Why are paydays so far apart?

We have reached that point of no return. We are far enough away from the last payday to have forgotten what money looks like and not near enough the next one to get reacquainted with cash again. We basically have five pounds of flour and the knowledge that the water bill is paid and we will not die of thirst. How will we survive those last few days until payday?

Unless we can afford a winning lottery ticket, we will have to depend on th what is left in the refrigerator and freezer. My family almost enjoys these extremely strict budget periods. The meals start getting very creative.

On the weekends we have a surplus of cash ( surplus being entirely in the mind of the beholder), I tend to purchase items in bulk that have lasting power. In spite of the tears of my anti-carrot son, I usually purchase ten pounds of carrots. If all the other vegetables run out, we always have carrots. Carrots make salad, they stretch soups and stews and can be juiced with an orange for a beverage. I have also been known to coarsely grind up carrots and pass them off as ground beef in lasagna. I have not always been completely successful but I still have circumstances come up where I have to try it again.

Whenever I trim the fat from steaks or roasts or have a left over pork chop, I freeze them for a between payday crisis. I simmer them all day long with whatever old vegetables have survived the week and obtain broth for soup.

If you have flour and eggs between paychecks, you are indeed rich. You can easily make noodles or dumplings for that broth. Breakfast for dinner is also a possibility as you have the makings for pancakes.

Small amounts of leftover chicken or beef can be stirred fried with lots of whatever vegetables you have on hand. If you want to elaborate on the Chinese theme, it only takes oil, water and flour to make interesting Chinese pancakes to go with a main meal. My family doesn’t feel they are eating Chinese unless they have those crispy Chinese noodles to accompany the main course. I have found that left over, boiled spaghetti deep fries nicely into a crunchy, Asian side dish.

If you are looking for something sweet, you can boil almost any shaped noodle, deep fry them and toss them with cinnamon and sugar. They don’t soak up the grease and the children like them. Your flour, eggs and milk come in handy again, too. Mixing them into a very thin batter, you can make fragile pancakes and roll them around fresh or canned fruit. Your family will start to think their mom has turned gourmet!

And if you are entirely at a loss, make a dough of flour, salt, yeast and water, let it rise and bake bread. Any family coming in to the smell of baking bread will be thrilled with whatever the rest of the meal turns out to be.