundred dollars to help even 1 family.  So I'm sharing how I do it for anyone who'd like to!  Imagine if we were all able to give Christmas to 6 families!
Ok, now the question of what do I do with the 3 leftover boxes.  I found a local charity called PJ's.  They provide Christmas for 1800 local children.  With that large volume of children, they can use anything I have leftover; it's sure to be the right size for someone!  And they are a tax deductable charity!  So I take them all my leftovers & save some money on my taxes, & help even more children!
Last year I had over $2000 full retail price of things to donate & use for my sub for santa's.  With what I actually paid, & the tax savings I got, I figure I spent around $100 out of my pocket...less than $10 a month.  How cool is that?!