Category Archives: frugal strategies

Cutting project costs by building with pallets

frugal strategies, homemaking, homeschooling

I started looking at ads to buy goats, then realized I better get a pen built first so that I didn’t create unnecessary stress for myself by finding the kind of goats I wanted but not having a place to keep them. So my husband stepped in as the overseer of that building project while a couple of our boys did the building.

I had been planning a certain kind of pen, but when I saw how expensive the goats are, was inspired to offset those costs by finding more frugal options for building the pen. I settled on using pallets, which are a good source of free wood, but they come with the not insignificant effort of dissembling them. For the pen design itself, we decided to minimize our work and use whole pallets, mostly avoiding the need to take them apart (the door is the exception).

Building with whole pallets has its challenges; since the pallets aren’t identical there’s extra time and effort involved so that the end result doesn’t look haphazard. Ds16 and ds14 worked together to get the main pen built; my only physical input was to redirect some passionfruit vines from along our fence to the area above the pen. Passionfruit grows quickly and my intention is for them to is that they will eventually cover the top of the pen, providing shade as well as making it look more visually appealing.

Building the door did require wood of a specific size, so ds14 found a method that is very effective in breaking them apart – though he makes it look easy he quickly developed blisters on his hand and I felt tired just watching him. That young man has a huge work ethic and a lot of stamina! Once he took the pallets apart, he built the door and now all that’s remaining to add is a lock.

Though doing your own projects is less expensive than paying someone, building materials nonetheless add up quickly. Ds14 and ds20 discovered this for themselves last year when they co-purchased geese and building materials for a pen. I suggested to them that they consider using recycled wood, but they didn’t think it was worth the effort. They spent 1500 shekels on a wooden frame, chicken wire and screws, and soon experienced for themselves how fast the expenses added up. Later when they decided to end the goose experiment, ds14 decided to switch over to chickens and wanted to add a chicken run. He chose to use recycled materials; almost doubling the space but spent only 100 – 200 shekels more).

Independent of cost considerations, I very much like reusing and recycling. It’s gratifying for me to find a way to use what I already have or what already exists rather than get something new.

About using pallets – it’s important to know that they have different codes printed on the pallet that indicate how the wood was treated. Sometimes dangerous chemicals are used and those pallets marked as such should be avoided for a project like this. We chose pallets that were untreated or heat treated. To see a list of the symbols and what they stand for, check out this site.

My husband gets the credit for shlepping the pallets home. Talk about a good attitude – he did it smilingly and told me he appreciated the chance to get a physical work out loading and unloading them (so far he’s brought home 25 pallets!). Next on the list of pallet projects is a hay feeder, milking stand and outdoor stairs.

Avivah

When life gives you lemons, make lots of lemon juice!

canning, frugal strategies

This week I got a windfall of lemons, and decided to process them immediately. I’ve had the unfortunate experience of my produce being left in a bag and put away somewhere outside of the fridge by a zealous child wanting to quickly clean up, and by the time I find it it’s no longer usable. So I decided to seize the moment. šŸ™‚

Fortunately, my food processor has a juicer attachment. I bought this food processor about five years ago because the owner told me with the high demands I make of my machine, I would burn out the motor of smaller and less expensive machines. It’s a good machine and has served me well, and the juicer attachment makes a project like this very doable.

Ds9 saw what I was doing and asked to help, so I put him to work.

At some point ds5 wanted ds9 to join him in the pool, so he went to swim. We have a gated pool in the backyard for our vacation apartment, and this year I considered having just one pool, to simplify maintenance and cut costs. But I decided against the seemingly more frugal option. Having a second pool on the front patio right outside the kitchen window means I can easily keep an eye on them when cooking and makes it possible for them to spend significantly more time swimming than if I had to leave everything to sit with them in the back. They come home tired and irritable from school, and being able to spend so much time in the pool makes our afternoons much more relaxed and enjoyable for everyone.

In from swimming and ready to help some more!

Ds9 juicing lemons, with the overflowing pan of juiced lemons and container of leftover pulp in the background.

Ds5 wanted a turn, too!

The inexpensive lemon juice I buy at the store is actually watered down citric acid. This fresh lemon juice is delicious – a bit sweet and very flavorful.

Though the juicer attachment strains out most of the pulp, tiny white seeds still go through. When preserving lemon juice by canning, these little seeds can make the finished result bitter. I learned this with my disappointing experiment canning mandarin oranges earlier this year. They were so sweet and tasty eaten fresh, but once I canned them, they were bitter and unappealing – the pith left on them had caused the flavor to change. I opened all the jars of mandarins, turned them into jam and reprocessed them, but honestly they probably are wasting shelf space because we have yet to touch them.

That experience inspired me to be more careful with the little things that don’t seem so important. We used the pulp that came from our second sieving to make lemonade – with the addition of some water and maple syrup, it made a nice drink for a hot day.

This time, the experiment turned out great! Lemon juiced is a high acidity product, so it can be preserved using the water bath canning method. There are two ways to do it, by pouring the juice into the jars hot or cold. If you choose to do the hot pack method, the jars have to be hot before placing hot juice in them, and you then place the jars directly into boiling water. This can be a time savings because you can boil the water while you’re doing something else, but I prefer the cold pack method because there are fewer steps.

After filling the jars with the unheated strained juice, we placed them into a large stockpot. I have a rack for the bottom of mine, but if you don’t you can put a thin towel or washcloth on the bottom so it doesn’t bang around and crack once the water boils.

Cover the jars with about an inch of water, then put the lid on and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, you begin the processing time – in this case, fifteen minutes for quart sized jars. When the time is up, take the jars out and put them on a towel covering the counter – again, this is to protect the jars from cracking.

The preserved lemon juice changed color a bit (I’m guessing if I did hot pack that it wouldn’t have changed as much), but the flavor is excellent. As you can see, even after straining it a second time, there was still pulp left that rose to the top once I processed it. I wasn’t worried about straining out all the pulp – if I was, I would have used a finer sieve. I just shake it before using and it’s all good.

We ended up with a bit over eleven liters of lemon juice.

The finished product, along with the three lemons I left unjuiced so I can use them for salads.

As far as the financial savings – if I compared the cost to eleven liters of the watered down citric acid, making my own saved just 44 shekels. If I compare it to the cost of real lemon juice, it saved much more – over 150 shekels.

That leaves the question, is it worth it to spend the time on this? With my helpers it took about ninety minutes to make the juice. It would have been faster by myself but I consider it a gain when I can double up on the things I want to do and spend time with my children, so I didn’t mind the time spent. I would have had to be available to them during that time in any case.

Now, this equation works because I enjoy activities like this, and I like ending up with a quality product. If I didn’t, this might have felt like drudgery and not worth the time and energy spent.

Avivah

Formula shortages and formula options

frugal strategies, health, nutrition, parenting

A few weeks ago there began to be a shortage of formula in the US, a situation that has reached what some officials have called a ‘crisis situation’.

Baby formula is in dramatically short supply, with many stores locking up the formula, limiting it to one per customer, or the stock in the stores simply not there. Parents of babies who need formula are having to drive far distances, pay exorbitant online prices to opportunist sellers – or do without.

As a mother of 11 who has been deeply committed to breastfeeding, I nonetheless have experienced the challenge of not being able to nurse two of my babies. I nursed my tenth child, who had a weak sucking reflex, for four months, while simultaneously pumping for several hours a day to keep my supply up. I finally gave up when despite all my efforts, I couldn’t produce the milk he needed. (I later realized that the two pumps I had borrowed were faulty and that was the source of the problem, but in my exhausted state and with very limited community resources, I couldn’t access other options.)

I turned to formula, trying different kinds while also looking for goats’ milk and mothers’ milk donors, for the most part without success. Finally, after five months we found a formula he could tolerate, that was only available by medical prescription and cost over 1000 shekels a month.

When my eleventh child came into our lives via the legal system, I began seeking out mothers’ milk donors before he even arrived home. I was then living in the center of the country, and access to community resources was dramatically different. Like his brother before him, he couldn’t tolerate regular formula. For the first two years, we were blessed to be able to give him mother’s milk for all but two months (a week here, a week there, when the donor milk couldn’t be found), and for those in-between times we supplemented with a medical prescription formula. I later donated the many unused cans we had purchased to a mother in financial need whose child used that specialty formula. I was so grateful to have the resources that I needed to keep him healthy.

When I think of these desperate mothers seeking food for their babies, it’s heartbreaking. I once ran out of formula due to logistics in prescription/purchasing rules (those have since changed) and we ended up in the emergency room on Shabbos as a result.

These mothers need options. While breastfeeding is wonderful and I fully support it, it’s not an option for everyone. It’s disturbing for me to see commentators – especially men – suggesting that if mothers would be breastfeeding they wouldn’t be in this situation.

Many women physically can’t produce milk no matter how much they try, due to illness or physical challenge on the side of the mother or baby; there are foster/adoptive parents/grandparents raising children that they didn’t give birth to.

I do believe that steps will be taken to to increase formula production and hopefully this will be a short-lived crisis. In the interim, parents need help. If you are a nursing mother and know someone struggling with the formula shortage, perhaps you can offer to help out by pumping. I can’t tell you how grateful I am to the tens of mothers who kept our youngest nourished and healthy thanks to their donations. Or if you see formula in your stores, buy it to donate to someone else who can’t find it. Or share the below information for how to make their own.

How did people feed their infants in the days before commercially produced formula was available? Hiring a wet nurse was a common practice, but in cultures that didn’t have that practice, parents made their own. Here’s are two recipes for formula that are nutritionally complete that were published in Nourishing Traditions; one is dairy and one is meat based. Goat milk is an excellent replacement for mother’s milk, though it needs to be supplemented with vitamin B12 and folate. Many of our elders who were bottle-fed were raised on evaporated milk mixed with Karo syrup; here is a simple emergency formula replacement recipe using evaporated milk, as well as an excellent explanation for why evaporated milk is a better option than regular milk. **Disclaimer: of course every parent needs to verify with their medical professionals that the option they are considering is appropriate for their child.**

Hopefully this situation will quickly be resolved. In the meantime, parents can look to alternative solutions and feel empowered knowing they have the tools to keep their babies fed and happy.

Avivah

Oil prices zooming up, and where to find palm oil?

frugal strategies

Due to health concerns, I choose not to use vegetable oils such as canola, sunflower or soy. Though generally cheap and widely available, I stick with coconut oil (for cooking and baking) and olive oil (for salads).

There’s one oil that I’m only able to get Passover time, and that’s palm oil. I look for it as soon as the stores switch over to Passover foods, and until a couple of years ago, would get about twenty bottles when they were at half price for 5 shekels each. It’s a shelf stable option and very convenient to have on hand to supplement my coconut oil use.

Last year I didn’t see any on sale, so I got my twenty bottles for the full price, ten shekels. This year I was disappointed not to see any palm oil for sale, not for a reduced price and not for a full price. None at all. Not only that, I hardly saw any oils being sold. I had noticed before Purim that the oils were scantily stocked, but thought it might be due to stores wanting to use up stock before switching to Passover foods.

Fortunately, my husband found two bottles of walnut oil for Pesach. That wasn’t enough for us for the amount of people we were cooking for! So I sent my husband back to the store to get some more walnut oil for the last couple of days of Pesach.

He called and told me he found ten bottles of palm oil, and did I want it? ‘Yes, all of them, please!’ But they’re 18 shekels each, you want me to spend 180 shekels on oil right now? Understandably, it didn’t seem like a priority to buy seemingly overpriced oil in quantity. With no hesitation, I told him, absolutely! I was so glad to get some.

I usually buy a carton of coconut oil (bulk size) twice a year. About six months ago, I realized prices were about to climb significantly for that specific product, so I bought more than usual. I also bought some for a couple of others who I told about the expected price increase.

This week I looked at the website of the bulk baking store I bought it from, to see if they carried palm oil. While I was browsing, I saw that the hydrogenated coconut oil (I buy unhydrogenated but didn’t see it in stock, the price is usually similar) is now 526 shekels for a carton. I paid 202 shekels for the same size carton a year ago, and 235 shekels at the end of the summer.

You know what oil is now 323 shekels for a sixteen kilo carton? Canola. Seriously. One of the cheapest and most nutritionally worthless oils is now more than I paid six months ago for the most expensive oil.

For us, good quality fats are an important part of our diet, and I consider it a priority to have some on hand. Believe me, I’m really glad that I bought a second carton in the summer; I just finished the carton I bought then and am now at the point that I would be needing to buy more. Coconut oil is shelf stable for a long time and I saved over 300 shekels on that one carton. I don’t know if I’ll continue to buy coconut oil if I have to pay so much for it; I’m going to be looking for a less expensive option.

On Sukkos (five months ago) my daughter-in-law told me she wanted to buy coconut oil in bulk but the price was up to 350 shekels; that looks like a screaming bargain right now. The question is, does a shopper buy some extra at this price, which seems exorbitant now but may be a bargain in another six months? I don’t expect the price of coconut oil to go down anytime soon; realistically probably not for a couple of years. But this price is a bit rich for my budget.

Oils are currently being rationed in the UK and other parts of Europe; they’ve been out of stock for weeks in Germany. The managing director of Iceland supermarkets confirmed they are rationing oil to a bottle a person, and explained, “If you look at commodity prices, sunflower oil has gone up 1,000 percent in terms of the commodity cost in the market, palm oil (up) 400 percent, and then there is things like wheat, 50 percent, fertilizer 350 percent”.

What’s causing these prices to shoot up? In short, supply chain issues and the Russia-Ukraine conflict is the latest factor. Does what happens in the UK or Europe have anything to do with those of us in the US or Israel? Based on these price increases, it certainly seems so.

As I’ve said before, one of my primary grocery budgetary strategies is to stock up on what I need when the items are on sale. Today I’ll be going to a meeting with ds9’s teacher; his school isn’t far from an Osher Ad supermarket. I’m planning to stop in and see if I can find some good deals, and though I know the chances are slim, hoping to find palm oil! (Please let me know in the comments if you know where to buy palm oil in normal kitchen sized quantities.)

Avivah

Starting to see food shortages in US, what to do now

frugal strategies

I wrote the following on November 8, 2021, but finally decided not to post it because I felt it was too soon to talk about this. Instead, I chose to share information about how to budget for food, buy in bulk, find pantry space and repurpose leftovers, knowing this would be helpful information to anyone wanting to stretch their food budget for whatever reason.


>>You can’t imagine how many times I’ve written and rewritten this post, deleting and deleting and rewriting again! My dilemma is I don’t want to cause anyone anxiety or alarm, but at the same time, I want your family to have what it needs.

I’ve deleted all my commentary and explanation about the reasons this will happen, and I’m going to get right into it.

Food prices are anticipated to rise sharply in coming months. There is a lot of talk behind the scenes about food shortages.

Most of you live in countries where this seems preposterous, but some of you are beginning to see shortages. There is a complex web of factors leading to this situation worldwide and as fascinating a topic as this is, I’m not going to talk about why and how this is happening. I’m going to focus on what to do about it.

First of all, now is the time to be as conservative as possible in your spending. Please think about what foods you use, and buy a bit more of them each time you shop. Don’t panic, don’t go into hoarding mode, don’t get afraid.<<

Today I’m going to talk more directly about this issue. Thankfully, here in Israel our prices are remaining steady and I’m not seeing unusual shortages. That’s not to say that caution isn’t in order, because worldwide inflation and supply chain forces will eventually affect us all.

For my US readers: please take this seriously! US groceries have shot up significantly and will continue to rise. Many, many areas are seeing serious supply issues, with significant sections of the supermarkets empty. They are being explained as being caused by a shortage of workers due to the O variant, and some areas having winter storms and people panic buying as a result. That is definitely a factor but if you think that’s all that is happening, you’re going to be lulled by a false sense that this is a short term issue that will be resolved in a week or two. It’s not.

Some news outlets are beginning to talk about this being a long term issue. Finally!!

I’ve looked at lots of pictures and descriptions of what is in short supply or missing. It varies from store to store, obviously, but here are the things that are pretty consistent:

  • dairy products
  • eggs
  • meat and chicken, sliced sandwich meat
  • frozen processed foods, ready to eat meals
  • bottled juice, some sodas
  • fresh produce
  • bread
  • pastas
  • pet food (specifically for cats and dogs)

If something isn’t on this list, it doesn’t mean some places aren’t experiencing shortages of that. But this list seems to be accurate for the majority of places. It seems red states were the first affected, but the blue states are also being affected now. The bigger cities and wealthier areas are the last to be affected.

People in the affected areas are getting increasingly alarmed to see the combination of price increases and empty shelves when they go to their stores. In American there has always been an abundance of food at low prices, and people assume it will always be like that, so this is understandably disorienting for shoppers.

What if you’re in an area that doesn’t have any gaps at all (and there are still many places like that)? Should you ignore this and think that this doesn’t apply to you?

NO!!!!

You’re the best positioned right now to heed this warning. What is happening in other states will affect you eventually. You are so fortunate to be able to buy some food insurance for yourself, to easily stock your pantry before there are any shortages. A relaxed guideline at this point is to get at least a month’s worth of staples.

To make the empty shelves less noticeable, supermarkets are reorganizing their spaces, taking out shelving and moving it around, fronting the empty shelves with one or two of the items (nothing behind them), filling empty spaces with foods that there is a lot of. For example, one baking aisle pictured had many shelves of white sugar. I’m seeing some people reporting that the expiration dates on canned goods is much shorter than usual. And now there are beginning to be limits on how many of each item you can buy.

What I don’t see in short supply yet are the things that make up the bulk of my meals. Good, old fashioned staples. Ingredients that you need to know how to cook to turn into a meal. šŸ™‚ It’s not a coincidence that these are the last things to be sold! For many people, cooking doesn’t go much beyond heating up ready-made food, and they have no idea what to do with these ingredients.

If you’ve ever read pioneer stories, their big shopping trips would be something like: a barrel of flour, a barrel of beans, a sack of cornmeal, some molasses and a little salt. They’d supplement with their gardens and hunting, and those would be their groceries for months.

Well, that’s not a bad way to think with what’s going on. Personally, I wouldn’t tell anyone to buy extra frozen pizzas or pop tarts, though if you want to get additional meat/chicken and frozen vegetables, it’s a good idea. Think about the most basic foods, ingredients that can be bought inexpensively, stored in a small amount of space, and have a long shelf life. White rice, legumes, flour, sugar, canned goods, peanut butter.

Fortunately, these are also the foods that are most frugal! Many, many people shop for just the week, or even just a couple of days at a time. That’s not a prudent approach right now. I’m suggesting that when you do your shopping, you get additional staple foods.

When you’re doing your shopping, please be kind to the staff. They are the brunt of the frustrations for many shoppers, which besides being wrong, is unfair since they bear absolutely no responsibility for this situation. People are so stressed and this is adding to the ramped up anxiety, so bring your own positive, calm energy with you, so you can spread some good vibes.

One more suggestion – buying local is always a good thing! If you can buy directly from a farmer, that’s a great option. (When I was in the US, I made a trip to Pennsylvania every month or two, and bought my milk and eggs directly from the farmer.) You can get good prices and directly support those who are producing foods you enjoy.

As always, if you have a question, or comment about what you’re seeing in your area, please share in the comment section!

Avivah

Homemade cough syrup remedy, helps coughing and congestion

frugal strategies, health, home remedies

There’s a lot of common cold symptoms going around now, which seasonally what tends to happen in the winter months. For generations, people have known how to treat this kind of thing at home.

Last week I heard one of sons coughing at night and the next morning told him how much vitamin C to take. After a few days, I heard him still coughing in the night and asked him if he had taken the vitamin C I told him to take the first day. No, he sheepishly admitted. I obviously knew that because he wouldn’t still be coughing if he had!

It’s not as if there’s just one way to respond to cold symptoms, though. There are many different remedies people have used effectively for many generations in cultures across the world to heal upper respiratory illnesses and chest congestion, using ingredients that are natural antibiotics.

Plasters and poultices with onion and mustard as a base were a common practice. There are lots of cough syrup/tea recipes include whiskey or bourbon (‘hot toddy’). Below I’m sharing non-alcoholic syrup and tea recipes variations, so you can see how much flexibility there is with the general concept. (The first two listed are what I make.)

  • Mix equal parts freshly squeezed lemon juice and honey. Take a spoonful every few hours.
  • Chop onion, cover with honey. Let sit for several hours; it will become a thin and watery consistency. Strain out onions (you can eat them) and take a spoonful every few hours.
  • Layer raw onion, fresh ginger and raw garlic into a pint jar until half full and then fill the rest of the jar with raw honey. Shake periodically over twelve hour period. Strain, use like cough syrup, a tablespoon every 4 hours.
  • Onion tea – boil cut up onions with peels included until soft. Strain, mix with honey and drink hot.
  • Slice a large onion, sprinkling sugar between the slices and put into a jar. Add water to weight it down. The juice runs out after a few hours, take a spoonful every few hours.
  • 1 teaspoonful each of dried rosemary and thyme. Add boiling water and let it steep. Strain it and drink. Can sweeten with honey and add a sprinkle of cinnamon. Drink hot or cold.
  • Boil a red onion, drink liquid with honey.
  • Mix small amount of horseradish/ginger and mashed garlic with honey, pour a cup of boiling water over it. Allow to cool slightly then sip. You can also add couple tablespoons of lemon to the “tea”.
  • Oregano (natural antibiotic) and thyme (removes mucus) tea with a teaspoon of honey.
  • Honey-lemon-ginger warm tea, with a bit of coconut oil
  • Mix raw apple cider vinegar with equal parts of raw honey.
  • Red onions (peel on), lemons (sliced, peel on), honey, garlic, ground horseradish. Ad enough eater to cover, heat until just boiling. Cool. Strain, take a teaspoon at a time or add to a cup of hot water as tea.

Isn’t it marvelous that lemons are in season in the winter at the time that people need that natural vitamin C the most, and that onions and garlic can be stored year round? So even at times that people had no grocery stores, the ingredients they needed to to boost their immune systems were available. These are all very affordable ingredients – even honey, which is the most expensive, is still considerably less expensive than store bought cough syrup with its questionable ingredients!

If you have your own recipe that you’ve found helpful, or use any of these and they work for you, please share in the comment section below.

Avivah

Repurposing food leftovers

frugal strategies

Did you know that in the US, food waste is estimated at more than 30% of the food supply?

Making changes to the hugely wasteful industrial food system isn’t in our control, but we can take steps to minimize our own food waste. Unless you are an exacting cook who knows precisely how much to make at every meal, most of you have a good amount of leftovers that accumulate during the course of the week.

Generally leftovers are put into containers and pushed to the back of the fridge, where they tend to sit until they turn green or fuzzy and finally are tossed out. Or put into the freezer when after many months you’re ready to clean the refrigerator/freezer and toss out all the UFOs (unidentified frozen objects :)) that you find. Storing them lets you think that you’re going to use them because it would be wasteful to put them directly in the trash, but in the end, most leftovers end up in the garbage.

There’s another possibility, though, that will save you money as you minimize waste and stretch your food budget – creatively repurpose your leftovers to use in creative ways as you create new dishes.

Last night I found myself late to begin dinner preparations, and wondered what I could pull together quickly so dinner wouldn’t be super late. I quickly took stock of the fridge leftovers , and thought about what flavors would go well together.

Here’s what I decided to use. As you’re looking at this, take a moment to think what you could turn this into (it depends what else you have in your house and there isn’t one right answer :)).

  • small container of meatballs (4 or 5) and gravy
  • baked squash and onions, 1 – 1 1/4 cup
  • rendered beef fat, 2 tablespoons
  • roasted zucchini, a few slices
  • half box of coconut cream

That was it for the leftovers. I threw them all in the pot, mixed it well and added a 1 kg/2 pound bag of frozen peas, and a little less than a half kilo/1 pound of ground meat. I stirred it all together, added some salt and pepper, heated it until the ground beef was done and within fifteen minutes from when I began, dinner was ready to be served. Voila, beef ala king! This goes well with a cooked grain or mashed potatoes, but in that case I just made a really big potful and served it on its own. My kids pronounced it really good.

Those weren’t all the leftovers in my fridge, but the ones that I thought would come together when combined. It’s important to consider what will taste good together, rather than randomly dump different containers into a pot. Sometimes you’ll use just one leftover ingredient in your dish, sometimes you can use a lot (stews are particularly good for this). Every day or two, take a look at what leftovers you have and when you prepare your meals, think about what you already have that you can integrate.

Since I made a large pot of this, I now have beef ala king leftovers! My kids liked this enough to serve it as a stand alone for another meal. But a dish is never appreciated as much as the first time it’s served! Another possibility is to add more chopped onion and carrots, and turn it into a filling for a cottage or shepherd’s pie, topped with a crust or with mashed potatoes, and then baked.

I give this an one example, but I do this regularly throughout the week. I don’t attempt to use all leftovers in one dish, because some flavors aren’t compatible.

Soups and stews are a great way to reuse leftovers. Leftover grains are perfect for thickening a stew, and most vegetables and meats go well together. Add a different sauce or seasoning and you have a completely different dish. Sometimes I have a ‘leftovers train’ when I make a dish out of leftovers, then turn those leftovers into another dish, and yet another dish from those leftovers! And it doesn’t feel to anyone like they’re eating leftovers or feel like a repeat of something they had a day or two before.

Some dips are easy to add to repurpose. Onion dip, matbucha, fresh tomato dip – I stir them into soups or chilis. Others, like chumus or techina, I prefer to serve on their own, though they can be used as binders to hold a loaf kind of food together. You can puree or blend ingredients as well, so they can look different than they did in their original forms.

The one thing that I rarely repurpose are salads with a lemon or vinegar dressing. They have a strong flavor that doesn’t blend well with most main dish recipes, and it’s easy to serve them as a side dish. Still a win when it comes to reusing leftovers.

You might think that this approach takes a mental encyclopedia of recipes, but that’s not the case at all. Just think about what flavors you’ve used in the past together, and continue along the same lines with your leftovers. And if you combine something that isn’t a hit – okay, so you’ve learned something that you won’t do again.

Here’s the simple three step process for using leftovers:

  • inventory what you have
  • use something in one of today’s meals
  • enjoy eating good food and saving money!

Avivah

How to make apple cider vinegar

food preservation, frugal strategies, health, lacto fermentation

It’s fun when I discover how I can do things on my own that I previously assumed I had to buy or outsource to others, and making my own apple cider vinegar was one of these things!

It is so easy, frugal and healthy, that I can’t believe I didn’t make this until recently.

If you’re preparing apples for something else, you can save the peels and cores to use to make the vinegar. Technically this is called scrap apple vinegar. Since I try to minimize waste, making vinegar out of something destined for the trash (or in my case, the chickens) is a bonus. However, in terms of the final result, I made a batch of scrap apple vinegar and a batch of apple cider vinegar, and didn’t notice much of a difference between the two.

1- Fill a jar at least halfway with chopped apples or apple scraps. The flavor and color of the final product will be affected by what apples you use; it’s all good. I had a bunch of yellow apples that started getting wrinkly, so that’s what I used.

2- Add water to the jar until it’s just about at the top. Technically it’s best to use filtered water but I’ve always made ferments with tap water. The chlorine evaporates when left uncovered or when covered with a cheesecloth.

3 – Add sugar. The official ratio is 1 tablespoon of sugar per cup of water and 1.5 apples. (I’m not so exacting and didn’t find this formula for the ratio until after I had made a few batches, so I can definitively state that it will turn out fine if you use less. I used four teaspoons for each of the large jars you see below.) If you try to avoid eating sugar, don’t worry about it in this case; the fermentation process will eat it up and none will be left in the final product.

4 – Mix, and cover the jar with a cheesecloth to keep anything from getting in. You’ve now just about finished the active part of making apple cider vinegar. Basically you’re going to let it sit on your counter for a few weeks and stir it once daily. (That’s because the pieces will all float to the top, so stirring it will ensure no mold grows on top.)

5 – Let it sit a few weeks. Taste it. Do you like how it tastes? Then strain it and bottle it. Not ready yet? Let it sit another week or two. Refrigerate once ready.

That’s it!

I previously mentioned that I really liked the taste of this. My husband tasted my latest batch when it was still sitting on the counter, waiting to be strained, and he likes it, too, so it’s going fast!

There are lots of ways to use apple cider vinegar to benefit your health. Lots of people have written about it, so I’ll just link to one of them and let you read what they’ve written. šŸ™‚ I can add, though, that one of my kids had dandruff, and when they washed their hair using this apple cider vinegar as a rinse just one time, there wasn’t a speck of dandruff remaining and the hair looked so shiny and healthy afterward.

Avivah

Finding storage space to stock your pantry

frugal strategies, homemaking

After my recent post about shopping the grocery sales, I received the following question.

One thing I find particularly difficult, is that since homes are smaller in Israel, storage options sometimes limit me being able to buy the way you suggest. Do you have any tips regarding that? Each person can obviously do the best they can given the space they have. But if you have any specific creative storage options, Iā€™d love to hear them.

I have to clarify that I’m not suggesting you buy massive quantities of foods that you’d need a basement to store, though I can see how my example from my US days about buying six months of grape juice would lead you to that conclusion. (Even that was just four cases of juice, stacked in the corner of my very small storage spot at the time.)

Now, practically speaking about finding space for your pantry. Since living in Israel, I’ve lived in three homes with four different kitchens. All of them had fairly minimal kitchens when we moved in, though when we renovated each of them, I was conscious of adding as much storage space to the room as possible.

I’ll show you pictures of what I was working with so you understand I’m not talking from an ivory tower kichen space! Here’s a link to my last kitchen’s before pictures. And the first kitchen in Israel that I renovated. And below is a before picture of my current kitchen. The entire kitchen was just the dark brown (half rotted) cabinets in the corner where my son was standing; in the foreground are some of the new cabinets before installation.

Okay, so onto some ideas for how to maximize storage space!

1)Declutter! Go through your cabinets and get rid of things that you rarely use that that are taking up your precious kitchen real estate. I realize it can be hard emotionally to let go of things you have, but going through this process will leave you room for your money saving purchases. Things tend to accumulate, so I do this periodically.

2) Look at places that you don’t use efficiently. For example, I tend to not use the space under my sink efficiently. Actually, the deeper bottom cabinets tend to be areas that don’t maximize space. (For that reason, I put drawers or sliding shelves into all of the kitchens I renovated, to make those hard to reach spaces accessible.) Any space that isn’t well organized can be reorganized and I’m often amazed how much less space things take up when they’re reorganized!

Another example: I noticed one of my bottom cabinets has two shelves but there is room for three, so I asked my husband to put adding a third shelf onto his do list. (I asked him to do the same thing with a bedroom closet – he’s a good sport about putting things on his list and I’m a good sport about waiting until he has a chance to get around to them.:))

3) Your storage space doesn’t have to be in the kitchen. In the first kitchen I linked a picture to, I had a small laundry porch adjoining (it wasn’t more than a meter wide by two meters long). One narrow side had the washer, on the opposite narrow wall I put a plastic shelving unit that had three shelves. When I got more produce than I could fit into the fridge, I stored it right there next to the kitchen, with the cool air from the outside helping to keep it fresh. I did the same thing in my next home, though the porch wasn’t adjoining the kitchen.

Really, there’s no reason you can’t store your well-sealed non-perishable foods in whatever room you want, even in an entirely separate storage area! I’ve needed my bedroom spaces for clothing and my independent storage room was converted to my office, but know it’s an option to carve out non-traditional spaces wherever you can if it’s worth it for you.

4) Only store what gives you the most savings. When shopping, consider your space constraints, and buy accordingly. I generally buy the more compact items that are on sale, not huge packages that I don’t have room for.

You will never find me with more than one extra package of toilet paper at the very most. I don’t care how cheap it is, it just takes up too much space to buy more than I need until the next shopping outing. Similarly, I’m not going to stock up on napkins to save thirty agurot (ten cents) a package. They take up too much space, so I’ll buy enough for a couple weeks and that’s it. But I will buy tuna when it’s 30% off. That’s a big savings and cans/vacuum packs are compact enough to store in a small space.

5) Split big purchases with frugal friends. You don’t have to buy that five kilo bag of beans and store it all yourself! Ask friends if they’re interested in splitting a big purchase. You all get savings and none of you are stuck with huge quantities.

How much you buy when something is on sale will depend on your budget and your space available. Even buying two 1 kg bags of rice instead of one will save you money! And that doesn’t take much more room.

I think this is obvious, but it bears repeating to be on the safe side. Don’t buy something you won’t use, even if it’s a really good price. That’s a waste of your money and your space. This reminder has saved me lots of space! (I remind myself of this when canning as well: I don’t want to store food that isn’t something I’m likely to eat, even if I could get it for free. It would take up space that could be used for things that I really want to have.)

So don’t be deterred about buying more than this week’s items when you find a good sale. When there’s a will, there’s a way, and I’m confident you can find some space to use!

Avivah

Vitamin D is awesome and critical, so be sure you are taking enough!

frugal strategies, health, home remedies

My daughter called me earlier this week to ask what to give her husband, who was beginning to have nasty cold symptoms. I told her specific doses of vitamin D (based on doctor’s guidelines for the ‘hammer’) and vitamin C , and said I expected he would be fine in the morning. Sure enough, she called the next day to say he was feeling better and back to kollel. šŸ™‚

Vitamin D is the sunshine vitamin, and many have the idea that it doesn’t need to be supplemented if you are outdoors a good bit of time. However, studies have shown that even around the equator where you would assume people get abundant sunlight, many are deficient in vitamin D.

Even though I live in a very hot climate, I stay inside during the hottest parts of the day, wear a sunhat when I do go out, have an olive complexion, and am always wearing long sleeves and long skirts. Not much chance for the sun to get through, even living in a very hot and sunny area! So I have no doubt that supplementing vitamin D will benefit me.

In January 2020 I wrote a post about the using the vitamin D hammer to quickly and effectively treat the flu. That is still really good information so go back and read that if you don’t remember it or didn’t read it then! Little did I know that a short time later, mentioning that this same approach could be valuable in prevention or treatment of the superbug that was circulating would elicit howls of outrage around the world and censure of medical professionals.

But as time has gone on, more and more doctors have been speaking up about the critical importance of vitamin D in strengthening our immune systems, specifically vis a vis the current health situation.

Here’s an interesting interview with two doctors about vitamin D in Israel.

(It’s interesting to read the comments on the video and see what people say about their experiences with vitamin D.)

Here’s another great talk with two more doctors, both of whom have been sharing this information from the beginning of the situation. This video came out when I was in the middle of writing this post, so I decided to add it for you. šŸ™‚ This talk is more technical but lots of great information, including the benefits of sunlight beyond vitamin D.


Information is so valuable, and both worth watching. (I listen to talks like this when I’m working in the kitchen or driving, since I don’t have time to sit in front of a computer to watch.) By watching, you’ll learn how much to take and why it’s so important.

I’m hopeful that as information like this becomes more widely known, more people will have access to tools that they can use to protect their families. Why information about an easily accessible, highly affordable vitamin that could offer so much protection when dealing with the health situation is known but hasn’t been shared by those deciding on worldwide policy is concerning, but our point of power is when we focus on what we can do. It’s empowering to know how easily and inexpensively we can take steps to protect our families.

Here are the vitamin D choices we get for our family; I order from iherb since it’s much less expensive than buying locally and I can get the higher dosage vitamin D capsules that I want. (In Israel they don’t sell anything higher than 1000 iu. Which is fine, but based on the guidelines that I linked above, you’d need to take a bottle full in the course of a day or two if you get sick, which psychologically feels dangerous. Better to just get higher dosage capsules and take a small number, in my opinion.) You’ll get a first time buyer discount by using my coupon code OBO992.

I want to stress that prevention is always the best strategy. Yes, you can be depleted and once sick, try to quickly boost your vitamin D levels. But a better bet is to keep your vitamin D levels high to start with. When you’re deficient in vitamin D, you’re at much higher likelihood of getting sick in the first place. I’ve read a lot of anecdotal comments by various medical personnel in past months to the effect those who were most ill with the virus had very low vitamin D levels, and the studies that I’ve read seem to support that.

Wishing you all a very healthy winter season!

Avivah