Cheap & Cheerful Menus for Late July

I made rosemary vinegar this week. It's simply fresh rosemary in distilled white vinegar. I'll allow the flavor to infuse over the next 4 to 6 months before using it. I love how herb vinegars look when they are first made. The vinegar is crystal clear, and the herbs still have their green freshness. 

Another end of a week. My how fast this summer is flying! 

A lot of very ordinary meals around here. But that's okay -- my family likes ordinary (after all, they like me, and I'm ordinary). Here's what we ate:

Breakfasts this week included toasted O's cereal, homemade yogurt, berries, homemade blueberry muffins, homemade bread, toasted, eggs, milk, juice, and coffee/tea. I just haven't had it in me to make pancakes or waffles. I'll have to do something about that now that the blueberries are ripening.

Lunches were more varied. I sometimes picked greens from the hanging baskets and garden for salads, and sometimes I made soup from the garden (sorrel one time, turnip stems and carrot another). We also had peanut butter or cheese sandwiches and hummus/crackers. Plus, we ate leftovers from dinners for lunches. There has been no shortage of cookies for quick desserts. Yesterday, I made some chocolate chip shortbread rounds -- very yummy!

Here are the dinner menus:

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, watermelon, roasted broccoli, rhubarb crisp

Saturday
TVP meatballs and spaghetti, green beans, blueberries and raspberries, cookies

Sunday
hot dog cookout, homemade buns, sauerkraut, carrot sticks, canned corn, garden salad

Monday
eggs with chives, sausage, brown rice and chicken gravy, sautéed summer squash, roasted turnips, sautéed turnip greens, vanilla rhubarb sauce

Tuesday
pasta, broccoli, and cheese, cookies

Wednesday
7-11 pizza (my daughter bought this), garden salad, blueberries and raspberries, cookies

Thursday
meatloaf, fresh bread and butter, stuffed zucchini squash, vanilla rhubarb sauce

I have a couple of meals that I make each week. My family doesn't notice the repetition and doing so eliminates some planning. As examples, I make the same basic meal every Monday and Friday. I always know that Monday's dinner will be eggs, rice, gravy, and whatever vegetables and/or fruit that we have. Friday is always pizza night at our house, with side dishes that vary. This week, I'll be making stuffed grape leaves again to go with the pizza. I noticed some of our grape leaves are the perfect combination of size and tenderness. I am all out of pepperoni, so I'll be rummaging through the pantry and freezer to find pizza toppings.

What was on your menu this past week?

Historical Gardening: An Unusual Method of Making Pickles

melon-mangoeing: an historical technique of pickling a stuffed vegetable or fruit.
image from video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UhB4iOl-PA

This post isn't to suggest that any of us make pickles in this way. But I just found this very fascinating.

There's this pickling technique that was used in pre-1900 prairie vegetable gardens called melon-mangoeing -- no association with actual mangoes, however. A type of melon, which was very bland in itself, was hollowed out, filled with finely chopped cabbage, peppers, and onions, then sewn shut and submerged in a brine until the outside and inside was pickled. Melon-mangoeing became a popular method of preserving other vegetables as well, such as peppers and even sweet fruits like peaches.

I heard about this technique in a documentary about vegetable gardening in 1800s Minnesota. The video is about 30 minutes and available on youtube, here: Prairie Yard & Garden: Growing Vegetables in the 1800s, put together by Pioneer Public TV (pickling technique shown around the 11:30 mark and again around the 25:20 mark.)

I'm an historical gardening and cooking geek, so this documentary was right up my alley. I thought some of you might also find the entire video as engaging as I do. Enjoy!

If you do watch the video, please share your thoughts, here, in the comments.

Cooking the Fibrous Stems of Kale and Turnip Greens

As my garden is not as sunny or as warm as it could be for growing a really bountiful harvest, I have to look to using all parts of the vegetables that I can grow.

When I harvest turnips for dinner, I cook the root and greens. I pull the leaves off of the tough and fibrous stems and use them as cooked greens. But I don't discard those stems. I cut them into 1-inch lengths and simmer in a saucepan full of water for an hour. It's important to cut the fibrous stems into short, 1-inch lengths so the "stings" don't tangle on the blade of the blender. Ask me how I know. . .

After cooking, I use my immersion blender to puree the liquid and stems, then strain it all through a mesh sieve. At this point, I compost what doesn't pass through the sieve. What remains is a stock with a mild turnip flavor -- great as a basis for an all vegetable soup.

To make a pot of soup using the turnip stock, I add 1 large diced carrot, some onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and black pepper. I then allow it all to simmer until the carrot is soft. I add instant mashed potatoes to thicken the soup and to moderate any turnip-iness and adjust the flavor by adding more salt, garlic, powder, and or onion powder. 

I like this soup topped with cheddar cheese. One of my daughters likes to swirl in a pat of butter. It's also tasty topped with plain yogurt or sour cream.

This technique is also a great use for the fibrous stems of mature kale, whether from the market or garden grown. No need to throw those out. They make a delicious broth to use as the basis for a broccoli and potato soup.

My garden motto -- use every bit of the vegetable when possible.

What It's Like Being a One-Car Family

For most of our married life, we've had just one working car. There were a few years in there where we had two working cars at the same time. But for the most part, we had either one non-working plus one working or just had a single car. Currently, we have one car that we share between 4 drivers. 

A lot of the time, we don't really think about having just one car. That is unless you're the one walking a mile each way to the bus in the pouring rain.

Despite trying to have a positive attitude, there have been several negatives to the just "one car" thing.

• Sometimes, my plans to run errands or pick-up groceries conflict with another family member's plan to use the car.
• When the car needs repairs, we don't have a back-up car to use.
• When the car has broken down on the road or a driver locked themselves out of the car, there was no back-up car to go help. This actually happened. My daughter locked the key in the car while paying for gas. A couple of us took the bus up to the gas station so we could break into our own car. We also don't have a second car to jump a dead battery.
• One of us invariably plays chauffeur in order for the car to be free for another driver. 
• We've each had to pass on at least one opportunity that would have helped our respective careers.

All that said, we've also found several up-sides to the just "one car" situation.

• We've really had to learn to be considerate of one another's needs. In that respect, having one car between all 4 of us has been a good thing. I think especially, this has helped our daughters learn that valuable lesson at a time in their lives when they might have become self-focused.
• We tend to do more as a family, I believe, than if we each had our own vehicles.
• We are more inclusive with all of our family members. If one or two people want to go out to the beach, we tend to invite all of the family.
• Because one of us often plays chauffeur, there is more one-on-one time for conversation. 
• We save money on maintenance, insurance, gas, and purchase price with just one car.

A big however, though -- when it becomes the right time again to buy a second car, we will jump at the chance. We live in the suburbs. Stores are not at a walkable distance. The nearest bus stop is just over a mile from our door. We need our sleep. Some of those early morning chauffeur jaunts can be very early for more than one party. And I think all of us would appreciate being able to go where we need to go on our own schedules.

I know there was once a time when practically all households had just one car. My parents had one car when I was small. My father's commute was about one hour, making it difficult for my mother to have  the car for her use. They managed. But when the time came for a second car, I'm sure they were relieved.

These are my personal reflections on sharing one car between multiple drivers. I don't know many families these days who are in the same situation. So I thought I'd write a bit about it. 

How do you think your life and relationships would change if you found yourselves as part of one-car families?

Peaceful, Frugal Weekends at Home Are My Favorite Kind

It's just what they say, there's really no place like home.

I had one of those very pleasant weekends just spent puttering around the house and garden. I didn't go anywhere at all, keeping our household spending down.

I've been trying to do one thing per day toward putting away or growing food for fall and winter. So, on Friday I made red currant jelly, on Saturday I cut and dried thyme, and on Sunday I planted seeds for fall turnips.

Friday is our family's pizza and movie night. I made our favorite scratch pizza topped with cheese and pepperoni, with watermelon and broccoli on the side and rhubarb crisp for dessert. We ate while watching a free movie with the Roku.

Saturday, we were all home for the day and evening. I took care of some housecleaning and garden work. Dinner was TVP meatballs and spaghetti along with green beans and the last of the rhubarb crisp. Bargain meal. In the evening, I put in another online grocery order to be delivered to our home, filling my order with items that I found at great prices.

On Sunday, I again spent the day puttering, cleaning, organizing, baking, and enjoying the nice weather. In the evening we had a hot dog cookout. I made scratch hot dog buns in the afternoon to go with the dogs. We had carrot sticks, blueberries and raspberries from the garden, and canned corn to go with the hot dogs and buns. The four of us sat around the fire ring for a while after eating and just talked about life. Another budget-wise family meal.

Just a peaceful and frugal weekend on the homestead. How was your weekend?

Cheap & Cheerful Menus for a July Week

This has been my breakfast every morning
 for the last 10 days -- plain yogurt,
fresh raspberries, and honey. Yum!

Another week of all home-cooked meals.  I feel like this may sound dull to someone else. However, I've discovered that I really like our own home-cooking.

In the garden this week, we've been harvesting lots of raspberries, some blueberries, the rest of the cherries and strawberries, some red and black currants, salad greens, kale, turnips, garlic scapes, chives, Swiss chard, beet greens, grape leaves, lavender, oregano, and zucchini.

Cheap and cheerful pretty much describes this past week's meals. Here's what we ate:

Breakfasts

homemade plain yogurt with raspberries and honey, toasted o's cereal,  toasted homemade bread, eggs, cheese, peanut butter, dried fruit, bananas, milk, juice, coffee, tea

Lunches

hummus, crackers, mixed garden green salads, cheese sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, berries, carrots sticks, celery sticks, bananas, juice, lemonade, cookies

Dinners

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, stuffed grape leaves, strawberries, sorbet

Saturday
sandwiches, canned green beans, cookies

Sunday
bean and cheese enchiladas, pickled beet salad, watermelon, cookies

Monday
eggs with chives, brown rice and chicken stock gravy, sautéed zucchini, roasted turnips, sautéed turnip greens and garlic scapes, watermelon

Tuesday
hummus, crackers, raw veggies, sautéed Swiss chard, watermelon, cookies

Wednesday
hotdog cookout, mixed vegetable salad, pasta salad, watermelon

Thursday
beef, beet green, cabbage, chives and sesame stir fry, brown rice, fruit cup of blueberries, raspberries, and banana slices, cookies

It was a busy week for me, so meals were simplified as much as possible. It's Friday, so tonight's dinner has been predetermined -- homemade pizza and a movie.

How about you? What's was on your menu this past week?

A Productive Hobby

The last week or two, I've been working on planting our fall garden. I really dislike that being a gardener means that for some of my moments, I'm not just living in the present but have to think ahead to the next season. Right now, even though we don't have even one full month of summer behind us, I have to think about autumn meals. This is bit of a drag, because I just want to revel in summer. I don't want to think about chilly days, thick sweaters, and lots of rain and clouds. I want to think about the beach, sunshine, the farmer's market, and cookouts.

But, when you're the food producer of the family, you have to think ahead. Otherwise, come October, I might come up short in the fresh produce department.

So, what have I been planning for an autumn garden? In spring, I planted Brussel sprouts, potatoes, pumpkin, and winter squash, all veggies which I expect will mature in fall. This week and last I started the fall kale, lettuce, Swiss chard, cauliflower, bunching onions, and beets. By the end of the month, I'll also add turnips to our fall veggies. And by mid-August, I'll seed more spinach and radishes.

Keeping a  kitchen garden is my job, it's a hobby, as well as a hedge against emergency food insecurity. I've mentioned that it often feels like food is my J.O.B. It's not my entire job, but it is my responsibility for my family to always have food on hand, whether it's by shopping or growing. As a hobby, my kitchen garden is something that provides a satisfying personal challenge with tangible rewards. When my husband and I were young and dirt poor, we didn't have the finances for fun, but frivolous hobbies. So we chose hobbies that would be productive. Growing vegetables was one of my chosen hobbies. 

As it turns out, this productive "hobby" is also a big part of our emergency contingency plan. This past year and a half has shown us that the future is never certain. We can think we'll be employed until we determine our retirement. But that can change as an economy shifts or physical or mental ability decline before we planned. The last 18 months has energized my desire to make our yard as productive as it can be. What I can say for this year's garden is that I have tried harder with all of the garden than in previous years. That may or may not result is the biggest harvest yet for me. But I have tried my hardest and used the sum of my experience, so far, in hopes of producing a large harvest. As for the future, I hope I never stop learning how to make our yard more productive. The learning aspect is the challenge for me, which is what makes keeping a garden as much of a hobby as it is my job.

The good news about my focus on planting for an autumn harvest these last two weeks is that now that's mostly behind me and I can transition back to summer thoughts. I think it's time to make a batch of ice cream. 

How about you? What's your favorite "productive" hobby?

The Many Edible Stages of a Radish

Here's a recent photo of one of my hanging salad baskets. They look a bit untidy at this stage. I thought about trimming them up, but then decided to leave them as they are so we can get more salad ingredients out of the plants.

When I initially planted the baskets, I seeded the radishes thickly to promote green growth. We've enjoyed radish greens as part of our salad blends. Down in my garden in the yard, I actually planted radishes for the roots. 

Do you know what I love most about radishes? There's never a too-late moment to eat them. You can eat the leaves. You can eat the roots. If you don't dig them, you can allow them to blossom and those tiny flowers are edible, too. If the flowers are left on the plants, they will develop seed pods, which are also edible. And if you leave any seed pods to mature, you can harvest the seeds for replanting more radishes. I just find that so incredible that every phase of the radish's life is useful.

Here are some of the radish flowers. See how tiny they are? The blossoms are pretty floated in a bowl of soup or sprinkled over a salad or cup of hummus. Their flavor is mildly radish, and while pretty, they go best with savory dishes.

I've shown you these before. These are radish seed pods. They're crisp and hot in flavor, like a radish. I use them in salads or for snacking. I've read they can also be pickled.

We'll eat some of the pods, but I'll need fresh radish seeds next season. So, I'll be leaving several pods to ripen and dry for the seed.

Leaves, roots, blossoms, seed pods, and seeds for replanting -- I've been able to use every stage of these radish plants. Now that's frugal!

My Struggle with Gift Cards

I mentioned yesterday that my daughters had given me a gift certificate to a local lavender specialty shop for my birthday over a year ago. It was nearing its expiration date and I still hadn't used it. It's not that I couldn't find something I'd want in that shop. That's not the issue. I adore that shop and always make a point to step inside when I'm in the retail and restaurant area of our small town. 

I just have a problem with spending gift cards and certificates. I hang onto them for years. I'm not sure why. But I think it has something to do with my other financial habits. When you're frugal for a very long time, sometimes one's frugality backfires on a person and they find they can't spend money freely when given a chance. I think this is me. I think I hoard gift cards that are given to me because it feels like they are and will be in short supply in my life. So I feel like I need to find that "perfect" item on which to spend my gift card. The problem is, perfection in anything is elusive. I can no more find a perfect thing to buy than I can bake a perfect cake or have perfect hair. 

So, when I try to use a gift card, I look at everything and think about it all, over and over. Sometimes, it just feels easier to delay spending a gift card. I don't have the answer to this issue. But I am working on my thoughts about gift cards and using them. I want to honor the person(s) who gave them to me, and actually using it to buy something they'd choose for me is a way to honor their gift. I also need to let go of "perfect". As I was perusing the website to spend this recent gift certificate, many items were very nice. And I would have been thrilled to receive any of the lavender products. If it weren't for this particular gift certificate having an expiration date printed on it, I may have delayed choosing something even longer. But I did choose a product that I will really enjoy. And just under the gun -- on the very last date before expiry.

I just keep thinking, spending a gift card or certificate should not be so hard. I think I understand why I am this way. I'm just needing to work on solutions to this struggle. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has a hard time spending money or gift cards on themselves. If this has been an issue for you, how have you dealt with it?

Making Gourmet Goodies with the Help of My Garden

While cooking basic meals for my family is a satisfying endeavor, I also like to make a few gourmet treats every now and then. This past weekend, everything seemed to fall into place for me to make some of these goodies.

Several years ago, we planted some grape vines in our yard. That spot has become overgrown with trees and we now never have a grape harvest. However, the vines are nice for making grapevine wreaths and the leaves are edible, themselves. Right now, this season's leaves are a mix of large mature leaves and small to medium tender leaves. The small to medium tender leaves are delicious for stuffing, while the large tougher leaves make an excellent pot liner when steaming the stuffed leaves.

Last Friday, I made a batch of seasoned rice stuffed grape leaves for dinner. I love these and they're really not that complicated to make. I think they're easier than making burritos as I don't have to roll out tortillas or cook beans. I use a dry rice and seasoning filling that I roll into the grape leaves, then simmer the batch in a large pot with chicken broth spiked with lemon juice for an hour, then allow to stand another hour.

It occurred to me that I should harvest a bunch more leaves for stuffed grape leaves at another meal. Saturday, I picked lots of grape leaves, then rolled them into recipe-sized bundles, tied, and blanched before freezing. 

Later in the weekend, I was using a gift certificate that was about to expire given to me by my daughters for my birthday over a year ago. The gift certificate was to a small shop that specializes in lavender products. I was shopping online and put a bag of lavender shortbread into my virtual cart. After remembering my own lavender and mint shortbread recipe, I quickly rethought my purchase and bought something else. My lavender is in a large trough on the deck when I see it every day. I've been eagerly anticipating the development of the buds. 

In the afternoon, I went out and cut a bunch of lavender stems and made my own lavender shortbread cookies and a couple of small jars of lavender honey. I've made the shortbread numerous times in the past, but I'd never made lavender honey. A few years ago, my son and daughter-in-law gave me a jar of lavender honey that they'd picked up at the lavender festival near us. I'd been wanting to make some lavender honey myself and finally had both lavender and honey at the same time.

These little gourmet treats really perk up the meals around here. It isn't just that I save money by making these foods myself. Actually, I'm not sure I'd ever buy grape leaves or culinary lavender to make the items if I didn't grow them in my garden. So, using what I grow in my garden allows us to have these gourmet treats.

Rosemary Lentils

I make a large batch of rosemary lentils at the beginning of the week and have them cold for my lunches all week long. On top of that, I also occasionally make them for my family for dinner. I mentioned this dish the other day in a post and was requested more information. It makes a great summer dish -- it's easy, fresh, and can be made in the morning (while the house is still cool) and served in the evening.

Rosemary Lentils (serves 4)

1 cup dry lentils, rinsed
3 cups water
20 4-inch springs fresh rosemary (should yield about 1/3 cup minced), more if you really like rosemary -- up to 30 sprigs or 1/2 cup minced
1 large clove garlic minced, or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
dash black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

1 tablespoon lemon juice (bottled is okay)

1 tablespoon good vinegar (flavor-infused vinegar or wine vinegar)

Place rinsed lentils and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover. Simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until soft but hold their shape. Drain off any excess water. Rinse gently and drain again.

While lentils cook, strip the leaves off of the rosemary stems, leaving the tender top inch of each stem with the leaves. Discard the long stems. Chop leaves fine. 

In a large bowl, toss the cooked lentils with chopped rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, lemon juice, and vinegar. Adjust seasonings. 

Serve warm or cold over salad greens or as a sandwich stuffed in pocket bread.

notes on the recipe

My family loves the flavor of rosemary, so I use the greater amount (30 springs). I don't think it's too heavy at all. However, if you're unsure how much rosemary you might like, try the lesser amount to start, toss with lentils, then add more if you want at that point. With the salt, if you normally eat less salt, try 1/4 teaspoon to begin, then add a sprinkle more if you think you'd enjoy more salt. You could use vegetable oil, but I do think that olive oil really adds to the overall flavor. I buy olive oil in large, restaurant supply jugs. I keep most of it in its original jug in the refrigerator, keeping a month's worth in a small, dark glass bottle in the pantry for convenience. I've been using this same large jug of olive oil for almost two years. I'm at the bottom of the jug and the flavor is still very good. Olive oil deteriorates when exposed to light or prolonged warmth. So I believe that storing the bulk of it in the fridge has been beneficial for the oil.

health benefits of rosemary

I love the flavor of rosemary. But I also love the health benefits. 

• Rosemary is believed to slow cancer cell growth and possibly inhibit tumor formation. 
• Rosemary may boost the immune system. The acids in rosemary work as antibacterial, anti-fungal, and antiviral agents. 
• Rosemary also has anti-inflammatory properties and may help reduce some chronic pain, such as with RA.

Normalizing a Waste-Nothing Mindset

There is nothing sensational about this photo's subject matter to other frugal warriors. It's half of a banana and a large bite of cornbread under a glass bowl sitting on my placemat. I eventually ate the cornbread bite as a pre-dinner snack yesterday and the half-banana will be used in tomorrow's smoothie.

Our whole family does this all of the time. If we can't finish what we've started, we refrigerate perishables or leave less perishable remnants at our places at the table.

When my son was a small boy, any leftovers from meals were reincarnated into his next meal's offerings. So, a partially eaten apple might become a personal mini-microwaved apple crisp, while a couple of bites of meatloaf might be reheated and served with toast for breakfast the next morning. Even a partial glass of milk became cocoa for breakfast or a "milkshake" with lunch. My kids simply grew up with this, so it never seemed yucky or strange to them. 

Both my husband and I grew up in never-waste families. Part of that was due to the times, and part was due to a lot of mouths to feed in my husband's family. (At one point, both grandmas lived with the family of 5 children.)

We try to be careful not to over-serve ourselves, but sometimes even our adult eyes are too big for our stomachs. We just try to not let those occasions become a source of waste. Anyway, I know that you all do some rendition of preventing wasted food similar to this. Every once in a while, I just like to say that part of frugality out loud. Non-frugal folks might not understand, perhaps thinking it better to throw out food remnants than to have them hanging around for a few hours or a day. But you all get it, right? It simply makes me feel better about our stewardship of our tiny sliver of the world's food supply.

This Week on the Farm

a lunch mostly from the garden

I know, it's just a backyard garden. Sometimes, though, it does feel a bit like I'm a farmer. Here's what I've been harvesting this week:

garlic scapes to saute with greens

assorted cooking greens

assorted salad greens

rosemary for a lentil salad

lots and lots of cherries right now

the tale end of the strawberry season

raspberries just beginning to ripen

black currants for a syrup
 to flavor tea or lemonade

Every morning, I check what is ready to harvest and then pick as much as I think we can eat for the day or I want to put away for winter. The cherries are abundant, so I'm picking however much I feel like pitting to dehydrate. Harvesting is the reward for hours of planting, pruning, weeding, and watering. And when I can make a lunch like we had yesterday, with salad greens, cherries, raspberries, strawberries, pickled figs, and rosemary lentils, I know the work is all worth it.

I hope your week is off to a great start!

Busy, Busy Weekend

Three-day weekends keep me hopping. I hope your week is off to a grand start. I'll be back with a new post tomorrow. Have  a great day!

4th of July Ice Cubes

Most of my holiday stuff has been purchased after the holiday, on clearance. A couple of years ago after the 4th of July, I found this star-shaped silicon ice cube tray on clearance at Michael's Crafts for about $1. I forgot to use it last year. 

The other day I got it out and began making star cubes. Such a fun little thing to make our holiday feel festive.

After I'd made a nice pile of star ice cubes, I used the mold to make some white gelatin stars for the top of our red, white, and blue jello salad.

For those interested in how my Kool-Aid jello salad turned out, here's a photo. This was a collaboration between one daughter and me. She really wanted to have white cake inside the jello, making this more of a dessert. I said that if she wanted cake in it, she would have to bake the cake. 

So, what you're seeing on the side is a cake layer that is partly beneath the blue jello and blueberry layer, then topped with a red jello and strawberry layer. The cake actually "floated" up when I poured the jello onto it. Originally, I place the cake at the bottom of the soufflé dish.

For your information, the ice cubes popped out of the mold a lot easier than the jello cubes. But it all turned out okay, anyway.

A Patriotic Salad for the 4th of July

4th of July Jello salad from 2 years ago

I went to WinCo yesterday to do some grocery shopping and pick up a few items for the 4th of July cook-out. On my shopping list was 1 package of red jello and 1 package of blue jello, hoping for store brands. My plan is to make a red, white, and blue jello salad for the 4th (using whipping cream for the white layer). Well, they had small boxes of store brand cherry jello for 47 cents each (not too bad), but only Jello brand blue jello (Berry Blue) in the big boxes at $1.53 per box (more than I wanted to spend). 

I thought about buying both, then I happened to pass the Kool-Aid display. Kool-Aid was priced at 18 cents a packet and there are both red flavors and blue flavors. So, using my plain gelatin (that I already have), my own sugar, and the Kool-Aid packets, I'll be making my own red and blue gelatin for my 4th of July salad.

I wanted to cost this out so I could compare making my own to the boxes of flavored gelatin. I have plain gelatin that I purchased in a large container a couple of years ago. But if I had to buy unflavored gelatin, Walmart sells a 4-pack of unflavored gelatin for 89 cents. Each packet makes 2 cups of set liquid, the same amount as the small boxes of flavored gelatin desserts. The unflavored gelatin part, then, would cost 22 cents.  Most online recipes call for 1/2 cup of sugar to sweeten 2 cups of gelatin. So, my 1/2 cup sugar will cost about 8 or 9 cents. The same recipes suggest using 1/2 of a Kool-Aid packet to make 2 cups of flavored gelatin. 1/2 packet would cost me 9 cents. I may go over the 1/2 packet to get a stronger flavor, so I'll round that up to about 12 cents. (I'll make popsicles out of the rest of the Kool-Aid packet.) My total cost for making my own flavored jello that is equivalent to the small box at the store, then is about 42 or 43 cents, about 5 cents less than the store brand small boxes. That doesn't sound like much of a savings. But wait, the real savings is in making flavors/colors that are only available in the name brand, such as the blue Jello. WinCo only sold the large boxes of Berry Blue Jello (sets 4 cups of liquid). In theory, I could make an equivalent amount of blue jello using Kool-Aid, gelatin, sugar for 84 to 86 cents. That's 67 to 69 cents less than Jello brand at WinCo. I guess what I'm saying is that if you're after an unusual flavor or color of jello that is only carried by the more expensive name brand, then making it from Kool-Aid, sugar, and unflavored gelatin is a saver. 

I checked a couple of other stores online for Berry Blue Jello, to compare cost. I found it at Walmart for $1.22 for the big box and 98 cents in the small box. Making my own blue jello with Kool-Aid will still save me 36 to 38 cents over Walmart's cost for the large box or 55 to 56 cents for the small box.

I would have spent $2.00 at WinCo on boxed gelatin mixes. Instead, by buying Kool-Aid packets and using my own sugar and gelatin, I spent about 84 cents for the red and blue portions of my red, white, and blue gelatin salad. 

Wishing you a happy 4th!

June Grocery Recap

I shopped mid-month at WinCo and spent $46.31

I also put in a split order with Walmart, one to be delivered and one for pick-up, in order to get some items at best prices. Total spent on food (peanut butter, raisins, honey, sorbet -- $55.63. About a week later, I checked the Walmart website to see if the peanut butter was still on sale (works out to $1.08/lb, has since been marked up to $1.44/lb). It was, so I ordered 6 more large jars. Sounds crazy, but when I checked the price again just now (at the $1.44/lb price) and saw how much I saved, I felt vindicated in my total "crazy" purchases of 12 64-oz jars. Spent on food -- $26.04. To get to the $35 minimum spend threshold for free shipping, I added 3 boxes of automatic dishwasher detergent, same brand and price I would spend at my local Walmart. Since P&G has already announced increases in prices across the board on their products this coming fall, I expect detergents and other household products to go up in price. I now have a few spare boxes of dish detergent.

I really thought I'd go shopping for groceries again this month. I never got around to it. And our supplies at home are holding out, so no need. Total spent this month -- $127.98

My "fail" in ordering groceries was the raisins. I didn't check to see what I paid per pound at WinCo before ordering from Walmart.com. I wound up spending an extra 51 cents, total, on those 4 canisters of raisins. Oh well, that's not a huge mistake. I did save $17.28, total, on the peanut butter.

What I bought

1 head cabbage, (WinCo) 68 cents/lb
bulk raisins (WinCo) $2.25/lb
bulk banana chips (WinCo) $2.18/lb
dried apricots (WinCo) $3.01/lb
1 bundle celery (WinCo) 98 cents
5-lb bag carrots (WinCo) $2.48
bananas (WinCo) 40 cents/lb

4 20-oz canisters raisins (Walmart.com) $2.94 ea

12 large jars (64-oz) of peanut butter (Walmart.com) $4.34 ea
2 32-oz bottles raw honey (Walmart) $7.93 ea

red, white, and blue sorbet -- daughter's request (Walmart) $1.97

18-ct eggs (WinCo), $1.70
5 gallons milk (WinCo), 2@$2.40, 3@$2.49

Father's Day

2 bags frozen oven-roasting vegetables (WinCo), $2.64 ea

large bag broccoli slaw (WinCo) $2.98

vanilla ice cream (WinCo), $2.68

2-liter Root Beer (WinCo) 98 cents

refrigerator cinnamon rolls (WinCo) 88 cents  

bulk cashews (WinCo) $4.98/lb

hamburger buns (WinCo) 85 cents  

At my first shop at WinCo, I would have spent more. However, WinCo is a cash or debit only store and I forgot to grab extra cash before leaving the house. I was in the bulk section when I realized this and quickly pulled out my wallet to count my available cash. Not enough. So, I drastically reduced my shopping list at that point, while still buying what I'd need for Father's Day.

Monthly food spending for last 11 months

Aug 2020   $92.18

Sept 2020  $182.30

Oct 2020   $304.52

Nov  2020  $189.45

Dec  2020  $77.98

Jan  2021  $54.07

Feb  2021  $184.66

Mar 2021   $152.77

Apr 2021  $447.19

May 2021  $285.53

June 2021 $127.98

$190.78 average for last 11 months, including June 2021.

And now, it's the beginning of another month.

Email Subscriptions Ending

I mentioned this at the bottom of a post last week. In case you missed it, this may be the last email post you receive from me. I kept meaning to send this out and just kept putting it off/forgetting. Anyway, I'm still here posting every weekday. You may have to bookmark creativesavv.com, subscribe through Bloglovin' or just check when you're interested.

FYI -- this is not of my choosing. Google/Feedburner is discontinuing the email delivery service and I haven't been able to replace it yet. When I have a new email subscription service, subscribers will need to resubscribe. I'll make an announcement at that time and place the subscription button prominently on the page.

I'm really sorry about any inconvenience this causes you and hope you'll still find a way to connect with us, here.

Thank you for reading and being a member of this community.

Sincerely,

Lili Mounce

Hot Weather Cooking: Using a Thermos

So, back story a bit -- late last week, we could see that the coming Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were going to be terribly hot. And we don't have A/C or any other significant way to cool our meagerly insulated home, just a couple of table fans. So, every extra bit of heat added to our house on an already hot day makes us miserable. We decided that we wouldn't use the stove, oven, or even crockpot for the three hot days to come. This drove me to find alternative ways to cook. 

Obviously, the microwave is a great way to cook without heating the house. But I was also interested in finding other ways to cook. That's when I stumbled upon the idea of using a thermos to "cook" grains. I cooked both rice and oatmeal in a wide-mouth thermos.

To cook rice in a thermos, you need to parboil the rice and water for 5 minutes prior to putting it into a preheated thermos. (To preheat a thermos, boil a cup of water in the microwave and put into thermos then cap.) So, I used the microwave on reduced power (40%) for 5 minutes to cook the rice, water, and salt. After 5 minutes, I poured the preheating water out and rice, water, salt mixture into a thermos then allowed it to stand for an hour and a half. Afterward, I had cooked rice. I tried this with white rice, because it takes less time to cook in general. I haven't tried this with brown rice, but I did read that you can cook brown rice in a thermos this same way.

I also wanted to make some oatmeal to have for breakfast the next morning as we were low on other breakfast options. This time, I didn't bother preheating the thermos. For each serving, I boiled 2/3 cup of water in the microwave. I measured 1/3 cup of regular rolled oats and pinch of salt for each serving and put into the empty thermos, then poured the boiled water on top and sealed with the lid. I left this on the counter overnight and by morning, I had completely cooked oatmeal.

The "value" in using my thermos to cook grains was not just in keeping the kitchen cooler. But also, with the oatmeal in particular, my experiments showed me a way to "cook" food in a power outage or off the grid. I can usually find a way to boil water even without power, using Sterno, a grouping of candles under a pan (in a safe space, like inside my oven), the outdoor grill, or the evening fire pit while camping. 

Cooking the oatmeal in a thermos gave me an idea that I'll follow up on -- adding mix-ins to the oats and water the evening before. This could be a fun way for my family members to make their own customized oatmeal while camping or staying in a hotel. Everyone gets their own thermos and chooses from mix-ins like dried fruit, chocolate chips, chopped nuts/seeds, cinnamon, and brown sugar.

Tweaks to My Car Baking: Making Flatbread and Better Cookies

So, on Monday I tweaked both the cookies and the bread and was pretty happy with the results. I wanted to share in case any one else is crazy enough to try this.

For the cookies, I added extra flour to make the dough slightly stiffer than I would for oven baked cookies. My car made it up to 180 degrees F at the highest, which means that the cookie dough was melting and spreading before the crust could form. By adding just a bit more flour, the dough held it's shape better. 

The other tweak to the cookies is I greased the parchment paper before adding the dough. This made removing the cookies easier after they were baked. There's something about baking at a lower temperature that made the cookies stick to the parchment more than usual. Anyway, those were my tweaks for the cookies.

For the bread, on Monday I made flat bread using a French bread dough. I rolled the dough out into circles, using a rolling pin and placed on a greased baking sheet. I didn't allow the dough to rise because I was running late and needed to get it into the oven car. 

Despite this, the bread came out pretty good, not doughy like the last loaf. So, what I learned is that it's possible to bake a yeast bread in a hot car if you make it flatbread.

Are there any realistic practical applications to what I learned these last few days? I think the most valuable aspect of this was stretching the way I thought about something that was ordinary, baking cookies and bread. I may not ever "need" to bake with my car in the future. However, I now know that there may be other ways I can bake in an emergency.