Julie Provost MilitaryShoppers Page 9

Julie is a 30-something Blogger, Army Wife and Mom to three boys. She lives in Clarksville, TN and just welcomed her husband home from his 4th deployment. She loves blogging, photography and reading a good book!

How to Plant a Victorious Deployment Garden

04/18/2014 By Julie Provost

Did you plant your deployment garden? It is already the middle of April and time to start planting those easy-to-grow vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, carrots, peas, and herbs. I have found peas to be one of the easiest vegetables to grow in my past deployment gardens.

Plant this month to eat tomatoes off the vine this summer.

The first step to planting a garden is research. You need to know what zone you live in. Different parts of the country should start their seeds at different times during the spring. You want to make sure you are doing what is best for where you live. Then you are more likely have success and enjoy the bounty of your work this summer.

Don’t know when’s the best time to plant? Consult the USDA’s Hardiness Zone Map.

I live in Tennessee, which is located in zone 6B. I already planted my sugar snap peas, carrots, and radishes. With the carrots I am planting a few every week. That way they will not all be ready for harvest at the same time. We can munch on a steady stream of home-grown carrots throughout summer.

Some plants are able to be put in the ground before your last frost date while others need to wait. Each vegetable is different and can handle different types of weather.

I am anxiously waiting to plant my corn until nighttime temperatures are consistently above 55 degrees. Unfortunately our temperatures are expected to hover around 30 degrees this week. Although by the calendar I can plant around the 15th of this month, I decided to wait until it warms up a little more.

I am also growing tomatoes and peppers which I started from seed back in February. These will not go into the garden until the first week in May. Right now I have eight tomato plants and two pepper plants in a small greenhouse.

A lot of the success of your garden will hinge on when you start your seeds or put your transplants in the ground. You want to make sure you know when is the right time to plant your vegetable seeds. Different types of seeds also require different planting depths. (Use your ruler to avoid planting too deeply or too shallow.)

If you are unsure about planting depth or plant spacing, read the vegetable’s seed packet. It gives you all the information you need.

What’s your favorite vegetable to grow at home?

You also want to use your best judgement when deciding what day to plant your seeds. If there is a windstorm predicted the day you were going to plant your garden, hold off until it passes. If you are having colder weather longer than you normally do, wait an extra few days.

Your plants will thank you.

What vegetables are you planting this spring?

Commissary Specials Answer the Question: What’s for Dinner?

04/16/2014 By Julie Provost

At least once a week, the majority of military spouses are shopping for groceries at our military commissary. We are the ones who do most of the cooking. We are the ones facing the daily question: What’s for dinner?

The answer is found in the weekly commissary specials.

It’s hard to figure out what to make for dinner every night. Meal planning is best and can save money when you plan meals based on what’s on sale.

Slow cooker meals can be very easy and convenient to make, especially with our busy lives. The hardest part is to remember to turn it on at the right time. Start it too early and dinner will be done in the middle of the afternoon. Start it too late and you will be ordering pizza for dinner. I admit I have done that a time or two.

For a savory slow cooker dinner, I like to take a chicken breast, add water or chicken broth and some spices. I might do something simple like salt or pepper. You can also add in some convenient slow cooker sauces for flavor. There is a lot you can do to create different meals.

Save time and money by making dinner in your slow cooker.

I also like making deli sandwiches at home. They taste great and you can customize them the way that you want. Plus they are a lot cheaper than buying them from a store or eating out. Studies show that families on average spend less than $2 a day packing a sandwich for lunch. It is a good idea to have two types of deli meat in your refrigerator. Add cheese, veggies, and your favorite sauce or dressing and you are good to go.

Sandwiches are a healthy and affordable lunch.

Making your own desserts is a lot cheaper than buying them baked and packaged at the grocery store. You just need a little time to prepare. Cake and brownie mixes (where you only need to add oil, water, eggs, or butter) are basically foolproof.

I like to stock my pantry with cake and brownie mixes and have them on hand. Then I am ready to bring a yummy dessert to an FRG meeting, Bunco social, or a neighborhood barbecue on a moment’s notice.

The items I mentioned in this post are on sale at your military commissary this month. Did I spark some ideas for meal plans? I hope so. Happy cooking!

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8 Ways to Simplify Your Bedrooms

04/11/2014 By Julie Provost

If you are like me, you are always looking for ways to simplify your life and your home. Moving every few years as we Military spouses do makes it a little easier to sort though our stuff and get a little bit more organized. However, we still might need some good ideas on how to simplify spaces in our homes. I know bedrooms can be a challenging area to keep clean and organized. Here are some ideas on how to simplify your bedrooms.

1. Bins, bins, bins.

For children’s rooms, use bins to hold toys. Go through the toys and categorize them. If your children are old enough they can help you with this project.

2. Plan to purge.

Make plans to sort through toys once every few weeks. Get rid of the broken ones as well as the ones your kids no longer play with. Make sure you to do this right before birthdays and Christmas when you know your kids will get new ones anyway.

3. Does that go there?

Don’t use your room as a storage area. This can be tempting. You tell yourself it doesn’t matter because no one but you and your spouse go into the room. But the reality is you want to create a clear space in there. You want it to feel nice and simple so you can easily relax. Clutter won’t help you do that.

4. Habits make clutter die hard.

Get in the habit of making the bed right away. I have a routine where I make the bed as soon as I get dressed. A bed that is made makes the room feel so much better than a bed that isn’t.

5. Use end tables.

Find some coordinating end tables to put on each side of the bed. Not only do these look nice but they can hold things you might need. You can put your alarm, books, light and cell phone on the table so it is close to you while you sleep.

6. Get into a regular sheet changing routine.

Sheets are like shirts that you wear everyday. Pick a day where you will go through the house and replace and wash everyone’s sheets. Wash them as soon as possible to help simplify the process. Don’t forget to change the pillow cases as well.

7. Closets need love too.

Keep your closets organized. You will feel much better about your bedroom is your closet is organized and you can find what you need. Take an afternoon to go through it and get rid of anything you don’t use or wear.

8. Be nice to your future self.

Every night before bed, walk through your rooms and make sure everything is picked up off the floor, clothes are in the hamper and everything looks great for the next day. You will thank yourself in the morning.

Photo Credit

I hope that these 8 tips have helped you create a more simple place in your home. We all deserve to have a stress free zone in our homes where we can truly relax. Do you have any tips to share?

Easier ways to feed your kids dinner during a deployment

03/17/2014 By Julie Provost

Deployment can make even the simplest things exhausting.When my husband is deployed, even meal times become challenging. It used to be that when he was gone I did not cook at all. I fed my child something simple and I would make myself a salad or something easy. Now I have three children that all need dinner every night. Honestly, having my husband away during dinner turns it into more of a chore.

I decided that the only way I was going to get though meal times when he was gone was by making it a little simpler for myself…and there isn’t anything wrong with that.

Here are some ideas I have used during a deployment to make meal time a lot easier.

Breakfast for dinner. You can make pancakes. You can also double or triple the recipe to save some for later. You can serve toast, eggs and cereal as well. Cereal and yogurt is a very simple idea for breakfast for dinner.
Use your Crockpot. There are tons of 2-3 ingredient meals you can make with your Crockpot. Add a salad and you are good to go.
Know that it is okay to order pizza… Just not everyday. It might not be super healthy, but it is okay to order pizza. It is the easiest meal to have when you are solo-parenting. You can even make it fun and have a pizza night planned every Friday night.

The important thing is to not stress yourself out if you are not making three perfect meals every day. You need to give yourself a little bit of a break. There will be somedays you just want to feed the kids and send them to bed. There will be others when you will want to cook a big meal. Don’t feel badly if you have more lazy meal days than others. Deployments don’t last forever and you will be back into your old routine eventually.

Check out some of these easy recipes for deployment dinner ideas so you’re not stuck in the mud during dinner time.

Do you have a recipe to share? Enter our monthly contest for a chance to win $100. Use the money for healthy groceries, a few take out nights, or for a sitter so you can take time out for yourself! It’s easy, just click the button below.

[button link=”http://www.militaryshoppers.com/Recipes/index.php” size=”xl” color=”green”]Military Shoppers Recipe Contest[/button]

Why You Should Start A Garden During A Deployment

03/10/2014 By Julie Provost

Last April I decided to start a garden. I had only ever tried to grow a few things in pots over the years and never done very well with it. This time, I jumped right in. We made some boxes and bought a bunch of seeds and supplies. It wasn’t just that I wanted to grow things, it was also that my husband was deploying and I knew gardening would be a good thing to focus on while he was gone.

He left in June, which is right in the middle of the growing season. This was our hardest deployment yet and I knew I would need something to really focus on that would help take my mind off the fact that he was gone again. I decided gardening would be a good thing to focus on. I would have to tend to the plants. I could get excited when I started to see things grow. Plus, working out in the garden everyday is good for the soul.

That is why I suggest you start your own garden if you will be going through a deployment. It doesn’t have to be too big. It doesn’t have to be too complicated. It’s simply something that can help you during the time your spouse is away. Try to plant things you already eat and love. Tomatoes are a great plant to start with. You can start from seed or buy transplants from the store.

Having a garden to work on will help you see the bigger picture. You will get excited when it is time to harvest, knowing you grew everything yourself. You can send your spouse photos of how things are growing. And if you enjoy it as much as I did, it will become a part of your life and you will want to keep gardening, even after your spouse gets home.

Save money by packing lunch – in mason jars!

03/01/2014 By Julie Provost

I have always loved Mason jars. You can do so much with them. You can use them to decorate your home or put yummy drinks in them. You can also save money by packing lunch – in mason jars. If you tend to be on the run a lot, work outside the home or just want a simple and cost-effective way to eat your lunch, you should start making your lunch in a Mason jar.

There are a lot of different things you can do. I personally love the idea of salads in Mason jars. I am a big salad eater myself. I love how you can customize salads in so many different ways. They never have to get boring.

In order to make a salad in a Mason jar, you will need to gather up all of your ingredients. Figure out what types of salads you would like to make. Put your dressing in first. You want that to be on the bottom. Add vegetables, fruits and meats next to provide a buffer between the dressing and the lettuce. When it is time to eat, just pour everything from the jar into a bowl and you are good to go.

Other foods you can put in a Mason jar for lunch are lasagna, chili and cornbread, pastas and soups. You can also put dessert in a jar. You can do cheesecake, pie, pudding, muffins or even fruit and whip cream.

You can make lunch even more efficient by making more than one meal at a time. You can get ready for the work week and put together 4-5 different lunches to have on hand. This not only saves money but will streamline your day. Lunch has already been made and is easy for you to grab and go. I love saving time by planning ahead.

As a Military spouse, I think sending Mason jars filled with foods is a great idea for care packages. Cake in a jar is a real favorite and a great way to make your Military family member smile.

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