Anti-Inflammatory Update 3: The Minor Sugar Intake

 Still sticking with the anti-inflammatory April as I define it.  No sugar, no refined carbs.  Bit of organic whole wheat flour, plenty of veggies, eggs, and whatnot.

It is going well.  My owie toe is getting mobility back. I have no idea if it would have gotten better at this rate without the diet, but I had been working on it for 2 months before this and only made a little progress.  I COULD drop a log on the same toe on the other foot and start eating crap to see how long it takes that to get better, but I'm not going to.  

LOTS of potatoes this week because that is what I have and they are getting soft so have to eat it up. Also, carrots and onions.  I'm eating nearly an onion a day and lots of soups.  Soups are easy and tasty...NOT NEWS on that.  Mostly boiling the diced onion directly in the water rather than frying it, as noted before, because I do not want every thing I own to stink of fried onion.

I'll have garlic for next week if I run out of onions.

It is easier to keep salt intake low when one cooks for one's self.

And, as with previous food experiments, it is making more creative.  You can do lots of things with a potato.

As I run out of potatoes and the quinoa is getting low, I've started adding in a bit of whole wheat flour doing countertop dough, because I do not have a fridge.  I add dried yeast bought YEARS ago, that dry stuff cheap by the pound, to some whole wheat organic flour.  Then add water (no salt, keeping sodium low) and leave it at least over night.

When it came time to bake the first try at the dough, I greased up the tiny skillet (from thrift, obviously) formerly probably in a cookie kit gift thingy, and put the dough on it and stuck it inside the wood stove.  That worked great!  I spun it around after a while, because one side was toward the coals, then flipped it when the top was pretty brown.   It was good!  Bland because no salt so I will probably try putting herbs or spices in it eventually.  Or fermenting it longer.  I have vital wheat gluten to boost the protein etc and have used that a time or two.

Eggs...buttloads of eggs are being consumed.  4 today.  The hens are laying so free range pastured eggs are available to me.  And delicious.   Boiled, fried, scrambled.  Not poached or soft boiled because that is GROSS.  Also did some muffins at work in the toaster oven with a bit of that flour in some eggs with some olive oil and service berries stored in vinegar all winter.   Service berries have also gone in some gelatin, unflavored organic beef gelatin.

I'm out of lentils, garbanzos and peruana beans.  Down to split green peas and working on learning to cook those.  They are fine.  Will probably do a pea and quinoa pilaf next week when the taters have run out.  

Yes, I could buy more potatoes or whatever but I want to do a clear out on my stored food before the farmers markets start up in May.  

Eggs with the anti-inflammatory spice mix has been most breakfasts.  A few I just put in a lot of cocoa powder.  Also good!  2T of either of those with 2 eggs beaten in makes more or less a pancake whether fried or microwaved in a bowl.

As for new recipes...other than the woodstove firebox baked bread, nothing new and there only the location of the baking was new.

If I come up with a good way to make green peas, I will share.

That is all pretty boring!  But, it's going well.

So...the minor sugar intake.  Yesterday a long time friend and colleague defended her PhD Dissertation via zoom and in person, I was in person.  She had made cookies and zucchini or something bread.  I went with 2 reasonably sized cookies.  I meant to take one, but maybe muscle memory defeated me??

Anyway, less than 40 carbs/sugars and under 40 sods based on the recipe she seems to have used.  Very good.

I've run out of some teas (like that rooibos from Paris...sigh) which motivated me to use up the nettle and other herbal tea supply, or start on it.  The nettles are a diuretic so the first day drinking that I got extra steps in running to the turlet.  But my cankles looked great!

Even with a bit of sugar yesterday, I am not having cravings today which is good.  

I've also managed 2 lunches out without blowing it.  Going to a restaurant that specializes in locally sourced ingredients and has healthy salad and soup options, then skipping the bread (salty even if local and organic flour is used and I have the salt issue...thanks old age!)

Not bad over all.

 

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.  

7$ Challenge for 9 Meals from "Jan from NYC Saves Money"

This 7$ Challenge for 9 Meals is from a youtuber I follow:  Jan from NYC Saves Money

Click that link to watch the vid for more background if you like.   Or, forge ahead.

Here are prices from a local grocery store I can walk to..saving fuel costs.  The local store is on a reservation and does not charge the state sales tax of 6% (yes, even on basic food we pay state sales tax).

1 bulb garlic:    0.89

3 loose carrots:   0.89

3 d'anjou pears   1.13

1lb margarine    0.99

5lb whole wheat flour  1.99

1 doz med eggs  1.09

Total: $6.91

It might be a boring 9 meals...but it will work!  Jan assumes 3 meals per day so we will go with that.

And it will be floury.  Yes, a smaller amount of flour would make room for more veg or a bag of lentils, but 1lb isn't enough calories (and this is cheap calories) assuming1850cals per day which is about what I eat.   Also, the 5lbs for 1.99 is a short term deal.  The 1lb and 2lb bags of flour cost OVER 2$!!!

I went with eggs over dry beans or lentils.  Partly because the eggs allow me to make noodles and pancakes better than beans or lentils do.  More versatile.  But I am saving that 9cents left over, and there will be at least 1/2 the flour left.  The margarine comes up 1T short from what is required below so that day will be 70 calories down, but my average will be fine.  

Step 1: put 1/2c flour in a jar with some no-chlorine room temp water and put a cloth over the top.  Hope for some fermentation over the next couple of day.  Help it by putting it in a warm spot.  If it ferments by the 3rd day, use it for bread on the next round of 3 day cooking for more variety beyond the pancakes and tortillas below.

220 calories to be consumed eventually...

Breakfast every day: 1/2C flour, 1 egg with the white beaten up as leavening, the yolk just stirred into the flour with a bit of water.  Fold in the whites.  Fry up in margarine like bad pancakes.  Serve with 1/2 the pear sliced up and more margarine to make sure there are enough calories.  Tap water to drink.  4T marg total used.

220+63+210+48 = 541 calories

Lunch every day: 2 eggs fried or scrambled with 1/6 of the garlic in 3T margarine on a tortillas(made with 1/2 C flour and 2T melted margarine) with 1/2 the carrot shredded up.  Tap water.

126+220+350+14=710

Supper every day:  Make egg drop soup with 1T margarine, 1/2 carrot, 1/6 of the garlic, and an egg.  Make tortillas with 1/2C flour, 1T melted margarine and water.  Fry those up in a dry skillet and spread with 2T margarine to get the calories up. And the other half of the pear.  Tap water.

220+63+280+13+12+48 = 635

1886 calories X 2  = 3772

1816 for the 3rd day added to that is 5588total calories consumed.

That is an average of 1862.67 calories per day.  Very close to my needs.  

Yes, bit shy on vitamins, protein and flavor.  I will have used less than 1/3 of the flour.  Hopefully that sourdough started in step 1 worked. If I skipped the flour on the next trip, I would have $1.99 to spend on something other than flour.  And that 9cents left over would of course be saved in the grocery budget so $7.07 to spend.

Free things I can add to that to increase the vitamins include:

Pine needle or spruce needle tea from trees I know are not sprayed with chemicals.  Vitamin C is in that.  

Dandelion leaves, clover leaves, plantain leaves, and other wild edibles in areas I know are not sprayed with chemicals can be gathered.  These go in soup, scrambled eggs, or raw as a salad or added to the lunch wraps.   They can also be fried up with garlic as a side dish.

The next trip to the store, assuming the same sale flyer is in effect,  would add a pound of lentils, 1.09

Take out the 1.99 for the flour, and the total comes to $6.01

99cents savings!  Added to the 9cents from before, I have $1.08 for the next trip, and with lentils in my soup, or mashed as a spread on the tortillas, I have more protein and more options.  I would cut the added calories from the margarine amounts, saving some of that for the next round.  With the sour dough starter probably going, I can make bread/pancakes without adding oil to the batter/dough.  Of course the "waste" starter from cutting in half and refeeding would be fried up as pancakes or used to coat carrot slices as fritters, or some of those delicious wild greens mixed in for fritters (actually...that sounds good in general, might try it).

With an extra 1.08 the next 3 days would have $8.08 available to spend.  Buy the same again, because 1/3 of the flour is still there.  By the end of THOSE 3 days, would have $2.07 left (8.08-6.01).  I would get another 5lbs of flour as a stock up, and the usual list minus the margarine, leaving 99cents.  By now I would be super sick of the pears and carrots and garlic but what are you going to do?  They are reliably cheap and flour is cheaper than potatoes...the other super cheap veg.  Onions are an option but generally though you get more weight, the calorie content is low and the flavor/serving per $1 is less than a bulb of garlic.  

Once I had 3$, I would hit the discount bins and maybe get those bruised bananas or a bag of onions or if it was spring and I owned a bucket of dirt or more, a pack or two of radish seeds.  You can grow those in a couple of weeks to the point you can harvest greens.  3-6 weeks and you have radishes.  12 weeks and you have more seeds.  

Also...I look for carrots, even bagged and trimmed ones sometimes work...with a bit of top or full tops.  Carrot tops are basically parsley so can be used fresh as a green/herb and dried as an herb for later.  Nutritious!

And I save and toast, or plant, the seeds from squash and melons.    Don't forget that dry beans, peas, lentils can be sprouted as long as they are whole beans/peas/lentils not split.  

Finally, the lack of flavor here is difficult.  Another option for seeds is herbs.  Pretty easy to grow indoors and they are nutritious and make these meals less boring as well as being encouraging because you take control of a tiny bit of your life.

NOTES:

While playing this headgame with myself, I have noticed that I couldn't come up with a personally applicable scenario where I had only 7$ for food for 3 days, no stocked items, my chickens/eggs were gone/not available, no friend was offering help before I even asked, no family member would just make sure I had food, or all the catchable wildlife and edible plants on my property were gone.  HOLY PRIVILEGE BATMAN!!!!  Being middle aged, female, cysgender, white, educated, and connected to a community of people who trust me and give a crap, having living family I am in touch with, being reasonably healthy and having a job!   Jeez. Then there is owning land outright, which is due to the above,   My mind boggled at how much I have and how little others doe.  

Anti-Inflammatory April Update 1, with Banana Eggs Recipes

 Yes, "recipes," but that's for the end (is that a teaser or a spoiler?)

It is going well.  I even passed up a brownie yesterday!  The maker declared that his brownies were the best and I made assumptions about scratch cooking with top notch ingredients.   Turns out it was a mix but he put half the mix in the pan, then a layer of chocolate candy bars, then more batter.   So, it would have been delicious but SUPER inflammatory. 

When I got home, I made a chocolate thing...I don't know what it would be.  3T organic whole wheat flour, 1 T vital wheat gluten for a protein boost and to use it up, 1 large egg and 1 airfart egg (a tiny egg with only white in it, no yolk, laid by a hen who is just getting started with the egg laying), some no-sodium baking soda (which is incidentally a calcium source...nice), 2 T service berries that had stored in vinegar, and 1 or 2 T of the vinegar off the berries, and 1 T cocoa powder.   The soda and vinegar of course make it rise more cake like.  Especially now that I have the hang of using the no sodium baking soda.  The vinegar/soda ratio is different than with regular soda.  ANYWAY, mixed it up, quite thick like drop biscuit, almost a dough.   Heated up coconut oil in the skillet on the wee stove and bake/fried it with the flame on super low and the lid on the pan but cracked to let the moisture out.  About 7-8 min per side and I had a nice cake-y treat that was not sweet, bit tangy with the berries that go well with the bitter cocoa.   

My neighbor is storing her berries in vinegar as well and really likes them.  It's fun when I can share a tip with someone who has 24 years on me and has shared some killer offgrid tips with me!   

So, clearly less inflamed as well.  My arthritic knee is less painful.  No more mobile yet, but less painful is good.

My left big toe (yes Mom, I had to double check the left/right issue...thanks for the dyslexia!) seized up a few months back after I dropped an 8lb log on it and the corner of the end of the log hit the main joint where it joins the foot.  I've been fighting this since January with warming it up and stretching per my Dr's orders. The tendons/ligaments all stiffened up and got inflamed from the blow.  Dang it.   Apparently this takes time to get the mobility back.  My fingers and toes are overly mobile, bending back to 90degs, so going from frozen flat to full mobility is a slow process.  With avoiding sugar/salt/processed food it is less sore and slightly more mobile.  I think I'm between 45 and 60 degs now.  Better.

I'm prepping meals and trying to make sure I have food ready at work so I don't get caught hungry and I also realize that I am not going to starve if I miss a lunch.

A commenter asked about the Banana Eggs in the pervious post.  I think I've done the recipe before but since I am making them specifically anti-inflammatory this month more than most, I will share the recipes (skillet and microwave style).

I keep a pint jar of my anti-inflammatory spice mix on hand at home and at the office and use it almost daily.

Current mix: 1 1/2C turmeric, 1 C cinnamon, 1/2C cloves, 1/2C nutmeg  (usually only 1C turmeric but I had more of that than cinnamon when I mixed this batch up).  I buy the spices in bulk at ethnic stores, a food co-op or the back end of  TJ max type stores.  I keep an eye out and grab it when any one of them hits about 5$/lb or less.   

Anti-Inflammatory Banana Eggs in a Skillet

1 T anti-inflammatory spice mix

1 banana, over ripe is good, over ripe and frozen then thawed while still whole and peel on is easiest.

2 eggs

1T oil

Mix up the banana and the spices.  If the banana is frozen and thawed it is already super mushy and easy to nearly liquify.  Mix slowly as the turmeric stains everything if it puffs out of the bowl.

Add the 2 eggs and mix until the whites aren't identifiable anymore.  If you are picky, beat them well before you throw the eggs into the banana bowl but I don't want to bother dirtying 2 bowls.  I also mix with the fork I will eat with.

Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet.  Once spit or water dances in the oil, put in the mix, turn the heat to medium. Wash the fork.

When it will slide around the pan while you shake it and maintain its shape and the top is set, flip it.

Once that side is cooked, eat it.   It is good with berries on it or just plain.  Eat right out of the skillet if you don't want to dirty a plate.

Anti-Inflammatory Banana Eggs in the Microwave.

Find a microwave safe bowl about cereal/soup size.  Too deep and the middle takes forever to cook.

1 T anti-inflammatory spice mix

1 banana, over ripe is good, over ripe and frozen then thawed while still whole and peel on is easiest.

2 eggs

Mix up the spice and the banana.  Mix in the eggs.  Mix them a bit more than you think.

Cook in the microwave for 1 minute.  Mix again.   Put back in the microwave and cook for 30sec to 1 min.  My microwave at work takes 2 min total, but it is low power.  Check it often the first few times.

Yes, the spice mix is a tad bitter.  Cinnamon sweetens it up and if I have been of sugary stuff for a while, it tastes just complex.  Not bitter or sweet.

If you are up for it, a bit of fresh cracked black pepper on the final product is supposed to kick up the anti-inflammatory properties of turmeric but I generally forget that.

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.

What If.... Preppers/Savers on the Youtubes Sometimes Lack Creativity and Experience

 OK, rando rant a bit because I'm kind of a dick.

On the youtubes, the thrifty people I follow are doing this "What if" type thing. Fine.  

Things like "What if you only had a half a bag of rice, 3oz lentils, and moldy cheese, and you don't get paid for a week and the money is gone...how would you stretch the food and what would you make?"

Mornings with Granny is best at this because I suspect she's been poor for reals.

I was poor once upon a time and now I'm too lazy/cheap/frugal to run in to town when I am lacking an ingredient.

ANYWAY...recently, the ones I watch are "prepping" or stocking up for power outages.  Turns out rice is a bad idea without power.  Um...like the electric stove or any of the 2 dozen counter top plug in appliances are the only ways to cook???

JEEZ people!  One vlogger was talking, this morning, about a power out where they had no way to heat water or cook food. She has other videos where they grill food outside.  Does the propane tank and/or charcoal not work when the electricity is out???

Also, candles under an upturned can with holes cut in the can-sides makes a tiny stove.   So does a can of crisco with a wick (which can be a bit of dry wood, twisted fabric, wooden skewers, taper candle jammed in a hole, or almost any cooking oil/fat you have around).  PEOPLE!!! Electricity is not the only power.  

What about a solar cooker?  Or the dashboard of your car in mid day?  Heat water with those mid day and then put it in a thermos, or even just wrap up the container of hot water with whatever.  That reflective dealy in the windshield works well.  ALSO coolers keep things warm.  They are don't just keep things cool.   Then you can heat that warmish water for washing or whatever.

Also...rice, pasta, grains can be soaked for a while, brought to the boil, poured into a thermos or the pan wrapped up and they will cook much faster with very little heat, e.g. over a candle or crisco heater.

Grills hold pots as well as naked slabs of meat. You can even bake bread, cake, whatever on there.

ALL YOU NEED TO COOK IS A HEAT SOURCE.  

Other tips for power-outage cookery:

Think about the size and power of your heat source.  Boiling a cup of water over a candle will take a while.   Boiling a cup of water on the grill is wasting heat...boil up the big pan of water (tea kettle, anyone?) and store the excess because maybe it will still be warm later.   Overnight oats/soaked-rice for 4 is too much to bring to a boil over a candle.  Not too much on a grill or in a solar cooker.  

Frying is faster.  Small bits cook faster.  You can fry on a grill.  Put the frying pan (cast iron is the best option) on the grill.  Add fat and whatever.  Cook.  Don't wander off.

Grill outside.  Want to bring some of that heat inside?  Heat up clay plant pots and bring them inside in metal buckets, set them on things that won't burn like bricks or the hearth.  You want get super warm, but you'll be busy and a bit warmer and NOT die of carbon monoxide. 

Butane burners are great, I use them all the time.  But the butane runs out pretty fast if you start with cold water and want to boil it up.  Hence lots of preheating on the woodstove and storing the water hot in thermoses (thermosi?  thermopodi?)...insulated containers!

Things to do now:

Make a "hay box" for your favorite pasta/rice pan.  NOT the insta pot.  Don't be an idiot.  The pan that you can put on the grill, stove, woodstove, etc.  Best if it has small handles but just use what you have.  Find a box, card board, wood, or a metal milk crate, that fits the pan with several inches to spare on all sides.   Line your box with wool blankets or old sweaters if you have it, or hay (hence the name), straw, cardboard, or even metallic bubble wrap. Make sure there is an inch of cardboard or wood or no-flammable at cooking temps fabric between any plasticky crap or fabric and the pan. Make the lining fit tight around the pan.   When the time comes, heat the pan up, like on that grill, and when the food is boiling hard, put the pan in the box (which of course you insulted on the bottom and sides and top) and close it up.  If you can heat up a rock or plant pot ahead of time and put that in the box while you finish boiling up the food, that will preheat the box and make it work better.

Don't have a box?  Make a bean hole in the ground and preheat it like in the olden days.  I will let you google that.

You can boil things mid-day in the solar cooker and transfer to the hay box or bean hole or thermos.

When using a thermos, preheating is best.

These all work like slow cookers.   Pasta will get mushy fast, whole rye berries hold up super well as do wheat berries, oat groats, and barley.   Quinoa is an excellent option as well.

If I am putting meat in, I prefer it to be fully cooked first, either fried up (sliced thin it fries faster/less fuel) or precanned by me or an industrial canning service.

If using a thermos for soup or flavored grains/pasta, you'll want to not use that for coffee or tea water later.  No matter what they say, the flavors linger. I have tested glass, plastic, and stainless steel lined thermoses and all retain that stank.  It's fine in the next cooked item, but not great in my coffee.  

To make the thermos cooking work: invest in a good bottle brush and good funnels.  I use a big canning funnel for the wide mouth thermoses and a skinny funnel for the insulated bottle type thermoses.  

The water you use to preheat a thermos is fine to use in the next batch of soup, to drink, to give to pets who usually enjoy the vague food stank, or to soak tomorrow's grains.  

These practices always save fuel/money/pollution/resources to why not be practicing now??

Rant complete...for now.

Loss to the Planet

 I just heard my favorite professor, mentor and good friend, David Gradwohl passed away.

Here he is in a chat with another student during 'rona times:

https://youtu.be/32YLAo8ITWQ