Being More Mindful When Grocery Shopping

Back to the discussion on principled buying . . .

With food, in addition to avoiding specific countries or companies for ideological reasons, I also want to take food safety seriously. Some countries have very weak safety guidelines concerning pesticides, fertilizers, water and soil contamination, and chemical preservatives like formaldehyde and sulphur dioxide used to make "old" produce appear to be fresh. In addition, some countries have different standards for "organic" than North America and the EU, meaning that a product may be labeled "organic" but not meet the guidelines that you've come to expect. 

Most of us are tuned in to where our fresh produce comes from, but do we really know where our packaged and frozen foods are coming from? I did a quick inventory of my own pantry, fridge and freezers and found:

• orange juice concentrate from Central America
• apple juice concentrate from China
• coffee from Mexico
• hazelnut spread (my daughter's) from Mexico
• other hazelnut spread (also daughter's) from Germany
• honey from Canada and Argentina
• cocoa powder from Holland and Germany
• shredded coconut from the Philippines
• mixed nuts from Argentina, Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia
• canned pineapple from Thailand and Indonesia
• boxed pasta - "made with imported ingredients"
• canned tuna from Thailand
• unflavored gelatin from Brazil
• yeast from Mexico
• frozen Asian stir fry vegetable blend from China, Mexico
• frozen chicken breast fillets from Mexico
• frozen broccoli from Mexico
• frozen blueberries from Canada

No indication but most likely not USA-produced:

• black tea
• chocolate chips

It's not that all of the above countries are in question. I completely trust the safety of the honey and blueberries from Canada and the cocoa powder  and hazelnut spread from Germany and Holland. I was just very surprised by some items. The peanuts in the can of mixed nuts came not just from the US ( as most of us would imagine) but also from Argentina and Mexico. And who would have thought that my big bag of yeast was produced in Mexico?

A lot of products don't indicate on the packaging where the contents are produced. Some brands are better than others at this. Many of Walmart and WinCo's house-brand items are produced outside of the US. But there are also a lot of their house-brands that are stamped USA. Here's a contrast -- my canned mixed nuts were from 9 different countries in addition to the US, while my bag of Great Value pecan halves were USA-only. 

Some highly recognizable name-brand foods that you would think are American products are actually from other countries. For example Dole canned pineapple. Dole canned pineapple chunks, slices, and crushed are products of the Philippines and Thailand. Dole canned pineapple juice and Dole jarred pineapple chunks are products of the Philippines. If you want Hawaiian Dole pineapple you have to buy fresh pineapple that is labeled product of Hawaii. 

USA-produced is not always most expensive. Sometimes the bargain version of a food is the USA-produced one, such as the Dollar Tree frozen blueberries that I bought. DT's frozen blueberries are stamped "product of USA" while the more expensive frozen blueberries from Walmart are stamped "product of Canada."

A complicated case is found with apple juice. Most of the frozen apple juice concentrate available in the USA is now made in China. The store-brands of frozen apple juice concentrate (AJC) from both winCo and Walmart are stamped with "Product of China." Old Orchard's website indicates that they source their apple juice concentrate globally (including from China) for bottling in the USA.  Bottles of Mott's apple juice are stamped indicating that the product is made with apple juice concentrate from China and Turkey. There are two bright spots in apple juice production in the US, Tree Top and Martinelli's. The apples used in Tree Top apple juice are 100% grown in the USA. Tree Top supplies most of the American-grown and processed apple juice concentrate in the US. Martinelli's is another "made in the USA" apple juice, using 100% USA apples. Not concentrated, Martinelli's is bottled in large glass bottles or individual-size bottles and rather pricey. Apple juice particularly concerns me, because I use commercial apple juice as a base for some of my vegetable juices and my family really enjoys apple juice. I question the safety of China-produced apple juice. There was a study a while back concerning high arsenic levels in China-produced AJC compared to USA-produced AJC. Going forward, I'll be more likely to spend extra on USA apple juice and try to save money in the food budget elsewhere.

Although my family doesn't eat a lot of frozen fish, I have read that those products could be a concern, and I'm mentioning it because I know a lot of folks do buy frozen fish. Frozen tilapia and cod from China is often farm-raised. I have read a few articles that raise concerns about the farm-raised tilapia from China. The fish are raised in crowded and sometimes polluted water, possibly using more chemicals than are healthy. I don't want to tell you what to believe, so I recommend you search for more info on this, if it is a concern to you.

It isn't always just a matter of finding a USA-version for X,Y, or Z. There are some foods that I can't find as USA-produced, such as cocoa powder, canned tuna fish, or fresh bananas (not on my list, but something we consume a lot of). And there are some foods for which I could find a US substitute, but those would be very expensive, such as Hawaiian coffee and shredded coconut or South Carolina black tea. Due to their cost, those products would be more along the lines of specialty food items, in my opinion, and not basic groceries.

My personal plan is to choose one item that most offends me (based on country of origin) and try to work a better choice into our budget. When I've found ways to make that work, I'll add the next item. And, so on, until I feel satisfied with the sourcing of all of my family's food. 

In the end analysis, if my budget were constrained and I had to choose between buying my food from a non-preferred country vs not buying enough food, buying enough food, even from a "bad" country, wins hands-down. It's like my thinking concerning buying organic produce vs buying "regular" produce. If buying "regular" produce means I buy and eat more fruits and vegetables than if I were to buy organic produce due to budget constraints, I think it's a better choice to buy the "regular" produce. The additional nutrients of more produce would hopefully outweigh any negative effects from residual pesticides and fertilizers.

Fortunately, there are some workarounds that remain frugal options for many of us. Growing a vegetable garden, going to local u-pick farms and orchards, buying from local farm stands, and eating in-season produce are all ways to ensure your produce is grown in the country(ies) of your choosing while not spending more for those items. And as you can see from my list of non-USA foods in my own kitchen, there were only about 2 dozen different foods that were produced outside the US. And of those, there are only about a half-dozen that I feel I should look into finding alternates. That's not too overwhelming.

(It's true what they say, writing something out helps clarify one's own mind about a topic.)

Putting Principled Buying into Action

Last week ,when I talked about my gift shopping for my daughters, my discussion was about trying to find products that were made by my own personal standards. To be specific, not wanting to buy from countries whose government treats some of its people reprehensibly or from companies who support causes that are in opposition to my own beliefs, as well as wanting to buy from American small businesses whenever possible to keep money in fellow American's pockets.  It was mentioned in the comments that I was fortunate to be able to shop by my principles. 

I am fortunate. But I'm not spending more money than previously on categories like gifts, clothing, and household needs while I practice principled buying.

So with that in mind, I wanted to share how we afford to shop by our principles and deal with the often higher cost of products that are American-made, small business-made, or imported from countries that provide a fair wage to their workers. If my budgets for gifts, clothing, and household items have not risen, and I'm avoiding buying the super cheap stuff that comes from some countries, something has to be different with my shopping, right? 

Here's how we're doing it. We're using those tried and true frugal methods to save on some items, so that we can afford to buy those more expensive other items from companies and countries that are on my personal "approved" list. 

• I am repairing, refurbishing, and repurposing as much of our clothing and household items as I can, so that I postpone replacing items further into the future. I've currently got 1 pair of mittens, a sock, a pair of blue jeans, and a bath rug in the mend pile. If I were to buy all of those items new, I'd spend well over $100. That same $100 will pay for replacing a piece of clothing or a household item that is past repair and bought according to my principles.
• I have been asking for basic clothing items and necessities as my gifts for Christmases and birthdays. Last year for my birthday, I received a pair of basic leggings and a sweatshirt. For Christmas, I received a requested headband and hair conditioner. I used a gift card from my birthday 2019 to buy new underwear. And I used another gift card from Mother's Day 2018 to buy my everyday shoes. Money I didn't take out of our budget is money that can go toward principled buying.
• We're also turning to thrift stores for many items. Thrifts stores do more than just prevent stuff from ending up in landfills or provide merchandise super affordably. Thrift shops often have a charitable cause or benefit a needy group. Thrift shops provide job training for folks that have had a hard time breaking into the job market, fund homeless shelters, fund non-profit rehab centers, sponsor soup kitchens, and subsidize childcare centers for lower income families. Thrift stores don't operate to pad wallets of stockholders or CEOs. Their prices would be much higher if that were the case. Instead, their focus is on helping people. Shopping thrift stores saves me money and makes me feel good about my choices. And the money I save by buying a needed thrifted top or saucepan compared to buying new is money that I can put towards those more expensive principled purchases.
• I'm also shopping online marketplaces for gently-used or new-condition items. Online marketplaces are like garage sale Saturday every day, but with a phenomenally large selection. I like that by buying an item from an individual seller, I put more money into that person's pocket and less into a large corporation's. And I save some money in the bargain. 
• We are still shopping at Dollar Tree for some items. Dollar Tree has a surprising amount of Made in USA items. I just check labels on everything. I needed a new box of envelopes. Same brand, but one set of envelopes were security envelopes and the other set were plain envelopes. The plain envelopes were made in the USA and the others were imports. I bought the plain ones.
• When it comes to giving gifts to others, I am reducing the number of gifts, overall, and prioritizing the items most wanted so that I can shop by my principles. The bonus -- buying and giving less means that fewer items might wind up on a closet shelf or in another giveaway box. When I first set out to shop for some small gifts for my daughters I was thinking spa items. I had thought about some bath soaks, bath bombs, maybe some bath oil or shower gel, a loofah, a bath brush, a shower cap, and some chocolates. As it turns out, by buying only American-made, small business, or marketplace items, I was able to buy 1 bath bomb, 1 packet of bath soak, 1 bottle of shower gel, 1 chocolate bar, and 1 shower cap (small business-made) for each daughter. I spent the same amount of money that I would have spent on a larger selection of cheap imported items, but I think I did more good with my money. Will my daughters mind that I didn't get everything on my list? Not at all. Here's another one -- I needed a $15 to $20 gift for someone recently. I chose to buy coffee beans from a company that donates a share of its proceeds to a cause that is close to my heart. The recipients of my coffee bean gift were delighted to receive the coffee and happy to hear about the cause the purchase benefitted. (This is a cause that they also support.) I am taking the same amount of money that I would have spent, but directing it toward companies, organizations, or people of my choosing.

So that's how we're affording to buy clothing, gifts, and household items in a principled way with the same size budget we've had for years. The harder category to shop in this way is food.  I have a post in the writing that I'll finish up for tomorrow on that.

I wanted to add, if my choice was to buy a small Dollar Tree gift for someone in my life or not buy a gift at all, due to a very small budget, I'd definitely buy the Dollar Tree item. I think it's more important to make another person feel good and appreciated than to satisfy principles. And if one of my family members needed clothing that didn't obviously look mended (for instance, work apparel), I'd buy a cheap import item if that is what my budget dictated. Sometimes, keeping principles means putting others' joy or self-esteem ahead of our own desires.

There are several categories for which there isn't a good American-made or small business product. We're doing our best, making changes where it is possible, and not sweating the rest.

Using up Jam and Jelly

oatmeal and plum jam bar cookies -- almost like a breakfast bar

I've mentioned this already, that I'm trying to use up my surplus of different jams and jellies before the next jam and jelly season begins. 

So far, we've used jam and jelly this winter in jam sandwich cookies (my daughter made heart-shaped shortbread for Valentine's Day and sandwiched them with blackberry jam), oatmeal and plum jam bar cookies, fruit granola (two versions), smoothies, fruity yogurt and oatmeal, as topping for pudding, in a cream cheese spread, in creamy dressing for fruit salad, in vinaigrette dressing for tossed greens, and as a dipping sauce, in addition to spreading on bread products.

I counted my jars yesterday and discovered that I still have 31 jars of jam and jelly left. I know, that sounds like a lot of sweet spreads. So, I started a list of the various ways I could begin incorporating more jam and jelly into my cooking. 28 ideas so far.

Cookies

• Oatmeal and Jam Bars (used a whole jar of plum jam)
• In Thumbprint cookies
• In Sandwich cookies -- spread between 2 sugar or shortbread cookies

Breakfast

• Making fruity granola
• As filling for jam and cream cheese overnight, stuffed French toast
• As filling for crepes
• Spread on breads, muffins, biscuits, scones
• To top pancakes, waffles, or Dutch Baby, as is or thinned to make a syrup
• Swirled into yogurt or oatmeal
• Layered with fruit, cottage cheese or plain yogurt, and granola for a parfait
• Blended into smoothies or shakes

Baking and Desserts

• As filling for a layer cake or topping for a single layer cake
• Dropped into batter in muffin tins, 1 tablespoon dropped into the center of cornbread batter
• Baked into jam swirl bread, like making cinnamon bread, but using jam instead of cinnamon and sugar
• As filling for mini tart shells
• To glaze fruit in a pie or tart or fruit served as is, such as pear slices glazed with raspberry jam
• As an ice cream sundae topping
• Topping any kind of cream cheese concoction
• Spooned over rice pudding, tapioca, or cornstarch pudding

Salads

• Blended with mayo for a sweetened dressing for fruit salad
• Blended with a vinaigrette for a sweet and tangy salad dressing -- especially good on spinach salad

Savories

• In a sweet and sour glaze over cooked meatballs
• To top brie cheese before baking
• Melted jam blended with spices (ginger) and seasonings (garlic powder) and a bit of soy sauce for a dipping sauce for chicken strips
• To make a glaze for meat (pork roast, ham, poultry)
• Mixed in with mustard to use as a condiment
• Inside a grilled cheese sandwich or a turkey or ham sandwich
• Mixed into chicken salad

What else? How else can I use some of these jars of jam, jelly and preserves?

Meal Planning from the 1950s

Our conversations about favorite retro cooking last week prompted me to think about a section of my mom's 1953 cookbook. My mom was a very young bride by today's standards, 19 when she married my father. As a wedding gift from an aunt, she/they received the Better Homes and Garden's New Cook Book. A good deal of what my mother learned about cooking in those early years of marriage were found in the pages of this cookbook. 

As a teenager I had a crazy obsession with reading my mother's older cookbooks. When I was 18 and left home for college, my mom gave me this cookbook. Despite having taken Home Ec in middle school, I still had a lot to learn about cooking after I moved away for school.

One of my favorite sections of this cookbook has always been the meal planning one. I may not be wild about meal planning, but I like reading about how it could be done in someone else's household.

I think "ideal" meals of the 1950s were somehow lost by my own childhood years. On Leave it to Beaver (and other TV shows of its era), the star family, the Cleavers, always had dinner in a formal dining room, while the kitchen table was used for breakfast and lunch. I don't know if this is how families of the 50s actually ate their meals, or if this is just how TV families dined. But I always felt that family life had somehow shifted by the time I was in elementary school. Once we had a separate dining room as well as a an eat-in kitchen, my family always ate "regular" dinners in the kitchen, while the dining room was reserved for special occasions.

In addition to a shift in where Americans tended to eat their meals, the actual dinner menus from the 1950s (form my mom's cookbook) seem more formal than how my family today eats. In my mom's cookbook, the "dinner suggestions" section contains 6 different elements for each meal: entree, starchy food, vegetable, salad, dessert, and "nice to serve." Here's an example:

Rolled Rib Beef Roast

Browned Potatoes or Whipped Potatoes

Succotash or Broccoli with Hollandaise Sauce

Gold Coast Salad or Cranberry Salad Squares

Pumpkin Chiffon Pie or Date Pudding with Whipped Cream

Watermelon Pickles or Bouillon

Can you imagine making all of that on a random Tuesday? Okay, so maybe this would be a "special" meal. Here's another dinner suggestion:

Grilled Minute Steaks

Hash-brown Potatoes or French-Fried Potatoes

Buttered Corn or Wax Beans with Bacon Bits

Perfection Salad or Tossed Green Salad

Ambrosia or Walnut Gingerbread

Chili Sauce or Toasted Buns

My guess is these elaborate everyday meals went out of fashion as women's daytime hours were filled with work or other time-consuming activities. Here's another dinner suggestion:

Baked Pork Chops

Whipped Potatoes and Gravy or Corn Stuffing

Parsnips or Green Beans

Prune and Apricot Salad or Spiced Pears

Brownies a la Mode or Baked Apples

Relishes or Grape Juice

There's also a small section on meals that save you money. This section looks a little more like how my mother cooked (but with fewer and simpler desserts). Here are a few of those entries:

Meatballs with Spaghetti

Whole Carrots or Green Beans

Chilled Relishes or Mixed Greens with Garlic Dressing

Winter Ambrosia or Pineapple Sherbet

New England Boiled Dinner

Carrots, Potatoes, Onions, Cabbage (cooked with corned beef) or Turnips and Beets may be added

Apple-Raisin Salad or Molded Cranberry Salad

Lemon Meringue Pie or Maple Cup Custard

Tuna Bake with Cheese Swirls

Glazed Carrots or Buttered Green Beans

Tomato Aspic or Bouquet Salad Bowl

Emerald Isle Fluff or Lemon-Coconut Squares

Pork 'n' Apple Pie

Buttered Shredded Cabbage or Cauliflower

Chef's Salad Bowl or Celery-Apple Salad

Cottage Pudding with Lemon Sauce or Chocolate Bread Pudding

It's interesting, but the section that I think more closely reflects how many of us do dinner, now, is actually titled for lunches -- "Lunches your family will like." Many of the entries in this section would fall under a supper designation, in my mind. Here are several "lunch" suggestions:

Creamed-egg Casserole

Green Beans with Bacon or Spinach with Mushrooms

Circles of Head Lettuce, Russian Dressing, and French Bread or Waldorf Salad and Hard Rolls

Cherry Puff or Broiled Grapefruit

Creamed Dried Beef on Baked Potato

Pickled Beets or Brussel Sprouts

Tossed Green Salad or Citrus Salad

Applesauce Cake or Whole Apricots and Cookies

Spanish-rice Skillet

Buttered Asparagus Tips or Spinach with Mushrooms

Chef's Salad Bowl and Biscuits or Orange and Grapefruit Sections on Watercress and Relishes

Date Pin Wheels or Chinese Chews

Chicken a la King

Potato Chips and Fresh Buttered Peas or Corn Coblets

Pear Halves with Softened Cream Cheese and Cloverleaf Rolls or Tomato Slices on Lettuce with French Dressing and Biscuits

Orange Cake or Red Raspberry Fluff

Cheeseburgers

Potato Chips or French-fried Onions

Kidney-bean Salad, Dill Pickles Slices, Celery and Carrot Sticks or Tossed Green Salad and Cocoa

Banana Split or Fresh Fruit

Fluffy Tomato Omelet

Fresh Peas or Broccoli with Lemon Butter Sauce

Pineapple-Cottage Cheese Salad with French Dressing and Bread Sticks or Sunshine Salad, Celery Curls, Ripe Olives

Crispette Squares or Coconut-Banana Rolls

Those were obviously lunches to be eaten at home. There's another section on lunchbox ideas. Here are a few of those menus:

Deviled Ham and Pickle in Bun

Iced Tea

Potato Chips

Celery and Olives

Brownies or Pear Halves

Egg Salad in Coney Buns

Milk or Coffee

Whole Tomato

Grapes or Sponge Cake Bars

Vegetable Soup

Chocolate Milk

Crackers

Cottage Cheese, Tomato Wedges

Date Pin Wheels or Apple Wedges

Baked Beans

Cream Cheese Sandwiches on Brown Bread

Milk or Coffee

Chopped Vegetable Salad

Canned Peach Halves

Corned Beef Sandwich on Rye Bread

Cocoa

Mustard Pickles, Celery Hearts, Carrot Sticks

Baked Custard

Fried Chicken

Bread and Butter Sandwich

Mixed Vegetable Juice

Tomato Slices, Cucumber Sticks

Chocolate Cupcake

Baked Ham Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread

Milk or Coffee

Potato Salad

Plums or Pecan Crispies

As a teen, I loved food and thinking about food. I was often dieting, so reading about these varied and full menus seemed to fill something in me. In any case, I thought a little trip down the memory lane of meal planning, via my mother's first cookbook, would be fun. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

Your Retro Cooking Favorites

Earlier this week, I posted a modern rendition of a retro recipe from my childhood, creamed chicken and broccoli on toast points. My mother often used a white sauce or canned soup, along with frozen mixed vegetables, a mix of dark and light meat chicken, and white bread toast. With my family's more modern tastes I substituted a scratch cream of celery soup, frozen broccoli, chicken breast meat, and homemade whole wheat toast. My version reflects my family's preference for broccoli, leaner meat, and whole grains.

Later this week I made a childhood favorite dessert, sliced bananas in vanilla pudding. In my childhood, this was often served with vanilla wafer cookies. My more individualized and contemporary version used a scratch soy milk pudding to meet my personal dietary needs. I wish I'd had the vanilla wafers, but graham crackers had to substitute.

Ruthie expressed interest (in the comments) in hearing what you cook that is retro. I thought that was a wonderful suggestion. Today, I am curious to know what your favorite retro recipes are and how you adapt them to your modern tastes and needs. What do you still make, now and then, that takes you back to your childhood? How have you changed how the previous generation made this dish? Let us know in the comments!

Shopping Intentionally Can Be Stressful (Warning: A Rant)

My twin daughters have a birthday later this month. So, I'm making plans for how to celebrate and what little gifts to buy. While I know I can't solve the world's economic or political problems all on my own, I've made a sort of deal with myself concerning the gifts I'm buying.

2020 and now 2021 has been a year of discovering the very worst about a couple of countries and many corporations. I feel compelled to use my wallet to make my voice heard. I won't buy items from countries whose governments are participating in egregious treatment of human beings and I won't support a corporation that supports organizations or industries that violate my conscience. 

So, with that in mind I went out shopping for a couple of small gifts yesterday afternoon. As if shopping with a mask that kept bumping up into my lower eyelashes wasn't stress enough to deal with, I was checking every single label on every single item in three sections of the store looking for the specifics of each's manufacturing info. If I were in store security, I'd have been monitoring my own curious shopping this afternoon.

What really stunned and saddened me was how few goods are actually made in the USA any more. When did this happen? Do we not make anything in this country any more? I spent several hours shopping and came home with just a couple of small items. Even many books are no longer printed in the US. Books are just paper and ink. How is that we can't do paper and ink any more?

I had an idea for a bunch of spa items for each daughter. Wow, the print on packages was so tiny! Most of the items were made in China, a couple in Taiwan, one in Egypt, and a couple in Indonesia. I had really wanted to support manufacturing in my own country, as I see us getting deeper and deeper into an unemployment hole right now. I wanted a shower cap, a scrubbing brush or loofah, maybe a bath bomb or two and a couple of hair accessories. A big fat "nope" on the shower cap, brush/loofah, and hair accessories. I checked every package. Brands that I thought were surely American-made are now all made some place else.  In the end, I found a couple of USA-made bath bombs, bath soaks, and a chocolate bar each. I also checked the clothing department of same store and found nothing my daughters would ever wear from the paltry amount of US-made items.

We did this to ourselves. We were so eager for bargain prices that we didn't notice that products weren't being manufactured locally. We knew that sometimes what we were buying didn't last as long as it should have or that we had known previous purchases had lasted. We didn't care. So long as it was inexpensive, that's what mattered. And deep down, we did know that many of our products were made elsewhere. It wasn't as if someone was fooling us. But we just didn't care enough, or I didn't care enough that I was buying products made somewhere else. Like I said, I felt saddened by this realization, like I sold out. 

The good news is that there are American companies out there. They're not the big names that we've grown up knowing as American, but instead, small cottage industry businesses. You won't find many of their items on the shelves of the big box stores. You have to search out these small businesses. When I got home, I spent time online looking for shower caps made in the USA. After a lot of google searches, I finally found several sellers on etsy. They're a lot more expensive than what I saw in the big box store. But maybe the higher price means that the worker made a fair wage for their time with my purchase. Plus, I think these are much cuter!

If I could, would I go back to not reading packages or caring where my money was going? I don't think I can. I can't un-know what I've learned this last year. But I hope that intentional shopping won't always feel this stressful.

Rant over.

Wild Greens Are up and Thriving in My Yard This Week

I planted watercress in my garden, once, almost 20 years ago. And now, it has seeded itself all over that portion of my yard. Every spring -- I feel so blessed.

The weather has been dry this week. So, I've been working outside while I can. I'm pruning fruit trees and cleaning vegetable beds. While outside, I noticed lots and lots of watercress plants popping up all over. It's a use-them-or-lose-them sort of thing in March. By the end of the month they'll have begun to go to seed and won't be so tender.

I picked a basket full on Monday and made a nice salad to go with our dinner that night. I'll be picking another basket full this afternoon.

My daughters have grown up eating watercress salads every spring. It's kind of funny -- I don't think they realize that watercress is one of those "fancy" greens that sells for a couple of dollars a bunch in the grocery store. I think they see our watercress salads as something "odd" that their mom picks from the yard, like a throw-back to a hunter-gatherer civilization. I'll be peeling bark off our trees for tea next.

Watercress has a peppery flavor, which I find very appealing this time of year. It's super healthy -- one of the most nutrient-dense leafy greens. And for me, it's free. I'll be making the most of our watercress riches in the next several weeks.

Have you ever eaten foraged greens? We don't get very many dandelions, but I've wanted to try those, too. Have you ever tried dandelion greens? Would you recommend them?

Retro Cooking: Creamed Chicken and Vegetables on Toast Points

An old time favorite using this recipe for cream of celery soup, some cooked chicken, and frozen broccoli -- Creamed Chicken and Vegetables on Toast. With cooked chicken and frozen vegetables, this was a quick supper, taking me under 30 minutes from start to table. 

I left the cream soup in the saucepan and reheated the cooked chicken on the stove over Low heat while I made the toast and microwaved the broccoli (so I could drain off any liquid before adding to the soup and chicken).

My mom made a similar version of creamed chicken on toast points, only she used frozen mixed vegetables in place of the broccoli.

Super easy. I just wanted to show you how this scratch cream soup can be useful for suppers other than casseroles.

Does anyone else still eat creamed chicken on toast points or am I really dating myself here?

Found My DIY Painted Speckled Eggs

March? What? Where did winter go? In the PNW, March is a month of erratic weather. We can have snow, hail, rain, sunshine, warmth, gloom, lightening, and white puffy clouds -- all in the same week. Despite the climate craziness, I try to send positive vibes out into the universe and think spring.

Sunday afternoon, I was getting out some spring decor pieces and found the egg carton filled with a dozen of my DIY painted and speckled eggs. Maybe you remember, I painted these a couple of years ago. I'm mentioning them again because a) it took me a couple of weeks to blow out enough eggs to do a dozen without cracking the shells, and b) this is a super frugal decor project. (I'd say super frugal is when you turn compost items into home decor, don't you think?) 

To get the clean eggs, I pricked both ends of each egg with a straight pin, making the hole in the flat end of the egg larger than the hole at the pointed end. To blow out the insides, I blew through the smaller hole. After blowing a batch of eggs for cooking, I washed the eggs in a bowl of warm soapy water, submerging the eggs and allowing water to seep inside. I then shook the soapy water around inside the eggs and blew out the soapy water as I had blown out the eggs originally. I placed the eggs on a heat register to thoroughly dry. Any warm spot will work, even an oven that is cooling from use in baking.

When I had a dozen cleaned and dried egg shells, I used a small dab of paintable caulk to seal the holes on both ends of each egg.  Once the caulk dried I hand-painted each egg a solid color with acrylic paints. Going for a natural look, I chose a pale green, pale blue, and tan for my set of eggs. I also think speckled eggs would be pretty in pastels, such as pink, yellow, lavender, and green.

After the base layer of acrylic paint had dried, I put all of the eggs into a cardboard box, then placed the box in the bottom of the bathtub for speckling. This part can get messy and might be a good project for outdoors, weather-permitting. But the bathtub worked and was easy to clean afterward. 

To speckle the eggs, I dipped an old toothbrush into dark brown acrylic paint and flicked it over the eggs, turning them over a couple of times to ensure they were covered on all sides with speckling.

Once dried, I used them in an arrangement, nested in with some moss.

If all of this seems like a lot of work for some spring decor, consider this -- I have saved and re-displayed these eggs several years in a row now. I keep the eggs in an egg carton from one year to the next. By being careful with handling them, I haven't lost a single egg yet.

Ah spring -- new life, painted eggs, crocuses blooming, birds chirping, and a bunny sighting. Spring stirs hope in my winter-weary spirit.

What says spring to you?

Making Budget Foods More User-Friendly: Scratch Substitute for Condensed Cream Soups

Scratch Cream of Celery Soup to Use in Casseroles

Back to my weekend version of this blog -- basic frugal foods made easy. 

A lot of folks weren't raised learning basic frugal cooking skills. Instead, in their family homes of origin, a lot of foods that they consumed were what we'd recognize as convenience foods, such as boxed meal helpers. There's nothing at all wrong with that scenario. However, they now find themselves (through no fault of their own) on a very limited budget, unemployed or forced into early retirement due to this pandemic, struggling financially right now and looking for help so that they can help themselves. Enter Basic Frugal Foods Made Easy, my weekend version of this blog that goes back to the basics to help others make very delicious foods while sticking to a tight budget. Remember, once you learn a piece of information or a new skill, you own that information to use over and over again. 

M'm! M'm! Good! 

M'm! M'm! Good!

Here's a substitute

that's M'm! M'm! Good!

I wanted to share another recipe to add to your budget cooking repertoire -- a canned "cream of whatever" soup substitute for using in casseroles. This soup is delicious in tuna casseroles, green bean casserole, chicken and rice casseroles, combined with chunks of chicken and vegetables served over toast or biscuits, or just pouring over some chicken breasts to cover with foil and bake. 

I love that you can make a casserole from just about any cooked meat, some veggies, a starch like rice, pasta, or shredded/cubed potatoes, and a binder like a cream soup. If the soup is flavorful enough, there's little need for added seasonings for the casserole.

The following recipe makes 16 ounces, or about 1 can of condensed soup plus 1/2 can of milk -- which is the amount called for in many of my recipes.

The soup itself is delicious as is. To serve as a soup, this may be diluted with about 1/4 cup of water or milk to thin as it's quite thick. It could be made with vegetables other than celery, such as broccoli or mushrooms. I make this with celery, as that's the most economical version for use in casseroles. 

As you might already know, a cream soup is simply a white sauce with added flavorings and a bit more richness. If you can make a white sauce, then in addition to making a substitute for canned soup in casseroles, you can make a cheese sauce (for homemade mac and cheese or Welsh rarebit) or a cream of whatever you can imagine soup. In early spring, I make cream of garden sorrel soup and cream of garden watercress soup with this recipe. I also make cream of asparagus soup with the peeled ends from fresh asparagus. And in late spring, I make cheesy cream of kale and carrot soup using this recipe as a backbone.

Do you have about 15 minutes? The total time to make this soup is about 12-15 minutes, including chopping, measuring, cooking, and puréeing.

Cream of Celery Soup  (yield: 16 ounces of thick creamy soup)

2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup chopped onions
3/4 cup chopped celery
2  2/3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup whole milk (I use part 2% milk and part heavy cream, but all milk --whole or 2% -- also works)
3/4 cup chicken stock (I use 1 teaspoon chicken soup base plus 3/4 cup water)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/16 teaspoon black pepper
dash nutmeg
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese

In a medium-sized saucepan (about 2 quart capacity) -- over Medium heat, cook onions and celery with the butter until the vegetables are soft and translucent. about 5 to 6 minutes.

Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute. 

Add the milk and stock while stirring and cook until thickened, about 3 minutes. 

Add garlic powder, black pepper and nutmeg. Remove from heat. Purée with immersion blender, food processor or pitcher blender until smooth.

Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, onion powder and Parmesan cheese. Adjust seasonings, adding the extra salt as desired for recipe. To use in a casserole, you want the soup to be more flavorful and less bland. At this point, you could add a hit of red pepper flakes, more nutmeg, or more onion or garlic powder, if that suits your taste.

The soup is ready for your casserole.

Perhaps you remember casseroles that were topped with potato chips. Here's a bonus recipe for a casserole topping made with butter, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, a pinch of dried herbs, and Parmesan cheese.

Savory Bread Crumb Topping

I take 1 slice of bread (wide pan if commercial, otherwise a standard slice of homemade bread) and turn it into crumbs in the food processor. 

In a small skillet I melt 1 teaspoon of butter and toss in the bread crumbs. As the crumbs toast, I add 1/4 teaspoon salt, a dash each of pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and the dried herbs. (I've used thyme, here, but I sometimes use dried basil or oregano, depending on what type of casserole this is for.) Then at the end, I add 3 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese, stirring in between each spoon of cheese.

before baking

after baking

The crumbs should not be too toasty-looking just out of the pan, as they'll toast up on top of the casserole upon baking.

You might be able to buy a can of cream soup for less than or equal to the cost of this recipe. However, the value is not necessarily in the money spent for homemade compared to a store-bought can of soup. The value is in looking at your pantry and not knowing what to make from what you have, compared to ordering a pizza or other takeout.

With a batch of homemade cream soup, plus pasta, can of tuna, some peas, and a crumb topping, you can make a complete dinner in about the same amount of time as waiting for a pizza to arrive, saving substantially.

In addition, you get to control the ingredients. So, for example, perhaps you want a dairy-free version. You can make this with an alternative milk. Or perhaps you want to avoid extra sugars or reduce the sodium, that's all in your control.

My family will tell you that this soup tastes better than any commercial canned cream soup. Either I have especially un-picky eaters in my house, or this is a good soup recipe.

Do you have an immersion blender? I resisted buying one for many years. About 6 or 7 years ago I finally bought one like the above. This one has a plastic casing. If I were to choose over, I might spring for one with a metal casing by a company like Vitamix. But so far, I've been satisfied with what I have. The shield around the blade is plastic, and it has developed a tiny crack in it, but it still works. I always wash the attachment by hand under running water (not soaking) and never in the dishwasher -- avoiding corrosion in the interior blade and shaft area. I prefer puréeing soups and sauce with this blender over the a food processor or pitcher blender, as I have less to wash up after cooking.

So, that's my recipe for a canned condensed soup substitute. If you make this, let me know what you think and how you tweaked the recipe.

Tomato Seedlings Are Launched

Last weekend, I started our tomato plants for our vegetable garden in pots indoors. 

You may remember that late last winter I was concerned I might not be able to get out to a nursery to buy our tomato plants for our vegetable garden, so I chose to start our plants from a small amount of seeds I had leftover from a few years prior. On March 1, I planted enough for 6 plants (of which 5 survived), using up all of the seeds. 

Those plants were just a little on the small and young side when I set them out into the garden. My primary garden pest in early spring is the slug. If seedlings are on the small side, I think the slugs believe I planted them just for their enjoyment. So, I waited an extra week or two to plant out the tomato seedlings, which meant the actual fruit developed a couple of weeks later than I would have liked. 

Fast forward to 2021, I ordered tomato seeds in January so I could be sure to get a variety that I know works in our PNW conditions and not pay too much. I began this year's seeds about 9 days earlier in the season with hopes for slightly earlier fruit and bigger plants at transplant time.

I now have a bunch of tiny seedlings growing under a plant light in the laundry room. I'll use 5 or 6 plants with the extra ones for giving away in mid to late April. I know a couple of people who aren't normally gardeners but might like to try a tomato plant, especially if it's free to them. We'll see.

I'm currently thinking through what I want to grow this summer and which other seeds I'll need to buy. Spring comes in a hurry, so I'd better get busy with planning.

How about you? Will you be growing a vegetable garden this year? Do you start any of your seeds indoors or do you plant them all out into the ground?

Cheesecake Graham Cracker Snack

I was needing a little treat the other day, when I thought how delicious just a bite of cheesecake would taste. Not wanting to go through the trouble of making a cheesecake, I settled on this easy little snack -- plain graham crackers paired with a sweetened cream cheese spread that is topped with blueberry jam.

As commercial cookies go, graham crackers are a pretty good value. They're lower in sugar than many cookies and contain some whole grains. The once 16-oz boxes have now shrunk to 14.4 oz (or thereabouts), but for $1.70 to $2.00 (less when on sale) per box of store-brand wafers, that's not a bad price. 

My first thought was that I would just make a couple of tablespoons of some cheesecake spread. My second thought was the whole family might enjoy this. And I was right. The cheesecake spread on graham crackers got rave reviews.

The spread is a less-sweet version of cream cheese frosting, with butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and some powdered sugar to sweeten, but not enough to make the spread thick like frosting. Then I added a few generous spoonfuls of homemade blueberry jam (from last summer) to the top. Again, another way for me to use up some of those jams and jellies. The blueberry jam, by the way, was made with frozen blueberries and not fresh ones. Using commercial frozen berries made this jam more affordable for me, and it was just as good as jam from fresh berries.

Why am I telling you about our cheesecake snack? My daughter urged me to share this with you. You're welcome!

February Grocery Recap

(I needed something life-affirming this week. A potted tulip from WinCo was just the thing. I'll transplant these beauties into a pot on the deck later Thursday, so that they will slowly develop over the next month.)

Here we are, in the last week of February. Once again, it's time to wrap up my grocery spending for the month. I shopped twice this month: once, with a curbside pick-up at Walmart, spending $99.81; the second time, in-person at WinCo, spending $84.85, for a total of $184.66.

Here's what I bought, what it cost and where I bought it all:

2 boxes crackers, $1.78 & $1.68, Walmart

2 boxes graham crackers, $1.71 ea, WinCo

1 box animal cookies, $1.38, WinCo

80-ct corn tortillas, $2.18, WinCo

16-oz pretzels, $1.52, Walmart

9-oz bag oyster crackers, 80 cents, Walmart

12-oz bag oyster crackers, $1.18, WinCo

2 jars instant Folger's decaf, $6.32 ea, Walmart

2 jars instant Folger's decaf, $6.54 ea. WinCo

large jar Folger's reg, $8.65, WinCo

ketchup, 88 cents, WinCo

yellow mustard, 78 cents, WinCo

3 cans olives, $1.26 ea, Walmart

4 cans olives, 98 cents ea, WinCo

garlic powder, 98 cents, Walmart

1 package hot dog buns, 88 cents, Walmart

1 small bag mini powdered sugar donuts, 1 small bag chocolate donuts, $1 ea, Walmart

64 oz cranberry-black cherry juice cocktail, $1.78, Walmart

2-lb bag frozen broccoli cuts, $2 Walmart

2-lb bag frozen broccoli cuts, $2.30, WinCo

2 bags frozen mushrooms, $1.98 ea, Walmart

8 Roma tomatoes, 15 cents/lb, Walmart
1 head green cabbage, 58 cents/lb, Walmart

2 heads green cabbage, 78 cents/lb, WinCo
15 bananas, 42 cents/lb, Walmart and WinCo

3 heads iceberg lettuce, 25 cents ea, Walmart

5 avocados, 68 cents ea, Walmart

3 avocados, 58 cents ea, WinCo
6 lbs clementines, $5.96, Walmart
3 lbs fuji apples, $3.17, Walmart

two 3-lb bags fuji apples, $2.58 ea, WinCo
1 bundle organic celery, $1.26, Walmart

1 bundle celery, 98 cents, WinCo

2 green peppers, 73 cents ea, Walmart

3 green peppers, 38 cents ea, WinCo

2 lbs fresh carrots, $1.34, Walmart

5 lbs fresh carrots, $2.48, WinCo

6 oz dried apricots, $2.87, Walmart
24 oz dried cranberries, $4.94, Walmart

5 oz dried cherries, $2.98, Walmart

5 dozen eggs, $4.75, Walmart

2 dozen eggs, 98 cents ea, WinCo
7 gals 2% milk, 2 gal whole milk (for yogurt), $2.18 ea, Walmart and WinCo

2-lb block of cheddar cheese, $5.51, WinCo

1-lb block sharp cheddar cheese, $3.36, Walmart

2-lb bag shredded mozzarella cheese, $6.28, WinCo
pint whipping cream, $1.98, Walmart

2 packages turkey kielbasa, $3.16 ea, Walmart

2 packages turkey smoked sausage, $2.48 ea, WinCo

36-ct, turkey breakfast sausage links, $4.48, WinCo

21-oz pack pepperoni, $6.32, Walmart

You may not realize this, but I post these grocery lists for myself as well as you, friends. I find interesting insights in my own grocery shopping, sometimes helping me shop smarter in the next month. WinCo doesn't list any prices online, so I only know the cost of each item when I'm actually in the store. Pricing between Walmart and WinCo is very competitive on many items. However, there are a few things where I could save a bit of money by buying them at one store over the other. I'll be keeping that in mind the next time I need to shop. 

I haven't bought much meat in a while. Neither Walmart nor WinCo are my favorite places for buying meat. Next month I'll shop specifically for meat, going to another store. 

So, maybe you're wondering why I went to WinCo for my second shopping this month. My last batch of whole milk yogurt only partially set. I don't know what went wrong, but one thought was Walmart's milk supplier has changed their process (using a higher temp for pasteurizing could be an issue). I wanted to try WinCo's milk for my next batch. I also wanted to shop at a store that wasn't part of a mega-chain. During this past year, there's been a huge shift of wealth toward corporations like Walmart, Amazon, Target, Home Depot, etc. I don't want to lose the smaller venues, so I'll be trying to shop at more of the stores that I especially don't want to lose, WinCo being one of them. (WinCo is a chain store in both the western and central US, but they are employee-owned, which is a good thing for economy diversity in supermarkets.)

Our Winter Fruit Supply: Italian Prunes

Our Italian Prune plum tree may still be in it's annual winter dormancy, but we are enjoying its fruit anyway.

Let me tell you a little about Italian Prune plums.

This tree begins ripening in early September in my yard. In our rented unit many years ago, the Italian Prune ripened in August. I think it's a partial shade thing in this yard that leads to later ripening. I spend most of September harvesting all of those delicious plums. 

A couple of years ago, I bought a claw and basket fruit-harvesting tool to screw onto one of our extension poles. With this tool, I was able to harvest all of the plums myself without climbing the tree or using a ladder this year. The claw slides in between the stem and the fruit. With a quick tug, the fruit falls into the basket just a few inches below the claw. This tool is designed for apples and pears, but as I discovered, it also works well on smaller fruit like plums.

I estimate that I harvested about 40 pounds of fruit this past season. I'm certain that we have recouped our original cost of about $30 (mail order) for this plum tree (bought 15 years ago). In checking prices today for the same tree, a bare root sells for between $38 and $50. Mine is grafted onto dwarfing root stock, so it will never overtake its spot in our yard or become too tall for me to harvest.

Italian Prune trees are self-fertile (meaning they don't need a pollinator to produce fruit), heavy-setting, hardy in zones 4 though 9, have a chill requirement that will work for all but Florida in the continental US, and while experts say they require full sun, our partially sunny (5 to 6 hours of direct sun) backyard has been okay for our tree (ripens a few weeks before first frost). Our tree began fruiting at 3 years, with full production at around 5 or 6 years. 

In my area of the PNW, nurseries are just now beginning to ship bare root trees. I believe I planted our plum tree in mid-March. 

The fruit ripens on the tree over about a 3-week period in late summer and will keep refrigerated for about 10 days. Due to this short keeping time, the fresh plums need preserving in some way. I preserve our plums as pitted halves canned in heavy syrup, pitted halves frozen to use in pies and cobblers, as jam or in chutney, and pitted and dried as prunes. Plums and other fruit can be dried on trays in a low oven, in full sun on racks and covered by cheesecloth, or in a dehydrator.

Other details -- Fresh plums have a whitish "bloom" on the skin. This isn't mold. When I dehydrate my plums, the 'bloom" remains on the skin. Again, this isn't mold. Italian Prune plums are free-stone, so they're easy to pit for preserving.

Our family's favorite way to use the dried prunes is stewed. Stewed prunes sounds like such an "old people" food, right? But really, these are delicious, especially when flavored!

This is how I make stewed prunes:

• I place about 1 cup of dried prunes in a stainless saucepan (enameled is good too), cover with water, then bring to a boil.

• Once boiling, I reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

• After 10 minutes, I turn the stove off and add a tablespoon or two of sugar or honey and allow to cool.

• A jar of stewed prunes keeps in the fridge for about 1 week.
• The prunes can be flavored by simmering with aromatics, such as a slice of fresh ginger (my favorite), a few strips of lemon or orange peel, a cinnamon stick, a couple of whole cloves, a dash of ground nutmeg, and/or a few whole allspice berries, or with a few drops of almond extract or any of the above spices. ground, added after cooking. I sometimes use the pineapple juice from canned pineapple slices for stewing the prunes, too.

Pureed stewed prunes can also be used as a fat substitute in baking chocolate cake or brownies. 

I think prunes get a bad rap. And I'm not the only one who thinks that. Commercial packagers have begun labeling prunes as "dried plums." It seems the name "prune" has a derogatory association with it, calling a mean old woman an "old prune" or the description of how our toes or fingers look when they've been soaking in water or how prunes are often used for digestive reasons. Years ago, Prune was a somewhat common girl's name in France. I think that might be a hard sell as a baby name here in the US in the 21st century. Whatever the fruit is called, my family enjoys the plums fresh and preserved as prunes to use in winter. It's been a prolific tree for us and has saved at least a couple of hundred dollars over buying fruit.

How about you? Are you a prune-eater or a prune-hater?