Post Vax Frugal Vacation

 1 step to a frugal vacation:

Step 1:  mooch off your richer sister.

(thanks!)

That's all the steps.

She's working from home and decided to do that from Santa Fe.   Rented a condo.  Offered me a free ticket and a couch and bingo-bango-bongo...free vacation.

Almost free. Pretty frugal.

An Aunt (Hi Chris) sponsored a dinner.  YUM.  We chose La Plazuela at La Fonda.  Super good and nicely spaced out.

Which reminds me:  I'm fully vaccined.  Thanks to the Tribe I work for who are super cool and generous.   Hence, traveled.  I know Fauci was saying it's not a license to travel, but it totes is.  Because I was going bonkers and offered a free vacation.  Some people....yes, you middle aged white conservative males!...were not masking on the airplanes, which were mostly packed.  At least I was vaccined.  Hope they didn't spread the 'rona to too  many people.  And, yes, I know the real word is "vaccinated" but I do not care.

ANYHOO, great vacation.  Ate most of the food in Santa Fe so don't bother going there now.

I loved that the museums that were open, mostly took timed appointments for entry.  It made for an old school, quiet, calm visit rather than the usual being run over by strollers full of toddlers piloted by privileged asshole parents who ram walls and damage art and talk loud.  ONE place, the Wheelwright, had people in there being loud IDIOTS, though there were limited timed entry tickets.  Oh well.

The farmers market and art market were done well especially when I went early to the farmers market.  People in Santa Fe are not, as a group, early risers.  The market doesn't start until 8am.  My day is half over by then.  By 10am it is getting crowded and the sellers are getting sick of people.  At 8, still not crowded and sellers still cheerful.

The art market folks...super appreciate them...are struggling with sales but hanging in there.  We bought a few significant pieces and I indulged in some amazing lotions/potions from Angela (Angelina?).  I shipped them to myself so can put the real contact when I get them.   She is amazing and gives great free, individually packed, samples.  I JUST ran out of her orange hand lotion before I went back down so now, have presents for 2 people and more lotion for me.

The farmers market...beware the eggs.  Some are 8$ a dozen, some are 3$ a dozen.  Tried both.  Get the 3$.  All are fine.  The 3$ had much less poo on them.  I'm not against poo, but the expensive ones took me forever to wash up.

We toured Tsankawi twice, Bandelier once, the Pecos and Rio Grande river areas with artists (Hi guys!) and it was lovely.  Saw relatives (also vaccined) and again, ate and ate and ate.  

Castro's is my  new favorite.  Best sopapillas on the planet.  Taosenos, at Taos, also amazing.  And then there is Santarepa...just eat there.  Eat whatever the owner says you should eat.  Tea House, fab.  Kakawa chocolate house, just eat there and drink the chocolate.  LOTS of non-dairy options! Woot woot!  Amazing.  Not fast, amazing.  Also, the little concession at Bandelier National Monument serves Kakawa hot chocolate so you can have some there too.  

At the farmers market we got goat meat and buffalo meat.  Both excellent.  Made some epically good meatloaf.

Pam (hi Pam!) was teaching me keto-ish stuff so I made a blueberry clafoutis (I know, not REALLY a clafoutis if it's not cherry but I was in France and they make non-cherry clafoutis too so shut up).  I substituted EVERY ingredient except the eggs and blueberries from a Jacques Pepin recipe and it was still delicious.   I will be eating that a lot.  

I'm not going keto, but am interested in getting away from so much carb-y, especially processed white carb-y, food.  

Maybe I will post pictures later but right now, I might need a nap.

The Ladies Are Back on the Production Line

 

It seems all the hens are laying again.  Nice.

Here is the range of colors:

Light tan must be from the barred rock, Porky.  I have 2 white layers.  This is from the larger on, Pearl.  She's a white leghorn.  I also have the brown leghorn banty, Flora, who lays TINY white eggs and there is a tiny egg in the laying box today.  I left it as bait so they keep laying up in the boxes.  The darker brown is from one of the red-sex-link, aka Novogen, type hens.  I have Suzanne (might be Brittany...not sure who got killed by a raccoon but I'm sticking with the name "Suzanne" now), who is 2 years old or more.  The other red-sex-link is Gertrude who is just a year old and laid most of the winter, though not every day and slowed down.   The blue in the lower left is from Pru, and aracauna/ameracauna (I see so many spellings I give up).  She's the only blue egger.  They aren't as large.  I think Porky's egg today is a double yolk.  I am letting it age a bit so I can boil it up and may a double deviled egg because that would be amusing.

The darker brown eggs run extra large to jumbo.  The big white ones are the same.  The blue eggs run large to extra large.  The small white ones are small to medium size eggs.

I am SUPER surprised Flora is putting out eggs.  She is probably 5 years old.  When I got her last year the owner who was giving away banties said they were mostly 4 years old.  

It was nice out today and I was doing chores and moving manure.  The hens LOVED it.  Stirred up bugs and things I guess.   It was around 60 degrees out! The creek is running and they were happy.

So was I.

Brand New EXTREMELY Used Car

 I was going to post about something else and then I remembered I hadn't put up the new rig.  I will have to shut off comments on this post because purchase posts get super spammed.  

Anyway, so, partway through the house build, when I was at the financial nadir of the winter (still thankfully employed and getting checks but the savings had pretty much all been transferred to the builderman and mrs builderman)...the subaru gave up the ghost.  Sol is dead.  Sol (remember, I got it by the summer solstice so "Sol") is an ex vehicle.   It started shaking like a beast.  Very much like when it broke a drive shaft (there are 2 on a subaru) last spring and cost me 300+$.   I took it in and found out it  had a completely f'd ignition system including a blown up (yes, it exploded a little and burned a hole through itself) ignition coil.   That and the new wires and installation on the hard-to-work-on motor cost me 500$ or so.  It was 180k miles LATE on the 2nd timing belt, burning more and more oil, and had 288000 miles on it.  This is not a car worth fixing.  I drew a line under it and started driving the pick up.  Not a super delight, but it was "the good car" for a couple of months.

I searched high and low.  I had 5000$ for a rig and Sol as a trade-in or to scrap.  Also, Sol had a dying battery.  Anyway, the longer I could deal with the truck, the more I could save.  By the time I purchased, I could have possibly spent 6-8000$ for the right vehicle.  I test drove a variety of things.  Chevy Equinox made my spine hurt in 20 min.   Toyota Sienna was just crap.  The particular one I drove, could afford, was less uncomfortable but also drove like a couch which makes me puke.  A super smooth ride and I get car sick.  Both would have been dealt with if I had no truck, but I had the truck.   So, I told the dealer, same one I got the truck from that my dream car was an old Honda CR-V or Subaru Forester.   The sedans I considered did not have enough clearance and newer subarus have the expensive 17" tires.  

I had two dealers I was watching and a CR-V popped up at one.  I called, texted, and emailed them requesting a 36 hour hold on it because I had work meetings I couldn't miss and they are an hour from me.   They held it , because it's easy to sell an old CR-V.  They said they had 4 or 5 people waiting in the wings if I didn't want it.  Whatever.  Don't care.

I read the reviews for the 2002 model, reliability ratings and the CarFax.  All were fine.  Of special interest was the timing CHAIN.  No belt.  The 2002 is the year Honda took the CR-V back to a timing chain.  These are much much more reliable than belts and may not need replacing for the life of the vehicle.  A timing belt replacement on the subaru was going to be over 1200$...nope.  That's why I let it go on Sol.  The CR-V is all wheel drive, plenty of clearance and has 15" wheels hence much much cheaper tires.  Also narrower tires than the subaru.  I did not look up features or cool stuff.  Don't care.  

My bottom line criteria:

Clearance of 5.75" or more

Automatic (clutch/gas dyslexia is not a solvable issue, I tried for 3 years solid, screw it)

All wheel if possible

Reasonable chance of getting 1+miles of driving for every 10cents of purchase price plus major repairs.

Seats that don't cause immediate back/next pain

and...a new one after testing the above mentioned Sienna....does not REEK of baby puke.

Preferred: 

Stiff/rough ride

Decent handling

Cheap to fix

Good cargo space

Stupid but I thought it would be fun:

a tire mounted on the back door  (because I've never had one)

I got there, in the truck, to test drive it.  It was fine.  The driver's seat is a tad wiggly but whatever.  Hood is 1/4" off square.   Scrapes in the doors.  It's grey and hence nearly invisible on the road (maybe reflective flame stickers will help?)

Stiff ride.  Rough idle.  Twitchy steering.  Decent acceleration but not a powerhouse by any means. 

166k miles on it. (LOW for the age).  Engine light on for an "evap" code.  After market gas cap likely cause.  

Asking price was about 5000$

I said I'd be back in 2 days with the subaru to buy it.  We negotiated a price before I did that.   The price was what they were asking but 450$ for the subaru (junk/salvage price would be about 250$ minus the hauling fee if I couldn't drive it there...I would not sell it to anyone who might try to drive it).  With some random 90ish$ fee, the drive-away cost out of pocket was 4650$.  Taxes (my plates from the subaru transferred at no cost) and title fees were about 340$.  Total price: 4990$.  Let's call it 5000$ with the driving down to test drive. 

The day comes and the subaru, which had been sitting for 2 months with the crap battery, would not start.  It also would not take a jump.  I called the dealer and they said they go to auctions up north of me and would pick it up, minus a hauling fee.  FINE.  Kill it.  I told them I'd be there the next day because they were about to close.  Then I called around to the 1 person in my bubble...and she gave me a ride down.  She took a 2nd test drive in it and agreed that it was fine for the price.   She had family to get presents to in the dealer's town so she took off and I wrote a check.

They picked up Sol about a week later.  

So....introducing Juanita:

Not bad looking for nearly 20 years old.

She is called Juanita because she's a bit of a rough ride, is showing some wear (dings, windshield crack, broken trim here and there), and stinks of cigarettes.

Exhibit 1:

So there you have it.

Issues that have shown up post purchase (and yes, I know that the better part of valor is to take a used car to a mechanic but I did not have time and it would have cost me a day off of work in addition to the mechanic's price for the testing.  Then what do I do with myself during 'rona?  Stores don't want you hanging around.  My mechanic near work couldn't do it for 2 weeks and the dealer wasn't going to hold it for 2 weeks...so I thought "what the hell"...and bought it.  It's 5000$.  I've made bigger mistakes.

I bought the truck, reminder: named Prince because 1999)...anyway, things that have shown up:

Shifting issue at 1800rpm and between 25 and 40 MPH.  It quits having an issue if I hit the gas or take my foot off the gas.  I'll get that assessed when it needs oil.  Turns out it the protocol is oil every 10,000 miles...I will go 5000 but I don't think I can deal with waiting 10000 miles between changes.

Mild whistling noise (antenna?) at highway speeds.

Bonuses I've noticed since purchase:

There is a trunk!  The tire is on the back door but there is a tire shaped storage spot under the floor of the cargo area.  

There is a folding table.  The floor of the cargo area is a flimsy (apparently unused) folding table.

Sun roof

Cassette player (I did notice before purchase)

6CD changes (also noticed before purchase but like the cassette player, I don't care)

The backseats not only fold down, they flip up and attach to the back of the front seats so you get a TON of cargo room.

There is a rubbery thing lining the cargo area so things don't leak all over.

There is a storage bin under the passenger front seat that slides out...perfect for filling with baking soda and charcoal to try to minimize the cigarette stank.

All the electric windows still work (I did check before purchase but didn't really care)

The seats are manual hence hard to bust (did notice before purchase but not a consideration)

The front seats lay flat and then you can shove them against the back seats for a super uncomfortable bed area!  More comfortable than the subaru for sleeping.  

There is an extra cubby on the door side of the steering wheel, in the dash but on the door side.  This helps make up for the lack of a console between the seats.  

The thingy between the seats is a fold down table.  Strange.  

Minuses:

The shifty issue

Minimal cup holders that are flimsy and crap.  Like ONE that is functional and it's flimsy.  Oh well.

Just one charging port.

The engine light goes off and on at random.  I had it checked and it's the "evap" code.  Still, annoying.  So I bought a code reader and will be able to shut it off as well as making sure it's not trying to tell me that the engine is about to blow up.  There is just the engine light, not any fine detail on what the issue is.

I think the stupid folding table is the funniest bit.  Clearly it is useless or it would have been used.

The seats do not hurt my spine.  It's like driving around in a straight back kitchen chair.  The head rests do not mess with my pony tail like every other car I'd tested AND the subaru.  This and my pick up may be that last vehicles with bun space.   My left leg doesn't fall asleep in this one like it started to in the subaru (that seat was worn out).

I've put about 2500 miles on it so far...That's 2$/mile cost so far.   It goes down fast the first few months.  By summer, we'll be hitting 1$ or less.   Headed for the golden 10cents.   The first subaru costs me 5cents per driving mile....Betty was a good car.  But, she's dead.  Long live Juanita.

No-Spend February Informed Pantry Stock List

 It is time to start restocking the pantry.   The no-spend month was handy in getting through the stuff I don't eat, as well as noticing what types of foods I get for free or onsite and hence, they will not be on the top of the restock list, but instead on a sort of watch list in case the supply should change.

Things I get, or can get, onsite or through my own efforts:

Meat  By helping people butcher, I have a pretty good supply of meat and I gain skills...oh so slowly do I gain skills.   I will add the hunting rider to the fishing license mentioned below.  I can get small game or big game here on the property.  I can also butcher out my chickens as they get past being decent layers or I get sick of the cock duet in the mornings.  The 2 roosters are on notice every day they start the concert before 4am which is now every dam day.

Eggs More free hens should 

Fish. I'm going to go get a fishing license with the "stuff for land" or "household" budget line(s) this month.  If I actually fish this year (AHEM Sara W!!  You have been warned), that will pay for itself AND provide recreation and nature break thinking time.

Legumes.  I managed to grow a very few lentils and garbanzos last year.  Critters got them before I did but with more effort, I could make it happen I think.  The Siberian Pea shrubs are starting to put out pods and those are an edible legume.   I might be able to harvest some this year.

Camelina seeds.  They are a protein boost with omega-3, fiber and they can be gelled into fake eggs like flax seeds.  EASY to grow, harvest, clean and store.  I kept plenty for seed.

Greens 9months of the year.  Need to work harder on this and I am getting a jump on it now.  My Good King Henry is up but got frozen in the bad weather.  Might begin being harvestable in April.  Same with some wild greens like nettles, dandelion leaves, and fern heads.   If I plant radish seeds this weekend, the sprouting kind (the radish is edible but not delicious but the greens are excellent if you like strong flavors on the bitter side) I could have greens in a few weeks.   I have kale coming up in the mini greenhouse.  I have some kale that has been alive through 2 winters now.  It doesn't put out a ton of leaves, but one takes what one can get.  Lovage...god the lovage!  Both a green and a seasoning.  I moved as much of the roots as I could get out of the raised bed yesterday over to the big in-ground garden and planted what might be 3 large clumps.   The rest of the root bits I plan on potting up and maybe selling or giving away.  IF I am diligent and dry some of the greens, I might be able to stretch the supply into winter.  If I get enough sprouting seeds off radish plants, that would nearly get me greens independence.

Garlic.  I am still eating on last years' sad harvest (critters got most of it) and what the community teaching garden was giving away.  Of course I forgot to plant any last fall, middle of the house build and whatnot, until a sudden really hard freeze and then gave up.  Still for the past month or more I've saved a clove off the heads that had stored well and yesterday I stuck them in the mini greenhouse.  Why not?  Might work.  I've had a few this past week that were starting to grow in the storage bag so I put a few of those in as well and planted on in a little pot in the wee shed.  The spider plant former pot occupant froze to death a few weeks ago.  Oops...

Flavoring agents.  I've managed to collect dill.  Could have collected and dried lovage leaves, chives, sage, thyme (multiple kinds), oregano, tarragon, horseradish, onions (walking onions mysteriously appear and disappear in the garden...I did plant them but where do they go sometimes?), garlic, mint (various types).

Herbal teas.  I have wild roses, pine and fir trees, hops, mints, raspberries, and much much more that I could have been gathering leaves and petals off of to dry for winter teas.  I'm testing chicory to see if I want to grow that as a coffee substitute or coffee stretcher...so far, it makes me poop to  much to want to have all the time but might be worth it as a medicinal.

Berries.   Still have a TON of service berries, elderberries, and oregon grapes perserved in vinegar (partly because I had access to so much other fruit all winter this time).  I also have blueberries from the you-pick and I might even have some of my friend's blackberries in vinegar.  My berry bushes didn't put out enough to preserve, the planted bushes.  BUT they are doing better since the move to a new garden.  We'll see...   Service berries are pretty reliable.  If I drive or walk 5 miles to the state park up the road, I should be able to get huckleberries now and then.  I think I've found a spot to put my honeyberry shrubs and they are even bearing in their sad undersized pots.  The hens picked them clean the day before I had about 2 cups coming ready to harvest.  My blueberries have never been happy and my wild raspberries are meager.  I could work harder with the pin cherries on the lower part of the property and try working with the ash berries (those orange danglers on ash trees are edible), as well as haw apples (the fruit of the hawthorn).  My aronia berries and chokecherries are coming along a bit but are not happy.  The gooseberries and currants put out 1or 2 berries a year so far...hope springs eternal.

Apples.  I get bucket tons off the deer poop apple trees.  Plenty.  Need to work on more preserving them with drying, canning, and a root cellar some day.

Water. I have a well. 

Mushrooms.  Not many, just a few.   I am trying to learn more about identification so I will have more species that I can harvest and eat. 

Potatoes grow but are hard to preserve without a root cellar.

Beets also grew well in the big garden and were a good source of greens as well as roots.

Oddly, I suck at squash but am going to keep trying.   I have a ghost pumpkin in the small garden rotting away with some sheep poo on it.  Here's hoping it turns into a nice pumpkin patch this year!!

So, that's a great deal!

Things usually/often included in 2nd Harvest distribution locally:

Canned fruit, some fresh fruit 

Canned veg, some fresh veg

Canned beans

Pasta

Rice

Bread

Those have come, in the past few months, in large enough quantities to become part of the pantry stock.  Recently the canned items have been no-added-sugar and no-added salt versions (mostly) which work in my preferred diet.  

I'm learning to pace myself with the canned goods...eat the fresh fruit and veg early on because it's usually a tad bruised or near the expiration date.

Occasionally there are windfalls like the 10lb bag of all purpose flour I got 10 months back or the 6lbs of red meat that we got last week.  Those can't be counted on but are lovely when they happen.  The usual animal proteins are dairy and/or super salty processed meat.  I can't eat those and stay healthy due to personal problems.   The amount of pasta lately has been bonkers so that is getting shared out and when people quit accepting it, I put back 2lbs of angel hair to make up for the chickens.  They love it.

Things that are currently hard to produce and hence could be purchased as pantry stock:

Grain.  I like me some grain!  I might be able to get buckwheat to go but don't have the brain space to figure it out.  I've planted it and it came up and flowered and put out seeds. I didn't figure out an easy/doable hand harvesting method.  Once I do, then there is the cleaning and getting the hulls off and etc.   I might try wheat and wild rice.  I've tried quinoa (yes, I know it's not a real grain)  (neither is buckwheat smarty pants) but didn't get a harvestable amount.  Will try again.

Nuts.  I've planted chestnuts, hazelnuts, english walnuts, butternuts, horse chestnuts (don't eat those....make soap).  So far all but 1 hazelnut tree have died.  A chestnut might be powering back from roots.  We'll see.  I really want nuts (heh heh).   Good protein and an oil source.  BUT I can grow sunflower seeds so once I get that going, I may need/want fewer nuts.

Oil...the meats I can get easily are pretty much super lean.   Even the chickens because they are layers butchered in old age or roosters, they are not fatty.   The elk a friend gave me (thanks Rik!!) was amazing and lean.   Same with the ducks I've butchered with a friend. More fat on the ducks.  Since we're canning, we've been taking it off.  I might ask for some to render into cooking fat next time.  Nut oil (heh heh heh) would be handy.  It magically appears when you try to make nut butter.  Instead of mixing it in, pour it off and cook with it.  For now, I've been buying various oils. Coconut oil is the easiest to store, hardest to spill and I prefer it to the others when I use it as skin lotion.  I may not want to smell like olive oil or canola all day and they go off flavor in the freeze/thaw/overheat cycle of my home.

Spices.  Many herbs I can grow.  If I get a greenhouse going maybe hot peppers will make it, or thai peppers as a house plant.  Many spices like cinnamon won't.  Nutmeg is from Madagascar so I don't believe it's going to make it in north Idaho.  Mustard seeds...the debate is still alive on this one! Not growable in the quantities I need for making mustard for others, but maybe enough to make for me.  I will run a test.

Cocoa/Chocolate.   That's not going to grow here but I am going to continue to love it.  That will be purchased as needed/wanted/possible.

Coffee.  That isn't going to grow here.   I'm working my way toward lower consumption and finding ways to stretch it.  Right now I reuse the grounds.  If I start with all fresh grounds and make a french press, pour over or percolated version, then for the 2nd press/pour/perc  I add about 1/2 the original amount or less of fresh grounds.  It's not going to win coffee awards, but it cuts the amount of coffee grounds per 2 cups by 1/4.     That's about a week's worth per month.  Every 4th month is free!  (sort of).  Cutting back on the number of cups per day also helps.  I've been filling in with my back stock of tea and will keep doing that until the tea is gone.

Tea.  Herbal teas yes.   Green or Black tea...nope.  Not able to grow that here.  Hopefully I can mostly transition to growable or gatherable tea types (nettle, mint, raspberry) eventually.   They don't have caffeine so I'll have to watch and see if coffee intake increases when the G/B teas run out.

Sweeteners.  I keep trying to grow stevia as a houseplant!  So far, no go.   Honey is a theoretical possibility but I have failed for several years to get a harvestable amount and currently do not have bees.  I have been cutting back on  sweetener so that will be the biggest help.  If I keep making kombucha I will buy sugar for it.  If I eventually get a honey source going then I can try to move the mother over to that.   Sometimes sugar is also helpful in a liquid to turn into vinegar.  Honey vinegar is delicious but without my own honey it can be spendy.

Sourers.   I can brew vinegar and the pineapple scrap vinegar I brewed is AMAZINGLY delicious.  For reals!  I will keep trying with the vinegars.  Eventually maybe press apple cider and vinegar some of that.   Other sours...I have started a perennial sorrel in the garden and learned to pick sheep sorrel.  Nice sour for salads and whatnot.  Hmmm...I wonder if it is still sour if I dry it!  Lemons are not going to grow here outside. Perhaps a tree when I get a house.

OK!  Time to inventory my seeds while enjoying a cup of pantry stock tea!

No Food-Spend February Final Results

 HOLY COW!   You save a LOT of money if you don't spend it on food.  I mean, for reals.  You also learn stuff.

1)  You save on food

2) You save on tips (because not going to restaurants)

3) You save on gas (because groceries and laundry are my towntrip motivators)

4) You learn to eat new, often cheaper, things that have been sitting in the pantry

5) You really start to appreciate that living off other people's "waste" food is pretty amazing and get more and more willing to eat it.

6) You learn that 6 is my favorite number so I had to have 6 things in the list.  

As of Feb 28 I had 2 heads of garlic and a few random cloves as "fresh food" and still have almost all of my sprouting seeds.

Still had a few cans of 2nd harvest veggies and peaches.  4 or 5 cans of peas.  No more beans in cans.  Maybe a half cup of lentils left.

Some dried carrots.  No more bouillon cubes or dried veg mix as soup base.

Still have plenty of berries in vinegar (actually gave a pint and a half jar of them away today...must remember to get that jar back, I love that size/shape) and have been eating them pretty regularly.  They are nice on a veggie and bean soup and add some color other than the carrots from the cans of veggies.

I still have plenty of rice and put 6lbs of spaghetti in the little free pantry over the weekend because it was too much.  While I was there, I grabbed a can of diced tomatoes.  Just one.  It made a really nice tomato-garden soup with the last of the dried veggie mix.  Surprisingly good.

I'm a bit low on spices but still plan to use up what I have.  I'm out of cumin and paprika which are surprisingly handy for adding flavor to almost anything with rice or beans.  BUT I still have chimayo green chili powder and a tube of "poulet" (thanks Chris!) seasoning that is about half full and seems to have some smoky paprika in it.  It is delicious on much more than poulet.  I also have 1 or 2 small jars of salsa from the farmers market.

I was planning on going to the store in a week or so because I will be in town anyway.  I was thinking through what I "need" vs what I want and turns out I don't "need" anything.  I'd like a small bag of sugar to keep my kombucha mother going and keep making kombucha.

I thought I'd like some oatmeal or flour of some sort (still kicking myself for not grabbing the bag of 5lbs of corn meal for 25cents...damn! but I had enough flour).

I say "thought" because I am just moments back from an extra "2nd Harvest" distribution day.  A random truck showed up about 6hours ago and after lunch, the call went out far and wide that there was TONS of stuff available.  INCLUDING MEAT!!!!   

I got many many too many pounds of pasta.  I will re-donate that.  Already passed on the mac and cheese to a colleague with kids.  I don't do the dairy so much and that is totes not worth the dairy cost.  I will pass on most of the spaghetti because I got 3 or 4lbs of spinach rotini and still had 2lbs in the pantry. 

There was also....OATMEAL!!! Maypo brand.  Plain oatmeal.  No sugar.  Whole grain.  Nice.  It's quick cooking but whatever.  I kept thinking I could make a nice fruit crumble if only I had some oatmeal.  And there it was.  2 boxes of 1lb 2oz each.  Lovely.  

More than a dozen cans of fruit.  4 cans of peas.  4 cans of kidney beans.  4 cans of pork and beans (I ate one...oddly good cold out of the can...but tooo salty so the other 3 are getting donated to the little free pantry). 

3 pounds of frozen ground beef.

3 pounds of frozen ground BISON!!!!!  YAY!!!!

Since I was down to 3 or 4 jars of my home canned meat, this is excellent. I cannot remember the last time I had a burger.   I plan to fry one up this weekend and put the rest in soup with the potatoes left from last week's regular distribution (they have some dark spots so need to be eaten sooner rather than later), some of my garlic and dried carrots.  Whatever spices I can round up.   I know I have fennel and peppercorns.   I'm skipping the salt as much as possible so not adding it to most dishes.  I gave away my hot sauce but have that delicious green chili...oooo....green chili bison stew...oh yeah.  That sounds good.  With a random fruit crumble using the oatmeal and a bit of the buckwheat honey or stevia (I bought that stevia powder...less than an ounce, before I moved into the wee shed.  It lasts forever because you need so little).

There are also cans of the mixed veggies in the 2nd harvest "non-perishables" box.   I have started just emptying one into a bowl and adding meat and spices.  The home jarred meat is already cooked.  Just heat and enjoy.  The broth from the veggies in the can is good enough as soup.  Left over soup with a bit more spice and oil is good on pasta or in rice as a casserole.   Like, really not bad.   

I'm not as much of a food princess right now.  I'd RATHER eat local, organic, no-spray and think that is the way farming and consuming food helps the planet.  I think that eating up food "waste" also helps in a different way.  When I have more cash flow, once the house is done or whatever, I can go back to the fancy eating.   

I do appreciate fancy food more now.  

I put money in the grocery budget for March, but could continue to eat healthy meals without it.  I didn't put any money in the dining out lines of the budget.   Or the coffee out budget.

I still have money on the fancy bread gift card and by cutting back to every other week and getting less, like 2 small treats rather than a whole loaf of bread, I am stretching that out for another month at least.  That's kind of fun.  

Hopefully most of the March food budget will go to pantry staples I'm unlikely to get from 2nd harvest, spices, cocoa, coconut oil (one of your better no-dairy oils that keeps reasonably well in the wee shed).

I have enough coffee beans to make it through the month and still have enough tea to host the royal family a few times.  I've cut back to one cup of coffee in the morning and then black or green tea for the next couple of caffeine shots.  It works well so far.  I also found the dregs of a bag of ground chicory root so I can add a bit of that to a small ration of coffee beans and make some New Orleans style coffee.  It's quite tasty really.

Overall, my total spend for things that were NOT the "new" used car (more anon) or the house building bill, was 700$ less than January.  About 300 of that is attributable to the no food-spend.   In the summer, while building the pantry stock, I can spend 200$/month on groceries.  It is easy to spend 50-100 a month on coffee and restaurant food with a couple of work lunches and a few fast drive through coffee hut trips.   March has some annual bills to be paid so won't be as much lower.  But I think I can keep the food bill a great deal lower than it was and that I will keep patronizing 2nd Harvest late in the day after the truly needy have had a shot and the food pantry folks from the small towns around have stocked up their rigs and headed back for those 2ndary distributions (does that make it 3rd Harvest?)

Notes on Woodstove Cookery

 Not a cookstove, a regular woodstove you heat the house or shop with.   The first part is a review of stove top cookery.  The other part is new and more interesting and has pictures.

I have one made out of a water heater tank.  I had the guy put a full flat top on it.  Most of the ones he made (he's retired from the woodstove biz) had a half flat top and half rounded.  I wanted room for like 2 pans or a little pan and a tea kettle.

It works.  

I had someone recently, a charming young man with apparently very little real world experience, say "oh, you can cook on a woodstove!?!?!"   Uh....ya.

Here's the thing.  Food + Heat = Cooking.

Seriously that is it.  You just need a heat source and some food.  There is all that raw crap and salad, but I'm talking about cooking with a woodstove so that isn't relevant.

Any heat source can cook.  A candle can cook tiny things...just check out that channel on youtube with the guy cooking for his hamster.

I cook on top of the stove.   This is easy.  Anything in a pot:

Tea, coffee, soup, rice, noodles.   When I have the woodstove going daily (really nightly because I don't heat during the day if I'm not home), I put on a tea kettle of water and save it in vacuum bottles.  Then I have pretty hot water for coffee, tea, soup, noodles, whatever.  Yes, smartass, in science class in 5th grade they told you that cold water heats faster than hot water.  If you are trying to raise a quantity of water 1 degree, then yes.  The cold water will heat that 1 degree faster.  If you are trying to boil water, hot water boils faster than cold water because there are fewer degrees to heat.  And yes, I have had idiots tell me that when they asked how I cook.  Why ask me and then tell me I am doing it wrong?  You don't even live off grid douchebag and you clearly do not cook or even make damn tea...

Sorry...rant break there.

By saving the hot water, if the stove goes out or I don't want to rebuild a fire or I have the stove set to burn pretty low, it's easy to boil water on the woodstove or on the little butane stove much more quickly.   Speeds up soups too.

Too cook wet food (soup, rice, noodles, boiled eggs, etc) on top of your woodstove:

Put food in a pan with water or whatever liquid.  Put it on the stove.  When it's done or you are sick of waiting, take it off the stove and eat it.

You can also fry stuff on the woodstove.  I only do the occasional egg on there.   Meat, fish, onions etc will stink up my wee shed.  When I have a bigger house I will do more frying on the woodstove.  Which will in fact be a cookstove.  An egg is pretty quick and doesn't smell like much.   

To fry on the woodstove, put the pan, preferable a cast iron or other heavy pan, on the hot stove.   Add some oil.   When the grease is as hot as you want (you can spit in it if you want to check it old school style or put a drop of water in it if you are rocking it new style) (if it's medium hot the spit/water will dance and evaporate, if it's high heat you will get a face full of hot grease spatters), put in the food.

Yes, you can dry fry a steak or burger or whatever.  If you are going to fry fish, I assume you want the whole house to stink of fish for months.  Knock yourself out.  Personally, I'm not doing that right now.  Same with onions, garlic etc.   Too much stank.

Now for the exciting and innovative bit that many people have already done around the world but "modern" "mainstream" americans don't seem to think of:  Cook inside the fire box.

I've posted the pumpkin and onions in the past.

Today, I took it up a notch.  

I did an elk roast inside the firebox.  It was astoundingly good.   A) it's elk.  B) it was slightly smoky and cooked to medium.   I did an onion in there as well.  The onion was HUGE and actually needed longer but the elk was ready and it's been years since I had elk and maybe forever that I have had an elk roast so, when it was ready it came out and I ate half of it.  The rest is for soup tomorrow.

Here is the detailed and specific recipe and costs (because it is still no-spend-groceries-February)

Remember to bring the roast home from the work fridge freezer (have forgotten it multiple weekends but remembered this weekend).

Cut up the tiny garlic cloves and one giant single mutant clove (it was its own head) and put it in the tiny cast iron pan you got a thrift store for like 50cents that you like to cook a single egg in because it is square and fits on a piece of bread unless you get the good artisanal bread in which case, still a fun square egg.  The pan is sitting on my grubby butane stove .  The garlic is from my garden so cost is zero.

Rik: Thanks for the elk!!!  It was a gift so...the cost is zero.

Here is the roast unwrapped.  Note the lack of fat.  I still didn't add any oil or fat because I like my meat like my men....lean.  It is sitting on the garlic cloves.  The center was a tiny bit frozen but what the hell. 

Stick it in the firebox.  Note that I let the fire burn down to coals and pushed those to the back BEFORE I put the food in.  There is a bit of firebrick the pan is sitting on which helped keep it level.  The brick is in there to hold up the end of the logs/sticks that go in the woodstove so there is a bit of air circulation under them while I get the fire going.  If they sit flat on the bottom layer of firebricks they don't burn as well.  Next to the roast is the giant onion.  The onion is from 2nd harvest so the cost is zero.  

On top of the stove I am making a side dish in a little pan I got at a thrift store for 50cents...set of three but the "big" one was dinged up and is now the auxiliary chicken water pan (let them drink the pot metal particulate, not me...also their main water pan is frozen solid to the ground and full up with ice).

The side dish is dried mushrooms and dried carrots from Sherry (thanks Sherry) which were a gift so the cost is zero.  Recipe:  crunch up the big bits of mushroom and put in pan.  Add some dried carrot slices.  Add a bit of water (the hot stuff from the insulated bottle) and set it on the stove over the hottest part which will be at the back by the stove pipe because that is where you pushed the coals).  When it starts to boil, move it to a cooler part or on the fire brick you keep on top of the stove for just that purposed and also a tiny bit of heat storage. I did cover it with a scrap of foil so I was minimizing the steamy vapor in the wee shed and because I wanted to.  It does not matter.  If the water gets low, add more.  Give them 10min or more.

About 20 or so minutes later I looked in and the top of the meat was nice and cooked, looked browned but not seared.  So I turned it over.  Some of the garlic stuck to it.   I let it. I mean, really, who cares?  It's my damn roast.   I spun the onion so the other side was facing the coals.  It wasn't very soft but was very hot.

Another 10min or so, maybe less, and this is how it looked.  We're back on the tiny butane stove (with some baking soda stains...oops...I'm not a food stylist).  The side that finished toward the coals, started toward the door, was less done. Both the done-er and less done bits are delicious.  The garlics caramelized and the tiny bit of juice in the pan got used as a sauce sort of.

Here is the full meal on my thrift store steel camping plate, enamel mug, and the thrift store pan all sitting on my wood stove...with a drying dish towel in the background.  Jesus H. Christ I am NOT a food stylist am I!?  The onion, a free yellow onion not a fancy sweet anything, was vaguely sweet and smokey.  The roast was delicious and vaguely smoky but not overly so, with the caramelized garlic and garlicy elk juice it is fantastic! As you can see, the roast was still juicy inside.  I have heard you need to sear it to keep the juices in.  Apparently not. The carrots and mushrooms were simple and delicious.  I added minimal water so they didn't get soft.  Good texture and the carrots get oranger when you cook them up.  In soup with lots of water the mushrooms stay mushroom texture and the carrots get softer and softer.

I didn't bother with any spices, not even salt and pepper.   It was all delicious as is.

I did not check the temperature inside the firebox. Sometimes I do that with an over thermometer but I didn't feel like it.  I could stick my hand in there long enough to get things settled and not be bothered.  I have super tough hands temperature-wise so ...350 or 400?  Don't know.  Didn't matter.  If you are worried about exact temperatures, don't do this sort of cooking.  You can't build the fire back up once you start unless you want the food to be in flames.

I have half the onion and about half the roast, it was a tiny roast which I super appreciate! and the dregs of the mushrooms and carrots in a tin on the porch (35 degs out so it will keep) along with the bits from the elk pan that I deglazed with a bit of water.  That all goes in soup or stew tomorrow.  Might add more veg, might not.  That will get cooked on top of the stove as described above.

Total cost for an astoundingly delicious meal:  ZERO.

For the record I also made breakfast on the woodstove.  I fried 2 eggs in the cast iron skillet you can see on the floor in on of the pictures (not really the floor...it's the bit of cement board I use as a hearth and a giant cake I set cooking pots in...they don't burn the floor that way).   I don't have counter space to set the frying pan on when the butane stove is being used as a prep area.  I'm used to this sort of curly-shuffle but those thinking of living tiny might take it as a warning.  When you cook, you spend fully 50% of the time shuffling your crap to questionable locations so you can find a place to assemble the meal.

Anyway, breakfast was 2 eggs from my chickens...cost of feed maybe 50cents because of low egg production in winter.  I used some coconut oil for the pan which was looking dry so I used more than usual...maybe 5cents.  Coffee (used the grounds twice in a tiny thrift store percolator...I should show that in a picture some time).  Old cheap coffee because the free grounds are finally used up.  10cents.  Water...free.  

I've also had a few cups of peppermint tea, 2 cents (loose leaf peppermint bought in bulk ages ago).

Total cost for lunch:  ZERO

Total cost for breakfast: 67cents.

For a snack today I had a can of diced pears in pear juice from 2nd harvest:  Zero.

Total for the day so far (and likely the whole day because I'm still stuffed from lunch): 67cents.

Cooking on and in the woodstove is not difficult and since I had no actual time spent preheating the oven...I was out doing chores and had a fire going just because it is winter, my total prep time was under 10 min and cook time under 30 (which I spent watching random  youtubes).

To the young doofus who was surprised you can cook on a woodstove...yes, and also, there is no santa claus and your mom is the toothfairy.

  

Some of My New/Recycled Thrifty Ninja Moves

 I've blogged about my uber thrifty...like to the point they may be pointless...habits in the past.  Things like giving up shampoo.   Which of course worked out well and IS worth it to me.  Make your own choices.

Watching some thrifty/frugal food youtubers and other cheapskate vloggers, I can see how far I've come/gone.

E.g.  Watching grocery hauls where people buy selzer water.   First I think "wow, that's a ton of plastic...more plastic than food" that they come home with, in their reusable bag!

Even the 2nd harvest I'm getting has less plastic packaging.   Clearly I do not shop like a normal human.

Anyway, here are some ninja moves I've developed thrifty-wise:

1) Groceries

Grocery list is in general terms, rarely specifics.

I write "grain" meaning any type of grain, flour or starch. I can work with rice, flour, corn flower, wheat berries, etc.  Whatever is on sale.  It's a starchy for a meal that is shelf stable and dry.

I also put "veg X2" for 2 types of veggies.  Whatever is cheap.  Varies by season and you never know what's in the discount veggie bin.

Same with fruit.  I put about how much or if I would like multiple types.  I can generally get discounted bananas at 25cents a pound at a local store.  They are not bagged, just starting to show spots which is fine  Freeze some and use some right away for banana eggs.

I haven't bought meat in a store in recent memory so that's not on the list anymore.  It could pop up again in the future in which case it will be whatever is cheap.  I eat plenty of meat.  I get it in other ways.

For spices/herbs I may be specific and always buy in bulk or from the deeply discounted rack or large bags from an international food store.  Working on remembering to harvest more of my own.  Right now I could use a poultry mix or some sage.   But, no hurry.

I do like canned tomato products but right now am out and am getting used to not having them.  When I do put them on the list it says "tinned tomato".  Paste, diced, whole, sauce.   As long as it is low sodium (health issue), and just tomatoes not sugar and tomatoes or overly seasoned in a strange way, I will get it.  I can usually get things for 39cents or less for a 14.5oz can.  I'm all for dried tomatoes and will can my own when I have a kitchen again.  

I use the occasional bouillon cube, though there is only one brand I have found locally that is low sodium AND tastes decent.  I only buy it when I find it on supersale or for a buck or less on the discount rack.  8 cubes of 2 servings each per box.  I used my last one recently, last cube, and so if I see it when I'm back in a store, I might get it.

For non-food things, I'm doing better at shopping in my own storage.  I recently brought the shirts from the back of the hanging storage to the front.  It looks like I have 5 new shirts.  All are of course from thrift and I have had them for ages, I just haven't worn them for months.  I think I have 10 button down long sleeve shirts and 1 thick sweater in the shed right now and I wasn't even wearing most of the shirts.  I wear a t-shirt or shell under the button downs and a longsleeve t under the sweater.  I also have 3 sweatshirts, 2 are fine for work if we're doing fieldwork that day.   Those are in heavy rotation.  I keep 3 button downs at the office for meetings (even zoom meetings) that come up on fieldwork days, or after a tragic coffee spill.  Wear one for an hour and hang it back up.  They get washed about 2x per season.

2) Laundry:  I bought more undies at the start of 'rona in case I needed to quarantine.  I had enough to go a week or 10 days between laundry trips.  Now I have enough to go 2 weeks.  Since laundry is the main reason for going to town on the weekend, having more undies, hence fewer laundry trips, saved in multiple ways.   1) 5$ gas every other week at current rates.  2) if I'm not going in town, I don't run other errands and don't hit thrift stores where something on the list might be available.  Things fall off the list if you wait long enough.  Either I find something else that works, or figure out I don't really need the item.  3) I do 3 loads of laundry every 2 weeks instead of 2 loads every week.  I use the bigger machines, and find by delaying a week, I only add one more load.   I go ahead and wear my weekend work pants (Carhartts from thrift usually) for an extra weekend so no extras there.  1 or 2 more pairs of work jeans in the winter, possibly more in the summer when I'm sweaty, and some long johns, undies, sox, kitchen towels and gym towels, some t-shirts and long sleeve shirts only adds one load.  Interesting.  Might keep up with the 2 week laundry system after 'rona.

Not going to town for laundry weekly, and people being idiots, made me stretch my grocery trips out to every 2weeks after the farmers market closed for the season.  Pantry/no-spend grocery challenges have stretched that out even more.  As I type this it has been 42 days since I've set foot in a grocery store or paid for food in anyway. I've GOTTEN food....eggs from the chickens, 2nd harvest left overs, bread with a gift card, gifts, and shared it out, but haven't gone to a store or otherwise paid out of pocket for any.  Not even a restaurant.

The 2 weeks between laundry/town trips was also a good time to wean myself off of fancy coffee.  I would buy one per week for about 2 - 4$.  Not much by many people's standards, but a unnecessary cost to me.  I get good beans to grind from the discount grocery store, and use the old ones at work, and drink up the tea I have rather than have 3 or 4 cups of coffee.   I have a hand grinder so I also have to preplan my coffee.   This saves the drive through cost AND the idling the car costs while sitting in the drive through. 

3) Woodstove cookery.  It's not a "cookstove" but you know...cooking is just food + heat.  So it works.  I have taken to roasting things inside the fire box.  Not while it's BLAZING and over heating, when it's all died down a bit and is coals.  Push the coals to the back.   Set a whole pumpkin or squash or onion toward the front, by the door.   Close the door.  Wait.  Every now and then, open the door and spin the squash/pumpkin/onion around a bit.  Cook all sides.   You don't have to get the seeds out of the squash/pumpkin before cooking.  I do poke a hole or two so it won't blow up in there.  Once it feels pretty soft and before it's totally charred, take it out in a pan.  Peel the skin off, cut off the top.  Scoop out seeds and guts.  I put the seeds in a bowl of water to clean up and save some to plant and roast the rest on top of the stove.   The first time I did an onion, I wrapped it in foil.  This seemed messy and the outside of the onion was still charred.  Now, I just don't peel them at all.  Set an onion in the firebox.  Spin it around now and then to get a new side toward the coals.   Remove when it feels soft.  It's a bit sticky.  I peel off the charred bits, mostly it's the papery skin that chars.  I wasn't eating that anyway. That takes the ashes with it.   Then, I stab it with a fork (because it's hot) and dice it up a bit.  Throw it in soup, on rice, or with pasta.  EXCELLENT caramelized (if you burn it a bit, call it caramelized) or sweated onion.   Great soup without frying an onion in a small space.  I assume I could do garlic in there as well but I've been boiling that in the soups. That's been working well.

On top of the stove I can bake...usually burning the bottom because it's hard to control.  Put a small pan of muffins or cake or biscuits on a trivet (I use a real trivet or a few jar rings that are beyond using on canning jars any more)  Put a BIG roaster upside down over the whole thing.  Or...a small soup pan fits over my little cake pan which makes a nice chocolate wacky cake (the one with no eggs).

4) Soaking pasta is my new thing.   If you soak it, even cheap spaghetti, for a couple of hours before throwing it in hot soup (using it for noodle soup this week) or bring the soak pan up to a boil, it's done fast.   When the wood stove is going I don't have to worry about saving fuel so much, but there isn't a ton of room on top of the stove.  If I'm making a sauce or soup, that's pretty much all the space.  MIGHT get the little cake pan on there for a side of biscuit type bread or bannock or cake.  If I want pasta, much easier to presoak it off the heat, then throw it in the hot soup.  Ready in about 2-3 min.  Taste for done-itude.

5) Back to thermos cooking.  I've done it in the past but with being home a lot since March 2020, I'm doing it more.

Thermos pasta.  Fill thermos with boiling water.  Put the top on.  Let it sit about 5 min.  Measure pasta that will take up about half the interior space of the thermos.   Boil more water.  Pour out the first boiling thermos water (I use it for doing dishes or something) which was to pre-heat the thermos.  Put in the pasta.  Fill up to the bottom of the cap with water.   Close TIGHTLY.   Rotate it around a bit to help separate the noodles.  Do that now and then for the next 10-15 min.  It's not very picky about timing.  I use a thermos with a pour top so I open that a bit and pour out the water (good for soup or rehydrating dried veggies for a side dish or soup).   Put the pasta on a plate.  Eat.

Thermos rice and thermos rice with lentils have also worked well.  Use LESS rice than half the interior size of the thermos.  Takes a bit of trial and error.  Set the thermos on its side and rotate it now and then.  This takes a couple of hours usually.   Sometimes you might want to reheat it to eat, or reheat and put back in if it's not done.   White rice cooks faster but also goes to mush easily.

Presoaked wheatberries cooked up in a thermos very nicely.  I preheated the thermos as above.   Boiled the berries in water in the appropriate proportions for about 5 min, then put in the thermos and rolled it around now and then for a couple of hours.  Great texture.  I ate half with dinner with some oil and spices and saved the rest as breakfast with some jam stirred in like it was oatmeal.   It is almost impossible to overcook whole grain berries.   

6) Shop in the storage.

Before I go to the store, I often (not always, I'm not a monster) check the current stock.  Since March 2020 it's been safer to be in the storage unit than the store so doing more of it.    For groceries, check the pantry/stored food stock BEFORE making a list.  Figure out what can be made with what's on hand.  I often take out what would be good to eat up first and put that on the visible shelf at home or the office.   E.g. If I get too much fruit, focus on eating that.   Often, turns out I don't need anything and can skip a store trip.

For other stores (hardware, thrift, clothes) checked stored stuff.  I have a back stock of sox an pants bought at thrift in 2019.   It was a good year for wool sox and cotton-no-stretch jeans.   Rather than getting something new, wear those.  No one gives a crap what I wear.  Sometimes I find hardware bits and bobs in the tool storage so don't have to buy then.   If there is something I do need, I hit thrift first if it looks safe to go in the store.   Some things I can't get at thrift. like butane for the tiny non-woodstove.   I've started ordering that in bulk rather than getting cans a few at a time.  It costs more upfront but hasn't seemed to increase overall consumption.  We'll see in spring when I don't have the woodstove going.  With being home so much, I may be using it up faster.

7) Use up what others are throwing out or I have in stock but don't super like.   

There is AWFUL coffee at work.  In a nice can. Or rather there was.  I drank it up.   It is B.A.D.  And it is G.O.N.E.   Now I have a nice 3lb coffee can to turn into a chicken feeder by filling it with chicken food.  Or to use as whatever.  And, it's gone.   Stretched my decent coffee supply about 3 weeks by drinking it up and now the decent coffee tastes really good.

I found some instant espresso powder in the back of my home pantry shelf (2 or 3 shelves in a book case by the "kitchen" which is a table).  It's not horrible.  Especially if you put a bit of baking cocoa with it.  Then it's actually decent.  I have another serving or two.  It wasn't getting fresher.  Might was well drink it up.

I famously don't care for peaches.  Mushy.   Canned peaches from 2nd Harvest are less awful because they are underripe and have some texture other than mush.  They come packed in pear juice, unsweetened.  Nothing wrong with them.  I drink the juice and eat the peaches with breakfast at work.  I'm generating a lot of empty cans which I hope to turn into a solar collector like this:

I could heat a solar dehydrator or the chicken coop or a tiny greenhouse   We'll see.  For now I get to spend my time cutting the bottoms out of cans.

8) Candle nubbin candles.

I like candles.  They fix the light from too many LEDs (the head lamp or flashlight or solar light I use for general and task lighting).    I also use a little candle heater.

Cans that have an integral bottom, not a welded or crimped on bottom, think salmon cans, make good containers for candle nubbin candles.  So does the "CAN-dle" that I got at thrift a few years ago.  It's a low flattish can that had a 3 wick candle in it for emergency heat and it fits in my candle heater (which does not heat the whole wee shed no matter what idiot youtubers say.  It's more candle than heater).  When I get candles, thrift or gift almost never new, burn them.  There is usually some candle nubbin left that didn't burn.  I store that in a tin or bag.   When the CAN-dle is used up, or mostly, or I have a good appropriate can, I put a bunch of nubbins in it, melt it on the woodstove...carefully.  Not when it is SUPER HOT more when it's died way way down.  Take it off...carefully.  Let it cool.  Right before it is totally set, I jam in a few dollar store birthday candles (40 for 1$) or smallish candles from thrift or gifts.  I found wicks at thrift once and found that letting the candle nubbin candle totally cool, then drilling a hole about wick size worked really well.   These don't burn perfectly, are usually a hideous color but they give light and I don't have to throw out the nubbins.

For those thinking of gifting me...think unscented!  They don't attract bugs AND they mix better in the nubbins.  Adding vanilla to bayberry to "wet forest" does not make for a nice smelling candle.  More like someone over ate cookies and pooped under a tree.