A summer excursion and cost comparisons

I have another situation that I'm currently thinking though, with similarities to my beach parking dilemma.

This is an excursion for myself and 2 daughters.

The goal is not to spend as little as possible, but to make our time together enjoyable, without being frivolous with the budget. No unnecessary wastefulness.

A few years ago, my 3 kids and I went to a small town across the Sound, called Poulsbo. It's Norwegian in heritage, and a fun little spot to visit. I've been wanting to revisit that town this summer, with a couple or all of my kids.

Here are some of my options.

1) One day trip. Walk on the ferry, then take the public bus to the small town. It's about a 30 minute bus ride from the ferry terminal, which isn't bad at all. The problem is the limited bus schedule on the other end. The first bus of the morning from the ferry to Poulsbo doesn't even run until 9 AM, and we'd wanted to get to the town for an early breakfast at the locally-renown bakery. I love being in a town as it's first waking up for the day. Plus, the last bus of the day back to the ferry terminal leaves at 4:30 in the afternoon, so no chance of staying for the evening. I'll have to make a phone call and verify, but I think my daughters' bus fare would be free, as part of their monthly bus pass that they already buy to get to work, daily. The cost for my bus fare to Poulsbo would be $4 round trip. The ferry cost for 3 walk-ons is $24.

The other factor to consider is finding parking near the ferry terminal, or take local buses ( a series of 2 buses) to travel to the ferry terminal from our home. My daughters would be free on these buses, as well, but my cost would be $4.50 round trip (for a drive that costs $2.24 in gas round trip). Total cost for this trip would be $32.50 (to take all public transportation).

1b) A variation of this option is driving to the ferry, parking the car in a lot near the terminal. walking on ferry, taking public bus to Poulsbo. It would cost $2.24 in gas, and about $15 for all-day parking at the terminal, for drive down, walk on ferry, bus to Poulsbo, for a total trip cost of $45.24.

2) Another possibility, drive onto the ferry, have our car with us when we reach the other side. There's free parking in Poulsbo. But the drive-on cost for a car and 3 adults is about $50. We would be free to take a very early ferry and arrive in town as early as we would want. The bakery opens earlier than we could want to be there, and after breakfast, there's a nice walking path along Liberty Bay to explore. Shops and the free aquarium open around 10 AM. We could stay for free evening entertainment, and take a late ferry home.Total cost for this trip would be $50 plus about $5 in gas, for a cost of about $55.

3) Third (or is it fourth?) option, since we would already be making the ferry trip across the Sound, we could turn this into an overnighter. A nice, but inexpensive, place to stay would cost us just over $100 for 1 night, and would include a complimentary breakfast. It's where the kids and I stayed before. We could take all public transportation to get there, for a traveling cost of about $32.50. As we would be staying over 1 night, perhaps we wouldn't be as put off by the additional time required to do all buses, and limited scheduling of buses on the Poulsbo side of the Puget Sound. If all we had was a small backpack each, we could easily walk from the bus transfer station to the hotel. Our total cost for this version would be about $140.

I also looked into taxi costs to Poulsbo, and it is cheaper to drive our car onto the ferry and have our car to get to Poulsbo, than to take a taxi from the ferry terminal to the town.

Now that I've walked through the costs, I can see the value of each option. Driving to the ferry and leaving my car in paid-parking all day is almost as expensive as driving onto the ferry and keeping my car with us. Taking public buses on the other side of the Sound really limits the time we have available to explore Poulsbo. And taking all public transportation on both sides results in an additional 1  1/2 hours of travel time for a one-day excursion.

Keeping our car with us has one other advantage. We could pack the trunk with a very nice picnic lunch to enjoy in the waterfront park, bring sweatshirts for the cool early morning/late evening, pack plenty of hot coffee for me for the morning and ice water for all of us for the afternoon, plus a few snacks, AND have a place to put any fun finds from the many second-hand stores in that town. (We discovered on our first trip to Poulsbo that they have some great second-hand shops.) If we traveled by bus part of the way, we'd be more limited to what we could take with us (and bring home).

However, if we save $22.50 by taking public transportation the entire way, that could buy a nice carry-out lunch at the market to eat in the park, plus a cup of good coffee to get me started for the day and a couple of bottles of water for the afternoon.

In figuring if the overnight version really is of value, one of the things I take into consideration is just how many extra hours this would net us, for our excursion -- how many hours of enjoying the town do we gain by staying overnight. We would likely not begin our journey until later in the morning, so this would possibly be more leisurely travel. Wouldn't get to the town until about 10 AM, spending the day sightseeing, for about 10 hours of enjoyment on day 1. The following day, we would need to leave the town around 4 PM to make all of our bus connections, and so would enjoy the town for about 7 hours, for a total of about 17 hours. Compare this to driving there for 1 day, and spending up to 12 hours in that 1 day in the town (but more likely, about 10 hours).

Staying overnight doesn't quite double our time there, but almost triples our cost. It would actually be cheaper to drive/ferry there 2 days in a row, than to stay in the hotel, in town, overnight.

I'm still not sure which route to take. I guess we need to decide how many hours we realistically want and could manage for a day away. I am pretty sure we wouldn't really get the full value out of an overnight stay.

The final consideration I'll make, now that I can "see" the costs of all variations, is how to make the very most of a day away. One of my daughters was very disappointed that we didn't visit the free aquarium when we went to Poulsbo a few years ago. We happened to be there on days when the aquarium wasn't open. So, we would want to make sure that it was open for this excursion. I also would check the town calendar for local events going on. We happened to catch a brass band concert in the park on one of the evenings we visited, last time.

Does all of this look like a whole lotta extra thinking, just for a day trip? Or do you also map all of the possibilities out, in order to narrow down your choices?

Cheap & Cheerful suppers for June

Saturday
lasagna, made with cottage cheese (frozen from a markdown deal in early spring), spinach and chard leaves, mozzarella cheese, garlic for filling, and a traditional marinara sauce, plus pasta
large salad, with lettuce leaves, chopped, drained canned tomatoes, black olives, one Parmesan cheese packet (from a take-out a long time ago)
lemon cake roll

Sunday
pumpkin-pinto bean soup (also had red bell pepper, onion, garlic, cumin, corn, tomato sauce and chicken broth -- found the recipe online, pretty good)
fresh strawberries

Monday
turkey-noodle salad -- spaghetti noodles, sliced frozen turkey breast, cabbage, peanuts, snow peas, green onions, orange segments, in a dressing of oil, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes,  all over lettuce leaves
fresh strawberries

Tuesday
"crazy soup" adding canned tomato paste to the crazy soup pot in the freezer
Cheddar Bay biscuits


Wednesday
baked beans (making a sauce of sweet pickle juice, tomato paste, soy sauce and onions browned in saved bacon fat)
seasoned brown rice
carrot sticks
fresh strawberries and banana slices

Thursday
refried bean, seasoned rice and cabbage burritos (the cabbage was in a dressing of oil, vinegar, chili powder and garlic powder -- it was good)
carrot sticks
fresh strawberries

Friday
barbecued chicken legs (using up the very last few charcoal briquettes from 2 years ago), made a rub of chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper, then in last 20 minutes of cooking, spooned on a mix of barbecue sauce, soy sauce, tomato paste, and water
oven-roasted cut corn
carrot sticks
rhubarb sauce

Saturday
Asian-style chicken-noodle salad (like the turkey noodle salad above, but with chicken)
fruit salad leftover from serving at a charity tea (the proceeds from the tea went to the local Fill The Boot campaign)

Sunday
smoked salmon spread, crackers, peanuts, potato chips (given to us at the tea), carrot sticks, tossed green salad, strawberries, 2 pies (apple, also given to us, and lemon meringue that I made)

Monday
bean burgers topped with cheese and quickie ketchup (tomato paste and sweet pickle juice)
brown rice
kale and mustard greens sauteed in bacon drippings
leftover pie

Tuesday
kale, ham and onion quiche
mashed potatoes
steamed carrots in mustard glaze
watermelon pickles
leftover pie


Meals have been heavy on the carrot sticks this week. I bought a 25-lb bag of carrots, and for a busy week, carrot sticks are quicker to do than just about any other veggie.

Comparing the driving costs to 2 different locations

Last Friday, I talked about finding a new favorite beach to visit, one with free parking. The subject of the cost of gas to get to a new beach, came up.

I did find a beach that I really enjoy visiting. It's within walking distance of a quaint downtown area, with art galleries, cafes and a wide variety of shops to check out. The homes in the area are older and have sweet little gardens in front, making a walk around the town very pleasant.

This beach is a bit further from my house than my previous favorite beach, so it would cost more in gas to drive there and back.

How to figure this cost to make a comparison? I use Mapquest. When you request directions to a given location, on Mapquest, there's an option to calculate gas cost, based on year/make of car, the MPG it averages, plus type of gas that you purchase.

So, I did a Mapquest calculation for the distance and gas cost to both beaches.

My "old" beach had a one-way gas cost of 90 cents. My "new" beach has a one-way driving cost of $1.12. So, the increase in gas-cost is 44 cents round trip, but I save a minimum of $2 in parking.

Guess which beach I'll be frequenting this summer?

So it's summertime and that means corn-on-the-cob, right?

We love corn-on-the-cob, but right now, the best price I'm seeing is 3 ears for $1.

How do you compare the "value" of corn off the cob vs. corn-on-the-cob?

Right off the bat, I have to admit, we love fresh corn so much that we visit a u-pick farm at least once per summer, when the corn is ripe and ready for us to pick. And before local corn is ready, we also buy produce-stand, corn-on-the-cob, a couple of times per summer.

But for many recipes and meals, on-the-cob isn't necessary. Like corn relish, corn salsa, and corn pudding. All three of those dishes do fine with frozen and even canned corn.

Last week, I had my choice with corn. I could buy fresh ears at Target in the produce section, for 3/$1. Or, at Cash & Carry, I could buy 5-lb bags of frozen corn for $3.49.

With the corn-on-the-cob, my family would need a minimum of 3 ears, for $1. (Breaking each ear in half, that would give us 6 small servings of corn.) With the frozen corn, 16 ounces is about what I would serve our family, for a cost of 70 cents. But these aren't really equivalent servings, are they?

A medium-sized ear of fresh corn has about 3/4 cup of kernels. 3/4 cup of kernels weighs about .27 lb. To get the same amount of corn cut off of the cob, to equal 16 ounces of frozen corn, I would need to buy 3.70 ears of fresh corn, at a cost of $1.22. So, comparing the two, fresh corn-on-the-cob vs. frozen corn, the same amount of fresh corn costs $1.22, as frozen at 70 cents.

For our family, with Cash & Carry's price on frozen corn being my "buy" price for frozen cut corn, corn-on-the-cob needs to come down to 5 ears for $1, which yields about 74 cents per pound of cut kernels.

Your prices may vary. But for you to compare, remember this:

• 1 average ear of fresh corn yields about 3/4 cup of kernels
• those 3/4 cup of kernels from 1 ear of corn weigh about .27 pound (just over a quarter-lb)
• it takes about 3.7 ears of fresh corn to equal 1 pound (16-oz) of kernels
• if you're comparing the costs between canned and fresh, a typical can of corn kernels weighs about 15 ounces, and contains about 1  1/2 cups of drained corn, or .54 pound. It takes about 1.85 of the 15-oz cans of corn to get 1  pound of kernels. So, if you can get canned corn at 39 cents per can, that would be about 72 cents per 1-pound of drained kernels, or what works out to be roughly my "good" price on frozen corn.

What all of this means for my family is that in summer, I DO buy frozen corn, for using in recipes. But we also "splurge" on roasting ears a few times per summer, for the experience of eating corn-on-the-cob. However, we're aware that when fresh corn prices are 3/$1, or even 4/$1, it's not the best buy, and it is the experience of eating corn-on-the-cob that we're paying for.

FYI, unless you have a super-cheap source of fresh corn, it's almost never the best deal to cut corn off the cob to freeze for winter. Commercially-frozen corn will, in most cases, be cheaper than doing it yourself.

When something used to be free, but now there's a charge

So, how do you deal with this? When you've grown accustomed to having or using something, that had always been available, free of charge, and now it's no longer free.

Our favorite beach, the one with a lighthouse, lovely park and near a fish and chips place, plus a couple of ice cream stands, is now charging for parking.

Because of the nature of it's location (on the other side of train tracks), there is no convenient street parking near the main parking lot and beach front. You drive over a bridge to cross the train tracks, to get to the beach.

Anyway, starting June 1, there is now a $2 per hour charge for parking. That's just too steep for me, when I just want to spend some time in my thinking spot. I'm really sad about this, so much so I was awake for a bit the other night pondering my options.

There is a local bus, but the fare is $2.25 each way. The nearest street parking, over the bridge, would be quite a hike, but possibly do-able. However, I am very sure that I wouldn't be the only person considering this as a possibility, and free street parking is extremely limited in this small community (some streets require permits). And then there's the possibility of changing favorite beaches.

Maybe I should look on this as an opportunity to explore other possibilities. I think I need some chocolate.

Have you ever been faced with a similar dilemma, something that used to be available for free, now has a charge? How did you handle that situation?


On another note, I want to say a big thanks to all of you who suggested that I freeze homemade flour tortillas. I began doing this about a month ago, and they thawed perfectly. Then, yesterday afternoon, I went to make tortillas for burritos, and I was somewhat absent-minded and accidentally added 2 cups of flour, instead of one (and I'd already added the salt when I figured this out).  And then, I remembered I could freeze the extra tortillas. Great! So, half of the tortillas were used last night, and the other half frozen for another day. Thank you!!!

Salvaging bottles from the recycling bin, for homemade herb vinegar and dressings

Each summer, I make a couple of types of herb vinegars, to use on salads and in cooking. A favorite of mine is rosemary vinegar. But I also make chive blossom vinegar and thyme vinegar.

I always have lots of white vinegar on hand, and plenty of herbs in the garden to use. But I never seem to have enough bottles for my homemade vinegar. I wind up giving away some of my bottles to friends who are interested in making herb vinegars with me.

So, in winter and spring, I begin "collecting" bottles that I think will work well for storing and pouring vinegar.

This bottle, here, is a coffee flavoring syrup bottle. I finished off the hazelnut syrup from this bottle, for my coffee this spring. I like this bottle, as it has a plastic cap, which won't corrode from exposure to the vinegar. (BTW, it does need more rosemary. I'll be adding more as my plants grow this summer.)

Here's another bottle, from sparkling apple cider. The name brand of sparkling apple cider that I see on sale during the holidays, uses a green bottle. But this particular brand uses a clear one, which I prefer for vinegars.

I just gave away a smaller 16-oz bottle. It had contained commercial white-wine vinegar. That bottle was a good size for the vinegars that I only make in smaller quantities, like sweet blueberry vinegar.

When I had a couple of friends over to make chive blossom vinegar, recently, one friend asked me where I got my bottles. I explained that while she could buy bottles at World Market or a thrift store, she could also look around her kitchen for bottles about to go to the recyclers. A lot of beverages, sauces and condiments still come in glass bottles. Some of these bottles have a shape that looks right for storing/pouring the vinegar. While others have a look that I like for storing homemade salad dressings.

For storing homemade vinaigrettes:

This is a brandy bottle, from making brandied cherries 2 summers ago. It looks just right for my homemade vinaigrette, don't you think? when one of my daughters came into the kitchen one day, she thought I had bought bottled salad dressing, that is until she noticed there was no label. I could store homemade dressings in canning jars (and I do from time to time), but I do like how dressings pour so easily and neatly from a bottle with a narrow neck.

Occasionally, I have a bottle that's missing a cap. Bottles that I buy second-hand often come without caps or stoppers. A couple of years ago, I bought a small bag of corks at Cost Plus, for about $2. The bag had about a dozen cork stoppers. Craft supply stores also carry cork stoppers. Or, you could save one (or ask a friend for one of theirs) from a used-up bottle of wine.

The other option to buying cork stoppers for bottle lacking a cap, is a plastic cap from any other bottle. If it's a screw-top bottle that you need a cap for, check other bottle caps about to be tossed, to find one that fits. Those green sparkling apple cider bottles that I mentioned above, come bottled with a metal cap that you use a bottle opener on, not reusable, but they also have a plastic pop on, pop off cap, for resealing the bottle. These plastic caps work well on many repurposed bottles from the kitchen.

Call me city-folk

So, I guess you could say that I'm a city girl. I've never lived in any place rural in my life. It's been either suburbs or cities.

Imagine my delight when we saw this guy/gal in our yard!

He/she has been wandering in and out for over a week now. Our neighbors spotted it first, about 2 weeks ago.

Mostly, he/she eats the leaves off of the lower branches of the cherry and plum tree, but it leaves the fruit untouched. Go figure.

I hope it can find its way back home, as I'm sure it misses its companions.

In the meantime, so long as he/she stays out of the veggie garden, he's welcome to a few leaves here.

On a humorous frugal note, my first thought when I saw the deer, "oh meat!" And then the next day, my son asked, "can you milk a deer?" I googled "milking wild deer", and apparently other people have wondered the very same thing. No, I don't think we'll use this deer for anything other than visual enjoyment.

Remember that leaf-cutting I took from my African violet plant?

Well, here's one of them!

Fall of 2013, I took 4 leaves, plunged them into soil, and kept watered. 2 leaves developed into full-blown plants. And one is in bloom right now! Both of my new plants are ready to give as gifts, at the next opportunity.

Exciting, right?

Well, the excitement continues (I lead a remarkably exciting life, don't you think?).

Late winter of this year, I decided I was going to try my hand at propagating Christmas Cactus, to give as a hostess gift for a dinner or party come November or December of 2016. (I plan ahead, way ahead.)

I plucked a cluster of Christmas Cactus leaves off of my one plant, and plunged it into soil, keeping it watered for the last few months.

Do you know how to tell if your Christmas Cactus leaf cutting has developed roots? When you see some reddish or pinkish new growth at the tip of one of the leaves, that's a sign the roots have begun.

I'll be babying this little plant for the next year and a half, and by the holidays of 2016, I should have a full-fledged, and in flower plant to give as a hostess gift.

These sell for $10-15 per plant in grocery stores during the holidays. I think I'll take another 2 or 3 cuttings this week, and get more plants on their way, for holiday gifting.

Homemade hot rice cereal (and a math tweak)

So, I realize that practically no one here is making their own rice milk. Not a problem to me. But I thought I'd show you what the home-cooked hot rice cereal looks like, and how I make it.

If you're a fan of cream of wheat, hot rice cereal is most like that cereal. I personally prefer the rice cereal to oatmeal. For me, in addition to a texture thing, rice cereal is so much easier on my tummy.

This is how I'm currently making this hot rice cereal.

I use the leftover rice pulp from making a batch of rice milk. When I make rice milk, I put the pulp in the freezer, to cook up whenever I have some time, and need the rice cereal for a breakfast option for the family.

To cook:

Eyeball-measure the rice pulp. I use an amount of water that is roughly 3 times the rice pulp. This is usually about 3 cups of water to 1 cup of rice pulp. I bring the water to a boil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the rice pulp and stir. I also add a few drops of maple extract and a couple of tablespoons of sugar, plus 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt. I stir this from time to time as it cooks. Once it comes to a boil, I reduce heat and simmer until thick, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. At the very end of cooking, I swirl in a tablespoon of butter. The cooking process is very much like making polenta, and takes about 20 minutes.

Some days, we eat it right away. Other days, I let it cool then keep in the fridge to reheat as we want.

Rice is one of the few grains that my stomach can tolerate all of the time. Breakfasts are a bit limited, as a result. So this cereal is a blessing for me.


Now, that math tweak.

I had previously thought of my cost of making rice milk to be about 30 cents per quart (before adding the cost of the calcium supplements). Well, I completely forgot that the rice pulp is valuable to me as a food, too. I would say that the milk is roughly half of the value and the cereal the other half. So . . . my "real" cost to make my own rice milk is about 15 cents for the milk alone, and 12 cents for the supplements, for a total of 27 cents per quart. That's about 1/4 of what I pay for cheapo soy milk at Dollar Tree. Yep! Definitely continuing to make my own rice milk.

As a bonus, homemade rice milk makes a great coffee latte, when I add a bit of almond extract and some sugar to my coffee/rice milk. I do this as decaf after lunch, and this satisfies my cravings for dessert.

Satisfied

Using every last speck of under-eye concealer and powder blush (there's still a teensy bit in the corners, but I'm working on that daily). So satisfying.

More egg-y stuff: repackaged eggs

I don't know if you've ever seen these in your stores before.

This is a carton of repackaged eggs. When several cartons of eggs have a few damaged ones inside, the store will sometimes repackage the good eggs into a new conatiner, and toss out the cracked ones.

The outside of this carton indicates the store number and date of repacking, in handwriting. The carton says that the eggs are Medium Grade B, but upon opening the carton . . .

I can see that these are larger than Mediums, most look like Large and a couple look Extra-Large. This looks like a carton of eggs of varying size (but given designation of Medium, meaning the one dozen eggs in this carton weigh the minimum of 21 ounces, but likely more).

Grade usually refers to the condition of the shell, whether or not it's misshapen or has slight staining. (But these eggs don't appear to have exterior abnormalities.) As well, Grade can refer to interior condition of each egg, such as how large of an air pocket the egg contains or the thickness of the white portion of the egg -- both of which is determined by candling.

The outside of this carton of eggs also has a space to write in the candling date, but nothing is recorded in that space.

Here's a photo comparing a "regular" Large egg on the left (from a carton of eggs I already had at home), to a repackaged egg on the right. All of the repackaged eggs are large compared to my "regular" eggs.


Regulations concerning the repacking of eggs varies by state. Overall, eggs to be repacked cannot be past the sell-by date, contaminated with egg from other cracked eggs, or packed into a dirty carton. If there is no new sell-by date, 30 days from the repacking date is the general guide for safety and freshness.

These repackaged eggs are sold at a discount over the store's regular price for eggs. I bought 3 dozen of these eggs on Senior Discount day at Fred Meyer, for $1.19 less the 10% discount = my price of $1.07 per dozen.

I have found repackaged eggs on a couple of occasions, at a couple of different stores. They are usually set to the side, but still in the egg cooler, and have hand-written information about packaging, as well as pricing directly on the carton (not a tag on the shelf). My experience has been that these eggs show up late Monday or early Tuesday. Just an FYI. Keep your eyes open.

As for using these eggs in my kitchen, when I bring home cartons of repacked eggs, I move these cartons to the front of the line, for use ahead of any other eggs I may have purchased -- just to be safe. Otherwise, they are just as good as any other egg I buy.

Cheap & Cheerful suppers for the week

A little more than 1 week listed here. Some of these days were very stressful days, some were very busy and 2 of the days I was sick and could barely pull dinner together.

One of the stressful days I spent in the walk-in clinic with one of my daughters, as she had a longboard accident that required medical attention and stitches. We were there for 3 hours, and when I came home I had to quickly rush putting a dinner together.

One of the days that I was sick, the best I could do for dinner was the chunky tomato-basil soup, made from canned tomatoes and tomato paste. We had leftover biscuits and a pie that I had baked earlier in the week, along with cheese quesadillas made with frozen flour tortillas.

So, for me, it is still possible to pull together something (anything) to eat for the 5 of us, even on hard days. Its just not well-thought out or gourmet, but still frugal. But hey, mom isn't a super-hero!



Friday
home-fried tortilla chips, refried black beans, quick salsa, tossed green salad

Saturday
ham and egg fried rice, with cabbage, radish greens, onions, celery, topped with chopped peanuts

Sunday
homemade black olive and onion pizza

Monday
make-your-own ham and cheese sandwiches, on French bread, with lettuce and pickles, apple slices, mixed nuts, cookies and chocolates

Tuesday
Oven-roasted, teriyaki chicken leg quarters, vegetable fried rice

Wednesday
leftover chicken with canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, with linguine, and sauteed onions, cabbage and kale; rhubarb pie for dessert

Thursday
Asian chicken soup, Cheddar Bay biscuits, rhubarb pie and strawberries

Friday
chunky tomato-basil soup, leftover biscuits, cheese quesadillas, green salad, plum pie
(with the quesadillas -- I had some leftover salsa in the fridge, and just this week I found a bunch of volunteer cilantro in a pot on the deck, from last year's plants, so I added a few leaves of cilantro to the salsa -- yum!))

Saturday
leftovers from hostessing a reception after a memorial service (sandwiches and other finger food), plus apple wedges and leftover plum pie

Sunday
tamale pie made with 2 ground beef patties, black beans, olives, canned tomatoes, sweet bell pepper, onion, seasonings, cornbread batter and cheddar cheese

Monday
fried corn tortillas, refried black beans, cheddar cheese, slaw-type salad made with cabbage, chopped canned tomatoes, cilantro, chili powder, onion powder, oil, vinegar and salt, fresh strawberries, brownies

Comparing the cost of peanut butter to eggs, for lunch-making

So, peanut butter is on sale this week for $4.99 for a 64-oz jar, or $1.24 a pound. That's a fabulous price for peanut butter. But is it the best price for a protein source for lunch sandwiches?

My first thought is to stock up like crazy on peanut butter, and be done with the question of what kind of sandwiches to have available for summer. But I do want to know, could there be less expensive lunch-time offerings?

Other sandwich possibilities include cheese (at about $2 per pound), luncheon meat (best price for me -- on markdown for about $1.76 per pound), bean spreads at about 50-75 cents per pound (can be the most frugal) and eggs (right now about 64 - 72 cents per pound).

There was a time when peanut butter was always the most frugal lunch choice. That's just not the case, any longer. So, I have to weigh this out for myself, and find some alternatives that are easy and welcomed by my family.

I will certainly be making some bean-based spreads for summer lunches. But also want some quick and easy options (bean spread requires soaking and cooking the beans first). The luncheon meat, I think, is best reserved for too-busy evenings, when making sandwiches is about all I have time for. And cheese is kinda pricey for use more than once per week for sandwich fillings, but I do use frequently in preparing dinners.

That leaves me with eggs. Eggs are priced per dozen. That does make it difficult to compare the price of eggs by weight, to other foods. However, I use a nice little calculation shortcut, when comparing eggs to other ingredients. Mostly, I buy large eggs. Large eggs are the size that are typically on sale at Walgreen's, Target and other grocery stores, so most often the best buy for me.

A dozen large eggs weigh about 24 ounces, each egg weighing 2 ounces. So, 8 large eggs weigh 1 pound. My price per egg is about 8-9 cents, these days. (I carry that tidbit of info in my head, as I comparison shop or figure the cost of making any recipe.) So, at 8-9 cents per egg, multiplied by 8 eggs to make a pound -- my price per pound, on large eggs, is currently between 64 and 72 cents for one pound.

The price of using eggs in lunches is not quite half that of using peanut butter. So, while I'll buy some peanut butter this week (maybe 3 or 4 large jars, to last through October), for summer lunches, I will also be planning ahead to make more egg salad. My plan with the peanut butter is to ration it out for the summer, and encourage family members to use the alternatives that I provide.

In case you wish to compare the prices of eggs per pound to other food items, here's my list of how many eggs it takes to equal 1 pound.

Eggs are "sized" by how much a dozen eggs weigh. So, the eggs that you buy in the store "must" meet a minimum net weight to qualify to be labeled a specific size. Knowing this makes calculating our price per pound on eggs, reliable, without having to get out the scale at home and weigh each carton.

To figure your price per pound on eggs:

Figure your price per egg, based on your current egg prices. Multiply that price per egg by how many eggs are in a pound (using the info below), for whichever size of eggs you've purchased. It's that simple. I like that it's the large eggs that go on sale most often AND are the only size of eggs that have a nice, even, round number to make my calculations with.

• jumbo eggs --- 6.4 eggs per pound
• extra-large eggs --- 7.11 eggs per pound
• large eggs --- 8 eggs per pound
• medium eggs --- 9.14 eggs per pound
• small eggs --- 10.66 eggs per pound
• peewee eggs --- 12.8 eggs per pound

What will be going into summer brown bag lunches at your place?

I saw this . . .

and this . . .

. . . but I made this.

A couple of months ago, I saw this nice display in a store that really attracted me. It was some faux lavender in pots. I really wanted one of these, and even dropped what apparently was too subtle of a hint, for a Mother's Day gift. Oh well. I need to be more assertive with my hints in the future.

Anyway, at home I had a lovely pot that was a gift from my husband for my birthday, about 10 years ago. Clearly, he must have intended for me to fill this pot with something, as part of my birthday gift, right?  ;-) Yes, I thought so, too. Filling the pot with a nice something-something was implied in his gift.

So, the two thoughts came together, fill this lovely pot with something and obtain a charming faux lavender, potted "plant" for the bedroom.

I used a stack of Jo Ann Fabric and Craft coupons to buy the faux lavender stems and a block of styrofoam (I didn't say this was a free project, just fun and creative). I had the moss for the base of the plant at home. And it all came together in about 20 minutes.

It looks nice, and makes me smile. And I finally completed that birthday gift of years ago.

A new way for me to look at the cost of commercial rice or soy milk compared to making my own rice milk

In trying to get the most bang for my buck with my own drinking milk, here's a new way that I've been looking at it.

(Just to clarify, I'm not supposed to have dairy milk, as I'm lactose-intolerant. Drinking cows' milk or pouring some over oatmeal, or eating a bowl of cream soup will leave me very miserable for about 2 or 3 days. Bummer, right? I can take pills if I really want ice cream. And I seem to be somewhat okay with small amounts of cheese. But, for my personal "milk" consumption, or when I cook something containing milk, for the whole family, I have to use an alternative "milk".)

Here was my question to myself:

Can I approximate some of the nutritional value of purchased soy or rice milk with a combination of homemade rice milk plus supplements?

These alternative milks are expensive in the stores. Even the bargain-basement soy milk that I buy from Dollar Tree is $4 per gallon.

The nutrition that I am most interested in with soy or rice milk is the calcium and Vit. D. (The protein is not significant in the super-duper cheap soy milk that I buy (4 grams in 1 cup). And I believe I get enough protein from other sources in my diet.)

Commercial soy and rice milk do not naturally contain high amounts of calcium, but are fortified. My body doesn't really know the difference between the minerals it receives from a fortified product and me taking a supplement. If you can understand where I'm going here. It's kind of like how eating a bowl of fortified, cold cereal is not much different to my body than eating a bowl of oatmeal and taking a multi-vitamin.

This week, I bought a bottle of calcium citrate plus Vit. D supplements. Each caplet contains roughly the same amount of elemental calcium as 1 glass of dairy milk or 1 glass of commercial, fortified soy or rice milk. and each caplet cost about 3 cents. For calcium/Vit D alone, I get the same amount of these nutrients in 4 caplets (at 12 cents for the 4), as 1 quart of purchased soy milk (at $1 from Dollar Tree).

To make homemade rice milk, my cost is about 30 cents per quart. If I add the 12 cents for 4 calcium/Vit. D caplets, I'm up to 42 cents per 4 servings/1 quart equivalent of my homemade rice milk, supplement combo.

Let's say, for argument sake, I did need that 4 grams of protein that 1 cup of Dollar Tree's soy milk provides per cup. I could also add half of an egg for that amount of protein. My recent price on eggs works out to between 8 and 9 cents per egg, or 4  1/2 cents per 4 grams of protein. If I wanted to add in the cost of 2 eggs for an equivalent amount of protein that 1 quart of soy milk contains, that would add 9 cents to my 42 cents per 4 servings/quart of equivalent homemade rice milk, supplement, and now egg combo, for a total of 51 cents, as compared to $1 at Dollar Tree for 1 quart of purchased soy milk.

What's the hands-on time investment in making rice milk at home? I've now got my formula memorized, and have streamlined the preparation process. It takes me about 15 minutes of hands-on time, to make 1 quart of rice milk. That's only about a $2 savings per hour of work. Not the most lucrative way to save money. But I can do this while I'm already in the kitchen preparing dinner.

Yep, I'll be continuing to make my own rice milk, for the time being. I'll still buy an occasional quart of soy milk, for convenience when I don't have my rice all soaked for rice milk. But will primarily use the homemade rice milk.



In case you didn't guess, I do enjoy these little calculations, for the mental exercise they provide. But also, if the exercises help me save a bit more money towards our financial goals, then they are well-worth the time. I can use this tidbit of information to continue saving money for years to come, only occasionally filling in different numbers as prices of the different components rise and fall.

One last calculation. I will probably save about $1.50 per month by continuing to make rice milk at home. Multiplied out by 12 months in a year, and I'll save $18 in the next year. Over 10 years' time, I could save $180. Not too shabby, I think.

I just love math!

Last week I bought beef, this week I bought chicken

. . . lots and lots of chicken.

I found a 40-lb case of chicken hindquarters on sale for $19.99, or just under 50 cents per pound. Again, I worked the pros and cons back and forth over this.

I realized that even I have a hard time with these large stock-up purchases -- a hard time, mentally. If I buy just a regular, weekly amount of any one thing, then I know that my risk is small. If we don't like it, or it takes up a lot of space in the freezer, or if I come across a better price, then my smaller purchase has limited effect.

But with a much larger purchase, it stays in the freezer for a much longer time, taking up space. If we don't like it, we still have to eat it, for months on end. And if I find a much better price later on, then I have locked myself out from those savings, by making such a large purchase, now.

And with the chicken hindquarters, there was the issue of how to deal with such a large package? Will I be able to break the quarters apart to cook them individually?

So, you see, these major stock-up purchases are not comfortable for me, either.

The tipping point which enabled my purchase was all of the conversation about potential rising poultry prices. If both chicken and turkey prices go up in this coming year, then this purchase will tide us over until next spring. And even if these price increases are not as bad as some anticipate, then I have still made a purchase with a more favorable price than even what I see for whole chickens.

In the case that I bought, the chicken was packaged in 4 10-lb bags. Not super convenient, like IQF (individually quick frozen), but these are manageable, enough. The frozen-solid quarters can be broken into chunks of about 3 large pieces in each of the 10-lbs bags, with the help of a mallet. I figure that thawing and cooking the chicken in this amount will be the equivalent of cooking up a small whole chicken, and will yield about 3 family meals per large chunk.

The other night, I cooked up 3 hindquarter pieces. We had teriyaki chicken the first night, chicken in marinara sauce the second night, and we'll have chicken soup for tonight's dinner.

I know that occasionally supermarkets put these 10-lb bags on sale for a good price. The obstacle for most folks is that the chicken is frozen solid in one large chunk, not exactly user-friendly for family dinners. The way around this, though, is if the frozen mass cannot be broken into smaller portions, the whole thing can be thawed, cooked up, then refrozen in individual pieces, to use the meat later. When you think about it, it's not much different than cooking up 2 whole chickens, or 1 large turkey at a time, then freezing the meat for later use.

Thawing a 10-lb bag of chicken parts takes about 2-4 days in a refrigerator. Once thawed, it can be safely held for 1 or 2 days more. (This means that you could cook up half of a 10-lb bag on day 1 after thawing, and the other half on day 2 after thawing, making the cooking a little more manageable.) And according to the USDA, thawed meat can even be refrozen, though there may be loss of quality. But this is only the case if you thaw the chicken in the refrigerator. If you thaw it in the microwave or in cold water, then it does need to be cooked immediately. Read that page in the link above, for complete information on safe thawing and cooking of frozen meats.

Currently, hindquarters are the least expensive option for chicken. The next best price on chicken that I have seen this spring is as whole chickens, at 88 cents per pound. I saved nearly 40 cents per pound on this 40-lb purchase, over buying the same amount in whole chickens. That's a grand total savings of $16.00. I can use that $16.00 to buy a lot of groceries for our family. AND, I have a hedge against potential rising poultry costs, including turkeys this next fall. Should turkey prices go way up, I may only buy 1 or 2, instead of 4 whole turkeys. I may still have chicken hindquarters in the freezer at that time, as well as a ham and possibly my last turkey from this past year.

Food inflation may be escalating on some items, but there are still some avenues to get around these high prices.


Now, I need your help, here. 40 pounds is a lot of chicken legs and thighs, which I prefer if the flavor is more disguised. I have a well-stocked spice cupboard, and a lot of basic ingredients to work with. What are your favorite, flavorful dishes that use dark-meat chicken? Do you have certain spices or herbs that you like with chicken? How about ethnic chicken recipes? Any that stand out as favorites in your house?

TIA, and I'm eager to hear how you like to prepare chicken legs and thighs!

When I go grocery shopping, I bring 2 things

I bring my calculator.

And I bring my list, which has 2 parts. The first part of my list has the items that I know are on sale and I want to buy.

The second part of my list has the items that I am looking for, but do not know the store price on yet. Next to each item, I write down a price point at which I am willing to make the purchase -- if the store price meets or beats this price, a lot like putting in a buy-order for a stock, "buy at xx $".

So, for instance, my list this week looked like this:

milk, $2.00 or less per gallon
maxipads <$3.79/48 ct
salt <50 cents/26 oz container
decaf coffee <$4.50/lb
chocolate chips <$1.89/12-oz bag
marshmallows <$1.60/lb
pinto beans <45 cents/lb
peanut butter <$1.25/lb
eggs <$1.25/dozen
shortening <$1.56/lb
meat: beef, not ground <$2.79/lb, whole chicken <88cents/lb, leg quarters <50cents/lb


I determine this price that I'm willing to pay, based on past purchases (through receipts or my grocery journal), or through searching online shopping venues that I would realistically buy this item, if I can't find it on sale. Cash & Carry has a search feature, which brings up the item and it's price. As Cash & Carry is one of my fall-back places to shop, I go with their prices on many items that I buy. I also buy many items at Dollar Tree, and feel I'm getting a pretty good deal, most of the time. So, I sometimes use their $1 price on items for my price point to beat.

Having this price point to beat, all written down, makes the shopping experience easier for me. After about 15-20 minutes of being in the store, my mind begins to feel the fatigue, and I find it difficult to accurately make calculations and decisions. I call it "shopper's confusion". Once shopper's confusion sets in, I am apt to make all kinds of mistakes in my calculations. So I simplify my task as much as I can, ahead of time.

There I am, standing in the aisle at the grocery store, calculator in hand, and figuring price per unit and comparing to my list price. If you happen upon me, I'll try not to block the whole aisle, promise!

Even with my low grocery budget, I still find items to buy that save me 10 to 15%, by using this shopping method.

Yesterday, I did my once-per-month Senior Discount Shopping Day at Fred Meyer. It's a 10% discount on house-brand products. I had been preparing my list, for this once-per-month opportunity for the last several weeks, writing things down as I thought of them.

I've been looking for marshmallows, for roasting at summertime cook-outs. I have been happy enough to buy marshmallows at Dollar Tree, in a 10-oz. bag for $1. I was looking to find marshmallows for less than $1.60/lb (sometimes marshmallows are sold in 10-oz bags and sometimes in 16-oz bags, here). The house-brand ones were on sale (not advertised in the flyer), for $1.50/16-oz bag. As a house-brand, I would also save 10% off that sale price, bringing my cost to $1.35 per 16-oz bag, 25 cents less than Dollar Tree's price per pound on marshmallows. I bought 4 bags, which at our current rate of cook-outs, will last 12 weeks, with once per week cook-outs in summer.

I saved 22% over what I was prepared to spend for this item. All because I put a few minutes into figuring out my list and the price I was looking to beat. I had similar success with a couple of other items on my list, as well -- shortening (for pie crusts), decaf coffee, eggs, maxis, and calcium supplements. I didn't find favorable prices on chocolate chips, salt, pinto beans, peanut butter or meat. I'll keep looking for those items.

With whittling down some of our grocery spending, I'm hoping to free up more of the budget for splurges, like meat and possibly seafood.

Do you make a list before shopping for groceries? What information do you write down on your list? Do you ever write reminders to use coupons? Do you write down prices that you're willing to pay for specific items? Do you carry a price-book when you shop? Can you remember a time when you never made a list, but just wandered the aisles "seeing what looks good"? I do. That's how I began my grocery shopping when we first got married. Now that just seems insane to me, to not plan ahead what I will buy.

Wasting nothing -- fire starters

We have a fire ring on our patio that we use frequently in summer for cook-outs and making s'mores. These are fun and frugal family activities we enjoy every summer.

I know you're wondering, "why is she showing us garbage?"

We have an ample supply of wood, with deadfall from the wooded part of our lot. But our wood is often a tad damp, and needs a bit of help getting a fire lit.

We've used a variety of homemade fire starters over the years. But I think this one fills the role of "waste nothing", best.

When I drain meat or fried foods, I do so on a piece of brown paper bag. When I'm done with that fat-saturated piece of paper, I put it in a particular plastic bag in the freezer, my bag of fire starters. Then, any time we need to start the charcoal grill or the fire ring for cooking out, I have a greasy piece of paper ready to do the job.

I'm not using any "new" materials, nor am I using any materials which may have "other" value to them (like reselling egg cartons, saving items for craft projects, or candle wax, from used candles, that I want to use to make small floating candles). I'm just using what was previously tossed in the garbage.

Now, it surprises me that I would have thrown that draining paper into the garbage, in the past.

If I could just come up with a homemade match to light the fire starter.

May 2015 Grocery Spending Journal

So, for this month, I have $147.02 for groceries.


May 3. Cash and Carry on way home from the city. A lot is on sale, still from the Cinco de Mayo ad and the regular 2-week ad. I buy 2  5-lb bags of organic carrots ($2.95 each), 2 #10 cans of sliced olives ($4.78 each), 50-lb sack of black beans ($27.48), 72-ct bag of corn tortillas ($2.18), 1 head of green cabbage ($1.36), and a 50-lb sack of all-purpose flour ($12.19). Spent $58.67

Also, stop at QFC and pick up 2 gallons of milk, skim, marked down to $1.99 each. spent $3.98

May 4. Dollar Tree online order for baking soda, 1 case of 24 lbs, for $14.16. The in-store price went up to 79 cents/box. But the online site still had it at 59 cents/box, so I ordered a case to be picked up at the store. I saved $4.80. Also, bought 4 bags of chocolate Easter candy to be used, chopped in cookies or for making s'mores, at 25 cents/bag. Plus, 5 24-oz bags of macaroni noodles and 2 24-oz packages of spaghetti noodles (work out to 67 cents/pound), and 1 quart of soy milk. Spent $23.16

Trader Joe's for bananas, bought 21, at 19 cents each, spent $3.99.

Total spent to date -- $89.80

May 5. This is THE day I've been waiting for!! I finally qualify for "senior" discounts!!! Fred Meyer offers discounts to anyone 55+ years old, 1 day per month (1st Tuesday of of the month). This discount is good on clothing, home and garden and private label food, health and beauty. Private label IS what I almost always buy. So this is no sacrifice for me. And the 10% off applies after coupons and sales, even.

So, here's what I bought in the food area. 5 half-gallons of whole milk, for making yogurt, on sale for 99cents each, with my "senior" discount, 89cents each for me. Also at the same price, I bought half-gallon of orange juice to have on Mother's Day and Father's Day (I will freeze half of the juice to save for Father's Day). Eggs, on sale 99cents/dozen (limit 2), but for me, a "senior", I paid 89cents/dozen. And one last food item, a 4-pack of gourmet lettuce blend seedlings. My lettuce seedlings have been very slow to get going this year (cool April). It is more economical for me to buy a 4-pack of lettuce seedlings, now, and have fresh lettuce to eat in 3 weeks, than for me to buy the same amount of leafy vegetables in 3 weeks. And, the bonus, there are way more than 4 lettuce plants in this 4-pack, around 10 little plants! The price was 99cents, but I paid 89cents! So, my total on food items today was $8.01.

Total spent month-to-date -- $97.81

May 11. Country Farms produce stand. this is the produce stand near my daughters' high school from a couple of years ago. One of their friends works there part time. So it's always fun to see her when I get a chance to get to that market. Country Farms has some pretty good prices on produce, so worth the trip. This time, I bought 4 red delicious apple (50 cents/lb), 1 head of green cabbage (69 cents/lb), 1 bundle of celery ($1.29 each), a bag of 5 very ripe medium-sized avocados (99cents), and a bag of lemons, 7 or 8 I think (99cents), plus a 10-lb bag of small oranges for $4.99. I spent $10.98.

Also, stopped by Fred Meyer to take advantage of a couple of sales this week. I bought 3 lbs of butter (3 for $5, limit 3 w/coupon), 1 2-lb block of Tillamook cheddar cheese ($3.99, limit 1 w/coupon), 5 half gallons of whole milk (99 cents each, 5 w/coupon), and 1 half-gallon of orange juice (99 cents, 1 w/coupon), a whole chicken for 88 cents lb ($5.38), onion powder (good for a couple of recipes), 48 cents. Total spent here -- $20.79

Total month-to-date spending -- $129.58

May 15. Cash & Carry for large can of coffee. Spent $5.66

May 17. Dollar Tree for 3 10-oz jars of peanut butter and 1 quart of soy milk. spent $4 for a month to date spending of $139.24

May 20. An ethnic market to try out, recommended by a frugal friend. Red Delicious apples for 39 cents/lb. I bought about a dozen. I wasn't sure if they'd be crisp, still this late in the year. But they were pretty good. I will go back and get more on Saturday, as they are just down from Home Depot. Also bought a head of green cabbage for 49 cents/lb. spent $3.92

May 22. We are running low on milk, and the last 2 times I've been to Fred Meyer, there have not been any markdowns. I've got just over 1/2 gallon of whole milk. I put some brown rice to soak last night, and will make rice milk to stretch the milk I have, and to use in cooking over the weekend. One of my daughters is gone for the long weekend (on a biology field station trip), so that will actually conserve some of the milk. Maybe we will have enough, with rice milk added, to get us through to mid-week. And then, there's a good chance I'll find milk marked down at one of the stores I visit, after a long weekend, when a lot of folks go out of town for a few days. Otherwise I'll pick up 1 gallon, and stretch that one as long as I can.

May 24. Imran's, the ethnic market, again, after church. I pick up 24 Red Delicious apples (39 cents/lb), 7 a little bruised (but not horribly so) bananas (39 cents/lb) and 1 red sweet bell pepper (59 cents). Spent $6.74.

May 27. Cash & Carry for 80% lean ground beef patties. 10-lb case for $26.80 ($2.68/lb -- the lowest price I've seen beef around here for a while). spent $26.80

Total spent for the month -- $176.70

I went over what I'd hoped to spend (again). I had to make some tough choices. In the end, I feel like I made the right choices for our family. we didn't splurge much this past month, but focused on healthy basics, as much as possible. We stocked up on a couple of items that will carry us through a few months, as well. And I never did buy more milk in May, but found that using rice milk worked very well for us. Thank you for all of your input on my milk dilemma. :-)

Next month, I'll have $145.32 for the budget.

This is what I bought --
produce
10 lbs carrots
1 gallon orange juice
28 bananas
3 heads green cabbage
10 small lettuce plants
10 lbs oranges
1 bundle celery
4 apples
5 avocados
8 lemons
40 Red Delicious apples
1 red bell pepper

baking supplies
50 lbs all-purpose flour
24 lbs baking soda
4 bags Easter chocolate candy

pantry
2 #10 cans of sliced olives
50 lbs dried black beans
7.5 lbs of dried macaroni
3 lbs of dried spaghetti
onion powder
can of coffee
30 ounces peanut butter

dairy
2 gallons skim milk
5 gallons whole (4%) milk
2 dozen large eggs
2 lbs cheddar cheese

for the fridge
72 corn tortillas
2 quarts soy milk

meat
1 whole chicken
10 lbs ground beef patties


When I look at my list of what I've bought for the month, it surprises me just how expensive food its, as it doesn't seem like I bought all that much of the "expensive" stuff (i.e. meat, cheese, exotic produce).

My list, by the way, is in part so you can see what we've bought over the month, but also a help for me. For instance, I needed 2 quarts of soy milk this month, but I went on 2 separate days to buy that. I could have bought both (along with peanut butter) on my first visit to Dollar Tree, and saved gas and time. It's those little things, like making just 1 stop in a month at a place like Dollar Tree, that can make it feel like I'm not always out running around. And now that I can take advantage of Senior discount day at Fred Meyer, once per month, I'll be able to plan our milk purchases for the entire month, on that first Tuesday. I can see that we need more than 7 gallons of milk to get through 1 month. So for this month, I'll try for 9 gallons, if the price, with senior discount, is right.

I did it -- I bought beef

I've been going back and forth in my mind for almost 2 weeks on this issue. 80% lean ground beef patties are on sale at Cash & Carry for $2.68/lb in a 10-lb case. $2.68 a pound is the lowest I've seen any type of beef in a long while. I thought myself lucky to buy some near-expiry ground beef for $3.89/lb a couple of months ago. So, when I saw Cash & Carry's sale flyer, I was very, very torn. Good price, but it would put us over budget for the month.

We still have 1 whole turkey and 2 hams in the freezer, but that's it for meat, here. I have been longing for beef for a while now. This has been the longest stretch we've ever gone with such limited beef in our diet.

So I thought, and I thought, and I thought.

The pros -- Cash & Carry sale prices are often the very best price on a fairly basic food item that I ever find, as in their 50-lb sacks of beans, #10 cans of tomato products, and 25 to 50-lb sacks of grains. For the near future, $2.68/lb could be the lowest I will see beef for several more months. Cash & Carry's sale prices cycle about every 5-6 months. So this may also be the only sale price this low for summer cooking with beef. Other food items, on sale at Cash & Carry, I can often find elsewhere, for near the sale price. But I don't think that would be the case with beef, right now.

The cons -- going over budget and spending such a large share of the budget on one food item. I would also need to ration out my use of the case of beef, so we didn't blow through it in a month or two. I would want this beef to last the whole summer.

This has been one purchase that I really did think through. And after a lot of consideration, I did buy a 10-lb case of beef patties.

Cash & Carry sells their beef patties in sizes labeled 2/1, 3/1, 4/1, 5/1 and 6/1. This means that there are 2 patties per pound, 3 patties per pound, and on. I chose the 5 patties per pound. Each patty is 3.2 ounces, about right for a single serving of beef, if no other good source of protein is available at the meal. However, I can also just use 3 patties (9.6 ounces total), in a family meal of spaghetti sauce, with the addition of a small amount of cheese served on the pasta. The 5/1 case has 50 patties, all together.

My plan is to limit our use of these patties to 12 per month. That will give us either 2 dinners of burgers on buns, plus one less-beef meal, or 1 dinner of burgers on buns per month, plus 2-3 dinners of less-beef meals. With this plan, the beef should last through the summer. And maybe by fall or winter, we'll see some lowering beef prices.

Maybe it's okay that we went over our budget to cover this beef purchase. It's not like it was a frivolous item. And you'll see in my end of month post that I didn't buy much of anything in the way of luxury foods. We stuck to basic items. so, for all of the months that I've gone over budget, I actually feel better about this purchase putting us over, than any previous month.

Simple, stir-fried radish greens

This is end-of-the-month cooking, that's for sure.

Last week, on my facebook page, I mentioned planting radish seeds with the intent of using the leaves for cooking. Radishes come up quickly, and yield nutrient-dense leafy greens about as fast as any other vegetable. And they can do so in the cool early spring weather, right when I have little else in the garden to harvest for vegetables. Well, eating radish greens came as a surprise to one reader. So, I thought I'd show you a simple way to use radish greens.

Radish greens have a sharp taste, like mustard greens, turnip greens, or kale. So I like them best, blended with a milder vegetable, like cabbage, and sometimes onions.

Start with a skillet with about a tablespoon of fat. Obviously, for me, bacon fat or ham fat is preferred, but oil, and/or turkey fat or chicken fat also have been used successfully in my kitchen (I did this batch in turkey fat/vegetable oil blend, simply because I'm trying to use up the turkey fat).

Heat the skillet over Medium. Saute about 1/4 of an onion, sliced thin, until translucent (the onion is optional, in this batch I left it out, but it does add a sweetness to the dish).

Add about 2-3 cups shredded cabbage (this is a great way to use the outer layers on a new head of cabbage -- trim away any damaged parts, and thin-slice the rest). Saute until some leaves are beginning to brown on the edges.

Meanwhile, cut the leafy green portion of the radish leaves (from about 8-10 radishes) away from the tough stalks.

Fine chop the radish leaves (compost the stems -- don't even save them for your soup stock pot, would give a bitter taste to stock, yuk!).

Add to the cabbage/onions, and stir in. Add some garlic (1 clove, or 1/2 teaspoon garlic granules), and 1 tablespoon soy sauce. Saute, just until the radish greens look vibrant green, but barely cooked. Serve.

Radish greens can also be added to broth-based soups, cream 'O green soups, quiche fillings and garden lasagna fillings (mixed with the cottage cheese/ricotta/mashed tofu).

Very basic, end of the month cooking this week in our kitchen!

End of the month and running out of milk

We are in the last week of the month, and the budget is depleted, with just about 1 quart of dairy milk left.

I decided to make my own rice milk, once again. I'm using the rice milk for any cooking and baking requiring milk, and in a half and half blend for drinking or pouring over oatmeal. This seems to be working well, and will get me through, until I once again find milk on markdown, or the new month's budget begins.

So far, rice milk has worked very successfully in biscuits, quiche, French toast, and bread pudding. And as for drinking, the family seems fine with this blend, knowing that it's temporary.

As I'm using this homemade rice milk in savory as well as sweet dishes, I've left out the vanilla and cut back on the sugar. I've been making 1 quart of rice milk (using a quick version of this recipe -- soaking overnight, and only straining once) every 3 days for the last week. It's working for us, and getting us to the next month. with just 1 quart of dairy milk left. (I have managed to "stretch" 1 final gallon of milk for over a week now. I usually go through 2 gallons per week.)

I still may buy 1 gallon, if I feel I have to. I hate paying the regular price on milk! And, if I have a choice, there's beef on sale this week, and I'd really rather buy beef than milk, if I have to choose. We do have plenty of cheese, and a quart of whole milk yogurt in the fridge, so no one is suffering from lack of dairy, here.

The really great news, for me, in this situation, is I've been cutting my own soy milk half and half, with this rice milk, and I like it better! With the soy milk, I get Vit. D and calcium fortification (I could always take supplements, but this is handy for me, to just drink my vitamins/minerals). With homemade rice milk, those "extras" aren't there. But maybe a compromise on half soy/half rice milk would work for me, in the future, save some money and give me a product that I enjoy more.

How about you? Do you "sweat it" when you're about out of milk for a few days? Could you go a week without milk for yourself or your kids? Do you think I'm doing something neglectful by not buying more dairy milk this week? Just curious about your thoughts on this.

Making Old Bay Seasoning (and why I love keeping whole spices in the cupboard)

Last Friday, I made a large pot of bean and ham soup for dinner. I knew I wanted to make biscuits as a side to go with the soup. And I had a hankering for Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits.

In looking at recipes for cheddar bay biscuits, I discovered that I needed Old Bay seasoning. (Well, duh, cheddar BAY biscuits, old BAY seasoning.)

Old Bay Seasoning would be one of those spice blends that I wouldn't use particularly much, as I don't cook much seafood. So, while I've always liked their colorful canisters in the supermarket, I've never actually bought any OBS.

But, I was sure I had most of the ingredients to make some sort of version of OBS, and could conjure up something along the lines of the famed Red Lobster biscuits.

Next I looked up a recipe for Old Bay Seasoning, and lo and behold, I had some form of every single ingredient listed. Now how often does that happen?!

So, I made a tiny batch of OBS in my spice grinder (coffee grinder, repurposed), and used some to top my biscuits. Yum, they were good! I'll be making these biscuits a few times in the near future.

Now, the Old Bay brand of Old Bay Seasoning is made from 18 different herbs and spices. The recipe that I used only had 8 different herbs and spices. But my homemade version was very tasty. And making just a small amount, is about right for my use.


There's not much to making this spice blend. You measure the ingredients into your coffee/spice grinder, and whirr to a powder. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 years, for best flavor.

Here's what I used:

the equivalent of 2 bay leaves (I fished out a bunch of bay leaf pieces from my pickling spice blend)
1 teaspoon celery seed
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns (I've been meaning to use those up)
just over an 1/8 teaspoon of whole cardamom seeds
1/8 teaspoon ground mustard
1 or 2 whole cloves (I used 2 very small whole cloves)
3/8 teaspoon paprika
just over 1/16 teaspoon ground mace

This made a little over 1 tablespoon of Old Bay Seasoning. A recipe of Cheddar Bay biscuits only uses 1/4 teaspoon of OBS, so it looks like I've got enough to make several batches of those tasty biscuits.

About whole spices as opposed to ground spices

Whole spices can be more economical, in the long run. In particular, if you don't use that spice very often. Whole spices retain more of their essence for a longer period of time, than ground. Up to twice as long.

If I don't think I'll use a spice very often, I try to buy what I'll need, but often end up with extra. It could be a year or more until I need that spice again.

The other issue I've encountered with pre-ground spices is some of them can become cake-y (due to absorbing moisture -- my ground cloves became cake-y to the point I had to throw them out).

Ground spices are recommended to be used within a couple of years. Whereas, whole spices can retain flavor for up to 5 or 6 years, depending on variety (cloves, cinnamon and pepper can last a very long time, if whole). Yet they taste, so "fresh" when you finally grind them.

A good example for myself is my whole nutmegs. I bought these about 5 years ago, and "shave" off a tiny amount for recipes, as I need. They taste as good today, as they did when I bought them. So, for spices I don't use often, whole spices have better keeping quality. And I can often find them in the bulk, scoop-your-own section and just buy a tiny baggie of what I need.

Grinding whole spices can be done in a small food processor, a coffee grinder or with mortar and pestle. If I'm just crushing some celery seed to add to a tomato sauce or soup, I'll use the mortar and pestle. For larger amounts of spice, or if I want a finer grind, then I use the coffee grinder. I don't wash this out, but use a pastry brush to sweep out the grinder after each use. (If I'm going to be grinding something like granulated sugar into superfine, then I'll wipe the grinder out, and maybe grind a tablespoon of corn meal first, just to clean it out.)

I do opt for convenience with the spices that I use frequently, such as ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground mustard, ground cumin, curry powder and chili powder. I buy these ground spices in the large canisters from Cash & Carry, at a price that beats buying whole spices, in some cases. (Whole cinnamon sticks can be pricey, if I just want to grind them up to use ground.)

So, my spice cupboard contains a mix of whole and ground spices. I do love that I keep as many varieties in whole form as I do. I am often pleasantly surprised that I have just about every spice called for in recipes.

Happy Memorial Day!

What are your plans for today?

We're heading out to the beach for a breakfast, "out". (Can't get any more "out" than outdoors!) We're packing apples, yogurt and homemade donuts (the kind made with canned biscuit dough). We have several thermoses, so everyone is on their own to provide their beverage of choice (coffee, tea, cocoa, milk).

If we can get out of the house early enough, the beach will be pretty much deserted. It's beautiful, there, in the early hours of the day.

Just a fun way to spend time together as a family.

Have a wonderful day!

I thought I'd show you what our local Fred Meyer carries in spices in the ethnic section

A couple of weeks ago we talked a bit about ethnic sections of grocery stores and ethnic markets. I told you about the cellophane packages of spices and herbs available, at a substantially lower price than small containers of spices and herbs in the baking section of the grocery store.

I had my camera in my purse this week, and when I was at Fred Meyer, I took a couple of photos of what I'm talking about. The spices/herbs are priced between 59cents and about $1.29 per packet, depending on variety. The bay leaves are 59cents for a nice pile of leaves. The whole cloves are 59 cents for a good handful, maybe 1/2 cup (2nd to the left below). The whole cinnamon sticks are $1.18 for about 3 or 4 good-sized sticks (longer than I often see) in a bag (just about the amount that someone might want for making spiced beverages during the fall or winter holidays). There are sesame seeds, ground chiles, and whole and ground spices.

It really is a matter of comparing unit pricing, between these cellophane bags and the bulk spice section. Some items are a much better price per pound in the cellophane packages, others not. But all of these blow the spices in the baking aisle clear out of the water! And if you don't even have a store with a bulk, scoop-your-own, spice section, then an ethnic section or ethnic market could be your most economical way to buy some of your herbs and spices. (Dollar Tree carries some herbs, at a great price, too.)


Also, in the ethnic shopping vein, earlier this week I tried out a new-to-me ethnic market on the advice of a friend (Imran's on 99). This is an Indian, Middle Eastern and Mexican market (per their sign). My friend likes this store for both it's cheap produce and some packaged ethnic items that she uses from time to time. Those packaged items are super pricey in the regular grocery store, but a dollar less at the ethnic market.

I passed Imran's the other day and thought to myself that I had to stop there soon. They had a sign out on the street edge for apples at 39cents/lb. I am needing produce at a super-duper cheap price this week and next, to get us through to June. So I thought this would work well for us. I bought about a dozen Red Delicious apples (39cents/lb -- earlier in the month I stopped at my other favorite produce stand and paid 50cents/lb, thinking that was a good price), and 1 large head of green cabbage for 49cents/lb. Grand total for a bag of produce, $3.92.

To give you a local comparison, at Fred Meyer, a store most would agree is one of the low-cost supermarkets in the area, Red Delicious apples were 79cents/lb, and green cabbage was 79cents/lb this week.

Imran's had navel oranges for 49cents/lb, limes at 10 for $1, and grapefruit at 5 for $1. I still have some oranges and lemons left, so passed on the citrus.

The clientele is a mix of folks. There were the retired people who were driving older cars, and likely on a small budget. There were also a few mothers with children in tow, carrying on conversations in their own native language (not English as a first language). There was a young woman who runs a food truck in the area, bargaining for a better price on a bag of red onions. And then there was me, a middle-aged women in yoga pants, with my green, reusable shopping bag.

When I patronize these small businesses, I do a couple of things. I always use cash, even if they will take credit. I know they struggle to make a profit, as a small business, with low prices being their big draw. And I always bring a reusable shopping bag. Again, if there's any way I can help them stay in business, it benefits us both.

While I was in Imran's, the check-out line was a little long at first, so I decided to look around. I can do better, price-wise, on dried beans at the wholesaler, but their price on couscous was pretty good, as was the price on bulgur wheat.

They also had cellophane packets of herbs and spices in a rack. In addition to the herbs and spices, they had small bags of nuts and seeds, and some tea bags in these cellophane bags. Among the nuts were some pepita seeds (99cents for a couple of ounces), which I think would look nice topping pumpkin muffins in the fall months. (I think Starbucks tops their Pumpkin Loaf with pepita seeds.) I'll remember the pepitas, come fall.

They also had a bakery case of small baked goods, priced well. My two daughters used to love the Mexican market near their high school, for the sweet pastries in the bakery case, priced around 25 to 50 cents each. And Imran's carried the exact brand of corn tortillas that I bought earlier this month, for 18 cents less than I paid at the wholesaler. So, I'll keep that in mind for the future, as well.

I'll be going back to Imran's throughout the summer. It looks like a great place to buy some fresh produce at a bargain price. I'm hoping that they'll have watermelon at a great price in another month.

What do you do when you're up at 2 AM?

I know I shouldn't be doing this. I should be trying to sleep. And I do try for a while. But, the other night, up from 2 AM to about 4 AM, I just could not sleep!

I considered going outside and planting more in the garden, but my fear of encountering a coyote in the dark stopped that thought in its tracks. I considered sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor. After all, this would be a good time to insure no one set foot on a still-wet and very clean floor. But that just sounded like it would take too much energy at 3 AM (and might wake other members of the household, who would then come get a midnight snack, and there goes that opportunity to keep the floor from being walked upon just after mopping).

So, what do I do in the wee hours of the morning, while I wait for the time to have a cup of coffee? The other night, I was online, shopping for shampoo! And I bet some of you do that sort of thing, too!!

I keep a list of items to look for in the near future, when I'm out shopping. This list sits on the table next to my computer. I grabbed it, and began my midnight rendezvous with the online merchants.

While the rest of the family is content to use whatever is cheap, for shampoo, I use a color protecting shampoo. It's a particular brand that came highly rated for maintaining color treatments, which prolongs the time between colorings, saving me both time and money.

So, I shopped and shopped, and kept finding better and better deals. Found the shampoo I've been using at ULTA, near us, at a pretty good price. But a few minutes later, I stumbled upon a deal for the same product at JC Penney. Their salon carries the brand I wanted, cheaper than other stores in the area, and they have a coupon going on through this weekend (for an extra 10% off), that I could print out to take with me to the mall.

But wait, it gets better. I had all the time in the world (that's how it feels at 3 AM, right?), so I began reading more and more reviews about various products, and came upon a recommendation for a drugstore brand of shampoo, in the budget category! (Budget category -- that's calling my name!!) I thought, well this is worth a try.

In all of my late night shopping, I had come across a couple of coupons at drugstore.com for Proctor and Gamble hair products. Wonderful! I could buy an amount that would last me about 1 year (I really do use shampoo in the "size of a dime" amount when shampooing my hair). And it would cost 1/5th of what I paid one year ago, for a pricier brand.

So, while on drugstore.com, I wanted to take advantage of a couple of coupons, so I found the hair color that I've been using and added 4 boxes of that (an 8-month supply, which means I won't have to be looking for a deal on my color for a while). This then gave me 2 more coupons to use in this purchase. Using the coupons on the hair color, yielded a savings of about $1 per box over Target's sale price (and Target has pretty good sale prices on hair color).

And wanting the free shipping, I began to look around at other categories of beauty and health care. I take a particular supplement that I believe is helping me battle my present fatigue. Locally, at Super Supplements, I pay about $25 for a bottle of that supplement. By using yet another drugstore.com coupon (on supplements), and combining with a current sale on this brand, I paid $17.99 for this health care need (savings of $8 over what I was prepared to spend later this week). And I got my free shipping.

For items that were already on my shopping list for the near future, I was prepared to spend about $65. With my middle of the night shopping, I spent $40. I didn't buy anything that I wasn't already planning on buying. So the savings is "real" savings. And I about completed finding all of the items from my little list.

A savings of about $25, in exchange for 1  1/2 hours of my precious sleep. I'm not totally convinced this was such a good plan. If I wake up again tonight, I think I'll just go get a snack and go back to sleep.


One suggestion about middle of the night shopping -- just hold everything in a "cart" until the morning. You really will sleep on it. Then, in the morning, you can be sure of what was going on in your mind in the wee hours. No purchases that sounded good at the time!

Now tell me, what do you do in the middle of the night when you just can't sleep?

(p.s. I am currently working on finding new places to buy "my regulars", and save some money. This week, I picked up 8 tubes of toothpaste, at a savings of $2.24 over what I usually spend. Every last bit of savings means that our income stretches a little further towards our goals -- currently saving for a new furnace.)

Blogging issues

So, over the past week, I've put many, many hours into trying to solve my feed issues with this blog. This is time that I could have put towards active frugality and/or sleep. There appears to be some sort of error in my feed delivery, which I am unable to correct. So, I'm stuck. I don't have any more time to devote to solving this issue. And my personal knowledge of all of this is limited.

I'm just going to leave this as it is. If you want to continue visiting my blog, that's great. I can tell you about when my blog will post most weekdays. But your feed reader will likely not update with my blog, indefinitely. As far as I can tell, the email delivery still works.

Email is delivered between 5 and 6 AM Pacific time. I publish my posts by about 4:30 AM Pacific time.

If in the future I have a burst of energy or a person willing to help me on this issue, then maybe my feed delivery issues can be resolved.

We're all very busy people, myself included. It doesn't make sense for me to strip away time that could be spent in my volunteer capacity, taking care of a home and family, and paid employment, to try and fix whatever is wrong with the feed delivery for this blog. For the time being, I will continue to post about the various ways that I maximize our modest income.

I understand that without feed delivery, my readership will continue to dwindle. Sometimes, I just have to wonder, is this God's way of pushing me in another direction? It could very well be. Until I have His answer, I'll keep posting. Until tomorrow,
God bless.

Baking bread from scratch DOES take a lot of time

Baking from scratch isn't feasible, time-wise, on a daily basis. I do have other things to attend to! But that doesn't mean that my family need go hungry, or skip out on grains, ever.

When I just don't have time/energy to bake bread, rolls, or other items to go with meals, I simply switch out the bread that I might have made,with a starchy food that takes less time and energy. A potato takes only minutes to "bake" in the microwave, compared to the an hour or more to bake muffins, rolls or bread to go with a meal. A pot of rice requires minutes of hands-on time. No toast for breakfast? Oatmeal-for-a-crowd can be made in the microwave in minutes.

A family can still exercise frugality in meal preparation, without daily baking, just by choosing other, low-cost, but time friendly, starchy foods, such as oats, rice and potatoes. When I know I will be in a time crunch for a week, then I save any homemade bread I have for to-go or on-the-run meals. Then at dinners, and other meals at home, we eat those quick or easy grains and starches. And to keep rice, potatoes or oats from being ho-hum and boring, I think about these starchy alternatives as I would the desired bread product. If my plan had been to make French bread pizza for dinner, but I’m out of French bread or buns of any kind, then I might make pizza rice, topping plain rice with all of the usual pizza toppings. Or, if I had hoped to have toast for breakfast, I also know that oatmeal with my favorite toast toppings of peanut butter and jam is quite delicious. And if I had wanted to serve toasted cheese sandwiches with a bowl of soup, but all out of bread, well then, a microwaved potato, topped with cheddar is also yummy.

I remember growing up, it seemed like a crisis if we were out of bread. Someone in the house would be sent out to the grocery store to pick up a loaf, because what would we eat if we didn't have bread?! The same thing with milk. If we were out of milk, well what on earth would we eat for breakfast the next day?! And I know that my childhood household was not alone in this type of thinking. This is common. Whoever plans the meals/does the shopping realizes that the house is out of some common food item, and makes that last-minute rush out to the store.

Well, at least with bread products, this family has found many solutions to the all out of bread problem.  And yes, I am enjoying a bowl of yummy oatmeal, topped with jam and peanut butter, this morning for my breakfast!