Anti-Inflammatory April Update 2: Cauliflower Stem Soup Recipe

 So, it's going really well.  Guts are sorting themselves out.  Arthritis less annoying, still there, I mean, it's not a miracle cure but I did a whole workout at the gym with weights this morning without thinking about my arthritic knee or my owie toe (pro tip--do NOT drop logs on the joint between your big toe and your foot and then ignore it because it doesn't bruise.  Damaged all the tendons/ligaments which froze up and now I'm like 3 months in to trying to get the mobility back to what it was.).  The toe mobility is coming along, I suspect the lower inflammation level is helping.  Maybe it is placebo effect and I don't care.

Also, not as itchy.  I have the driest skin on the planet according to a healthcare provider and it is often itchy.  Less so now.

I've made my own chocolate treats like mochas with dehydrated coconut milk powder, just coconut bits, home brewed coffee (drinking 1/2 as much as before...2 cups per day rather than 4), and cocoa powder.  No sweetener.  It's quite good.  So that helps with the skipping candy bars at the store even when on super sale.  I stocked up on cocoa powder just for this.

The chickens are laying well now so eating more eggs.  Some people find them inflammatory but I seem to do fine on them.

Eating a tiny bit of whole wheat organic flour.  About a cup a week cooked into things like chocolate service berry bannock made with no-sodium baking soda or no-sodium baking powder.  I have a bit of vanilla extract, organic real stuff, if I want to kick it up but so far haven't bothered.

Having banana eggs or just eggs and anti-inflammatory spice mix for breakfast most days.  

To support my good diet, I'm buying more produce, while keeping it frugal.   Last Saturday I had to be in town for a thing so I combined that with my grocery run and laundry duties to minimize trips.   

I got organic purple and green cauliflower heads, one each, for $1.50 each!  Since they each weighed over 1.5lbs, I hit my "Dollar a pound all year round" (that's a Jeff Yeager guideline for saving $$ on groceries...buy what is cheap and use it all).

I made a critical error when cooking up the first head, the green cauliflower.  I cut out the stem and leaves and put it in the chicken bucket (a pan that holds food scraps that the chickens can eat...then I add water and let it cook on the wood stove if that stove is going, because chickens don't eat raw onions).  OOPS!  I Don't keep that pan clean enough for human consumption of contents so...darn it!

I had forgotten that the stems are fine diced up small and put in soup or mashed potatoes or whatever!  Even fried up.  Same with the leaves and the ribs from the leaves!  It was like 1/2 the weight of the cauliflower.  

SO, yesterday I had the purple cauliflower florets for lunch with some boiled eggs and a dressing made from the dregs of fancy mustard, vinegar and olive oil.  It was good.  

I KEPT the stem and leaves in a bag and took them home.  Last night I diced them up into a pan.  There was about 1.5 cups of usable food.  The chickens just got those dry hard nubbins from where there were cuts/trims.  I added water, a chopped onion, a couple of carrots (saved the top bits to regrow the greens in little cups of water because that is fun and carrot tops are my go-to version of parsley), a 1/4 cup of dry green split peas.  This is my first attempt at cooking split peas. Seasonings: marjoram, thyme, fennel (the stuff I have the most of...that's how I chose)  We'll see at lunch today how it is.

Brought it to a boil and simmered it until I got sick of simmering it.  No, I did not fry the onion. I could have but then everything I own stinks of fried onion. It's in a jar in the work fridge.  Most of it.  There was like 3/4 of a cup of soup that would not fit in the jar so that's at the house (which was 34degs F when I lift this morning, basically the whole place is a fridge today) waiting to become tomato soup tonight.  I'll add more water and a can of (low sodium) tomato paste.  Again, tomatoes inflammatory to some but I do well on them.  That usually makes a decent tomato soup.  Pepper and vinegar can fix most crappy soups.

Lesson:  cook up the stems.  If you want, you can peel them.  The peel is usually the hard, fibrous, bitter part.  ALSO full of vitamins and whatnot.  I left it on this time.  Of course I wash my veg too.  If I don't care for the skin in this soup, I might leave it out next time.

My groceries, being INGREDIENTS and PRODUCE was cheap!  I threw in some probiotics which were on a rare 20% off sale and might encourage the guts to improve.  My Dr. (jesus I'm old...I still BLOG and I quote my Dr...) approves of them.  Also stocked up on the powdered coconut milk.  It was on the same 20% off sale and I don't tend to binge use it if I stock up.  Unlike nuts and dried fruit...I don't dare have a back stock of nuts, nut butter or dried fruit because apparently that is my kryptonite.  I just eat the entire stock way to fast and throw my guts out of whack.  

Groceries, for 2 weeks plus some restocking, was about 27$.  That is being used with my pantry staples like the flour, cocoa, coffee, tea, and fresh eggs.  I spend about an hour in the evening making something for the next few days lunches if need be.  That keeps me from spending that evening sitting in a chair spiraling down a youtube rat hole.  And of course it saves me running to the store for something for those lunches which happened now and then before.  

Anti-Inflammatory April

 I totes made that up.  But I'm doing it.

Sugar and crap food binging, even just eating, is expensive up front and in the long run.

Up front because sugar and crap is a bad deal.  Maybe I can get more calories per dollar, but my arthritis/bursitis flair up and my guts rebel which is annoying and costs, time, productivity and $$ in the form of diarrhea meds, probiotics, and the the like.

Up front, sugar and crap food have no real food benefit so should probably be under the "entertainment" line in the budget, or a new line called "self-sabotage"...actually, I might do that.  It might work!

Anyway, I plan to eat whole foods, cook from scratch, largely with ingredients I have with infusions of  some fresh fruit and veg.

To prep, I went to the local grocery store today and bought a farewell candy bar (a big one), along with some good fruit and veg at good deals. Apples for 89cents/lb.   Cantaloupe for 79cents/lb.  There weren't any over ripe bananas (25cents/lb) but I have a few in the work freezer and can check back. Also a few garlic  bulbs at $5.99/lb.  Not super cheap but good and help with bland veg. 1 package of organic celery hearts for $1.89, there is 1.5lbs in the bag.  It didn't hit my $1/lb target but it is pretty close and the full amount in the package is edible.  With cantaloupe I don't eat the skin or guts (I do eat the seeds and the worms eat the skin and guts).  With apples I eat all but the stem and seeds which go in the wormery.  With celery though, usually the butt end is dirt and the tops are past it so there is trimming.  The bill for everything was about 9$.  2$ of that was the candy bar.  I got about 6.5lbs of veg and fruit for 7$, 2$ for the candy bar.  At the local store there is no tax, elsewhere in Idaho there would have been 6% added to the total so I can pay a bit more locally and save the tax and the gas $$ since I walk from my office to the store.

Tonight I am making a Lentil Quinoa Pilaf for tomorrow.  I sweated an onion in a tablespoon of coconut oil, added 2 carrots, some sweet pear herb leaves (no idea if that's a good idea but I did it), and it's boiling now with a quarter cup of dry lentils in it.  I didn't even sort them to see if there was a rock.  I like to live on the edge.  In a minute, I add a half cup of quinoa and let it finish up, then pack it in my 3 tier tiffin and put it on the porchfridge to cool.  Done and done.

At work for breakfast I have a banana thawing to make banana eggs for breakfast with a tablespoon of my anti-inflammatory spice mix.  Turmeric, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  The balance is a bit turmericky this time but it's still good.

I have plenty of tea and coffee (no sugar, no additives, no milk, I take it all straight) and water to drink.

Some people say coffee is inflammatory, others say not.  I figure without the sugar and keeping the amount reasonable (with the price of beans going up I am cutting back on coffee even homemade, 2T of ground coffee perday, I can rebrew it as many times as I like) it has not bothered me in the past.

I know this is also going to save me $$ because cooking at home from scratch and from what I have always does.  Inflation on basics has been not too bad so I'm fine, but this will help free up $$ for other life goals as well.  April always has some expenses in it.  A couple of annual bills are due and I do save for them each month, but still hate to see the big amounts leave all at once.

Food Waste In America

 So, I thought the main issue with food waste in the US was at the production and processing phases.  I watched a documentary on the youtubes (forgot which one...it was running in the background while I was doing something) 40% happens at HOME after we pay for it and bring it to the house with the intention of eating it.  CRIPES!!!!  That means 40% of the average American grocery (the food bits, not the TP which is no longer wasted EVER) is wasted as well as the food.

Cutting food waste, any waste but today is the food waste rant, is cutting the budget so you have that $$ to spend on sh*t you enjoy.  Sh*t like not working forever because you have enough savings to retire early.

So, I am refocused on cutting food waste.  I don't waste a ton.  I even have started choosing squash not only for flavor but for meat to hide ratio...though I need some hide for the worm bin and the chickens.  

Actual methods to cut waste:

1) Know how to store food.   There are guides all over the internet.  Do a search and print out a couple.  Put them on the door of the fridge and/or pantry or wherever you will see it.  Maybe next to the toilet so you can grab it and read it when your phone runs out of batteries and you can't text people while you poo.  Also, if you write the date you opened something on the package, and do so BIG, you'll know at a glance what is getting to more than a week or two out and should be eaten ASAP.  Finally, smell stuff.  Learn what it smells like when it's good.  When it smells different (and is covered with what I like to call "advanced composting substance"), time to compost it.  

2) Know how to cook.  You don't have to be a chef, just learn that to make soup you start by chopping and frying an onion.  To make eggs, you start with eggs and a pan of water or a skillet.  To make a stir fry, start with hot oil and chopped ingredients...and remember to STIR.  One of my old roommates remembered the fry part, but not the STIR part and we had an almost-fire with the grease.  Stir it.   If you want a roast or a roasted something like chicken, turn on the oven and make sure the meat is thawed.  Know that hard veggies take longer to cook than floppy veggies.  Cut the big ones smaller or start them cooking earlier.  A good place to start is at the library with a SIMPLE cookbook.  Or some youtubes if you have free internet access.  

3) Buy what you actually eat, not aspirational things like "I WILL switch directly from cap'n crunch just berries to plain dry oats with bitter melon".  If you eat cap'n crunch, well, you're wasting money but at least you're not also wasting the nuclear power plant by-product I suspect is the main ingredient in that crap'n crunch (which is delicious).

4) Eat what you bought.  Go through the fridge and cupboard BEFORE you go shopping.  Figure out a few things you can make, that you will actually eat, from what you have.  Make at least one of them and put it in the front of the fridge or wherever it will be OK and you will see it.  If you see it, you will eat it. 

5) Use up as much of the meat/fruit/veg/whatever as you can.  Limit the amount you peel, scrap, cut and chuck, even into the compost.  

Have you noticed how you didn't have to  buy anything to do those things?  

Here are a few concrete ways to avoid food waste on specific items.

Let's start with squash and melons.  SAVE THE DAMN SEEDS.  I keep a few to plant but MOSTLY I toast and eat them.  If you run a wood stove, throw a handful on top and eat them.  Put them on salad, on soup, in that trail mix you made or the homemade granola/protein bars.  I don't bother shelling the seeds, eat the shell and all.  So far no digestive issues with that.  Once dry, they save for ages in a jar.

How to save the damn squash/melon seeds:

Gut the squash (pumpkin, butternut, zucchini, cantaloupe, whatever) using your favorite method.  Put the guts in a bowl that will hold twice the volume of the guts (approximately, use the bowl you have, pans count as bowls).  Put water in until the guts are covered.  Do whatever you're doing with the squash/melon.  Come back a while later, same day, next day...not much more than that.  Stick your hands in there and squeeze the seeds to separate them from the guts, not to break the seeds.   Pull out the guts and seeds separately.  The guts go to chickens or compost.  The seeds to out on paper or a kitchen towel to dry.  I like a towel because the seeds don't have to be turned to avoid paper stickage.

Let them get SUPER dry.  Takes a day or two.  If you have a garden area, save a couple of seeds to plant.  The rest, you can put in a jar as is if they are really dry.  Or, toast right away, let them cool, and then put in a jar with a tight lid.  If you put them in hot, there will be condensation and mold.  Eat.

You can toast them in an oven, on top of a woodstove, in a dry skillet over low heat.  You'll know they are toasted when they look a bit brownish and smell good.  And a few will pop open.

People pay a mint for pumpkin seeds at the store.  Pumpkins are squash.  It's all seeds.  All are delicious and nutritious.

Perhaps potatoes, carrots, apples and other peelable things with edible peels are next.  DO NOT PEEL THEM.  Wash them.  Use a veggie scrubber. This is the same as your dish scrubber but new.  When it won't work on veggies anymore, then it's a dish scrubber.  (when it won't work on dishes...floor, then toilet, then trash).  Or, use a clean dish cloth.  or the edge of a spoon, back of a knife...or...wait for it...YOUR HANDS.  Yes, you can rub the dirt off potatoes with your hands.  Carrots don't have skin so you're just peeling off perfectly good carrot.  I scrub them and if they are pretty grubby, use the back of a knife to scrape off the dirty bit with minimal carrot loss.  I do this outside (because carrot bits go all over) and the chickens think it's raining treats.  Apples...the peels do not interfere with apple enjoyment.  Same with pears.  If you making apple sauce or butter (or pear sauce/butter), you can dice small and enjoy the red or green flecks in the final product, or use a stick blender if you already own it and do the dicing later.  Obviously any cores/seeds go in compost or to the chickens or out for birds to eat.  If you insist on peeling apples, sprinkle the inside of the peel bits with cinnamon and bake them along with the pie or whatever it is you peeled the apples for.  Or add them to a squash soup that you are going to blenderize with the blender you already own (stick, regular, food processor).  If you really really MUST peel that damn potato, at least put some seasoning on the peel and bake it like chips.  People pay good money for potato skins at restaurants.

And now, meat stuff.  Buy the right meat.  You can't use stew meat in a fast cooked dish because stew meat is tough.  Yes, it is cheap, but it needs long slow wet cooking to be decent.  If you insist on it for a non-stew dish, you'll need to chop it to a pulp, at which point, just buy the burger.  Buy only what you need.  Freeze it, fridge it, or cook it asap.  If you cook it and don't eat it, chop it up and freeze it in the soup container (see below).  Or freeze it in single portions and LABEL IT.  Put the purchase date and the freeze/fridge/cook date on it.  Labeling is your friend.   When you cut the fat off pork, that's good for frying stuff.  If you don't like the fat, don't bring it home.  Buy a leaner cut.  When you fry meat, save the grease.  You can cook in bacon grease, duck fat, beef grease, almost any grease.  If you don't want to eat it, and it's not tooooo salty, there are recipes for suet type bird food blocks you can make with it.  If you still don't want to do that, rethink how much grease and fat you are bringing into the house.    Save the bones!  Bird carcasses like chicken and turkey are great for soup base.  Put those either in water and boil up right away, or in the freezer to flavor up the scrap soup you're going to have in a bit.  To save waste on a bird carcass:  eat the skin.  If you hate the skin, why did you bring it home?  If you must have the skin and not eat it, dice it up and bake it hard as pet treats.  OK, back to the carcass:  wash your hands and use them to pick off every bit of meat from those bones.  Save that separate from the bones.   Use the bones to make a simple broth by boiling them up.  If you have something in the oven, put the bones in a pan, with a bit of that skin you don't want to eat, that can go in the oven, cover with water and let it go for as long as you can.  You can do it on top of the stove, in a crock pot, pressure cooker whatever.  The basic thing is bones + water + heat + time.  People pay good money for bone broth.  It is the juice from boiling bones.  Don't be frightened when you take it out, let it cool, remove the bones (you can compost them now or even....throw them out if you must...burying them in the garden provides years of minerals to your plants so maybe do that) and chill the broth.  It will thicken.  That's the collagen people are paying money for in powders and bone broths.  It's good for you.  You may not have to buy all that glucosamine anymore if you use this in your scrap soup.

What's this soup container and scrap soup we've been reading so much about lately (in this very blog post)?  It's what you think it is.  If you have a fridge and/or freezer, then get a container...one that you already own.  Perhaps a margarine tub or ice cream bucket or peanut butter jar.  If you have a family of 20, a big container or a few containers is good.  If you live alone, then a container that holds a few cups (I was going to say a pint but do non-canners even know what that is outside hipster beer bars?)   Make sure the container is clean, still has structural integrity, and a tight fitting lid.  If you are a canner, a large mouth pint or quart jar will work.  I avoid metal as some things going in will be acidic but you do you. Find an obvious spot in the fridge or freezer to put the container.  Easy to access daily.  

How to use it:  put food scraps in it after meals.  Have a bit more chopped onion than you need? Put it in the soup container.  Find one lone garlic clove starting to get soft?  Take the paper skin off and put the clove in the container.  Bit of left over salad with no dressing?  Into the container.  Bit of left over salad with dressing?  Rinse the dressing off (in the collander you already own or just in the bowl and then drain by holding the salad in the bowl with your hand) and put it into the container. You rinse off the dressing because ranch does not go with everything.  If it's a vinaigrette, you might leave it.  Don't worry, even lettuce is fine in soup.  Don't put cheese or big hunks of pure fat or egg in the container.  These don't freeze well and interfere with soup texture. Bits of bacon, that last pork chop no one ate...dice those up and put them in the container. Three pieces of salami?  Go ahead, put it in the container.  Zucchini boat to far?  Chop and put in the container.  Did you make spaghetti and there is like a half serving of sauce and 10 noodles left?  Those go in the container.  Apples and pears do ok in most soups.  So a slice or two of those will be fine.  Left over rice and other grains...same thing.  When the container is full, look at it.  If there is no onion or garlic or chives or other oniony/garlicy/chive thing in there, you MIGHT want to fry a bit of one of those in the soup pan before you dump the container contents in.  Or not.  Just dump the container contents into a pan big enough to hold them, about an hour before you want to eat.  Add water ...or some of that delicious bone broth you made...or both.  And that last tablespoon of tomato paste you just noticed in a can at the back of the fridge.  Bring to a boil, lower the temp to a simmer.  Put a lid on it.  Let it simmer until it is time to eat.  It will work great in a crock pot or in a pan in the oven if you are making biscuits to go with it. 

Taste it.  If it is bland, put some in a bowl and try a tablespoon of vinegar or lemon juice if you have it.  It will perk up anything.  Add salt, pepper, spices to taste. Usually whatever you threw in the container has enough seasoning to see you through.

Once you sort the seasonings out, put it in bowls and enjoy. 

101 Dishes I Can Cook Entirely From Ingredients On-Hand

 This is an exercise for me.   Partly because I usually do this in the notes app on the discarded phone from my sister (thanks!) that I took a simcard out of and use as a glorified notebook and wifi device.  But then I butt-deleted the entire notes app.  CRIPES!!!!  Still, you have to admit I have a talented butt to do such a complex operation.

And I've gotten in the habit of grabbing things to eat when I'm out and about.  That isn't frugal and isn't appreciating what I have already!   Most of what I have will store for ages, but not forever (the honey being a major exception) and what is the point of a garden if I don't eat/share/use the produce?

Anywhoooo, here are things I can make entirely from my current pantry stock and crap that is around the property waiting to be picked, or in the case of eggs...waiting to be laid (heh heh..aren't we all).

1  Garbanzo soup with onion, garlic, greens and wheat berries

2 Pinto bean soup

3 Lentil Soup

4 Peruana Soup (some of those beans I grew myself!)

5 Random Bean Soup (from beans I grew from a free bean soup mix...chucked the salty-ass yucky spice pack.

6 Lentil Soup.   Lots of soup. To go in these I have tarragon, chives, garlic, greens, lovage, 2 kinds of thyme, 2 kinds of sage, wormwood, greens (3 or 4 kinds), squash, and eggs all from the property.  (if I can find the lentils I KNOW I bought...probably in the bin I didn't check yet)

7 Pumpkin Soup.  Made this yesterday with a random type of winter squash from a friend.

8 Walnut squash loaf

9 Fancy salad with greens and nuts

10 Sprout salad (have sprouting seeds to save and use in the winter when fresh produce is at a premium)

11 Bread.  I have whole wheat flour as well as a grinder and rye berries and wheat berries.

12 Coconut Milk hot chocolate!  I have 2 bags of dehydrated coconut milk.  And cocoa powder.

13 Walnut clusters.  Walnuts and dark chocolate from the pantry.

14 Breakfast wheat berry porridge with walnuts and raisins.

15 Keto-ish raisin bread with almond and coconut flour

16 Apple pannekoeken (which is my pretend german-ish pancake using any of the above noted flours and eggs)

17 Raised yeast bread.

18 Bannock bread with my new and just tested no-salt baking powder!  LOW SODIUM bread...yay.  Also have no-sodium baking soda that I haven't tested yet.   They are calcium and magnesium based so they also up the mineral intake.  

19 Chicken soup...those baby roosters and the elderly non-layers with some onion from the pantry and various seasonings from the garden and maybe some egg noodles.

20 Salmon burgers from canned salmon, fresh eggs, and a flour and psyllium husk as binder

21 Gelatine desserts from the last of the pound of gelatine (protein supplement) I bought a few years ago.

22 Tuna on toast from the canned tuna in the stash.

23 Sardines on homemade crackers from the pantry stash.

24 Tea

25 Coffee

26 Almond milk from the almond flour

27 Peanut butter sandwiches

28 Peanut sauce for a nice curry type dish over rye berries

29 Sauerkraut on Sardine Sandwich (hobo rueben?)

30 Skillet pizza with crust from one of the flours, sauce of the salsa I made from farmers market produce, topped with tuna (no cheese because I don't do that...I made this for lunch and it was super good)

31 Tuna burgers

32 Tuna casserole with a can of tuna, some wheat berries, homemade white sauce (non-dairy) as a binder, a few dried mushrooms, some garlic, spices, and a few dried mushrooms

33 Atole (a cornmeal mush type drink)

34 Cornbread

35 Chocolate pudding from coconut milk, gelatine and cocoa powder.  I think I'm out of cornstarch

36 Camelina seed pudding (I grew the camelina seeds!!  Yay.)

37 Chicos and beans.   Chicos are a roasted corn that is then dried.  It is delicious.  I have some New Mexico chili powder to season it.

38 Vinaigrette...this should be like 20 entries because I have 7 or 8 types of vinegar (malt, apple cider, kombucha (2 kinds of that), pineapple (made that myself), red wine, white wine, and vinegars infused with berries of various sorts.  

39 Mustard vinaigrette...because I make my own mustard.

40 Chicken casserole from the bland canned chicken and rice soup.  I'll thicken it a bit with a white sauce and add dried mushrooms and some seasonings for flavor (which the soup lacks).

41 Sardines in red sauce over zucchini noodles.  I have a zucc or two left in the garden. I've been trying to let them get super ripe so I can keep the seeds.  Plenty of garlic makes the sardines a bit more anchovy-ish and tasty.

42  Scrambled eggs with greens in them.

43  Eggs and salsa

44 Egg drop soup from salsa and extra onions and spices in the "broth"...which I plan to make for lunch

45 Anti-inflammatory egg thing.  I've been making this.  I made a spice mix of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and turmeric.  A tablespoon of that and a beaten egg kind of makes a curry flavored pancake.

46 Pancakes and Maple Syrup!  I got some maple syrup free for attending a conference (along with some other amazing gifts)

47 Pancakes and honey

48 Apple stuffed mini pumpkin with local buckwheat honey.  I got the apples off a tree on my property and the mini pumpkin from the garden.

49 Cinderella squash soup.  I bought a GIANT Cinderella Squash at the farmers market.  It had the shortest growing season...like 85 days.  So plan to save the seeds.  I will add apples or pears and onion to it and blenderize the soup.   I suspect there will be too much so...

50 Cinderella squash bread 

51 Squash muffins

52 Squash pancakes

53 Biscuits

54 Bannock bread

55 Rye berry tabouli

56 Wheat berry and lentil hot dish

57 Chocolate Wacky cake using honey or maple syrup as sweetener and vinegar and the no-salt baking soda as leavening.

58 Whole wheat crackers in a skillet...might turn into flat bread if it won't crisp up.

59 Popped wheat berries by toasting in a skillet

60 Kombucha (I have a mother and a bit of white sugar at the office and black tea so I can make this all winter and flavor with various dried or vinegar preserved berries and whatever else)

61 Fennel hash because I got fennel at a farmers market

62 Tomato soup from canned tomato paste

63 Veggie Soup from my low sodium veggie broth cubes and the carrots, onions, garlic and greens.

64 Apple sauce from my apples with cinnamon, nutmeg and the raspberry honey

65 Honey cake...I have 3 or 4 kinds of honey.

66 Olive oil spice cake from the olive oil I got from that above mentioned conference.

67 Walnut loaf with the walnuts and grain berries, camelina seeds, and maybe eggs as a binder.  As long as one of the blenders holds up!

68 Pasta and pine nuts if I make pasta from the flour.

69 Toasted pine nuts (more realistic...because they are untoasted in the shell which makes them basically rocks)

70 Peanut butter muffins

71 Peanut soup with chicken (from one of those little roosters or non-layers)

72 Beet hash with beets out of the kvass I have brewing...unless that blew up.

73 Zucchini pickles.  I fermented a zucchini in  brine a few weeks ago and LOVE it.  Good sour pickles so I plan to make more.

74 Celery with peanut butter and raisins.  Still have celery from the farmers market.

75 Tuna loaf.

76 Eggs on toast

77 Toad in the hole...if I make bread from the flour and then manage not to just eat the whole loaf.

78 Wheatberry salad with beets and greens and fennel-turnip-cabbage-kraut (which I made last week and is DELICIOUS)

79 Tuna Noodle casserole if I make egg noodles from the flour and some of my eggs.

80 Ever more muffins

81 Scrambled eggs with kraut

82 Coffee cake...from actual left over coffee.  It's like a mocha flavor

83 Spice cake like a wacky cake but spices instead of cocoa powder

84 Almonds with greens, beans and rye berries. Cook the berries, toss into frying greens and beans, then put the almonds on for the last few minutes.  Hearty and good.

85 Tomato bread with the canned tomato paste

86 Wasabi toasted garbanzos...because I have dried garbanzos.  Cook those up.  Drain well, and put in a dry skillet to toast, then toss with a bit of wasabi powder and keep as a snack or to-go lunch protein

87 Coconut cake!  With the coconut flour

88 Fancy chocolates with nuts and raisins by melting coconut oil, mixing in baking cocoa, and adding the fancies then pouring in the silicon mold my sister sent years ago.  This is a winter thing when I can use the porch as a fridge to chill the mix in the mold.   They are really good.  Don't need sweetener but I have the various things including stevia and a bit of erythritol (which I must use super sparingly)

89 Chocolate chip cookies if I crunch up one of the dark chocolate bars.

90 Peanut butter honey cookies (yum...really must do this one...might be a good way to use up the powdered egg or egg substitute that needs to be used up)

91 Spice cookies

92 Breakfast cookies with some of the various proteins like nuts and gelatine in with the whole wheat flour and powdered egg with no or little sweetener

93 Bean burgers

94 Bean loaf

95 Pinto bean brownies (I love bean brownies but have to limit their production because cocoa kicks up the gas factor to weaponizable levels)

96 Egg sandwich.  Dang!  Why was this not higher on the list...an egg sandwich with my homemade bread, homemade mustard, homemade kraut on the side, and eggs from my chickens.  How has this not been a staple?  If I add some of my tarragon and thyme or pair it with the fennel kraut...yum!

97 Almond and coconut flour pancakes.  These are so hearty and with the anti-inflammatory spice mix they make a good sweet or savory side dish to most anything especially homemade apple sauce or soup

98 Savory stuffed pumpkin with wheat or rye berries, seasonings, and maybe beans.

99 Leftovers in eggs...this is a frequent meal.  So far almost everything is good fried in an egg.

100 Leftover soup...which is left overs in a pan with a broth cube (my low sodium veggie broth cubes are my go to) if you have it, or fry an onion or garlic or chives if you don't.  Or just add water or tomato sauce or whatever you have.  Even a can of cheap veggies with the juice.  Or grind up some flax/camelina type seeds for a thicker texture and a bit of umami in the broth.  Other nuts or seeds toasted do wonders for adding flavor.  Also, those magical dried mushrooms...not to be confused with dried magic mushrooms!  Just dried mushrooms add amazing flavor.  Must tell Mom I'm low on dried goods.

101  Breakfast/Protein bars from the various flours, cooked beans or ground and toasted nuts, the raisins, and whatever comes to hand to use as a binder...eggs, peanut butter, bit of the gelatine powder.

I could go on...and on.

I have been watching and listening to various frugal youtubes and reading frugal tips.   

Attitude is key and this is to reset my attitude that I want to eat grab-n-go food.  It's NUTS with the amount of food I have in the house and on the land.   CRAZY amounts of food.  I didn't scratch the surface of sandwiches...I mean all of those beans can make sandwich spreads and then add some kraut or sprouts or both for a crunchy veggie element and it's really good.  

I also have that beet kvass at the office.   It's my first try at that and fermented really nicely.  I have seen recipes that throw it in soups at the end to perk them up and add probiotics.  I wonder if beet kvass and kraut in a soup cancel each other out?

And then there are the options for making more vinegars from the apple scraps when I add those to things.  I usually leave the peels on, but the cores come out.   And of course once it has vinegared I give the fruit mush to the chickens.

I'm also expecting canned and smoked chicken and duck meat coming in during October so...perhaps I need to STOP stockpiling the proteins.

What was I saying about going on and on?

101 Money Saving Ideas: Numbers 60-73

Remember, I'm taking this idea from Centsible Living with Money Mom on the youtubes.   Check out her channel.

Starting to have to get more creative and think more so this is getting a bit more fun.

60  Stay home!  And not just to shop on line.  When I stay home I eat what I have, don't spend on gas, don't spend on anything (usually, unless I have forgotten to pay a bill and get online to avoid a late fee).  Staying home days are also about the only times I don't acquire plastic.  I don't have home mail delivery so no stupid plastic envelope windows acquired at home.  Sometimes people drop stuff off and almost always in a plastic bag...it's like we've forgotten how to live without goddamn plastic bags.  Even me.  Anyway.  More anon.   Stay home.  I like home days.  I get stuff done.  Today is hopefully a home day.  I picked a quart of berries before breakfast because I noticed them while I was letting the chickens out and feeding them.  I grabbed the berry bucket and had at the service berries because they are read...see above "free fruit".  Had some in a pancake...made from what I have on hand.   I hope to stay home tomorrow too!  I took some time off work to run errands, like picking up more fuel for the wee butane stove so I don't have any "musts" in town that can't be done on the phone.

61  Use the phone.  You can still call ahead to the hardwares, groceries, and other businesses to find out if they have what you are looking for what the prices are.  This saves me stops when I am in town.  Sometimes I do want to do a run through on hardware/lumber place to check clearance or the free scraps bins for lumber or chain bits (one store had free chain bits, handy for many things), but it's better for me not to stop at all because they might have something else I want to buy but don't need.  Right now I'm checking jar prices for the mustard business and jar stock.  Everyone seems to be using more jars, or buying more jars.  I don't know if we're all using them.  More of us went back to calling with the corona "stay home" and curbside service available.  It also keeps the number of people down in the stores and this helps with the 'rona distancing and etc that we're trying to do (well, some of us are trying to do).  I've called this year for fence post prices and stock and it saved me a few stops at places that either didn't have the posts I wanted, or were too expensive.  Then of course I found posts at the recycling center but I go through posts and they won't be cheaper next year so I did not return what I had bought.   I have about 10 fence posts for when I'm ready to beef up the garden fence or build the chicken jail.  Good to have on hand rather than need to run to town.,

62  Keep your eyes on the side of the road!  I almost stopped for a bag of cookies yesterday that someone had lost along the road.  It looked like it was closed.  I was on my way somewhere and in a hurry and decided the odds the cookies were NOT breached upon impact was low, and I did not need a bag of cookies when I'm trying to cut down on sugar.  I DO stop for pallets, giant hubcaps off dump trucks (hello new fire ring!...and since a trip to the free metal bin at the recycling center it's also a new BBQ grill because there was a grill grate that fit).  I also have picked up lumber, firewood, and hope to pick up wood chips once my pickup truck unloader gets here.  Free chicken bedding, compost and garden bed base!

63  Buy tools that will help you save money.  Think it through.  Maybe borrow them first or test them.  Read reviews, perhaps watch a few youtubes including those from folks who hated or didn't find the tool useful so you get more than just "this is awesome" vids because those are often paid for or in exchange for a free item.  Recently, and it's not here yet so we'll see if it is worth it, I bought a truck bed unloader.  I'll put a picture up if I like it.  Tools I've already invested in that have saved me money are...dewalt 20v cordless reciprocating saw, drill/driver, and weed whacker.  The saw came in a set that included a circular saw.  I haven't used that one yet.  If it goes a year without use, I might sell it or trade it.  I use the others all the time.  They save me time and make me more likely to DIY things with my scrap lumber and pallets than to go in town and buy something to fill the want/need.  The drill/drive is used pretty much every week to fix something or jerry rig something.  Decent hand tools are useful too!  I haven't had to buy these but others might.  Basic hammer, saw, drill, screw drivers.  Have them.  Also, a good multi-tool with pliers, screw drivers and a blade.  Keep it with you.  You'll end up fixing things or doing things rather than putting them off.

63 Reuse those damn plastic bags.  I haven't bought trash bags...other than contractor bags for house construction trash that needed hauled to a place that requires bags...for myself for YEARS. Reuse those stupid plastic grocery/store bags that you constantly get from stores and from people.  I almost always remember to bring my own bag or ask for paper when I'm in a store, or even just juggle the purchases until I get to the car, but now and then a clerk will have extra-bagged something (like those nails were going to leak into the candy bars?) when I wasn't looking or I'm tired or someone gives me food or something else in a plastic damn bag.  Or my SISTER...you know who you are...uses these as stuffing when she ships a package to me.   So I reuse them.  Hence never purchasing household garbage bags.  I rarely run out and when I do, there's always produce bags for trash...or...get this...paper bags.  OR get THIS...putting trash in a trash can WITHOUT A BAG!!!!!  Epic.  Ground breaking.  NORMAL.  Rinse the can out if it's stinky but since I compost and have chickens there is rarely anything in the trash that will stink.  The compost transport container will reek but not the trash.  I tried braiding the grocery sacks for rugs etc, but they are so flimsy they shred and make micro plastic trash which I find more offensive than macro plastic trash.

64  Shop at product specific stores.  Skip the big box stores.  This save by avoiding distractions like going for tampons and seeing tires on sale.  Or trying acres of free samples and coming home with bags (plastic bags) of pot stickers you didn't plan on buying.  Also saves the "club" fee that some of the big box stores have.  If you need groceries, go to the grocery store.  Preferably a locally owned or smaller chain type.  Or the discount grocery if you have one around.  When I need hardware I go to the hardware store.  I don't leave with eggs.  Of course I check thrift and free first, but when those let me down, real hardware or real groceries.  Or real clothing stores (like discount off brand clothing stores when I need undies and socks, the rest is thrift and hand me downs for the most part).   I haven't been in a walmart since the giant flood in iowa.  Well, maybe I was IN one with a friend who shops there, but I haven't purchased from them for YEARS.   Probably over a decade.  If you skip that one event when the other stores were flooded, it's been multiple decades.  I haven't been in a costco in over a decade.  I do NOT need a pallet of toilet paper.  Or 3lbs of cheesy poofs.  Gross.  By shopping at local/specific product stores I support the community, most pay better than the big box conglomerates (not all, but I do ask), and I know my prices.  Crap isn't always cheaper at the big boxes.  I limit my distractions by not seeing hardware at the grocery store etc.  I also end up with staff who know me and don't mind when I ask annoying bougie questions like "how much will it cost to special order 5lbs of brown mustard seed?" (actual question).  They also know I like the free/cheap/discount hardware and lumber so when I buy 2 2x4s and drive out of the lumber yard with a pickup full of scrap and bent fence posts that were in the free bin, they don't have to take the extra time to double check the load. They know me, they know I didn't hide 3 more bits of good lumber under the crappy scrap (or do they...  they do). 

65  Wait before you buy.  This is in addition to the thinking noted in #26.   I wanted that pick up unloader for a while.  A friend (Hi Cindy) mentioned that it existed.  I thought about it.  Looked it up.  Thought some more.  That was the "thinking" portion.  THEN, with enough thinking, I'd picked a brand and store to get it from (a product specific store that shall remain nameless because a lot of their stuff is so cheap its crap and not the good kind for the garden).  THEN, it wasn't in stock yet so I kept hand-unloading the truck and thought through buying the more expensive brand.  But I kept checking the website and the brick-n-mortar store location when I was close to it and suddenly this last week the item could be ordered again.  So I jumped on that and it's hopefully on the way.  I didn't spend the Bday money while waiting. I didn't crack and buy the more expensive one.  This also works for electronics.  This computer I'm typing on is old and breaks sometimes.  My car and truck are older with high miles.  But I'm waiting before replacing.   Electronics get cheaper with time and more used items show up.  Cars sometime get cheaper, sometimes not.  With waiting I can save up, think things through, and perhaps decide I didn't need it in the first place.  Perhaps I borrowed the tool and it was a one time use or I didn't like it.  Or I rented an option and didn't like it.  Or, rented and loved it and solidified the choice to purchase.  Whatever.  The waiting almost always saves money.  Now and then you spend more, but in the big picture, it saves.

66  Freeware/Shareware is your friend!  At home, on this old grindy laptop, I use "libreoffice" because it works.  It's free to download and is close enough to the big expensive brand
word processing etc software that things translate back and forth well enough.  Not perfect, but good enough. I donate a little back if a freeware/shareware looks like it is particularly well done.  I check with the IT savvy sibling on that.  It also helps delineate the work/home line.  The work from home time during 'rona sucked, but that's OK.  I don't want to make it easy to work at home. I had to pay for therapy for workaholism so let's not support the cross over.  Make work pay for that if they really need me to work at home again.  I used paper and pencils (think of it!  paper and pencils) and got as much done as my coworkers with full spendy home working set ups.  I did crack and get the wifi but next time work will have to pay for that too.  I don't buy egames, emovies, etc.  If it's free, MAYBE but not always.  I have the free version of the anti-virus as well.  Right now it's irritating because I have to tell it to buzz off about 3 times a day, even when I'm not online it tries to tell me I'm being tracked.  But, it's free.   The freeware wordprocessing works for me partly because I'm a fast typist (compared to other modern folks, not 1950s secretaries) and decent editor so when I lose formatting in translating between programs, it doesn't take me long to fix it.  The "per hour" savings is still good.

68 Support local crafts people.  This isn't always cheaper in the moment.  It is a long range community frugal/money saving deal.  It ensures there are local crafts people. E.g. I'm selling at the farmers market in a town by me.  Partly my stuff and partly someone else's stuff.  So, I buy from the other vendors. I've mentioned this before.  Yesterday and last week, I bought a couple of things I didn't specifically NEED but they support a young person who is learning some crafts.  He made tops so is learning wood working/turning.   I bought one. It's pretty and may become a gift (or a plumb bob) but it doesn't spin. It was 3$ so not a big loss.  It supports him as he starts college.  Yesterday I bought a small knife from him.  I don't specifically NEED a knife that size. It was 5$ and he was doing his last trip to the market this year before he starts college.  I want to support his craft.  The knife is made from carbon steel and takes and edge nicely, is a good small size for a gutting knife, and is cute.  I also know it's from recycled materials that he locally sourced. I want to support him and his practices so I got the wee knife.  I've already used it.  I also buy cookies from his little brother.  The kid sells them cheap and is learning to cook and run a business.   It's a buck and it's delicious.  Same with the local bread guy.  I don't technically NEED bread, I could make it or eat something else.  But he's a crafts man with the sourdough so I buy a bit each week to support him and the business.  For my house build, I'm going with a more craftsman type builder who trains up younger staff.  It's not the cheapest but it's more flexible in the style he will do and I meet crafts people who will be around for decades when I need a repair.  They will also mostly stay in the community and we'll have actual builders around.

69  Share your skills.  This saves you and others money.  When I've shared my skills by teaching, people give back and become part of the frugal network around here.  I've taught small batch fermenting, jam making and canning, and vermicomposting.  I'm in touch with students from all these and the local extension agent knows they can call on me for these skills and teaching.  I've also passed on ferments to those who wanted to try them.  I generally get the jar back with something in it or a favor.  I don't do it specifically for that, it's just how humans usually work.  The network is another long range savings even if I spend a few bucks up front.  Right now I'm activating the network to find jars for my mustards.  People have offered jars and creative options when those aren't available.  I also enjoy running in to the kids at schools where I've helped set up vermicomposting.  Someday those kids will grow up to compost or garden. Not all of them, but maybe a few.  That helps the community and in general saves cash for them.

70  Know your limits.  How does that save money?  Well, I KNOW I can't fix the broken dash display on the pick up.  If I try, I will break it more.  Then I will have to get it fixed by paying someone.  I ran into a guy with the same issue and even doing his own work and getting the bits at a scrap yard, he was out 250$.  I'm working around the issue entirely.   I also didn't try to pour my own slab or build my own post and beam structure.  Chicken coop construction...yes.  Human house construction...no.  I DID learn something about plumbing, largely that it is one of my limits, but still saved a bit on that by DIYing with lots of help.  I don't change my oil.  I COULD but I COULD also cross thread the screw every damn time which is a trip to town, spilled oil to clean up, and reliance on 2 running vehicles (so I have one to run to town in while I get the thingy to retap the hole and a bigger plug screw thingy and crap to clean up the oil spill).   Change a headlamp...yes.  Oil...usually NO.   

Other ways to do that.  If you can't cook much, don't think "I'm making pad thai."  Instead think "I have rice, I'm making rice."  Baby steps.  For every day cooking, fixing, making, know your limits.  When you acquire a new skill, incorporate it but maybe don't make a plan based on skills you hope to acquire anymore than you make a budget based on a lottery you intend to win.  I don't buy broken down "project" cars because I can't fix them.  I don't adopt abused dogs for the same reason.  I can't fix that.   Same with my men.  Anyway.  Know your limits.

71  Meal plan.  Meal plan around what you have.  Then make the list for shopping if you MUST.  Then be flexible.  Don't write "oranges" write "fruit."   Last time I ran by a grocery store, cantaloupe was on sale for 18cents/lb while oranges were $1.39/lb.  I have cantaloupes.  Now I have service berries for free so even better.  I have duck and eggs for protein so I do not plan a steak dinner.   I plan and egg or duck dinner.   If you can meal plan entirely by what you have, even better.  This weekend, that's what I'm doing.  Partly because I'm home and partly because it's fun. 

72  Creative opportunities are everywhere.   I don't really get paying to go paint ceramics while drinking wine (oops...first wrote "whine" which is what I'm doing).  I don't like wine.  (I do like whining though.)  I don't need any painted ceramic anything.  I like to do crafts and crafting, but the costs should be minimal or zeroed out.   I also look at creative options elsewhere.  I'd rather try cooking something new or learning more wild plants by walking around with my plant identification books, or picking berries or making boxes for my mustard samples, than paying to paint a mug that will end up at a thrift store in a few weeks (I see them there...along with HUNDREDS of items from "the pampered chef" parties).  Meal planning is an excellent creative outlet.  If you have 3 eggs, 2 cups of raw rice and a salsa packet from that drive-thru frugal mistake, I'm sure you can make something.  Be creative.  If you need a tool, think more about the task that made you think you "need" the tool and figure out if there is a different option based on what you have.  E.g. I needed to move well over a ton of wet straw off the slab for my future home.  I didn't have help or power equipment.  I hauled straw by hand on a pitch fork for a while.  Walking it all the way to the erosion problem I was putting it on (rather than buying erosion fabric or getting straw sprayed on it...creative solution is to use what I have).   That was heavy and time consuming and killing my shoulders.  I have a utility sled and used that for a bit.  It's small and had the strength to haul more once the load was off my shoulders.  Then I remembered tarp technology.  I shoved the straw off the slab onto a scrap of torn tarp about 15' square.  Pulled it with my arms and that was better.  Then I had the real epiphany.  Tie 2 corners of the tarp together to make a loop like the rope on the sled.   I load the tarp up with it pretty well spread out but those corners tied.  Then I step into the loop, pull the knot up to my hip bones, keeping the hauling load on my legs and butt rather than my back.  Grab some of the wadded tarp bit.  Then I walk over the to erosion area, dragging the heavy load with my powerful hind quarters.   Once I have it a bit past where I want it, I walk back over the loaded tarp and continue on in that direction.  The tarp rolls over itself, dumping the load of heavy wet straw while I walk horizontally, not lifting anything.   The chickens head over to check for bugs and scratch it up, throwing it around in a fairly even layer.  Someday I might rake it around but for now the chickens are doing that work and are happy with the job.  It took a while but it was creative, got something done that needed doing, and ended up entertaining my chickens and getting some extra bug protein in their diets.

There is a section in the Tightwad Gazette (a great book for the frugal to have or to get from the library) about being creative.  It is pretty much like what I wrote but with pictures and sketches and briefer.

73  Keep a frugal reference library on hand.  Yes, real books.  They work when the electricity is out. The wifi is out.  The internet is down.  The car is broken.  Your leg is broken.  When whatever keeps you from getting to the library or the internet or calling people for help.  Books are with you.  I have a reference library for gardening, wild plant and mushroom identification, basic home repair, cooking, frugality, beekeeping, a dictionary, home construction, solar power, and DIY projects.  Part of the library is in rotation based on what I find in the free book bin.  Many cookbooks come and go from there.  Basic cookbooks like "More with Less" and a classic Better Homes and Gardens, are permanent.  I find local and church cookbooks amusing so those come and go.  If there is an interesting recipe I tear it out or copy it down and move on.  For home repair those rotate too.  When I find the one I like best, I will keep it.  I get them from the library and the free book bin.  I keep a dictionary because I like language(s) and because I like learning new words.  For 25cents I found a 1906 vest pocket dictionary at a thrift store.  It includes how to give a toast, how to write a thank you letter, how to write a complaint/compliment letter to a business and some other handy outdated tips that I still use.  I'm trying to get a home built hence those books.  They might move on if I find ones I like better.  Same with gardening books. Those were mostly from the free bin and when I find ones I like better, they move on.

Mid and Longer Term Things to Do: This Is a Marathon, Not a Sprint

So, work is shutting down but I'm the office point person.  I volunteered.  It makes sense.  With schools and daycares closed, those who were not as careful with the birth control have childcare and often elder care issues.  I solved that second bit with what is known as the "geographic fix" in the anonymous type organizations.  I moved. (Sorry Sher!)  (Sorrier Pam!)

Anyway, rather than beating people up for the last sheet of toilet paper, perhaps we could do things that might really work.  Remember: you can wipe your butt with anything, just don't flush it.
With a humanure bucket toilet (which might be a good idea to start...and which I thought I had blogged but can't find a post so maybe a blog on that) I don't have to worry about clogs so as long as I'm not using plastic bags to do the job, my wiper can go in the system.
If you're rich, get a composting toilet and paper that decomposes easily should work.

I ran into this video on one of my favorite YouTube channels.  The lady has passed away and her advice is still good.  With so many people off work without benefits and the congress busy gutting the benefits bill, frugality NOW will help you both be and feel more in control of your finances from here on out.  (I hear that that "feeling" bit is important to some people.  Not my bag but whatever.  I'd rather be in control than feel in control.)

https://youtu.be/fgq5lqd4cxc

Her basic tips:
Family
Have a garden
Use and re-use
Make your own meals
Eat healthy

I figure "friends" count as family too as does the neighborhood.   So I emailed my phone number to my across the road neighbor (she was easy to find as she is a college professor).  We don't really chat because neither of us is like that.  But when I was waiting on a tow truck, she hollered over asking if I needed a ride.  When I go to the community band concerts where she plays the kettle drums, I say hi and chat about nothing for a minute.  We're both cranky so I assume we're both effective people.
She's older than I am and may end up not allowed out.  I can drop some groceries to her if need be.  Or meds.

As for the garden...check.  Do plant one.  Lots of libraries now have "seed libraries" and may be able to get some to you even if they are closed.  Stores are open and seeds are cheap.  You don't need the best and brightest to get started.  Cheap radishes are good.  They grow fast and are tasty and pretty.  Kids and old people love them.  You can dice up the greens and put them in fried eggs or use them in salads.  Let a few good looking early ones go to seed.  Replant every week.
In my raised bed, I had lettuce coming on and a volunteer kale (not because I meant to keep seed...because I was lazy).  We had a cold snap that might have killed them but it was nice to see something get started.
Lettuce is fast too.  Carrots are pretty easy to get going and you can use the tops like parsely.

As for Use and Re-Use...maybe don't reuse the TP unless you've gone with butt-cloths and you wash them between uses.
As for food...buy the whole version of veggies.  Carrots with tops.  Celery as whole bunches.  Skip the sliced and the diced and the trimmed.  Cut off the carrot about an inch down from the top.  Cut off the green bits (the tops) and use as parsley.  THEN, put the carrot nubbin, top side up, in a shallow container of water and watch the top regrow.  You can usually do this once.  Sometimes twice.  With celery, cut the stalks (not "stocks" as I keep seeing in stores...cripes) off about 1 inch up from the bottom.  Set the bottom in a bit of water.  Little celery stalks will grow up.  Remember to dry the celery leaves by laying them on a bit of paper (not that precious TP).  Use as a soup seasoning or in salad dressing when you don't have actual celery.  There's more.  Google it or tell those kids to figure it out with all their out-of-school free time.

As for the Make Your Own Meals...yes please!  I just gave a co-worker a recipe for homemade egg noodles because she couldn't find macaroni and wanted some.  She isn't much of a cook but has a pack of kids at home so it might be something to try with them.  One of them must have a knack for cooking.  Here's the video I sent her...with a note to skip the food coloring:

https://youtu.be/W2JzYzut_FE

Making your own meals is healthier and cheaper and will keep the kids busy.  Kids need to do real things that really help when a family or whomever they live with is/are going through a rough time.  Telling them to stare at a screen or play in the corner tells them they are ineffective and that carries through to adulthood.  Helping cook, garden, regrow a carrot top, find out how to do something, help with laundry, etc...let them help; it's all good for their stress level in the moment because they are making life better for their family/group and in the long run because each kid knows that he/she CAN make things better for themselves and those around them by DOING stuff.  There's research on this.  Look it up.

As for Eat Healthy, well, obviously.  Bingeing on sugary crap to make yourself feel better won't work.  A sugary diet makes one more susceptible to infections of all kinds.  Never mind the sugar-crash that can fuel bad "feelings" that so many of you find so important.  I do not understand why "eating healthy" is left off of the lists of things to do during this pandemic.  Worrying about not getting fastfood if you have a kitchen or even a hotpot or a wood stove and a pan (this does not apply to the homeless, destitute and others with so few resources...you get to eat whatever you can get your hands on safely), but for the majority of us, it is important.  Making your own meals makes it easier to eat healthy than to eat crap.


Thanks to Clara in the first video for her tips and for her family for putting the little video out yesterday from what they'd already filmed.
Her cooking and recipe videos are excellent and fun to watch.  Easy to cook along with.

Growing Food From Scraps

This kind of thing is fun, but cuts into my wormbin scraps supply, but still, I want to try to do more of it.  This year I started ginger for myself and another person.

When asked how long it would take before it was harvestable I said "10 years" because I didn't know.

According to the chart below, it may only take a year.  Nice.

Below are things you can regrow from grocery items or scraps from grocery items.   A warning on the potatoes:  often they are treated with a "no-sprouting" chemical and won't want to sprout.  Buy those organic.  In fact, you could by everything organic and regrow it.

More after the chart...

I have regrown celery.  I got mostly leaves and dried them for winter seasoning.  I've planted organic/local garlic and potatoes that sprouted and had great results.  You don't have to wait for the garlic to sprout.  Just stick it in the ground.

Self-reliance: Reference Library

1) Reference library.  I can find stuff out without a smartphone or even the interwebs!!!! OMG.  I'm rocking it 1990s style.
 


First: REMEMBER TO CHECK BOOKS OUT OF THE LIBRARY BEFORE YOU DECIDE WHETHER TO ADD THEM TO YOUR HOME REFERENCE LIBRARY.  

I didn't do this every time, but lots of times.  Once I decide I want something, like the Tightwad Gazette, I then start keeping an eye out at the free book bin at the Moscow, Idaho, recycling center, yard sales, and thrift stores.  If something is 25cents, I may get it and then feel free to donate it to a thrift store or little free library or the free book bin if it's not quite what I want.



Here are a few book types in the library:

--Budget/Thrift/Frugality manuals
        My favorites are The Complete Tightwad Gazette (from a thrift store) by Amy Dacyczyn, The Ultimate Cheapskate's Guide to True Riches by Jeff Yeager, various olde tyme housekeeping and thrift books from the recycling center free book bin or 25cents or less at thrift and yard sales.  I try to cull these every year or two.





--Cookbooks (real ones) and recipes
         Old cookbooks are better for me in general.  Ones where the recipes start with flour, milk, eggs, rather than "a box of cake mix."  Others might like something else.  The classic Better Homes and Gardens cookbook with guides on roasting meats, making bread and cakes from scratch, how to cut up a whole chicken, etc, is a great place to start.  I got two excellent reference cookbooks from a friend (Hi Jon!) who got them at thrift.  Debra Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Cooking Under Pressure by Lorna Sass.  Both have guides to cooking many many vegetables.  I use these as guides once I've learned how to deal with a meat or veg product.  I also check out cookbooks from the library and copy out the recipes I like.  A collection of recipes from family, friends, and events needs culling right now, but often serves as inspiration.  I also have a couple of solar cooking cookbooks that I found in the free book bin at the recycling center.
         Food preservation books on fermenting, canning, dehydrating and root cellaring are also in there.

--First Aid and Home Healthcare References
       I found both at thrift stores.  The first aid manual is an scouting one.  The healthcare is based on nutrition and herbs that probably grow in the garden.          

--Basic carpentry how-to
       This mostly lets me know that something is beyond my skills, but good to have.

--Various low cost and energy efficient housing design books (Alex Wade is my hero!!!!)
       These were and are used for planning my "real" house that I hope to have built eventually.


--Beekeeping book (Thanks Hilch and the girls!!!  Great gift)
         This one is a nice basic reference.  There are tons out there so I don't know if it is the best but it is very good.   I am on the look out for an old version of The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture partly as useful reference and partly for the history of beekeeping.


--Dictionary.  Actually 2.
          One basic new one and one vest pocket type from 1906!  Both found at thrift for about 25cents. 

--Manuals for my appliances, tools, systems, etc
        These come in SO HANDY when something breaks or I get the question "what is the model number?" or "when did you buy that?" from a repair person.  Write the purchase date, or at least year, on the cover and store them either all together in a good sturdy box, or in a protective bag/cover and on the wall right by the appliance/tool/system.

--Plant/Animal Identification guides
        I have wild plants (medicinal, food, and otherwise), wildlife, birds, and would like a good mushroom guide.  I also have free e-books on weeds and local native plants.   I may print them out so I don't have to turn on the computer to find the info.



--Gardening/Orchard guides
         From the free book bin at recycling, I got the Sunset Western Garden Book from the 1970s.  Excellent!  I recently found a newer hardcover version at a thrift store for very cheap.  Currently deciding which to keep and which to put in a "tiny library" for someone else to have.  I also have a second gardening techniques book that is similar and may cull down to just one or the other.  I have an old copy of the Square Foot Garden, Let it Rot (composting), and a set of handouts on various plants from gardening classes.  I keep the notes from the garden/farm classes I attend in a hardcover notebook (that I got at a thrift store), so these notes are all together and I can find them.


--Repair and Maintenance and Hack guides.
      I haven't settled on the ones I like, but these are books on how to refinish furniture, fix household items, mend clothes, and the like.  An old housewife's guide from the 1800s has been extremely useful and was a gift from my gramma years ago.  I found a new general fix it guide at thrift that is being auditioned.

--Guide to my garden/orchard
     This is one I am putting together myself.  I haven't settled on a format but I'm thinking one page for each type of tree/shrub/cane-berry to record when/where I got it, when/where it was planted, and how it is doing.   I'll put in notes on annuals in another section or another notebook.


I switch out books now and then.

My Current "Go To" Breakfast: Watchagot Frittata

As much as I hate phrases like "go to" or "close of business" or, goddess forbid, "COB" ...
this is indeed my "go to" breakfast.  I make it many days of the week.  In the microwave or on the stove or in the solar cooker.  In the solar cooker it has to be lunch or supper.

I call it:  Watchagot Frittata

Here's the recipe:
1-2 eggs, beaten up a bit
Stuff
oil/grease

The "Stuff" is where the magic happens.

This morning the Stuff was a banana and a tablespoon of baking cocoa powder.  I mashed the banana up well, mixed in the cocoa, added the eggs straight from the shells and beat them in.  Then greased a bowl and poured this in. I put a lid on it, mostly to keep the crap from the top of the work microwave from dripping into the food while it cooked (I do wipe the microwave out, but the other 20+ people who use it do not wipe it out).  I pushed the "1 min" button.  After a minute it's only partly cooked so I mix it up a bit and put it in for another minute.  It looked pretty done but the bottom we still wet (gross) so I flipped it over and 20 more seconds.   It's somewhere between an omlette and a brownie.

I did this in the solar cooker this weekend with an added bit of baking soda and vinegar and it was even more cake like.

Other Stuff options:

Banana with a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg.  Tastes more or less like banana bread but has the consistency of the center of french toast.

Chopped spinach or other greens (even dark green lettuces work well).  OK in microwave, good in a frying pan.  If you use kale or chard it's best to pre-cook a bit or used left overs.  Spinach is flimsy enough to cook right in the eggs.  Add spices if you like or it's nice topped with salsa.

Onion and greens, or garlic and greens.  Microwave or frying pan work.

Left over baked or boiled potatoes chopped and thrown in the egg.  THAT is really good.  The potatoes fry nicely in a pan, it's doable in the microwave but not nearly as good.

All of these except the banana based ones are really nice if you throw in a diced avocado.  The best spices for that are anything hot-peppery and/or cuminy.  Stuff you would put in stereotypical Mexican food.

Left over rice, quinoa, other grain.  Quinoa gets crunchy.  This is good in a frying pan, I haven't tried it in the microwave.

I find that 1 big egg can take up to 1 cups of Stuff, more if it is flimsy like spinach or precooked kale leaves.  So far, everything has been good.  Left over taco bar fixin's were especially nice, tomatoes on top after it was cooked, the rest mixed in.

I'm toying with the idea of hard fruits like apples and pears.  I think soft fruits like cherries and berries and plums would be too wet.  Might work with a tablespoon or more of flour, or even with crumbled stale bread for a bread pudding or cobble-esque effect.

Leftover pasta with not too much sloppy sauce works.  

It looks like anything that isn't terribly wet will work.  I've had some luck adding a bit of flour to soak up the soggy and mixing in an egg or 2.

FYI:  If you are cooking with a real stove, go with a metal frying pan with a metal handle, not toxic non-stick crap either, and you won't have to flip it.  You can brown the top under the broiler as long as you remember to preheat the broiler when you start frying the Watchagot Frittata.

This is an excellent way to use up leftovers without stretching them too much and ending up with even more leftovers.  This cuts food waste which is very fashionable.

Added Sugar Rant

OK, tiny rant.

I'm diet conscious, though not doing a great job of regulating things right now.
STILL...I see that I should limit my "added sugars" to 6 teaspoons a day.
Fine.  But unless I'm the only adding these, and using a teaspoon measure, that doesn't help me.

On food labels sugar is listed in GRAMS, not teaspoons.  While, yes, it is easier for me to picture teaspoons, I doubt it is for people who don't cook much.  JUST TELL ME HOW MANY GRAMS!!!

Cripes.

So, I googled it.
A teaspoon of sugar is 4 grams.
That means 24 grams of added sugar, or less, is best.  It has to do with insulin resistance, satiety, diabetes, obesity, etc.  So it's fairly important.

Unfortunately, food labels do not require the added sugars to be listed separately and hence people think the naturally occurring sugars in things like beans and carrots and sweet potatoes are the same.  Yes, they are sugars, but since they come in a giant fiber filled package compared to straight sugar added (and by "sugar" I include all the forms from cane sugar, beet sugar, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, maple syrup, honey, maltose, dextrose, sucrose...most of your "...ose" ingredients.  Find a list and learn it) to a processed food.

Like I bet that ALL of the sugars in a cola are added since the other primary ingredient would be water.  No sugar in "water" until it is put in.

I think the best way for me to learn to limit added sugars is to eat actual food.  Like produce, meat, dry beans, nuts, fish, and grains bought as grains and flour.  I'm not saying I'll NEVER eat processed food etc or that I can hit that 24 grams of added sugars or less every day, but it's a good target.

I've been off target on my eating since last fall and need a reset.  Might as well do it now.
It's a simpler way to eat and if it  helps my health, then it is definitely cost effective.

A good movie about this, though they don't make clear the grams of sugar per teaspoon, is "Fed Up" which I recently watched.  Here's the trailer:

Making Soup

Always thrifty and usually delicious!

I had a person ask me about making broth.  He may have been thinking bone broth but I decided to go with how I make brothy soup.

Here it is:

How to make brothy soup.

You don’t have to boil bones forever to get broth.  You can, but there are other ways.  Pretty much when you boil anything you get broth.  The issue is whether it is delicious.

So, here’s a basic soup recipe that will have a nice delicious broth:

1)    Dice up an onion.  Smaller than you think you can.  Now dice it even smaller
2)    Chop up a stick of celery (if you used a big onion, use a big celery).  Now chop it smaller.
3)    Chop up a carrot or 2 (if you used a big onion, use a big carrot or two).  Chop it really small.  Then chop it smaller.  (the mix of onion, carrot and celery for soup is called “mirepoix” and pronounced “MEER-uh-pwah”)
4)    Smash some garlic.  As much as you like.
5)    Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a soup pot.  3quarts minimum size so you have room to stir.  If you want more soup, use a bigger pot.
6)    Saute’ the chopped veg and garlic low and slow.  For quite a while.  Like until the veggies are pretty mushy and the onion turns yellow/golden. If you’re in a hurry, fry it hotter.  It will be good but not as umami.
7)    Add water.  About a quart or 2. If you add boiling water, you’ll be happier but cold water will work.
8)    Add a bay leaf and any other herbs/spices you think would be nice.
9)    Add more veggies.  If you’re feeling lazy, use a bag of frozen mixed veg that you have thawed out (unless you forgot to thaw it out, in that case, add it frozen).  If you’re not feeling lazy, use the time while the onion/celery/etc mixture saute’s to clean and chop veggies.  Chop hard veggies smaller than soft veggies.  E.g. potato or sweet potato in a small size will cook in the same time as broccoli tops in a big dice.  If you want to add bok choy or spinach, wait until you are almost ready to serve the soup.  Like the last 10 minutes.
10)    If you want noodles, put those in and cook as long as the package says.  OR you can cook them separately and throw them in at the end or even put them in the bowls and put the soup over them.
11)    Eat.

To use LEFTOVER MEAT in the soup dice it up and throw it in when you put in the other veggies.
To use FRESH MEAT in the soup, chop it up and saute’ it with some oil it in the pan you want to use for the soup.  When it’s cooked, take out the meat and put it in a bowl.  Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the oil/grease but DO NOT scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom. Then, start with step 1 and put the meat back in when you are putting in the water and the veggies.  Scrape the crusties off the bottom of the pan as you saute’ the onion/etc and as you stir the soup.


Use any meat.  Use any veggies.  It’s all good.

If you have bones in left over chicken or turkey or whatever, throw the bones and skin in the crockpot. Add water until it is 1 inch below the top edge of the crockpot.  Put in a couple tablespoons of vinegar if you have it (it dissolves some calcium and gelatin out of the bones/skin and makes a richer broth).  If you don’t have it, don’t worry about it.  Let it cook at least overnight or all day.
Skim the scum off a few times when you think of it, but mostly just leave it alone and leave the lid on.

Take out the bones and skin and meat bits.  Pick the meat bits off and throw in a bowl.  Throw out the bones and skin.


If you chill the broth before eating it, you can lift the fat off the top when it hardens.  If you want to use it right way, throw in your veggies, herbs, and whatever else you want (including a saute’d onion mixture and the pan crusties from that) and the meat you picked off the carcass.  Let it all heat through for an hour or two, or for ages.  It will be even better the next day if you have leftover soup and reheat it.
If soup is bland, add a teaspoon of lemon juice or fancy vinegar when you serve it up in a bowl.  It will do wonders.

If you want to make soup in a crockpot and not dirty a pan on the stove frying the veggies, just throw them in the crockpot. It will work.  You can chop them bigger for the crockpot because you’ll be cooking them for ages. Throw in everything but greens/spinach/noodles right at the beginning.  Put those in 30 minutes or so before you are ready to eat.  I prefer not to put raw meat in the crockpot, but other people do it and they don’t die.  It just doesn’t taste as yummy as fried or left over meat. 

Personal Pantry Challenge Lessons Part 1 (and an update on the Wee Clothing Experiment)

So, I've been doing a Personal Pantry Challenge.   By "personal" I just mean that I'm going it alone, not competing against anyone.

A "Pantry Challenge" is an attempt to eat what one has on hand.  Some people do NO supplementing from the grocery store.  Some people go ahead and buy fresh fruit and vegetables, or meat.  Some people eat lunch out or otherwise eat some meals/snacks elsewhere.  Some people go for extreme orthodoxy and eat ONLY WHAT IS ON HAND. 

Here's what I have been doing.

After coming back from a vacation with friends (Hi guys!), I felt a bit bloated from so much good food, and coffee and other treats.  So, I figured it would be a good time to take on a simpler eating plan for a bit.  Let things settle, you know? 

First I took an informal inventory.  I looked through the cupboards, on the shelf of home canned goods, in the fridge and in the freezer.  I had much food.  Some dehydrated, some dry goods, some home canned, a bit of store canned, some home ferments, plenty of condiments and spices, coffee, tea, and so on.  I didn't have much meat, no eggs, and no fresh fruit or vegetables.

It looked like I could do 2 weeks without much suffering if I added a bit of fresh. I could live for a couple of boring and very high fiber months if I really needed to but this is not a mission from god.

I decided on a grocery list of a dozen local pastured eggs, some greens, 2or 3 onions, and a week's worth of apples.  At the store I found that local pastured eggs were out of stock so I went with organic eggs, as large as I could get.

That was on January 6th. I managed to get out of the store with just what was on the list...and some extra rolls of toilet paper because I hadn't checked my stock on that and didn't want to have to run into a food store while not buying food.  I knew I'd get antsy to shop a bit.

As I type it is January 18th. (Probably won't get this posted for a few days though).

So far so good!  I ran out of fresh veg yesterday.  I went ahead and used up the last 1/4 of an onion and the last few carrots in a lunch frittata.  It was nice!  Overall I've eaten well and actually had some trouble keeping the calories down to a reasonable level as I ran out of fresh fruit and vegetables in the past few days.   I remembered that I had clover, alfalfa and broccoli seeds for sprouting and got a couple of jars of those going.  The first half of a batch of sprouts went on the frittata yesterday and the crunch was nice.  I'll be making a salad of them tomorrow.

I also remembered my lentils.  I had a jar of black beluga lentils for a year.  I didn't know what to do with them.  As I got ran low on other things I checked the internet and decided to do lentils and grain.  I cooked the lentils just in water and made more than needed for the recipe.  Extras went into the freezer in small containers and a few in the freezer soup container.  More on that in a moment.

The only grain I had other than flour, having eaten the last of the quinoa already, was what I thought was bulgur.  Turned out it was just cracked wheat.  I cooked it as though it was bulgur and it got a tad mushy...but was still delicious on the lentils!  I mixed the lentils into it, threw on a mixed southwestern spice that an aunt had sent me and it was delicious!  The black lentils stayed lentil shape rather than getting mushy.  True even when reheated after freezing.

I cooked up my last meat 2 days ago...a pound of local sage pork sausage.  Yum.  I had it with tomato sauce (made from home canned tomatoes, home dehydrated tomatoes, garlic from my garden, some onion, and various spices).  I had no pasta and no flour that would work for noodles (I wasn't willing to try 100% whole wheat noodles and risk wasting flour and an egg), but I did have a GIANT daikon radish that has been in the fridge since mid October.  It was growing new leaves so I figured it was not rotten.  I had checked the internet and saw that I could just blanch strips of it to use as "vegetable spaghetti" so I tried that.  It worked fine!  I used a vegie peeler to make strips, peeling away the outer skin first and using the inner bits as spaghetti.  It was good.  And super filling...and high fiber.  This has been a gassy experiment overall.

The last couple of days have featured freezer soup supplemented with dehydrated vegies.  For those not in the know, freezer soup is concocted of the remains of whatever you've eaten in the past while.  You keep a container in the freezer, I used a bowl with tin foil cover this time, and put in the little bits and bobs and ends you have left when cooking other things. I had a bit of unclarified, slightly fatty, duck stock.  On that was some bits of bok choy that didn't fit in the pan when I was making a stir fry a while back.  And the remains of the stir fry.  A few of those lentils.  The end of an onion that I didn't feel was worth chopping into an omelet or anything and yet was about to go bad so I chopped it into the freezer soup rather than throw it out. I saw some carrots in there too.  I threw in a spoonful of the sausage because sausage is always good.  When it was soup day, I fried some garlic (because a bit of fried garlic or onion or both really helps a soup), emptied the freezer soup container into the pan, added water to thin out the fatty stock quite a bit.  Then added some dehydrated mushrooms, tomatoes, and a bunch of herbs until it smelled good. It was really delicious and I ate on it for 3 meals.  I had a few corn/whole-wheat/coconut flour muffins (using up the dregs of flour around the place) which were dry and unappealing as muffins, but quite good dipped in soup.

There have been a few more creative cooking successes, and a few failures (coconut oil, honey and cocoa do NOT make good truffles no matter how pretty the picture in the magazine looks...and that was the actual recipe...it would be a decent ganache though...) but we'll leave those for another post.

The PPC (personal pantry challenge) has thus far yielded quite a few good lessons that I want to remember so I'm putting them here:

1) Putting left over soup in pint jars makes packing lunch in the morning much easier, faster, and more likely to happen.

2) Muffins are handy and cheap, but lots of calories.

3) Chia pudding!  I'd forgotten how much I like this.

4) Freezer soup is good and worth the effort.

5) Onions are crucial (the next few days will be less tasty without fresh onions).

6) Sprouts make good fresh food in the winter (and are cheap).

7) Lentils with cracked wheat is an excellent dish!

8) Lentils!  In general these are cheap and quick and when dry have an essentially infinite shelf life.  I may make "sloppy lentils" (like sloppy joes) if today's 100% rye bread works out.

9) Keeping things visible is a good option for me.  I had forgotten things in the cupboards, but knew what was on the open shelves.  Since I keep almost everything in a glass jar or metal tin (take that mice and bugs!) I may just go with open shelves in my imaginary future cabin.

10) Condiments, sauces, spices, herbs, and the like alleviate boredom.  A bit of lemon juice or nice vinegar added to the bowl will cure almost any bland soup.  A bit of kim chi really helps the scrambled eggs and in a pinch makes a salad dressing.

There are many more lessons but we'll stop there for now.

Clothing Experiment Update:  I'm still doing it and STILL no one at work has noticed.