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Friday, August 30, 2013

August grocery money journal (and some updates)

First the updates. So, we've received a few more bills now. The water bill, was bad, really bad. I am hoping it is just from filling the pool and watering some new shrubs over the summer. We've had a very dry summer (until yesterday, when it poured -- filled both rain barrels in 10 minutes). So, we are trying to conserve on water even more, and will see how the next bill turns out.

We received our natural gas bill yesterday, and again we are about $10/month below what we spent for the same time period last year. It's got to be washing in cold water and shorter showers.

I haven't received the electricity bill, but expect it next week sometime. Judging by the meter, we're doing great. Of course, I think my family is rather annoyed at me constantly asking, "do we really need to have all these lights on?" So, I've been unscrewing even more bulbs, just to help them out. Turning the lights on when one passes an electrical switch, seems to be a hard habit to break. I follow everyone around, turning off unused lights.

And we received the Visa statement. What a pleasant surprise, so very little on it. I've been staying out of the stores, even budget-friendly stores like Dollar Tree, I am avoiding, and when I really have a need, being careful to only buy what I came for.

I am doing a great job keeping clothing spending to a minimum. I made my stretchy black pants look very respectable, with a little taking in of the waist and legs. I repaired two more pairs of jeans for my daughters. I patched a couple of pairs of socks for my daughters, for them to try out. It's what I do with my own socks, when they get holey. I'm fine with them this way, but I want to make sure the girls are, before I patch a stack of them. Next up, one more pair of jeans to make not-so-obscene, and a bra to redo the band on. I spent a fair amount of time sewing this week. Just that kind of week. I made some gifts and repaired some clothing.

Gas for the cars -- this one we did awesome! Spent $10 on one car, and $15 on the other! Of course, both cars are very low, now. We'll fill up over the weekend. Even compared to last year, same month, we did great. I'm hoping this means that we won't need so much in the budget even during the school year. I'll be driving my daughters to the bus stop in the mornings, and they'll hitch a ride home with their dad, in the evenings.

My husband has picked up a few hours of part time work, in the same building where he is now working. But these hours are just temporary, and could go away in a couple of weeks. For now, it is giving us a little more time to see how well we can make it on a smaller income.

Groceries, we've done well this month. And our freezer and fridge are still well-stocked. The pantry now needs a few essentials. But hopefully shopping in September will be minimal, as well.

I got behind on many of my regular things, such as posting grocery spending journals, for June and July. At the end of July I was about $65 over budget, in total. That is mostly due to the foods I had to buy when on the strict elimination diet, to determine allergies/intolerances. I seem to be on an even keel right now, and can have most of the foods that I serve my family, at least in small amounts or with less frequency. And my spending can return to normal. (For 6 weeks, all I could eat was meat, fruits and veggies, and a tiny but of rice and millet. The meat is what became very expensive.)

The other change for us is a reduced budget. Our grocery budget has been cut to $170/month. Out of that will come the overage from June and July, as well as August's groceries.

My plan for this month is to curtail spending as much as possible, buying eggs, milk and extraordinary deals. I'll bank the remainder of the budget for stock-up sales later in fall.

We are mostly eating from the garden. I had a fabuloso lunch the other day. I made myself a black bean, brown rice, tomato, green onion, lettuce, cilantro, oregano, chili powder, wrap sandwich. I put all but the lettuce and tortilla in a bowl, and sprinkled with vinegar, oil, and a pinch of salt. Then spread the lettuce on the open tortilla, and piled the bean mixture on top, and rolled. It was so wonderful -- easily as good as, if not better than, Mucho Burrito. And it was under 10 cents!

I think we can continue eating mostly from the garden for another 2  1/2 months. We'll still have some garden produce available, just not as much. I am putting away as much as I can. We are fortunate, here, that our garden comes back in March, with watercress, sorrel, mustard greens, kale and chard. And by beginning seeds under lights in the house, I can get transplants ready and planted under row covers in early April. If we had more sunny spots in our yard, I could grow most of a year's produce here.

So, for spending this month. . .

Aug. 1. At Fred Meyer this morning. Checked the milk and found 4 gallons of skim milk marked down, at $1.98 each. I bought all 4. This will be a 2 week supply for our house, and the sell-by date isn't even until Aug. 18!

Driving home, passed Walgreen's. Eggs on sale for 99 cents/dozen. I only bought 2 dozen as we still have a couple dozen at home.

Total spent $9.90

Aug. 10. Have kept myself out of stores. Albertson's has medium eggs, limit 2 with coupon for 49 cents/dozen. I snatch up the very last 2 dozen.

Aug. 15. At Dollar Tree, needing soy milk. Buy 1 qt for $1. This will get me through the end of the month.

Stop in at Albertsons, they have a coupon for milk, including whole milk (what I use for yogurt-making), for $1.79/gallon, limit 2. Getting whole milk at this price is a deal! I'll be making yogurt later this week.

At Rite Aid and I see vegetable seeds marked down, 75% off. I buy carrot and snow pea seeds. I'll keep these in a jar in the fridge and plant in spring. Spent 93 cents.

Next to Rite Aid is QFC. I walk over and find 1% milk marked down to $2.18. A bit at my top end of my pricing, but I buy 2 gallons. This will be cooking and drinking milk for the next week and a half.

Total spent, month-to-date -- $20.75

Aug. 21-27. Albertsons has a coupon out for chicken hot dogs at 49 cents a package (12 oz), limit 2 w/ coupon. I manage to scrounge up a total of 5 coupons. Over the course of the week we used all 5 coupons, buying 10 packages of hot dogs at 49 cents/package. I'll freeze most of them, to use throughout the fall.

Total spent, month-to-date -- $25.61  and the fridge and freezer continue to look impossibly full.

Aug. 29. Need milk, again. Stop in at QFC, hoping for mark down milk. I find a lot of whole milk, but I just don't have much freezer space right now. And the price was not phenomenal -- $2.29/ gallon. That's on the high end for marked down milk, with just a week to the sell-by date. But I bought 2 gallons. That will last us about 8-10 days. Spent $4.58.

At Dollar Tree and bought 1 quart of soy milk. Spent $1.


It's the end of the month. We spent $31.19 on food this month. I am now completely out of whole wheat flour (used the last of it in Tuesday bread-baking of 5 loaves), almost out of cooking/salad oil (about 1/2 cup left), almost out of brown rice (1 meal left of rice), completely out of onions (except shallots, scallions and chives from the garden), nearly out of salt and popcorn, and always needing eggs and milk. Going into September, I'll have to buy most of these basic items, as well as supplies for making salsa and pickles. But I will try to curtail any non-essential grocery spending, to continue to save for fall stock-up sales.

I'll be pricing the institutional-size container of vegetable oil, and comparing to a gallon of oil. I bought one of these large containers of oil a few years ago, and saved a substantial amount per gallon this way. It was just cumbersome to decant into gallon jugs for everyday use. But I'm willing to try it again.

Our garden is doing well, and should provide us with ample produce for the entire month of September. I have 1 whole turkey in the freezer, several packages of Italian sausage, and all those hot dogs, for meat for the next 2 & 1/2 months (more than enough, as our meals feature beans several times per week).

I will likely spend more next month, but should still be able to keep spending under my budgeted amount of $170.

I'm so glad that it's the end of the month -- like a huge sigh of relief that we made it. I hope your budget was easy to deal with this month. If you're going through a tough financial time, as I am, right now, keep plugging away at all those frugal things -- comparing prices, making do, cutting back, mending/repairing, etc. And keep a record of all the ways you are saving money. I've been keeping a journal where I enter all the things I did in a day, to save some money. When I am feeling frazzled from the stress, or like I'm going through spending withdrawal, I make my day's entries into that journal. It's a way to pat myself on the back, and buoy my spirits through all this. Try it! You may be surprised by just how much you do in a day, and how much money you are saving!

Until next month -- August 2013's grocery money journal is now closed!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Freezing summer fruits that normally don't freeze well


I have these wonderful pears, from one of our trees, that we harvested just 10 days ago. I am keeping most of them in the fridge, and ripening just a few at a time, in a bowl on the table. They're absolutely beautiful. When I tried freezing pears once before, the thawed pears turned to mush. From what I have read, pears are not typically selected for freezing. Neither are melons.

Then I remembered what my mom used to do with summer melons, particularly cantaloupe and honeydew. She made melon balls and froze them in a light syrup. When we ate them, she served them partially frozen. They melted in our mouths, like a spoonful of sorbet.

So, I began thinking, I could freeze pears in a syrup, and serve partially frozen, and avoid the thawed mush. I looked through cookbooks, and visited extension offices online, and found you could freeze pears in a 40% solution (3 cups sugar and 4 cups water).

Freezing works best with summer pears, picked still green and ripened at room temperature, in a dark place, like a pantry. You wash, peel, core and quarter or halve pears, as if for canning. Bring to a boil, a 40% sugar solution. Simmer the prepared pears for 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the pears from the syrup, and place in freezer containers. Allow to cool. Pour cooled syrup over pears, adding 1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid per quart of pears, to prevent discoloration. And freeze.

I have a dozen of my largest pears now ripening in the pantry, for the next few days. I'll freeze these and see how we like them served partially thawed. If we enjoy these, freezing a few pears could give us a nice change from the usual oranges, apples and other home-frozen fruit from our garden, in winter.

And what about melons?

To freeze melons, use firm melons (not overripe or mushy). Make into balls with a melon baller tool. Prepare a very light syrup in proportions of 1 cup of sugar to 1 quart of water. Cool. Place melons balls into freezer containers, leaving a bit of headroom for expansion (1/2-inch to 1-inch). Cover with the very light syrup. And freeze. Serve partially thawed (ice crystals should still be on the balls).

Fruit packed in sugar syrup should keep well, frozen, for 1 year to 1 & 1/2 years.

Monday, August 26, 2013

How to make a phenomenal salad dressing for pennies -- blackberry vinegar




One of the ways that I save on my grocery bill, is to make salad dressing from scratch, instead if buying bottles of pre-made dressing. I favor vinaigrettes over creamy dressings, just a preference. But also, depending on the quality of oil used, vinaigrettes are often far less expensive to make than a mayo/sour cream dressing.

I can take a homemade, flavored vinegar and plain salad oil, and create a fantastic salad dressing for pennies, in a few seconds. Most of the time, I mix up the dressing in the bottom of the salad bowl, just before adding the greens. It's a simple process. A bit of flavored vinegar, pinch of salt (pinch of sugar, if making a fruity dressing), salad oil and black pepper. Stir briskly, with the salad spoon, to emulsify. Pennies, just pennies!



Every summer, I make several flavors of vinegar. Chive blossom, rosemary-thyme, and at least 1 berry vinegar (raspberry and blueberry having been my previous favorites). Once infused, I just keep my vinegars on the kitchen counter. They add beauty to my work space, and sit there reminding me to use them.

I decorate the bottles with ribbon, raffia and sometimes labels, in part because it's just prettier, but also it helps me differentiate between each flavor with just a glance.

This summer, both the blueberries and raspberries had a small crop in our gardens. But wild blackberries are everywhere in abundance. So blackberry vinegar -- here's your chance to dazzle me!

Blackberry and raspberry vinegars are made with the same method, simple infusion. The proportions are 1 part raspberries or blackberries, to 2 parts white vinegar.

So, for 1 pint of bramble berry vinegar:

1 cup rinsed berries
2 cups white vinegar

In a sterilized 1 quart jar, place raspberries/blackberries and vinegar. Use either a plastic lid (ones from mayo and peanut butter jars seem to fit regular mouth canning jars, here in the US), or lay a small piece of plastic wrap over the opening of the canning jar, then add the ring to hold it in place.

Blackberry vinegar just after adding berries to plain white vinegar

I keep the infusing vinegar in the fridge for about 4 weeks. After 4 weeks, I strain out the berries (which by now look quite bloated and unappetizing), and decant the flavored vinegar into a clean narrow-necked bottle.

I like the look of a cleaned out, repurposed bottle with a cork. Packages of corks can be purchased, inexpensively, at kitchenware shops or in the cooking/kitchen section of import stores, such as Cost Plus World Market.

Using berry vinegar

Berry vinaigrette

2 tablespoons berry vinegar
pinch salt
1 tsp sugar
4 tablespoons salad oil (can be a mixture of olive and any salad oil, or simply salad oil)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon orange zest (optional, but adds a fresh zing)

You can, also, do as I often do, just mix a bit in the bottom of the salad bowl. Use 1 part vinegar to 2 parts oil. Add a pinch each of salt and sugar. Stir to emulsify.

A typical autumn salad for our family: red and green leaf lettuce, chopped fresh pears, and sliced almonds, dressed with a berry vinaigrette.

Creamy berry dressing for fruity salads

For fruit-salad dressing, I like something creamy, but with a bit of tang. Some mayo, whipped cream, and/or vanilla yogurt, and some berry vinegar. If just using mayo, I add a pinch of sugar to bring out the sweetness of the berry infused vinegar.

Marinades

Berry vinegars make delectable marinades for chicken breasts. Make a batch of the berry vinaigrette (omit orange zest), add a tablespoon of chopped fresh rosemary, and a dash of black pepper. Pour over  chicken breasts, and allow to marinate in the fridge for 30-60 minutes. Then grill to doneness. Simply delicious! I understand that berry vinegar marinades are also delicious on salmon and pork. Google "salmon" or "pork" and "raspberry vinegar", and a bunch of recipes will pop up.


One last thought, it may be August, but the holidays are just around the corner. Bottles of infused vinegar make lovely gifts for the hostess, or holiday friendship gifts.





Saturday, August 24, 2013

Saving electricity: microwave baking -- cornbread


I was asked to post our cornbread recipe. So here it is.

This is one of my daughter's favorite foods, so we have it often.

It's baked in the microwave in 3  1/2 minutes, using a fraction of the electricity of a standard oven. There is no pre-heating of an oven, no heating the kitchen up, and I can think to add it to a lunch or dinner menu at the last minute, and have it on the table in 10 minutes, start to finish.

This cornbread comes out moist, which is what I think my daughter really enjoys about it. And because it's a cornmeal product, it already has "color", and doesn't look pale and pasty, as other microwaved breads often do.


I have these small Corningware casseroles. (I see them frequently at thrift shops and garage sales, btw.) They are the perfect size to microwave cornbread in, about 5 inches in diameter. I use 2 at a time, to bake 8 small wedges, which is just right for our family.

To make 2 of these small casseroles, I bake a half recipe. Baking just half works for us, as that's all we need at a time, and it bakes up so quickly.

Just an FYI, to halve a large egg, simply beat it well, and pour or scoop 2 tablespoons into your batter. Cover and save the other half-egg, in the fridge for up to 3 days, to use in cooking, or freeze.  To freeze half of an egg, beat in 1/16 teaspoon salt, or 3/8 teaspoon sugar, pour into a small freezer container and label (to use in your next half-batch, requiring 1/2 an egg).

Here's the full recipe.

My recipe calls for microwaving in a microwaveable 2-qt. ring mold. As other quick breads/coffee cakes can be microwaved in an 8-inch round or square. I would think that should also work for cornbread. But if you have a few small casserole dishes, as I do, then the microwave bake will take less time. You could also bake individual cornbreads, in custard cups.

1 cup yellow corn meal
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil

optional: cheese for topping

  • In a large mixing bowl, combine cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
  • Beat together egg, milk and oil. Combine liquids with dry ingredients. 
  • Pour into well-greased 2-qt. microwaveable casserole (or a couple of smaller casseroles).
  • Microwave on MED-HI (70 % power) for 8-10 minutes.  (I microwave a half-batch, in two 5-inch casseroles, on HI for 3 & 1/2 minutes.)
  • Your timing on the baking will likely differ from mine, slightly, as wattage varies among the different microwave ovens. If your microwave does not have a turntable, you will want to turn this, a quarter turn, half way through baking.
  • Microwave baking takes a watchful eye. Watch the center of the item as it bakes. The center finishes baking last. When it looks set and dry in the center, as the edges do, press a finger into it. When done, it should feel firm.




  • Remove from microwave. If topping with grated cheese, sprinkle on top of baked cornbread. 




  • Place a dish or tray over the top, to hold in the heat while the cheese melts, about 3 minutes.





Friday, August 23, 2013

Customizing second-hand jeans for a teen girl

The problems we encounter, when shopping the second-hand market for teen-girl clothes are these:
when she finds the item that fits, it's not the style she wants, and, when she finds the style she wants, it's not the right size. Getting everything just right entails a bit of creativity, and some sewing skills.


My two daughters wear jeans every day to work. Jeans and a university provided t-shirt make up the required uniform. They each just have 1 pair of jeans. Work entails being on hands and knees scrubbing floors, toilets, tubs, and carpets, among other duties. Which means jeans are taking a beating this summer!

Sunday afternoon, I took both of them to St. Vincent de Paul's weekly "Sunday -- all clothing 99 cents". For our immediate area, 99 cents for thrift shop clothing is a spectacular price. I know some areas have much better pricing. But this is what we have available.

Each daughter has their own style preferences. One wanted skinny jeans, the other wanted flare leg jeans. The skinny jeans were actually easy to find this week. But the flare legs were either too worn or too big.

The daughter wanting flare-legged jeans is very petite. Our usual problem fitting her is finding pants with a small enough waist. We shop both the children's and juniors, hoping to find something that works. Here's how it went:


daughter -- "I found the perfect jeans!!!"
mom -- "Oh, that's wonderful! Let's see how they look!"
daughter comes out of dressing room -- "see, they fit perfectly"
mom -- "um, not exactly. But we'll take care of that."
daughter -- "they are exactly what I was looking for, except I wanted flair legs."
mom -- "I think that I can come up with something you might like"
daughter -- "I was really hoping to find some dark jeans. Can you do something about that too?"
mom -- "we can fix that"
daughter -- "these are exactly what I was looking for!!"



What she found, that she liked a lot, were too big in the waist, too long, had boot-cut legs (not as big a flare as she likes), and were paler blue than she was hoping for. But other than that, these were just perfect! LOL!

Standing in the dressing room area, I showed her that the waist could be taken in with 2 darts in the waist band in back, and 2 darts in front, and I could do a quick trick on the side seam to get a bit of the look of a flare to the hem. And of course, we could toss them in the next dark denim dye bath (later this summer). And then, the jeans would be "exactly what she was looking for".

Jeans made of a lighter weight denim can usually be taken in with darts in the waist. Fashion jeans tend to be made of the lighter weight denim, and are often light-colored denim. A good method for seeing if the denim will be light-weight enough to add darts to the waist band, is to pinch the waist band, and see if you can get a slim fold between your fingers.

Heavier weight denim, such as waist bands on Levi's, generally can't be machine stitched with darts (on most home-machines), to reduce a waist. When you pinch a Levi's type jean in the waist band, the fabric is too stiff and thick to get a slim fold. My daughter did choose a lighter weight denim (whew!), so taking in the waist should be easy enough.


To add darts, on the inside of the waist band, I pinch the back in two places, on either side of the center back seam, and stitch darts in a straight stitch. I do the same in the front, just above the pockets. I have my daughter try them on. If the darts need making larger (to take them in more), I sew each dart about 1/8th inch from the previous stitching, which with 4 darts will take the pants in another 1 inch total.


When we've got the right size in the waist. I trim the fold off the dart and then overcast the edges with a zig-zag stitch to prevent fraying.



On jeans that I have taken in this way in the past, we've never had an issue with the darts coming apart in any way. They have held up to many, many washings, and literally years of wear. The darts will be invisible, under a belt, should she want to wear a tucked-in shirt.

After taking in the waist, it was time to have her try them on for length-fitting. Because the hem was so deep, I decided it would just be easier to hand hem them. My rule of thumb on whether to machine or hand hem jeans, is about 1 inch. If the turned up portion will be more than 1 inch, I hand hem. If less than 1 inch, I use the machine. Machine hemming a really deep hem requires cutting off, and turning under some of the fabric (otherwise the stitching looks too high on the outside). A hand hem is much less visible, and quick to do.

These jeans have a straight seam up the side. This would be the seam that I would re-stitch, on the inside, just an 8-inch portion from mid-knee to mid-calf, to get a flared look to the hem.



I had my daughter try on the jeans with the better fitting waist and right length, and marked where to taper the knee area (to get the look of a flared bottom hem). I turned the jeans inside out, and redid the side seam with a tapering addition to the seam.



The taper area is marked with pins.



Stitching began right at mid-knee area, on the side seam, coming in 3/4 of an inch, then tapering back to the seam, on each leg, for about 8 inches down the seam. It's not a true flare, more like an exaggerated boot cut. But it satisfied my daughter.



By the way, you can turn flare or boot cut jeans into straight leg or skinny jeans, by stitching new side or inseams. Most jeans have 1 seam that is lapped, and 1 seam that is just a straight seam. Do the tapering along the straight seam, hemming afterwards, if the hem needs taking up. As styles can change drastically from one season to the next, I've turned many pairs of flared pants into straight leg for myself.



As these were paler than she really wanted, I mentioned the dye bath I have planned for September -- dark denim blue. My own jeans, a denim jacket, a light blue tee-shirt that looks faded, these jeans, and a denim skirt will go into that dye.


I have to say, my daughter is immensely happy with her new jeans. Total cost was 99 cents. I did the alterations in bits of time. But my guess is I spent no more than 2 hours, in total. If we had shopped retail at Old Navy or The Gap, we probably could have found some jeans to her liking for $20 to $30. I'd say for a $20-$30 savings, the extra work, to customize these jeans, was well worth it.

In the perfect world, both daughters would have found exactly what they wanted on that day. But life's not perfect, and we sometimes have to adapt, either our attitudes and wants, or what we've been provided with.


Thursday, August 22, 2013

Saving electricity by maxxing out my oven on baking day

This was all baked in the same oven, at the same time, using the oven for 30 minutes, total.




I've been using my toaster oven and microwave for most of my oven needs this summer. But when I need to do a major baking, like a 5-loaf batch of sandwich bread, I use the main oven. And I bake up most of the week's breads, muffins, cakes and pies, at the same time. I have a good old-fashioned, Little House-style, baking day.

Back when women baked with wood or coal for fuel, having a baking day was the efficient use of the stove. A cast iron stove can retain heat for a long time, meaning that if one were to bake a batch of bread, they might as well take advantage of the residual heat and bake for several hours. It is work to get a wood or coal fire up to the right temperature for baking. While a joint of meat can roast at any temperature between 275 and 400 degrees, and the temperature can fluctuate throughout the baking period without significant undesired effect, a pie or loaf of bread, really does need consistent, even and moderate heat.

Baking days fell out of favor when women were fortunate enough to step into the age of electric and gas ovens. With electricity or gas, a precise temperature for baking could be effortlessly dialed up and ready to go, in a matter of minutes. It became possible to bake any or every day of the week.

While no longer necessary, baking days can still be beneficial. You can bake a week's worth of items in one day. You can use your energy with efficiency, by getting out the mixer, and ingredients all in one go. I typically begin measuring into different bowls, all in a line, for the various items that I'm baking. For some items, I mix up a large batch of yeast dough, to divide into portions for different types of breads and buns. And, if you max out your oven's capacity, you can save electricity, by preheating once, and loading up the oven for one baking period.

Here's how I make sure that my oven is maxxed out.


I look over my menu plan for the week and see what will need baking, and that can go into the oven at the same temperature, more or less. As my yeast dough is mixing in the KitchenAid, I open the oven and place inside, the various baking pans that I'll be using.



Here you can see I have a muffin tin (for zucchini muffins), a large baking sheet (for 1 loaf of Savory Rosemary Bread and 1 loaf of French bread to use for garlic bread later in the week), and a jelly roll pan (for burger/sandwich buns and hot dog buns). I have an open space on the bottom rack. That's when I go back to my menu, to see what might also fit in the oven. Aha! A cake! I am needing a cake for the freezer anyways (for those cake emergencies, of course!). So I decide to bake 2 round layers of yellow cake.


If I turn my jelly roll pan the long way, I can fit two cake rounds on the left side of the bottom rack.
I've now maxxed out my oven for one 30-minute baking period.

The suggested baking temperatures for the items range from 325 to 375 (convection). I settle on 335, so that the most delicate of the baking (the cakes) can have a temperature close to ideal. The rest of the items can be more forgiving.

As the yeast dough rises, I prepare my quick breads and cakes. I time the addition of liquids to these quick breads/cakes to the yeast bread's rise. When it looks like the yeasted bread will be ready soon for the oven. I preheat the oven, and quickly finish up the cake and muffin batter, and into the pans.

I load up the oven, and set the timers. I have 3 timers in the kitchen. I set all three, timed to different items. To keep it clear which timer is for which item, I place the recipe card or cookbook next to that timer.

I had the oven on for 30 minutes, total, costing about 7 cents in electricity. I removed items as they finished baking. The last item to remain in the oven was the sheet pan of Savory Rosemary Bread and French bread. It looked like it needed an additional 4-5 minutes. So I shut off the oven, and let the bread continue baking in the still hot, but not on, oven, for those additional minutes.

Had I used this oven to do the same baking, but on different days, preheating the oven individually, as many as 6 times, and baking each product separately, it could have cost as much as 42 cents in electricity, to bake the same foods.

I might have used my smaller wall oven, at 11 cents per hour, or 33 cents of electricity, total for the week.

Or, perhaps I would have used my toaster oven, on several days. As I can't get more than 1 layer of cake, or 6 muffins, in there at a time, I might have baked in the toaster oven for a total of eight 30-minute time periods, for a cost of 12 cents in electricity, not including several (6) preheating time periods.

In any case, I saved electricity and hard-earned money. And my motto is, "money we save, is money we don't have to earn, no matter how small the amount." Franklin's phrase is catchier, but mine gets the point home to family members, loud and clear.

Maxxing out the oven with oven meals

One of my mom's old cookbooks (from 1957) recommends using your oven efficiently in this same manner. They suggest making an oven dinner, where all the components of dinner are baked in the oven at the same time. Here's an example of one of their oven meal suggestions. Using 2 racks in a full-sized oven, twin meat loaves in a shallow pan, carrots in a covered casserole, baked beans in an open casserole, potato halves in a shallow baker, and baked apples in an open casserole. Everything in this menu is baked at 350 degrees F, for 1 hour.

If I know ahead that I will want to use the oven for a couple of items for dinner, I will also postpone any baking until dinner prep time. And I'll consider what else could fit into the oven, to get the most from it's heat, sometimes a baked dessert, and another component of the dinner which I normally cook on the stove top (like vegetables), and often times tossing in a few whole potatoes, to bake with everything else. Those baked potatoes can be the backbone for a simple supper of hash, the next night, or added to take away lunches the next day, or enjoyed with breakfast, in lieu of toast.

There's a side benefit to having a baking day, or making an oven meal -- saving time. I spent 30 minutes watching the ovens on this latest baking day, instead of of potentially 3-4 hours over the course of the week. And I had just one big clean-up, instead of needing to sweep up the scattered flour and sugar several days of the week. When making an oven meal, I put it all in the oven, set the timer, and I am free to catch up on the news, fold laundry, spiff myself up, or chat with family. No standing at the stove, stirring a pot and getting hot.

Just for fun, I thought you'd like to see that my kitchen gets messy, too. Half way through it all . . .

to the right of the stove


on the stove top itself


to the left of the stove



I didn't show you the floor. It's really hard not to scatter flour when working with yeast dough. :-)


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

The flavors of the week are: zucchini, apple and pear



Zucchini-spice Pancakes

The zucchinis are maturing in abundance, here!! How about at your place? Have you been bestowed with neighbors' zucchini? Are your plants producing zucchini faster than your family is willing to consume?

This week, we've had zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, zucchini in tomato sauce, sauteed zucchini (with a variety of different seasonings, to change things up), fried zucchini slices, zucchini sticks and dip, raw zucchini in salads, and zucchini-spice pancakes.



Our early apple tree was completely ready for picking this past week. This one produces red, fresh-eating apples. But that doesn't stop us from cooking them. We've had apple-rhubarb cobbler, apple-cinnamon oatmeal, apples sauteed in brown sugar, butter and cinnamon, chopped apples topping cinnamon-sunflower seed granola, as well as crisp, fresh apple slices. They are not good keeping apples, so we're eating what we can, this month. Many years, I chop and freeze some of these apples, for winter baking. This year, the apple crop is sparse, so these will all be eaten by early September.

Gingerbread Oatmeal with pears


And it's also time for the pear harvest. We have 4 pear trees, 2 of which are bearing, 1 early and 1 late. The early pears, the Morettini, set large crops for dwarf trees.



These are the yellow-green pears with a red blush that I showed a large bowl full on my blog early last September. They come off the tree looking perfect, as you'd find them at a farmer's market. But they're not good keepers, so we've been eating pears fresh, as slices, as chunks in fruit and lettuce salads (with a creamy dressing and chopped nuts), and as a topping for gingerbread oatmeal (recipe here).


It sure feels like late summer around here. What are the flavors of the week at your place?


Monday, August 19, 2013

Extending the life of my bras: replacing a broken wire





There was a time when repairing one's undergarments was a task simply assumed would be done many times in the life of that garment. We've become such a throw-away society, that when something such as the wire in a bra breaks, it is now assumed the entire garment is ready for the garbage. Often times, there is much life left in that bra.

It may sound simpler to just go out and buy a new one. But replacing a broken bra wire takes about 15 minutes, minimal sewing skills and will save you money -- that's money that you don't have to earn! Compare this to actually shopping for a new bra, which could take an hour or longer, be exasperating (trying on bras doesn't provide the same excitement factor of, say, trying on shoes) and cost $15, $20, $30 or more. Not to mention, the waste from a repair is minimized. One tiny sliver of wire sent to the landfill, instead of the entire bra.

When something breaks on one of my bras, if it's not something easily repaired right then, I just tuck that bra in the back of the drawer. The usual problem is a broken underwire. I hang on to the entire bra, for the day will come, when another bra's wire will break.

And then, I have two bras with broken wires. Just what I need. I can now scavenge a good wire from one of the bras, to replace a broken wire in the other.



Here are two such "broken" bras. The wire broke on one of them about a year ago. I hung on to it. And lo and behold, the wire broke in another bra, just a couple of weeks ago (I only have three, so I was now down to 1 good bra).

You know how it is with a broken underwire? You look lop-sided in t-shirts and other garments of somewhat clingy fabric. So, time to get to work and make 1 good bra from these 2 broken ones.




First, I choose which bra will be the sacrificial undergarment. I cut a small slit in the casing, on the inside of the bra, which holds the wire in place, about 1/4-inch from the end stitching. The wire is fairly easy to pull out.



Next, on the bra to be repaired, I cut a tiny slit in the casing of the broken wire, on the inside of the bra, nearest the armhole, about 1/4 inch from the end stitching. I remove both broken pieces. The first piece comes out easily, but the second one sometimes has to be worked out (due to the raw end on the leading edge of this broken piece).

After removing the broken wire, I slide the good wire into the casing, through the tiny slit that I made, nearest the armhole. (edited to add: The wire is not perfectly u-shaped. To determine which direction to insert the wire, I line it up with the other cup, then flip over for mirror image placement.)

I find it best to cut the slit about 1/4-inch from the stitched-end. It's close enough to the end, to make inserting the new wire a fairly easy task. But not right at the end, preventing the new wire from constantly trying to poke through new stitching. And I cut this slit on the armhole end of the casing, and not the center end. If the wire begins to poke out, after some time, it's much less uncomfortable nearest the armhole.

Once the wire is mostly within the casing, I tug at the fabric casing, and slip the wire end into the remaining part of the casing.

If the good wire is even a tiny bit longer than the wire being replaced, this can require some real tugging of fabric, or pushing on the wire end, to get the casing to slip over that last bit. For this bra, I needed to firmly push the wire end down, and into the casing, against a hard surface. (I just used the metal blade of my scissors, a concrete floor would work, as would a flat, metal, straight-edge ruler.) With just a bit of force, this was enough to stretch the fabric up and over the wire end.


Once the wire is in place, I hand-stitch the slit closed. And that's it -- one good bra from two broken ones.

The old bra (the one from which I scavenged the good wire) is still useful. I removed the broken wire, and now it can be worn around the house. When I find that I no longer need it at all, I will scavenge additional parts, such as hooks and eyes. The eyes can be added to a stretched-out bra band, on the closure, to "shorten" a too-long band. And both hooks and eyes are great to add to my sewing notions, for use as closures on clothing (above the zipper on a skirt, for example). The padding in the cups can be used for craft projects (such as padding under appliques).

15 minutes of my time, and I have a functional bra again.


Saturday, August 17, 2013

The little thing that thrilled me this week

Okay, so 2 things thrilled me!

First . . .

I bought this packet of bell pepper seeds at Dollar Tree for 25 cents, in spring. We don't exactly live in a place known for summer heat. So, it was a gamble (but for 25 cents, I thought I could swing that).

Anyways, I planted some of the seeds, and took reasonably good care of the plants. And well, looky here.


I've got about 10 baby bell peppers growing! I was so tickled when I first spotted one. On my morning rounds, I check my babies to see how they've grown. I count each and every one, to make sure I didn't count wrong the first time. I make guesses as to how soon they will be big enough to use. I make plans for how I want to cook them. I don't think I've ever had an organic bell pepper before. I know I've never had one fresh off the plant. I wonder if they are sweeter, tastier, juicier, when home-grown. I wonder if I'll be able to control myself and not eat them right out of the garden, as I've been doing with most of the tomatoes as they ripen. These are my excitement of the garden this year.

We've got 1 more month of good growing weather, here. I'm hoping for lots of sun and warmth, for these babies to reach their maturity.

So, my cost was 25 cents (and I still have half a packet of seeds left for next year). If I do get 10 bell peppers that reach maturity before frost, that will be 10 for 25 cents or the equivalent of 40/$1 pricing! I think my best price on peppers at the farm stand is 5/$1, so this blows those bargains clear out of the water!

Of course, if you live some place where peppers practically fall off the plants, they grow so well, then understanding my thrill may be difficult. I just never expected to be able to grow peppers in my back yard.


And my second thrill . . .

After a couple of days of rain and clouds, the sun popped out yesterday!

Friday is the day that I wash and hang dry all the towels. Having sunshine on the day I do the towels means they can dry in the sun. Which means they have that nice outdoorsy smell. And they actually dry in one day, instead of a day and a half, as when I have to dry them indoors on a rack.

I wasn't expecting sunshine at all. It was gray and cloudy, with a bit of drizzle, when I awoke. I had resigned myself to hanging towels indoors. And just as the wash load was finishing its cycle, the sun began to peek through the clouds. Before I knew it, I had beautiful Seattle summer back in my yard.

My towels did, indeed, dry nicely. I am one of the rare birds who actually likes the board-stiff towels. I have no idea why. But it tickles me to pull them off the rack and have them practically stand up on the deck beside my feet. My husband tells me that he believes air-dried towels dry wet skin better. I'm not sure if that's true or not, but if he's willing to believe that, then I KNOW he's on board with all our little changes around here.


Anyways, that's what thrilled me this week. How about you? What little things thrilled you this week?

p.s. I am told that I am very easily amused.  ;-)  

Friday, August 16, 2013

Saving even more money on gas for our cars



We have two cars. One is the primary car, and the one at home with me during the week, but used by all on weekends. The other is my husband's car, driven 1.5 miles to and from the bus stop for the commuter bus to downtown Seattle, 5 days per week.

We've been budgeting $10 every two weeks, for my husband's car for gasoline, which is not quite 3 gallons with today's gas prices.

We fill the primary car with gas every other week. We use a gas station which has the least expensive gas, within close range of our house, 3.1 miles away.

My husband doesn't have the option of just stopping in at a gas station on his way to/from the bus stop. He had been going out on weekends to get gas.

But now, instead of him making a separate trip out to the gas station that we frequent, I bring gas cans in the car's trunk with me, when I buy gas for the primary car, and fill the cans in the same transaction as refueling the primary car. We have 2 gas cans, totaling 3 gallons in capacity. My husband pours the "gas can" gas into his tank when he has time. This eliminates the need for my husband to drive out and back to get gas.

Old way -- husband drives out to get gas for his car, when it's convenient for him, and separate from fueling my car
New way -- pick up gas in gas cans to bring home for hubby's car, when getting fuel for my car -- one trip out/back eliminated


Our Savings

Gas is averaging $3.67/gallon with store loyalty card.
My husband's car gets 17 miles per gallon, according to an online calculator for his make/model/year.
The round trip to this gas station and back is 6.2 miles (as calculated by Google Maps)

The formula is this:

cost of gas per gallon, divided by mpg, equals cost per mile (which is 22 cents for hubby's car)
multiply cost per mile, by round trip mileage, equals cost to drive out/back to get gas (which is $1.36)

The end result is that we've been able reduce the budget for hubby's gas, as my husband is no longer spending gas to go buy gas.

So, by using gas cans to get hubby's gas, we save $1.36 every two weeks, or $35.36 per year. Again, not an overwhelming savings, but every last bit is helping us close the gap between income and outgo. This savings translates to $2.95 per month (which is the amount that we've reduced our gasoline budget by, on top of the savings from me not driving kids to and from school anymore), bringing our monthly reductions to:


Original electricity savings of $35/mo, plus natural gas savings of $10/mo, plus new use of toaster oven saving $1/mo, plus gas savings using gas cans for hubby's gas of $2.95/mo,  totals a savings of $48.95/month.


There's an added bonus to buying my husband's gas this way. Every couple of months, I have a 10 to 30 cent per gallon reward on my store loyalty card. By paying for both car's gas in the same transaction, both cars get to use that reward, saving us an additional 30 to 90 cents on his fill-up, in addition to mine.

By the way, you can use that formula above, to figure how much it costs to drive to gas stations, that are not along your regular route, or figure any of your driving costs. Use Google Maps for the mileage between two points. The mileage comes up on the same page as the directions.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Meet "Toastie"! (using a toaster oven to trim the electric bill)


"Toastie" (or his look alike cousin, we went through two) has been a member of our cooking family since early 2000. "Toastie" was our primary oven from 2000, all the way through to early 2009, when we finally got our kitchen finished. And, now, he's going to help me save money on our electric bill this year! Okay, so cutsie-ness aside. Using our old toaster oven will save us money.


When our wall oven went out, for the last time (insulation on the wiring completely flaked off), we went several months, with the hope of replacing it, and no oven whatsoever. I spent about 8 months finely tuning the craft of baking bread in a makeshift oven on the stove. I can tell you this, it wasn't easy keeping up with the bread demands of my brood of 5.

It became clear that we needed to take our time replacing the oven, and redesigning our kitchen. So we bought a toaster oven to take care of all of the baking and broiling. We were just thinking of this as a convenience item, to help me with baking. Never did we consider just how cost-effective a counter top oven can be.

Enter the toaster oven. It's just a $49 Wal-Mart special. You wouldn't think a toaster oven to do all the oven work that a family of 5 might need. But it really did. I baked 2 loaves of bread at a time. I roasted whole chickens. I baked birthday cakes, 1 layer at a time. I roasted small beef roasts. I kept my family supplied in cookies, granola, muffins, biscuits, pizza, lasagna, all with this little oven.

Oh, I drooled over ads for large ovens. GE had a particularly tempting ad campaign to "cook big", at the time, with their range oven. But we were taking our time, and in the end I can see that was wise.

When the kitchen was finally complete, and I had "real" ovens, once again, I was very happy to switch over, so that I could "cook big". The toaster oven went to live in the garage, waiting for a friend or neighbor to have need of its services.


All those years, using a toaster oven saved us money, and we didn't even realize it.


Toaster ovens use about half the electricity of a standard oven. You can turn a toaster oven upside down or around and find the wattage information. Our toaster oven is medium size, and uses 1400 watts. Smaller toaster ovens can use as little as 1200 watts, while larger ones can use as much as 1800 watts. Compare this to a standard wall oven, which uses on average, about 4000 watts. Why heat up a 30-inch box, when your casserole dish is only 9 inches in diameter?



After reading on CT on a budget about her frequent use of a countertop oven, I thought I should take a closer look at the electric savings I could be making, if I brought our toaster oven out of retirement. And since I had one just chomping at the bit to be of service again, I brought it back in from the garage, and made a place for it on the kitchen counter.

No doubt about it, microwaving will almost always be the cheapest method of cooking/heating. But there are times when a standard oven produces the desired texture. Microwaving a pizza is not as satisfactory as baking a pizza. Microwaving a whole chicken would leave the skin all clammy. Whereas a standard oven gives you that nice crisp skin. Sometimes I prefer the drying effect of the standard oven, such as when making garden lasagna. A microwave would leave me with a soupy bottom layer. And while you can microwave bake moist bar cookies, I just can't picture crisp gingerbread men coming out of my microwave.

I do love my microwave for moist cooking of many of my favorite foods, such as oatmeal, scrambled eggs, even quick breads like corn bread. And the speed of a microwave is very freeing at the end of the day. If I've done the prep work early in the day, I can quickly microwave the rest of dinner, in the evening, and have it served in about 10 minutes (yes, we timed this the other night, my girls and I. We wanted to see if we could get dinner served in 10 minutes.)

But on days when I'm looking for standard oven baking, without the need for the whole wall oven to be heated, I use the toaster oven. It's just the right size for a single casserole dish, or keeping warm a tray of bean burger patties, while the rest fry up, or making that small 2-loaf batch of French bread so that we can have garlic bread or bruschetta with dinner.

Will I get rich on my savings? No! But, figuring I use the toaster oven 2  hours per week (about my use these last couple of weeks), instead of my wall oven, I'll save about 12 cents per hour, or, 24 cents per week, or, about $1 per month. While not a huge savings, every last bit counts. (My savings are based on an electric rate of just over 8 cents/KWH. Most of the US pays far more, and could see greater savings per month.) I may find that I use it more when cooler weather returns, and I'm serving more casseroles for dinner. So, my monthly savings may sky-rocket to $2 per month.  That's $24 a year, and nothing to sneeze at. $24 is enough to buy groceries for several days, or, pay our electric bill for over 2 weeks in summer, or, pay for gas for our less-used car for 1 month, or, you get the picture -- $24 is something.

Would I go out and buy a toaster oven, just for the electricity savings? At retail prices, probably not. But if I had one in storage, or could borrow one from a friend or relative who wasn't using theirs, or I found one for a steal at a garage sale or thrift shop, then I would definitely use a toaster oven for smaller oven needs.

I would also like to point out that this is one of the money-saving strategies which won't require additional time or labor of mine, to achieve the same results. Many money-saving strategies do require extra work and/or time on the part of the participant.

If you're curious how the various electric cooking appliances stack up, in the right-hand side bar is a reference with use and cost (based on my rate of about 8 cents/KWH), from least expensive to most expensive. Toaster ovens and microwaves are at the top of the heap, with standard electric wall/range ovens at the bottom.


Tuesday, August 13, 2013

What does this family of 5 eat for $170 a month?

In reducing our grocery budget, there has been an essetntial starting point -- menu planning.

This isn't the "open up my fav cookbooks and choose what we'd like to eat" sort of menu planning, but "what do we, and will we, have on hand? And how can I make it interesting?" sort of menu planning.

For the last month, I have sat down at the kitchen table, on Monday mornings (usually while waiting for something to bake, laundry to finish the load, or dishwasher to finish the cycle), with pad of paper and pen in hand, and brainstormed meals. It really is an exercise in brainstorming. I want our meals to be interesting just as much as my family does.

So, I begin with what is both plentiful and inexpensive (or free) at the moment. I don't want to use up all of the more valuable, often-purchased, ingredients. I would like to spread them out over the course of the next several months.

For the mid-late summer weeks here, zucchini, foraged blackberries, and garden greens are found in abundance in my moderate-sized garden and surrounding areas. In the pantry, I have several types of dried beans, purchased from the restaurant supply (Cash and Carry, like Smart and Final, if you have that chain in your area), a lot of barley and oats, and some flours.

So, here's where I get creative. For dinners, I have a basic approach -- choose a cuisine (Italian, Mexican, Asian, Indian, American), and season my ingredients to reflect that cuisine.

(A note: I can't eat barley, and have just a small amount of brown rice left. When my family is served barley, I sub rice for myself, cooked and kept in small portions in the freezer.)

A sampling of menus from this past month:

Breakfasts


  • Homemade granola (on baking day, I make a large batch of granola)
  • Homemade yogurt (I make about 1 gallon at a time, and it keeps up to a month, if unopened)
  • Homemade bread, toasted (I bake 5 loaves at a time, to keep frozen until needed)
  • Quick breads, such as corn bread, zucchini bread, biscuits, scones, blueberry muffins, and rhubarb muffins (on baking day I choose one or two quick breads to make and freeze to have later in the week)
  • Sweet and spicy yeast buns, for special weekend breakfasts (done on baking day with a portion of the sandwich bread)
  • Microwave oatmeal with blackberries (I microwave oatmeal in a medium casserole dish. Any leftovers get put in the fridge to reheat later that week)
  • Blueberry pancakes (special treat on a Saturday morning. We'll move on to blackberry and apple pancakes next.)
  • microwave scrambled eggs, topped with garden veggies/herbs
  • fresh fruit from foraging or the garden
  • milk for kids (they're adults, but still "kids" to me), coffee/tea for parents


Lunches

weekdays

  • My daughters take sandwiches (peanut butter, egg salad, bean spread), fresh or cooked fruit or veggies, cookie or quick bread M-TH. On Friday, their work puts on a BBQ for the employees.
  • My son's office brings in lunch for their employees daily
  • My husband keeps some basics at his office (oatmeal, peanut butter, etc), and takes in various leftovers, boiled eggs, sandwiches
  • For myself, I find what looks good and needs eating in the garden (salads, fruit, smoothies), combined with bread, peanut butter and leftover soup
  • water, iced/hot tea to drink


weekends

  • Soups, breads, pasta salads, bean salads, bean spreads, homemade pizza, peanut butter sandwiches, frittatas -- never planned much in advance, but a "use up what's in the fridge" sort of lunch.
  • water, iced/hot tea, cocoa to drink


Dinners (beverages are always milk or water)

Monday

Pinto beans and turkey Italian sausage, in a medley with zucchini, Swiss chard, garlic, veggie stock, tomato paste and Italian herbs. Served with a 1-egg strata of leftover bread cubes from the freezer, leftover Pad Thai (my son's friends brought some Pad Thai in over the weekend, and way over-ordered), garden green salad, and blackberry pie.

Tuesday

Marinated lentils in an Asian-style dressing (based on my chive blossom vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, oil and ginger), on lettuce bowls. Served with leftover strata, garden green beans, and leftover blackberry pie.

Wednesday

Refried beans on barley with home-canned salsa (made from canned tomatoes, in large batches). Served with grated summer squash sauteed in butter, garden salad with lettuce and tomatoes, peanut butter cookies for dessert.

Thursday

Small beef roast, simmered in liquid seasoned with chili powder, cumin, tomato paste, garlic and onion, over beds of barley. Served with Swiss chard sauteed with garlic, and a plum tart (plums from freezer of last summer's harvest).

Friday

Leftover shredded beef in homemade BBQ sauce (tomato paste, sweet pickle juice, garlic, soy sauce and ginger), on homemade buns. Served with cooked garden carrots, garden rhubarb sauce, and garden green salad.

Saturday

Lentil-vegetable soup (lentils, onions and assorted veggies from the garden, seasoned with savory, oregano, parsley, chives and garlic). Served with homemade bread and butter pickle sandwiches (bread, zucchini bread & butter pickles, and butter), a garden green salad with lettuce and carrot slices, fresh blackberries for dessert.

Sunday (cookout)

Hot dogs, in homemade buns, served with baked pinto beans, baked zucchini, lettuce and blackberry salad in raspberry vinaigrette (raspberry vinegar, pinch sugar, salt and oil), garden saute of kale, broccoli and garlic. S'mores for dessert with homemade graham crackers, dollar store marshmallows and clearance purchased chocolate candies (after Valentine's Day).

Monday

Leftover beans, garden salad with carrot slices and lettuce, zucchini frittata and beds of barley.

Tuesday

Mexican black bean soup (black beans, veggie broth, chicken stock, zucchini, tomato paste, carrots, Swiss chard, garlic, chives -- now out of onions here, chili powder and cumin), microwave cornbread, garden salad, rhubarb-cherry sauce (frozen cherries from our trees)

Wednesday

Marinated lentils in mustard-vinaigrette, with fresh veggies and herbs from garden (shallots, carrots, summer squash, thyme, and chive blossom vinegar). Served with Swiss chard saute and garden potatoes in parsley and butter.

Thursday

Bean burgers (made with an assortment of leftover cooked beans, bread crumbs, egg, chives, chili powder, tomato paste, garlic, shallots), fried zucchini, garden green salad, foraged blackberries, microwave brownies.

Friday

Lasagna made with a faux cheese filling (mashed tofu, garlic, lemon juice, salt, blended with grated carrots, broccoli and chopped kale all from garden), last of lasagna noodles, sauce of tomato paste, garlic, veggie stock, savory and oregano, topped with a bit of Parmesan cheese. Served with grated zucchini and summer squash saute, rhubarb sauce, and leftover brownies.

Saturday

Microwave baked pinto beans and turkey dog slices in homemade BBQ sauce, microwave cornbread, garden green and wax beans in a tomato and Italian herb sauce, cooked carrots, foraged blackberries.

Sunday (our annual dinner at the beach, fish and chips from a stand on the pier, eaten in front of the lapping waves -- I used a gift card given to me as a thank you for watching some children in May).

Monday

"Interesting Soup" I have to tell you about Interesting Soup. Once every couple of weeks, I go through the fridge and use up all the leftover bits, salad dressings, sauces, pickle juice, olive brine, etc, in a pot of soup. The response I have sometimes received is along these lines, "the flavor of the soup, tonight, is, um, interesting, Mom", hence the name Interesting Soup. It's always edible, and often tasty, but no one can quite put their finger on what the flavor is supposed to be.

Interesting Soup tonight had some sort of Asian salad dressing, leftover from a catered lunch at my husband's office, olive brine, chive blossom vinegar, a green pumpkin from the garden which was shriveling (I cut it off and brought it in to cook, the other pumpkins look fine, so far), grated zucchini and all it's liquid (leftover from the morning batch of zucchini bread), soup stock, liquids from cooking vegetables over the week, basil vinaigrette from bruschetta, chili powder, cumin, black beans and a large handful of chives. Served with bruschetta (garden tomatoes and basil in chive blossom vinegar , garlic and olive oil, on toasted slices of homemade French bread, topped with a it of cheese, Parm and mozza), salad of lettuce and blackberries in a raspberry vinaigrette (homemade raspberry vinegar, pinch sugar, salt and oil), and zucchini bread for dessert.

Tuesday

Microwave baked pinto beans with turkey dog pieces, microwave cornbread (a favorite of one of my daughters, so we have it often), kale and garlic saute, rhubarb-blackberry sauce.

Wednesday

Bean and rice burritos (homemade refried pinto beans, rice, seasonings in homemade flour tortillas), fried zucchini (no batter, just a dip in cornmeal, flour, salt, red pepper and garlic powder), garden salad and apple slices (from garden).

Thursday

Small beef roast, pot roasted (leftover meat frozen for sandwiches on Sunday). Served with barley, cooked carrots, Swiss chard saute, garden salad (with lettuce, tomatoes, minced rosemary in rosemary vinaigrette of last summer's rosemary-thyme vinegar), blackberry crisp.

Friday

Split pea soup (with Swiss chard, carrots, potatoes, parsley, chives, savory from garden), tossed salad with garden veggies in creamy vinaigrette (just a vinaigrette with mayo subbed for part of oil), garlic bread (homemade French bread from freezer, spread with home-grown garlic and parsley, in butter), leftover blackberry crisp.

Saturday

Split pea "neat balls", with garden veggies (zucchini, carrots, green and wax beans) in a tomato paste and Italian herb sauce. Served with roasted rosemary-garlic potatoes, and a garden salad. Cookies and blackberries for dessert.

Sunday

Leftover shredded beef in BBQ sauce sandwiches, on homemade buns (baked with Saturday's baking),  medley of sauteed kale, broccoli and carrots from garden, raw zucchini sticks with dip (mayo, chives, parsley, garlic, salt), apple slices.

               ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

These are humble, family meals. They take minimal time (that is for cooking and baking from scratch), and satisfy hunger and tastes in our family. I do blow-out, fantastic meals for birthdays, get-togethers with friends, holidays and celebrations.

These meals feature a lot of beans, about 4 to 5 nights per week. I have a whole turkey, a few chicken pieces, some turkey Italian sausage, and a small amount of beef left in the freezer. I use the meat sparingly throughout the week.

My garden is producing well, and I haven't needed to buy fruit or vegetables in a few months (with the exception of a watermelon or two, back in early July).  I add fresh herbs to my cooking daily, often adding minced parsley (for vitamin C), minced rosemary and basil leaves to garden green salads.

So far, for August, I have bought eggs and milk, and nothing else, and spent about $11. In September, I will need vegetable oil, whole wheat flour, brown rice and another 25 lb sack of dried beans, for variety. I will also buy what I need for canning, seasonal items that find themselves at lowest price of the year, and more eggs and milk. We'll also make a visit to local farms some Saturday in early September, an annual trek for us.

My focus is always on whole foods cooking, using a lot of vegetables, and getting in a balance of nutrients every week. I look for adequate protein (in the form of meat, beans, eggs, milk, nuts/seeds), orange fruits/vegetables, red fruits/vegetables, leafy green veggies, cruciferous veggies, alliums (garlic, onions, chives, shallots), blue/purple fruits (plums, blackberries, blueberries, huckleberries), a source of vitamin C (strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, fresh broccoli/cabbage, kale, mustard greens, parsley, leaf lettuce, and citrus in fall/winter and early spring), and iron (dried beans, meat, leafy greens).

We are all on the lean to average side. I have one daughter who is trying to gain weight, so she eats a lot of peanut butter and cream cheese (bought on sale around Easter), and many snacks each day. I would say that our focus is very healthy eating. In my family, there is a history of diabetes, heart disease and cancer. My intention is to NOT invite these diseases into our bodies, by poor nutritional choices, and stave any eventualities off, as long as possible.

We don't buy packaged snack foods, like chips, but snack on fresh veggies, fruit, peanut butter and bread, homemade quick breads, and popped corn. (When I'm working outside, I often snack on green beans plucked off the plants, or baby zucchini snapped right off, or a fresh tomato or two).

I don't buy soda pop, except for special occasions/parties. I have never bought enhanced or plain water. We drink coffee at breakfast, iced tea (made from bags and garden tea herbs), filtered water from the tap, milk, homemade cocoa, and occasionally lemonade or rhubarb lemonade (bottled lemon juice in 1 gallon jugs). I have a few Koolaid packets in the pantry, but frankly, no one seems interested. I'll take them with us on vacation to flavor the tap water (So. California tap water can be off-tasting).

Many of our desserts feature fruit. I bake with whole grains. I buy very few canned or packaged convenience foods, not just because of cost, but due to food sensitivities/intolerances, and a desire to eat fresher foods. I bake all of our breads, cakes, cookies, pies from scratch.

We really don't eat much fish, and I'll keep trying on that front. I have digestive reactions to canned tuna and salmon, and am not sure why. But I'll keep trying, as the rest of my family really enjoys fish. I've been told to stick with fresh fish. So, I'll just have to work that into the budget, somehow. (BTW, none of us fish, and while clam digging is allowed during clamming season, I am desperately allergic to bivalves. My son is not allergic, but my daughters could be.)

I will tell you, though, all this cooking from scratch, and gardening on a large scale for a suburban lot with limited sunny spots, does take time. I spend a good part of each day procuring or preparing food for our family. That is a sizable portion of my "job" in the family. But it is a rewarding job. Knowing that I am doing my best for my family is satisfaction in itself. I serve the Lord, through serving my family. I feel God has provided well for us. I enlarged our garden this past spring, unaware that we would be needing more produce. But God knew, and he urged me to do this extra work. I can't take the credit, for being wise, or clever. I just follow His suggestions, as best as I can.

So, as I look at my supplies, budget, and menu plans, I am thinking that, yes, I can reduce our grocery spending, and still include all the foods that are important to us. But I won't know for sure, until I reach the first of 2014, and I see what's left on my pantry and freezer.

Sorry this was so long. If you made it this far, well, you deserve a medal for your perseverance!






Monday, August 12, 2013

Cutting the grocery bill: my plan (or part of it)

Another area we are reducing our spending is groceries. By groceries, here, I mean food only, not cleaning supplies, paper products, hygiene items, etc., just food.

My current budget has averaged $210 a month, for the five of us. I am hoping to reduce this to an average of $170 per month. It's been years and years since we last spent this little on a monthly basis. Our kids were very small, and food was not so expensive, then. I'm not sure we can meet this goal, but I'm going to give it a shot. The one thing I have on my side with this, is the shopping for food is strictly my department. I'm not sure that I can recall the last time my husband did any grocery shopping. It's just not his area. But my doing all the shopping puts complete control in my hands.

Here are some of the ways that I plan on cutting this budget further:

Forage more. We've already begun our foraging for blackberries, about 2 weeks earlier than most years. Some of the berries are for immediate consumption, while others are for the freezer. I'd like to have about 15 quarts of blackberries in the freezer by the end of the season.

Use up as much as possible from the garden. An example, many years, we simply tire of kale or Swiss chard, and while we eat most of it, a fair amount just goes to seed. This summer, I am already freezing some for later consumption, and trying to make sure that right now, these veggies are featured in our meals more.

Use things from the garden that I don't always think of as vegetables, including squash blossoms. Some years, I remember to make sauteed squash blossoms. They are so yummy. Slice up the squash blossoms, and saute with butter, salt and pepper. My family also really enjoys squash blossom fritters. In another week, it will be too late for any pollinated pumpkin blossoms to become pumpkins. That's when I'll start harvesting the blossoms.

For the summer and early fall months, feature garden produce heavily in meals. Our dinner plates are heavily laden with vegetables these days. It's not unusual for dinner to contain 3 servings of veggies or fruit. A plate like this is supplemented with inexpensive grains and beans.

Eat more meals based on beans. One of the ways that I am making sure that I use beans often during the week, is to soak all the week's beans over the weekend, and keep them in the fridge. I soak a variety each Saturday, and can quickly cook and use them, throughout the week. Plus, I feel I have something of an "investment" in the beans already, by soaking them in advance. So I am more motivated to use them in meals.

Hold off on shopping for meat until November and December, and stock up on turkey and ham then (that is if the mystery pork virus hasn't driven ham prices sky high). Typically in our area, turkeys are at their lowest price of the year the weeks before Thanksgiving, and hams are at their lowest price of the year right around the Christmas and New Year's holiday. Last year I found whole turkeys for 39 cents/pound and whole hams for 99 cents/lb. There are usually "deals" with these prices, such as spend XX amount of money. But I discovered that many of the stores allow you to apply the cost of gift cards to your minimum spend. So, I purchased many gift cards to use as gifts for Christmas and birthdays, to meet that minimum spend amount.

I also find that during the fall and winter holidays, many of the items that I consider staples are at their rock-bottom price for the year, such as butter, baking supplies, cream cheese, canned veggies (including olives -- I only buy olives this time of year, and use them throughout the coming year) and fall-harvested, long-keeping vegetables.

When I do serve meat, I'll continue to fill our plates more with vegetables than meat. Many vegetables are far cheaper per pound than almost all types/cuts of meat. Even when I have to buy veggies, it will still be less expensive to fill most of a plate with vegetables, and a small piece of meat, than putting together the standard meat and potatoes dinner.

Put aside some money this month and the next, so that I can stock up in the fall. This month, we're only buying milk, eggs, canning supplies and any items on my staples list, that hit a rock-bottom price. I'm just making do with what we have. I'll take what's left of the budget and save it for November and December. I will also try to cut back on grocery spending in September, as well.

Make even more things from scratch. A for instance -- last weekend, we made s'mores. We were out of graham crackers, so my daughters made a small batch. We talked about me digging out my marshmallow recipe, for the next time we wish to make s'mores (as we'll then be out of marshmallows, too). And once the supply of bargain-purchased chocolate (clearance Valentine chocolates) is gone, we'll make cocoa frosting. Frosting makes quite tasty s'mores.

Use up every last drop. Save liquid from cooking veggies, for soups and sauces on another night.

Get every last bit out of bottles and jars. I used a rubber spatula at lunch time today, and scraped enough peanut butter from 2 "empty" jars to make myself a sandwich.

I've been using sweet pickle juice in faux BBQ sauce and faux ketchup. For BBQ sauce, some sweet pickle juice, tomato paste, soy sauce, garlic and ginger. For ketchup, tomato paste and sweet pickle juice, with minced onion and a pinch of salt.

I used dill pickle juice in a few batches of lentil and bean soup. I like the tang that the vinegar adds to soup.

I rinse "empty" milk jugs and yogurt jars with a bit of water and save for using as part of the liquid in muffins, pancakes and cornbread.

I save pasta-cooking water and olive brine, and use to flavor and enhance soups, chili and sauces.

Ration out expensive foods. Expensive foods, such as coffee, cheese, butter, chocolate and meat, can be budget busters. I've packaged all the shredded cheese for the freezer, with labels with such readings as, "cheddar--August".

Coffee grounds are being measured carefully for each pot. And when it's gone for the day, we switch to something like like tea or water.

We are down to 2 bags of chocolate chips. These have to last a while, so I am having to discipline myself not to eat *any* of them.  (The key for me is to freeze unopened bags. Once the bags are opened, well, that's the end of them. I have no self-control!) I'll save what I have for particular recipes, like toffee candy or some bar cookies that my mom always made for special occasions. When we're wanting something chocolatey, I'll use the more economical cocoa powder. And hopefully chocolate chips will go on sale for a good price again this fall.

Butter -- my daughters used an entire stick of butter in a batch of polenta the other week. I have since frozen the bulk of the butter, and leave just a few day's worth at a time in the fridge. And they understand, now, no more super buttery dishes, at least not until I find it on sale again.

Keeping snacks and treats made and ready to eat, for the family. Even if it's just a plate of carrot sticks and dip, or a large bowl of popcorn, the family will snack on this, before poking around in the pantry for something else.

Let nothing, I mean nothing, go to waste. This will require diligence on my part. I'll need to check supplies often, to look for produce about to expire, or bread that could develop mold. I have been only keeping out half a loaf of bread at a time, the rest is kept in the freezer. We had a bad run of moldy muffins, pancakes and bread last month.

Staying out of stores. Sure, I'll miss one or two great deals, but I think I'll save more in the long run by just shopping less. It seems every time I go into a store for one or two items, I come out with half a cart-full of stuff that while a good price for what it is, it wasn't totally necessary, or could have been made from scratch at home.

Revisiting the pricing on powdered milk. Years ago, we would buy 55 lb sacks of non-instant powdered milk from the Darigold distributor in Seattle. At that time, buying milk this way was less expensive than buying fresh milk. As the price of the powdered milk crept up, the price on fresh milk seemed to come down, so we went back to fresh milk. I'll be checking into the non-instant powdered again.

Planting a fall garden, and taking good care of it. I have some row-cover, season extenders that I'll put over some of the fall veggies, to prolong the season a couple of weeks into November. I've planted snap peas, kale, chard, and lettuce for the fall garden, and will add spinach and mustard greens in a week. I also started a pot of basil, a couple of weeks ago. It's on the deck right now, but I'll bring it indoors in early September, and keep it in a window. I plan on digging up a few chives, and 1 parsley plant, for my window herb garden, too.

Sticking to my personal price limits on certain foods. I have certain prices that I don't like to go over, on specific foods, like 70 cents/lb on whole chickens, or 40 cents/lb on oranges, or 35 cents/lb on carrots. I'm going to try and only buy these items at my own imposed limit. Of course, these limits are based on last year's availability, and could change for this year, as the market dictates. But I won't slide my limits up by too much. If anything, I'll find alternate foods, which satisfy the same nutritional need, such as whole turkeys provide protein, just like chicken, but at a less-expensive price.

When the money for the month is gone, it's gone. I'm going to try to stick to this, and not have a huge overage, going into the new year. I'll try to always set aside some of the budget for basics, like milk and fruits/veggies, for the end of each month, so that I won't have to spend into the next month's grocery money, to have the foods that I feel are important for my family to have daily.

And finally, really enjoy the foods that we have. There's this thing that I do. I call it "brownie shaving". I go into the kitchen and shave off part of a brownie and pop it into my mouth. 10 minutes later, I'm back in the kitchen and I shave off another little bit. A while later, I am back again at the brownie pan, shaving off "just a smidge". Before I know it, I have eaten 1 & 1/2 brownies, but never got any real pleasure from them. Compare this to when I cut myself a brownie, put it on a plate, step out to the sun, sit down and just really savor that brownie. I get so much more enjoyment from that one brownie, than I did from the shaved 1 & 1/2 brownies. If we really put effort into preparing good food, and then take the time to savor it, we won't feel the deprivation of a tighter budget. Food was intended to be enjoyed and shared, not wolfed down so that we could get on to the next activity.


To be really honest, I'm not sure we can cut our grocery budget this much (the plan is to reduce it by $40), and still maintain the quality of our diet. It's very important to me that we eat many servings of fruits and vegetables each day. I know the campaign is 5 A Day, but we try for more. Once the garden is no longer producing (or even producing less), I'll be buying produce again, and that gets expensive. If we can't meet this goal, I certainly won't beat myself up over it. Groceries and heat are the two areas that I'm not willing to go overboard to save money. I'd rather cut back someplace else.

Help me out, if you can. What are some ways that we could cut back on grocery spending, and still eat well?

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