The Budget Victory Garden

We're not at war, so perhaps my garden is not a "victory" garden -- maybe more of a "recession" garden. But I am still concerned with gardening budget-style. 

There are some gardening things for which you just need to fork out the money, such as some soil amendments or soil testing. But there are many other areas where you can save considerable money in gardening. For example, I've mentioned before that I start all of my vegetable plants from seed, I save seeds from one year's plants to use the next year, I sometimes plant bits from the kitchen (sprouting potatoes, sprouting garlic cloves, green onion roots) at very little cost, I make bone meal from chicken bones and crush eggshells to use as a soil amendment, and we make compost in our backyard. 

Here's another way I save as I start my plants. I wash and reuse plastic food containers for use as pots for seedlings during their growth period weeks before planting out to the garden. My husband and I don't buy much fast food, but my daughters sometimes do. Here I've got 2 plastic cups from Shamrock Shakes, a plastic cherry tomato container, a couple of deli salad containers (Valentine's Day lunch), and a small plastic produce  cup, 

Today I needed to move small tomato seedlings into larger containers. I had 5 garden pots I could use, but I needed another 6 containers for all of my tomato starts. 

Before planting in these recycled cups, I stabbed them well with a pointy knife on the bottoms for drainage.  (The tomato cup already had ventilation holes on the bottom.) With thinner plastic, such as milk jugs, I use a corkscrew to add drainage holes.

While I save money by not buying additional potting containers, there is one drawback. My repurposed plastic containers don't fit together compactly like a purchased set of potting containers. I'm currently working on how to manage all of my indoor seedlings to compensate for that issue.

Not seen here, I also use a 6-inch square take-out container and it's corresponding lid as trays to hold additional potted plants.

Pruning Trees and Land Girls

This week is my week to prune our fruit trees. One of my daughters came outside and gave me a hand for a couple of hours today, which was much appreciated. Two pairs of hands when tackling this work makes the work go quicker and makes the whole job a lot more pleasant. As we were taking off the last large branch I commented to my daughter that she could have been a Land Girl. (She beamed.)

Land Girls were the name for the members of the Women's Land Army in England during WWI and WWII. During the Great War, farmers found themselves shorthanded, as their usual laborers joined in the military efforts. The WLA put able-bodied young women to work in capacities previously reserved for men, such as helping with farm chores and harvests. When England became involved in WWII, the WLA was resumed and a forestry division was added, where young women felled trees and cleared wooded areas.

It would be my guess that many young women who were raised in farming communities had performed their share of farm chores. However, it is unlikely that they would have worked as paid laborers prior to the creation of the Women's Land Army. To be a woman, then, and paid for doing a man's job must have been thrilling for the Land Girls, even if they were paid less than men doing the same work. Throughout both wars, women proved their ability to perform strenuous tasks that had previously been in the domain of men. Unfortunately, when wartime ended, and men returned home, women lost this "new" place in public life and were most often shuttled back into traditional female roles.

I tend to do a large portion of the heavy physical labor in our household. It's just how the division of labor has settled for my family. I do take some pride in being able to successfully use saws and axes. It's not easy work for me, as I'm not very tall or muscular. But I can do my share. Both of my daughters find the same pride and enjoyment in helping with this work. When the tree fell on our roof a year ago, both daughters were eager to use both saw and ax to cut up the wood. And this week when I was trimming several fruit trees, they both offered to come out and help. They are both very petite. But they are both so proud of themselves when they successfully chop wood or saw branches. I asked both of them what type of work they would have preferred during WWII, if they'd been alive then and there -- Land Girls or work in a factory. I pointed out that some of the factory work must have been equally thrilling (think Rosie the Riveter). They both still thought they would have preferred working in the countryside, either on farms or clearing land, my Land Girls.

Your Favorite Meals to Feed a Crowd

While we aren't having a large crowd at our house this coming weekend, we will be having more people than our typical weekday meals. "Crowd meals" seem to call for something fun in my mind, when the occasion is appropriate. 

So with a "fun" meal in mind, my daughters and I brainstormed ideas for our larger family birthday celebration. What we came up with is this: Walking Tacos. I was introduced to Walking Tacos in Girl Scouts. We did this meal often, as it was an easy one for the leaders to throw together, and we could all customize our own plates according to our wants. 

I'll set this up buffet style on the kitchen counter for my group to self-assemble:

• corn chips
• lettuce
• seasoned ground beef
• seasoned shredded chicken
• tomatoes
• shredded cheese
• olives
• avocado
• sour cream
• salsa

(Anything else you'd add for this meal?)

For my own family, this meal will work great with what we already have. I have the beef, chicken, olives, avocado, and salsa. I'll need to buy corn chips, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and sour cream.

While my daughters and I were brainstorming, we recalled various other "crowd meals" we've either served or enjoyed in others' homes: nacho bar, DIY pizzas, burger/hot dog bars, large salad bars. All good and could be done easily at home.

Here's my question to you all -- what's your favorite go-to meal for a crowd?

I'm back

Hi friends! Thanks for hanging in there with me these last couple of weeks. Thank you, all of you who offered positive thoughts and prayers on my and my family's behalf. That means the world to me.

Last week began rough but improved as my daughter's health made positive steps forward. This has been such a roller coaster of almost a full month now. My only advice for anyone going through a similarly rough patch is to keep taking steps forward, take each day as it comes, and try to make the best, next move possible when the move you want to make falls out of sight. One day when I couldn't see very many ways to help my daughter I decided to just take care of business and get her taxes filed so she could at least get some money infused into her bank account. I still need to do my own taxes and help my other daughter with hers. But I felt better getting this one item checked off my list.

Budget birthday celebrations

At the end of the week, my daughters celebrated their birthday. As always, we set out to celebrate this special occasion in a way that would make both daughters feel special, without overextending our budget.

My husband took the day off from work, we packed a picnic lunch, and drove to the nearby vintage town. Part of my daughters' birthday gift was a little spending money to use in vintage shops -- the two of them really enjoyed this. There's a picnic area down by the river that not many outsiders (tourists) know about. So we dined al fresco for lunch on the riverside. I smiled as I looked over, about 40 feet, where a restaurant has an outdoor terrace, overlooking the same part of the river, at a cost much higher than that of our little picnic of sandwiches, chips, carrot/celery sticks, hummus, tangerines and cookies.Afterward, we visited the pie place and shared some slices of pie. To top off the celebration, we came home and watched a movie that we checked out from the local library and had homemade cupcakes. At the end of the day, both daughters said that this was the best birthday ever for them. And it's not over yet! This next weekend, my son and daughter-in-law will join us for dinner and cake for a larger family celebration.

That's about it for today. Now I need to make dinner for my crew. I hope you all had a beautiful weekend, and your week is off to a great start!

Tired and Not Much to Say

It's been another rocky last couple of days. I'm very tired and can't think well enough to write much. But I wanted you to know I am here and will be back writing regularly again next week. Life will get back on track.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

What Are You Looking Forward to This Spring?

I'm rather worn down these days, so I began to think positively about the next few months. I came up with a list of what I'm looking forward to this spring.

• Easter
• bulb flowers like tulips and daffodils and bringing some flowers indoors
• driving north to either the daffodil or tulip festival in the Skagit Valley 
• longer days, lighter evenings, warmer temperatures
• eating some meals outside
• getting the taxes finished 
• bird-watching in my backyard (and hoping the birds that built a nest in a hanging basket last year come back this year)
• setting up a permanent spot for my sewing machine and buying some fabric to sew (using a gift card)
• long walks
• farmer's markets starting up again

What are you most looking forward to this spring?

Utilitarian Cooking vs. Fulfilling Hobby Cooking

My primroses are blooming. Time for me to transfer them to the large pots on the porch.

In the last few weeks, I've spent a lot of time sitting in medical waiting rooms. During one of my most recent waiting periods, there was a television tuned to Food Network. The longer the program ran, the more irritated I felt with the show. Now part of that was likely due to the nature of being in a medical waiting room. But the other part was genuine.

I should preface my thoughts: I don't watch Food Network regularly, as we don't have cable. My guess is Food Network also demonstrates less complicated meals than what I viewed. 

What irritated me wasn't the beautiful meal presentation or the use of top-notch ingredients. The meal looked very, very delicious and something I'd really appreciate being served. What was irritating me was the amount of man-hours spent preparing a single plate of food. 

There were 4 chefs working on the same meal, each taking a different component of the meal. The chefs were mostly working simultaneously, as I could observe the various chefs at work in the background while the host interviewed the others one at a time. My best guess is the meal took 20 minutes for each for the 4 chefs to prepare, perhaps longer with some content not seen due to film editing. Four chefs multiplied by 20 minutes comes to a minimum of 80 minutes of hands-on time for one dinner-type meal and doesn't take into account any pre-prep work, such as washing and trimming vegetables or getting out and setting up equipment. It also doesn't include what could be extensive clean-up with, for example, cleaning a pasta machine or food processor. 

My conclusion, for myself, is that I don't think I enjoy cooking enough to prepare elaborate meals. I think I'm more of a utilitarian cook. Our meals are tasty, nutritious, not horrible looking, and mostly easy for me to make. I'd rather spend time on other endeavors. To be honest, I have a short attention span. In addition, I think it bothers me that something I might put an hour and a half (or more) into would be consumed in 10-15 minutes. In contrast, when I work on a home improvement, furniture refurb, or home decor project, the tangible results last for weeks, months, or longer.

However, I can understand how someone else would find this type of cooking to be a fulfilling hobby. The results look impressive. There's an element of artistry that really should appeal to me. And I imagine the positive feedback from friends or family could make the work very worthwhile.

I do think there's a time and place for even utilitarian cooks like myself to prepare a "fancy" meal such as I saw on Food Network -- special occasions, family celebrations or holidays, entertaining guests, or some other meal experience where we linger over the meal more than our typical weeknight supper.

Both types of cooking have value. Some of us fall into one category, while some of us fall into the other category. Do you think you lean more toward utilitarian cooking or fulfilling hobby cooking? What do you think are the merits of each way? What draws you toward one type of cooking over the other?

A Little Freebie From My Gardening Starts

Two weeks ago I started my first-of-the-season seeds in a flat under lights. This afternoon I started a second flat. While working on indoor gardening, I noticed the first flat's seedlings needed thinning. About half of the flat was seeded in cabbage family plants -- two types of kale, cabbage, and Brussel sprouts. Some of the seeds I used were several years old, so I was generous with the seeds when planting. This meant there were bunches of seedlings crowding each planting cell. Some thinning looked to be needed.

You know what's in this salad spinner? The cabbage family seedlings that I thinned. (I left one stout seedling per cell in the flat.) Since the entire plant is edible with cabbage family plants, I added these thinnings to our dinner salad tonight, mixing in the end of the lettuce and red pepper bought last Friday and some lentil sprouts. The salad was delicious, looked bright and interesting, and made use of the baby plants that I pulled out of the flat to allow each cell to produce a single healthy plant.

A nice bonus from my gardening efforts.

Helping Each Other With Ideas for Stockpiled Excesses (Need Your Input)

As I was working in the pantry organizing this morning, I noticed I have a lot of peanut butter, like a whole lot of peanut butter. It seemed like we were eating a lot of peanut butter on a regular basis . . . until we weren't. Counting up my jars of peanut butter reminded me of Laura's comment the other day about getting a great deal on canned tuna in EVOO, good enough deal to really stock up. I think we all do this from time to time, find such a great deal we really stock up. Laura's tuna has an expiration date pretty far into the future, so she should be good to use her tuna supply before expiry. Some of my peanut butter, however, has already passed the sell-by date.

So here are some ways I'm cooking with peanut butter to use up my excess.

• Live and Learn's curried pumpkin-peanut soup (I sometimes use additional peanut butter in this soup when I want it to be a good source of protein for a meal)
• peanut butter energy balls (peanut butter, honey, milk powder, raisins)
• peanut butter on apple wedges ( a favorite lunch of mine)
• peanut sauce on noodles or rice

I'm looking for ideas, recipes and links for using peanut butter, if anyone here has suggestions.

And here's how we can help each other. If you have an ingredient or food in excess, mention it in the comments and those of us who have ideas that we've tried, can chime in.

My ideas for Laura and her bonus supply of canned tuna:

• Laura, you already mentioned tuna salad -- one of my childhood favorites was tuna melt, basically an open-faced tuna sandwich, topped with cheese and broiled until the cheese was melty
• tuna cooked with tomato, caper, olives, and garlic, tossed with pasta, similar to this recipe on Food Network 
• my mother's 1950s and 60s favorite way to serve tuna --Mexican tuna salad with avocado dressing -- canned tuna, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, shredded cheese, Fritos-type corn chips, avocado salad dressing (mashed avocado, oil, lemon juice, chili powder, salt)

What are some of your favorite ways to use either peanut butter or canned tuna fish?

Free Garden Seeds From Inside a Store-Bought Pepper

I've done this the last 2 winters, bought a red sweet pepper at the grocery store and saved some of the seeds for planting that spring. 

There are actually a few fruits and vegetables you can grow from produce purchases. I began my garlic with grocery store garlic, planting all the cloves from one head and multiplying over the years. I've planted sprouted potatoes, harvesting many times over what I planted. I've grown green onions in a cup of water on the windowsill from the leftover root end of purchased green onions. I've heard you can regrow Romaine lettuce and celery from their bases. Pumpkin, winter squash, and tomato seeds can be dried and saved to replant. And of course, there's always the avocado pit suspended with toothpicks partway in a bowl of water. My mother grew an avocado plant/tree for several years. It never grew large enough to be a tree. I knew someone who grew a pineapple plant from the crown of a fresh pineapple. She lived on Kauai and had the right climate to actually grow new pineapples on her pineapple plant grown from a crown.

With some of these plants, the variety you harvest might not look like the parent from which you took the seeds. I've found this to be true of winter squash seeds from market squash. Most of the peppers I grow from scavenged red pepper seeds are green or yellow at the time of my harvest. But I'm satisfied with the green or yellow ones.

Growing a garden dirt cheap is possible if you have a sunny spot in your yard and you're not terribly choosy about what you grow. Seeds and plant starts can be free -- remnants reclaimed from your trash or compost bucket.

Anyway, we've enjoyed our purchased red pepper for the winter months and now I've set aside my sweet pepper seeds for this summer's garden.

February Grocery Shopping 2023

February 3. We needed milk and a few other items. One daughter wanted to pick up some of her own foods, so the two of us headed down to WinCo. I bought 1 gallon whole milk ($3.17), 10-lb bag of carrots ($5.98), 1 head cabbage (88 cents/lb), 3.5 lbs gala apples (85 cents/lb), bananas (58 cents/lb), 3 avocados (48 cents ea), turkey breakfast sausage ($5.90/large bag), boneless skinless chicken breasts ($1.99/lb), white rice flour (53 cents), brown rice flour (51 cents), and wheat germ (38 cents). I spent $34.40.

The apples were in a 3-lb bag, priced at $2.98. However, I weighed the bag and it was 3.5 lbs, bringing my cost per pound down from 99 cents/lb to 85 cents/lb. The wheat germ was for making peanut butter energy balls, and the rice flours were for making myself some bread products that I could eat. I'll likely make pancakes, using the rice flour, an egg, soy milk, and the rest of usual pancake ingredients. The boneless skinless chicken is for lunch meat. I'll either cook and dice the chicken for chicken salad or cook and slice the chicken for sandwiches.

February 9. Several of us going to WinCo in the morning. My shopping included about a pound of grind-yourself coffee from the bulk bins as a Valentine gift to my husband (he prefers brewed coffee), $8.06, some truffles for daughters and son/daughter-in-law from bulk bins, $2.80, 8-lb bag (actually weighed 8.5 lbs) of oranges, $5.98, 3.5-lb bag of apples, $3.48, 8-oz mushrooms, $1.98, and more dates for me $2.95. total spent -- $25.25

spent so far this month --$59.65

February 14. Fred Meyer for our Valentine's lunch at home. I found chicken salad and broccoli salad marked down ($3.19 and $2.45), curried chicken salad in deli case (daughter's request) for $2.17, bacon-potato salad in deli case for $2.22, tub of melon cubes for $5, marked down bananas (49 cents/lb), a gallon of milk marked down to $2.89, frozen peas (VD dinner) for $1.25, rice-a-roni (VD dinner) for $1, jar instant decaf coffee, $4.99. Spent -- $25.77

While these deli items for a lunch were much more expensive than homemade lunch foods, I like to think that Valentine's Day is a holiday for me, too. So I took shortcuts. Our at-home lunch cost $15.03. Our Valentine's dinner also used shortcuts, the frozen peas and boxed rice side dish. For the rest of our Valentine's dinner, I made marinated teriyaki steak (steak cut from a roast bought in January), chili-lime chicken breast, scratch dinner rolls (from refrigerator dough I made over the weekend), sautéed mushrooms, and a plate of cookies (and plain rice for me). I guesstimate our Valentine's dinner cost just under $10 -- pretty reasonable for a special dinner.

My daughters spoiled me with gifts of fresh fruit, candy and snacks for Valentine's Day. These food items helped stretch our grocery budget for the month.

spent for the month so far -- $85.42

February 25. One daughter had been in the hospital for a few days and was discharged this day. The hospital is near WinCo. I would be needing a quick and easy dinner for that night to throw together once home. I decided on sandwiches and a large salad. I also needed produce, fresh and frozen. I bought 3 16-oz bags frozen green beans (98 cents each), 4 16-oz bags frozen peas ($1.28 each), 1 12-oz bag frozen broccoli (98 cents), 2 16-oz bags frozen corn (98 cents ea), 1 head cabbage (98 cents/lb), 4 avocados (48 cents ea), 2 bunches bananas (54 cents/lb), pint grape tomatoes ($1.48), 10-lb bag carrots, 6 lbs butter ($2.88 ea), 16-oz ham sandwich meat ($3.99), 14-oz turkey sandwich meat ($3.99), large red pepper (78 cents), 3-pack Romaine hearts ($2.48). Spent $53.33

One of the days my daughter was in the hospital I missed lunch and was growing very hungry and thirsty. I ended up buying myself a sandwich and bottle of water at the hospital. Spent $10.95

Total for the month of February -- $149.70

I got a few good deals this month and splurged a couple of times. I mostly cooked from scratch for almost all of our meals. And you know my family by now, we have simple food tastes.

What I bought

2 gallons milk

6 lbs butter

20 lbs carrots

2 heads of cabbage

7 lbs apples

5 bunches bananas

7 avocados

8.5 lbs oranges

pint grape tomatoes

1 red pepper

3-pack Romaine hearts

8-oz mushrooms (Valentine's dinner)

large bag turkey breakfast sausage

family pack boneless, skinless chicken breasts

16 oz sliced ham

14 oz sliced turkey

small amounts of brown and white rice flour from bulk bins

1/2 cup wheat germ from bulk bin

1 lb + fresh ground coffee (gift)

several individual Lindt truffles (gift)

dates from bulk bins

Rice-a-Roni (Valentine's dinner)

1 jar instant decaf coffee

5 bags frozen peas

3 bags frozen green beans

2 bags frozen corn

1 bag frozen broccoli

4 small containers deli salads, 1 cut melon bowl (Valentine's lunch)

How we managed on this month's groceries

Items we baked or made for snacks and desserts this month:

Valentine cut-out sugar cookies

pumpkin pie (from home-cooked pumpkin and scratch crust)

scratch brownies

roasted pumpkin seeds

scratch nut bars

peanut butter energy balls

whole wheat bread

scratch refrigerator dinner rolls

baked rice custard

scratch caramel sauce for apple dipping

stove-top popcorn

scratch pancakes and waffles

applesauce snack cake, using crabapple sauce made from our crabapples

scratch chocolate cornstarch pudding, adding in some sweet leftovers that had been lingering in the fridge (frosting and pancake syrup)

We used whole chicken, chicken thighs, boneless chicken breasts, turkey bacon, ground beef, and beef roast from the freezer (previous month purchases), as our meats this month. We continue to use grains, beans, butter, oil, baking supplies, peanut butter, nuts, and canned fruits, veggies, and tomatoes/tomato paste from our storage. And we have been using our frozen fruit (mostly foraged blackberries, but some dried rhubarb and dried cherries from our trees) and frozen garden veggies throughout the month. Our supplies are beginning to dwindle. I can tell because I have more empty spaces in the freezers and back-up pantry.

Going forward

I've kept our grocery spending low for several months now, in order to make up for the overspending in late summer and early fall to stock-up. I can now allow our grocery budget to creep back up to around $275 per month and feel pretty good about that amount.

World War Two Rationing Stories From Those Who Endured

For your weekend reading entertainment, I thought I'd share a site I came across a couple of weeks ago. Between 2003 and 2006, the BBC collected personal accounts of experiences during WW2 in Great Britain. There are so many stories in the collection. I used the search term "rationing" and came up with 50 pages with 20-25 entries per page for that one search term. Some of the accounts tell of the horrors of war, others relate how mother's contrived meals on limited foods.

Anyway, there's some very interesting reading in these pages and more than enough to fill many weekends. Here's the site:

WW2 People's War: An archive of World War Two memories -- written by the public, gathered by the BBC

Enjoy the stories!

Growing Things: Updates

 

Remember those "white" primroses I dug up and repotted so I could move them into large pots at the entry to our house? It turns out that not all of them are white. This one here is sporting a purple bud soon to open!

My week-old watercress sprouts (grown on a wet paper towel in a dish on a window sill) are coming along nicely. I removed the plastic bag and pushed the table closer to the window. Keeping the plastic bag now off means I'll have to remember to water the paper towel daily to keep these sprouts alive.

Old-Time Baked Rice Custard

As I've mentioned, I'm needing to restrict my grains to primarily brown rice for the time being. I told a good friend that I was making and eating a lot of baked rice pudding, using my mother's 1950s-era recipe. My friend asked if I could give her this recipe. I thought perhaps this recipe was on my blog, but I couldn't locate it. Perhaps I was just thinking of posting it and never did.

Anyway, I thought I'd share, as this really is a delicious, frugal, simple, and gluten-free dessert that the whole family can enjoy. 

Baked Rice Custard

2 well-beaten eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk

1 1/4 cup cooked, cooled rice (I use brown rice)

1 cup raisins, optional

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dash cinnamon

Dash nutmeg

Oven 325 degrees F

Combine eggs, sugar, and salt. Gradually add milk. Add rice, raisins, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg

Poor into buttered 1-quart casserole. Set in shallow pan; pour hot water into pan 1 inch deep. Bake in slow oven 1 1/2 hours, or until a knife inserted in the center comes clean.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

So that was my mother's primary way to make this recipe. I've adjusted this to meet my need for simpler prep (skip the water bath), individual portions, and dairy-free.

I substitute soy milk for dairy milk, bake the custard in buttered custard cups, skip the pan of water as a water bath, and reduce the temp to about 300 degrees F. (The temperature can be reduced by 25 degrees F when not using the water bath method.) In custard cups, this bakes at 300 F for about 35-40 minutes and makes 5 to 6 custard cups.

I also like to change the recipe up a bit. One of my current favorites is almond-rice custard. I omit the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and optional raisins and add 1 teaspoon of almond extract. For the almond rice custard, I like to top servings with raspberry or cherry preserves. 

I enjoy rice custard so much that I would choose this over cakes and cookies most days, which is a very good thing as I'm currently not able to eat cakes and cookies.