Category Archives: frugal strategies

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. 🙂

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. 🙂 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

Winter wellness preps and Elderberry Syrup – recipe

frugal strategies, health, home remedies,

This week I’ve done some preventative winter health preparations. With all of us spending less time outside in the sun and fresh air, germs more readily stick around and a strong immune system is your best protection.

First of all, I’ve placed an order for our standard winter supplements, classic boosters for the immune system. (At the request in comments, I’m linking to what we order)

  • Vitamin C: 1) powder, to encapsulate or mix with juice. There are two choices, buffered and unbuffered. Buffered (sodium ascorbate) is the better form to take but the flavor is harder to cover with juice, and some of my kids have expressed a preference for the unbuffered (ascorbic acid). So I buy a three pound container of each one and everyone gets to use what they prefer. I can easily control the dose and give a higher dose than using capsules or tablets, and it’s much more affordable. So that’s my choice, but there are lots of good options if you want to do something different. a) sodium ascorbate, 8 oz (3 lb container). b) ascorbic acid, 8 oz (3 lb container)
  • My grandchildren also use the vitamin C powder, but chewables are an option for children. Just know that a chewable with 500 mg isn’t much value for sickness on its own, it’s hardly enough for maintenance. But it is easy to give. 🙂
  • Vitamin D3 (I get chewables for the kids): 1) 5000 iu, veg capsules (Kof K hechsher); 2) 10,000 iu gel caps (these are not kosher so we squeeze the oil out, there are options to get this in 5,000 or 50,000 iu as well); 3) 10,000 iu kosher gel caps (currently these are unavailable to be sent to Israel). For kids: 1) 2,000 iu, chewables (Kof K hechsher, my kids love this one); 2) chewables, 5000 iu with k2 (vegetarian, labeled kosher parve)
  • vitamin k2-mk7 (to use with D3)
  • zinc – 50 mg, tablets

As you can see, I mostly stick with the NOW house brand because it’s the least expensive and the quality is good. When I can’t find kosher alternatives for the kids chewables, I look elsewhere. I’ve found it much less expensive to buy online, and I can get the higher dosage vitamins that they don’t sell locally.

I’ll try to share some details in the next week or so on how we dose vitamin C and D, since it’s been a while since I’ve written about it. Generally when people don’t find them helpful, it’s because they aren’t using enough.

I order from iherb.com; if you are a new customer then you can use promocode OBO992 to get a discount on your first order. (If you use this code, a small credit will be added to my account.)

****************************

I bought dried elderberries at the beginning of October and finally made the syrup this week. I experimented with a batch last year that was very much not a success – I not only used xylitol as the sweetener but I cooked it together with the berries and it was really yuck. So this year I’m back to using honey.

I love using this as a remedy because the kids love it and since elderberries are packed with antioxidants, is so good for them.

Here’s the recipe that I used this time (I made eight times the recipe since the bag I bought has four cups in it):

Elderberry Syrup

  • 1/2 c. dried elderberries
  • 2 c. water
  • 1/4 c. honey

Put the berries and water in a pot and bring to a boil over high heat. Once it’s reached a boil, reduce the heat and simmer for an hour. Strain out the mixture, then mix in honey to the juice. Store in a glass jar in the fridge. (I filled 3 – 750 liter glass juice jars, and canned them in a water bath canner to keep them shelf stable.) A teaspoon or two a day is a good amount, though the kids will probably want much more!

You can add cloves, cinnamon or ginger, and I’ve used cinnamon successfully in the past. But after last year’s fiasco, I wanted to keep it simple this year.

I gave it to the kids for the first time this week, and a sign that it was tasty is that Rafael (who just turned 5 this week!! I know, where has the time gone??), our pickiest eater, asked for more several times. We put a small amount in a cup and give it to them to drink.

As for my cost: I paid $18 for the berries and $5 for honey, so my expenses were $23 to make 2250 ml. A bottle of Sambucol syrup online is about $18 for a 120 – 240 ml bottle. That makes my syrup at least a tenth of the cost of store bought, and it has better quality ingredients to boot.

***************

A new remedy to me is sarracenia purpurea, good for digestive disorders, skin lesions and other ailments. Fascinatingly, this was even used as a cure for smallpox! That’s just an interesting historical tidbit since smallpox was eradicated in 1978. But after learning about this plant’s properties, it sounded like it could be a useful addition to our family home remedies cupboard. (This was inexpensively purchased on ebay.)

**********************

My first batch of apple cider vinegar was ready a week ago, and though I made a lot, it was so delicious that I drank it by the cupful (!) and finished it in a few days. I have one jar still in the fermenting process that will be ready soon, and started two more large jars this week. I love being able to make things that I thought I could only get at the store. Let me know in the comments if you want a recipe and directions.

*************

My daughter-in-law called last week to request more of the antibiotic salve I made a couple of years ago. At that time I made a big batch and gave containers to all our married children. Hers is finished and she said it was so effective in treating rashes and cuts that she wants some more. My oldest daughter had told me the same thing just a couple of days before, so clearly it’s time to make some more!

I hopped online to buy the ingredients I had run out of: beeswax, shea butter and frankincense essential oil. I was surprised to find I didn’t have any more frankincense, until I remembered that quite some time ago Yirmi was cooking independently and poured the frankincense oil into the pan to fry with. Whew, that was very aromatic!! And surely cleared the air for everyone in the vicinity of any germ that might have existed. 🙂

**********************

Back in the spring I bought pepper starts at the nursery, that were labeled only as ‘peppers’. They grew beautifully but produced chili peppers, something I don’t care for, though the little red peppers do add some nice color to the garden! I’ve given away some and then it occurred to me to dry some and find some use for them.

One thing I’ve been thinking about making is fire cider, a spicy and warming immune booster made of vinegar, onion, garlic, ginger, horseradish and cayenne (I would substitute chili peppers). As effective as I know this to be from experience, this is more of an adult remedy since my kids tend to not enjoy this as much. If you have additional ideas of how to use chili peppers, please share!

******************

I bought fresh garlic to make some earache oil. I usually make it on the spot when a child says an ear is hurting. We don’t need it often but it’s nice to have it ready when there’s a need for it, so I’m going to whip up a batch to keep on hand.

Avivah

Busy in the kitchen – it’s the fall and it feels like harvest season!

canning, food preservation, frugal strategies, gardening, health, home remedies, lacto fermentation

My newest grandson’s bris was a week ago on Thursday, and all of our family members stayed for Shabbos, which was lovely. We held off on my birthday circle for a week to celebrate with more family present. I don’t remember what inspired me to begin the birthday circle tradition and when we started – though I know it’s been at least ten years – but it’s become so rich and meaningful to hear people share what they appreciate about the birthday celebrant, and I personally found it very touching and affirming. (My 28 year old son was amazed at the depth of what his 12 year old brother shared – he said he couldn’t have thought of things like that at such a young age. But then again, he hadn’t grown up listening to birthday circles for years by the time he was 12!)

Sandwiching the enjoyment of time with extended family has been different kitchen projects I’ve been busy with of late.

Making applesauce. Canning applesauce. Using apple scraps to make apple cider vinegar. Canning pomelos. Using the pomelo peels to make a citrus cleanser. Making washing soda. Mixing up a new batch of all purpose cleaning powder (which I’ve been using as a frugal eco alternative to laundry detergent). Making meat broth. Canning meat broth. Canning meat. Canning beans. Canning beef stew. Canning 21 pints of mandarin oranges, then turning them into 7 pints of jam. Making lacto fermented lemons. Harvesting moringa. Drying moringa.

Most of these were new projects to me, and new projects always take more time since I have to learn about it before doing it.

I canned low pressure foods like meat and beans when living in the US but sold my pressure canner when I made aliya over ten years ago. Since the winter I’ve been thinking I really, really want to have a pressure canner again, and been wondering how to get one from the US to Israel (since the shipping and taxes are so high if I have it shipped directly, it would be almost three times the cost of the canner itself!). It finally occurred to me to ask my sister if I ordered one and had it sent to her in the US, would she be able to mail it to me? I am so deeply appreciative for her willingness to help me out, and though I had only asked this favor with the agreement I would pay shipping costs, she refused to let me reimburse her (and shipping was more than the cost of the canner). I can’t tell you how happy I was when it arrived three weeks ago – it’s like having an old friend back in my kitchen with me!

This year I want to spend some time learning more about herbal remedies. I’m heavily reliant on vitamin C, because if you know how to properly dose (most people think that 1000 mg is a normal dose to take when sick and that’s hardly worth anything), it takes care of just about everything. Literally. However, it’s something I order from afar that I can’t manufacture on my own (at least not yet – as I wrote that, it occurred to me that maybe that’s something to research, too!) and with a shaky supply chain it’s foolish for me to rely so heavily on someone else for something critical to my family’s health. While every locale has its own medicinal plants available, learning to use them it requires learning and that takes time!

One beautiful plant I have growing in my garden is ‘sheba’. I didn’t know what it was when I bought it – I thought it was pretty so I planted it. I misspelled it in Hebrew when searching for the English translation, so I didn’t find out what it was for quite some time. I asked others who grew it if they knew what it was, and they told me it was very healthy and useful in multiple ways…but didn’t know the translation. I was excited to finally learn that it’s called wormwood, one of the most powerful anti-fungal herbs in the world. Right in my garden without me realizing it! This morning I was noticing how lush it’s become and it needs to be harvested. That’s now been added to my list of things to learn about. 🙂

Busy and blessed, that’s me!

Avivah

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal

frugal strategies, recipes

I haven’t made baked oatmeal in a while – my main fallback recipe has more sugar than I want to have for breakfast. Then I came across this recipe and made it yesterday. It was very frugal (for us) and very yummy!

I make my menu based on the ingredients that I have (versus making a menu plan and then buying the ingredients that I need – it’s a very significant difference). What is frugal for one person won’t necessarily be frugal for another.

Becky at Scratch Pantry, whose recipe I adapted, has chickens and abundant eggs, so her recipe is egg heavy. I made some small adjustments, reducing the eggs and oats, and taking out the brown sugar.

Apple Cinnamon Baked Oatmeal (makes one 9 x 13 pan)

  • 5 eggs
  • 2 c. milk
  • 2 c. applesauce 
  • 2 t. cinnamon 
  • 1 teaspoon salt 
  • 3 c. oatmeal (not rolled oats)
  • 2 c. finely chopped apples

Topping

  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix all the ingredients for the oatmeal mixture, and pour into a 9 x 13 pan. (I doubled the recipe to have one for another day.) Top with slices of butter and sprinkle the brown sugar on top. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit/180 degrees Celsius until slightly firm to the touch. I used a toaster oven for this and it took over an hour; in the oven it might have been different.

To make two large 9 x 13 pans of this baked oatmeal cost me under ten shekels. My costs were super low because I: 1) used milk that I got for free, 2) blended up a jar of home canned apples to use for applesauce (made from free apples), 3) have fresh apples that I got free and 4) buy oats in bulk so my cost is around 4 shekels a kilo. If I had to buy all of the milk and apples, my cost would be much higher.

Look at what your costs will be to determine if this will be an affordable breakfast for you! What can you do if the specifics make it pricey for you, but you like the basic idea? I’m big on adapting recipes to meet my needs. Don’t have apples, but you have some other fruit or vegetable? Use that instead! I have recipes for zucchini baked oatmeal, pumpkin baked oatmeal, and others. You can use canned or fresh produce. You can leave out the produce and make a basic recipe that is oats, liquid, eggs and sweetener. If you don’t have milk, use juice, or water.

And of course, this general principle doesn’t apply to just this recipe! I consider recipes a starting point, and that’s something I teach my kids when they learn to cook – that it’s just fine to make substitutions or leave something out if they don’t have it. Sometimes you come up with something even better than the original!

Avivah

Shop the sales, fill your pantry with what is cheap

frugal strategies, homemaking,

>> Aviva, can you maybe do a post about how to shop frugally in Israel? We are a family of 7 and I am finding it very challenging to stick to a grocery budget of less than 4000 nis a month. Would appreciate a post if you’re up for it.<<

I’m happy to share on this topic! While I’ve written loads about frugal shopping in the past, my own strategies are constantly evolving. However, the basic mindset remains the same, and that’s what I’ll start with. I’ll later share more posts on different specifics.

At the foundation of my shopping strategy is this: I don’t shop for specific ingredients, but shop to fill my pantry, and then cook based on what I have. This is a huge, huge difference from the typical shopping most people do, and where I save a lot of money.

When I shop, I’m looking for the sales. When I find a good deal, I buy a lot of that item. For years, people have been looking with curiosity
into my shopping cart (and many times commenting or questioning me about specific items they see), because generally my cart looks different than most people. Instead of a small amount of a lot of different items, I buy a lot of a few items.

I call this buying the loss leaders, the sale items advertised weekly to lure people into the stores. Where I live now, I don’t get any advertising booklets or sales flyers, so I don’t know what I’ll find on sale until I get to the store.

On my most recent trip to the supermarket, I saw they had beef bones for 12.90 a kilo, instead of 29.90. People passing by saw me putting a bunch in my cart and all of them glanced at me and then at the price, and kept going. Only one woman stopped and jokingly asked if I was leaving some for everyone else. (There was a ton, I hardly made a dent in what was available.) I told her I was buying a lot while the price was good, and she told me she was planning to do the same thing, and would come back later in the day when she had a car to transport it. (Not surprisingly, she was a a middle aged Russian woman – the Russians this age know about frugal shopping!)

Beef bones are something I only infrequently used in the past. Now that they’re on sale, it’s not hard to find ways to use them! The last few weeks I made meat soup instead of chicken soup for Shabbos dinner; they are delicious for cholent, and they make amazing, nutritious, rich broth that is a great foundation for any soup or stew. Some of them have more fat, some have more meat – I chose the fattiest ones I could find – and I cut off and rendered down chunks of the excess fat to make tallow.

During that same shopping outing there was also meat on sale for the lowest price I’ve seen in over seven months. Why are these things on sale now? I don’t know. But I did know the price wasn’t going to last long and got two cases. I do the same with chicken – when it’s on sale, I get as much as I can fit into my freezer.

Don’t get caught up in the specifics of my beef bones or meat! You can substitute any other sale item. This is just an example of one strategy that I regularly use that makes a huge difference in how much I spend. When I say that I shop to fill my pantry, I mean that I don’t buy enough for just that one week, but stock up at the sale price.

When I know how long the sales cycle is, I buy enough to last until the next sale. Back in the US, I would buy grape juice twice a year, when it would be half price. When it would go on sale for 2.99 a bottle instead of 5.99, I would buy six months worth each time. There was no point in buying more than that, because I knew there would be another sale – and there was also no point in buying less, running short and having to pay full price.

I recently began shopping with Mishnat Yosef, a group buying organization (the website is set up for member use and only members can see what is available that week, but there’s no cost to becoming a member). Their staple items are less expensive than the supermarket’s regular prices, and they cycle through their staples items regularly. I’m now learning their cycles and buying accordingly.

Six months ago I learned that at the supermarket I shop at, produce was priced half off one day a week to compete with the weekly ‘shuk’. (Now that shmitta began, it’s the same price all week long.) I shifted my shopping day from Wednesday to Tuesday to take advantage of this. You can start to see how if you regularly buy your groceries at a 25 – 50% discount, it will cut your grocery spending!

I guarantee that wherever you live, there are great shopping options! Everywhere that I’ve lived, I’ve found great deals, and routinely, people living other places said that I was lucky to have the prices that I did, that they didn’t have those kind of opportunities. (And people living in the same place as me would wonder why they couldn’t find good deals …) Your sales will be different than mine, but you definitely have good opportunities wherever you are. You just have to look for them, and buy what is inexpensive for you.

Buying the sales goes hand in hand with buying seasonally. I don’t buy produce that is out of season, which is guaranteed to cost much more and not taste as good. Right now avocadoes are an amazing deal (six shekels a kilo), and I’m buying lots of them! I wish I had a way to preserve them for the long term, but I don’t so I’m enjoying them while I have them. I don’t touch them outside of this season. In the same vein, while in the summer we had loads of tomatoes, now I hardly buy them.

This shopping strategy of stocking up on sales gives me a nice selection of items to work with when planning my weekly menus.

Most people who menu plan first make the menu and then shop for the ingredients. That’s a good strategy and definitely much better than randomly buying items without a plan, but I do the opposite. I shop, then make my plan. I make a list of what I have in my pantry, then look for recipes to use what I have. If there was a great deal on sweet potatoes, it will be in my menu. If they’re not on sale, I won’t use them.

Buying the sales means that even when you are eating the same foods as the full price shoppers, you’ve paid much less. Only your timing is different.

Avivah

Another new grandson, canning activities, making cheese

canning, cheesemaking, dehydrating, food preservation, frugal strategies, homemaking, homeschooling, parenting

On Wednesday evening, my daughter gave birth to a baby boy!

I told my neighbor yesterday, and she looked confused. “I know…you went to Jerusalem for the bris.” No, that was two and a half weeks ago – this is a different daughter!

Who knew when our two daughters got married twelve days apart, that they would later have baby girls 2.5 months apart, and then baby boys 2.5 weeks away?! It’s so special.

Thank G-d, this is our fourth grandson in the last 12.5 months, making for, as my sister said, “A bumper crop of boys!”

This was my daughter’s third birth, but first homebirth. It was so nice to see her an hour later in her own space, looking relaxed and happy. As she said, a homebirth is a completely different experience than a hospital birth.

Now they’re here with us for a few days, and I’m tapping away at the keyboard with this tiny cutie pie on my lap.

One hour old.
————————————–

After dashing out to meet my new grandson, I came directly back home where several women had already arrived for the canning workshop that I was giving that evening. I offered a canning workshop for women in our community several weeks ago, and then did this second one for women who couldn’t make it to the first one.

What I covered was waterbath canning, something that can be done very inexpensively with supplies that are probably already in your home or inexpensively purchased. Canning is a good strategy to make the most of great produce sales, to extend the seasonality of your fruits and vegetables so you can enjoy the when they are no longer in season.

Waterbath canning is good for high acid foods only – that means fruits, fruit juices and pickled items. So while it’s limited, it’s still a great skill to acquire for your frugality and self-sufficiency toolbox.

It took me some time to figure out how to can things here since the jars and lids are different from the US, where most of my canning experience was. I did a bit of canning when I first moved to Israel using recycled jars, then stopped until this summer. What changed things for me was finding where to buy jars very affordably, and how use them. It was a drive to get to the seller but worth it, since just a day after I bought them, someone in my community who does holiday food distribution called to tell me they had given out all the parcels and were left with some produce. Did I want any? Perfect timing!

It’s been fun to get back into canning! There’s a limit to how much fresh fruit you’re going to get, even if it’s free, because there’s a limit to how much you want to eat, and there’s a limit to how long it will stay in your fridge before it goes off. In this case, I got a case each of apples and pears, and with the help of my new jars and large stock pot, preserved them so they are now shelf stable.

————————–

When I went to Jerusalem for the bris a couple of weeks ago, my son-in-law asked me if I wanted zucchini. He knows the quantities of food we go through, and he also knows that I find ways to use whatever comes my way! (Frugality tip – when something is offered and it seems like something that will be helpful, accept it even if you aren’t yet sure what to do with it! You can pass it along to others if you don’t use it.)

At his yeshiva, many families participate in a vegetable buying order; every week each family gets an identical box of assorted produce. They pick up their orders at a central location, and when someone doesn’t want an item that was in their box, they put it to the side. Anyone who comes to pickup his box can add to the extra produce put to the side or take it. On the Friday that we were there, there was a lot of zucchini, and my son-in-law brought me a case and a half!

What to do with so much zucchini? I could have chopped them and frozen them, but am trying to get away from using my freezer so heavily. I don’t like to depend exclusively on something that is dependent on electricity. (I remember well being without power for a week in Baltimore when a storm came through, and trying to cook all the chicken in the freezer before it spoiled, as the daylight faded and I had just a candle for light.) I decided dehydrating the zucchini in the oven would be my best option, but all three batches failed – one spoiled (not hot enough), and two got overdone when the heat was too high. Our chickens enjoyed them, at least.

Since it was clear dehydrating wasn’t working in this case, I thought about what to do with the remaining zucchini. I could can them, but as a low-acid food my only choice was pickling them, and that didn’t sound appealing.

When I began canning in 2008, I made lots of the recipes in the canning books. They looked good and filled the jars, but they weren’t foods that we ate. I learned my lesson – now I won’t can something unless it’s something I know I’ll use.

I started cruising for zucchini inspiration and came across a comment about mock pineapple that got my mental wheels turning – I started thinking about zucchini as a potential palette to absorb other flavors. With some more looking, I found recipes for apple pie and lemon pie filling made from zucchini, as well as pineapple zucchini. It sounds strange, I know. I think of it like tofu. It doesn’t taste like much on it’s own but it can turn into whatever you want.

I made the mock pineapple, and when one of the jars didn’t seal when processing, we put it in the fridge and had some the next day. My boys told me it actually tasted like pineapple and was really good!

———————————

The mock pineapple was especially yummy with homemade yogurt, made by ds14. We got a call a couple of nights ago (from my other son-in-law) that a large synagogue was giving away tons of milk that was due to expire a day later. We got a bunch and while I was out at choir practice, ds14 was busy making loads of yogurt. Literally – he made an 18 liter bucket full! (You can see it behind him in the picture below.)

Making cheese

Then over the next couple of days, he and ds12 experimented with making soft cheeses, adding flavorings, straining them, weighting them down. They are using only lemon juice and vinegar for a curdling element, no rennet. My favorite so far was made by ds12, with milk, salt, eggs and yogurt. It takes a lot of milk to make cheese, and it’s fun to experiment when all the milk is free! My boys appreciated the opportunity since they’ve been wanting to experiment with cheese making for quite a while. (A while back ds14 did some cheesemaking, but that ended when the budget I allotted was spent.)

This was my favorite so far, by ds12 – it sliced up really nicely in firm slices. He weighted it down quite a lot to squeeze the liquids out.

The shalom zachor will be at our home tonight, and today will be a busy day getting ready for that as well as Shabbos. Dd21 and ds15 came home last night so they can be here for the shalom zachor (they were initially planning to only next week for the Thursday bris and then stay for Shabbos), and since my birthday is tomorrow I appreciate them being here even more!

Avivah

Dishwashing tips to make the job faster and more pleasant

frugal strategies, homemaking

We do a lot of dishes in our house, and there are some things we do that make things easier. For those of you who will be shifting from disposables to regular dishes, here are some things to help make the transition smoother!

  1. Order of dishwashing – The general principle is, wash the least dirty dishes first, and save the heavy duty grease and grime for the end. My personal order looks like this: glasses, bowls, plates, silverware, pots/pans. I keep glasses and cups on the counter next to the sink, and wash them first. They tend to be lightly used (especially in our home of water drinkers), and if you put them in the sink they’ll get dirtier and greasier, making it a bigger job to wash them than if you kept them separate. This is also true of plastic food storage containers – they get so much greasier being in the sink with dishes washed on top of them. When they need a quick wash I do them them first so I get them out of the way. If they are really greasy, I leave them for after the dishes.

2) Soak the really dirty stuff – pans and pots can be soaking while you wait to get to them. I have a recipe for getting really burnt stuff off: 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 t. baking soda, 2 t. vinegar, 3/4 c. dishwashing liquid, 1 c. water – put in a pot, bring to a boil, then let cool.

Though this has worked really well for me, I now prefer something simpler that works just fine and is easier and cheaper – I squirt a little bit of dishwashing liquid into the dirty pot, add pinch of baking soda, then put it on the fire to boil. Once it boils, turn off the fire and just let it sit while you’re washing the rest of the dishes. It’s amazing how much faster and easier washing it will be.

3) Buy good scrubbers – as with everything else, having the right tools makes the job much easier. I prefer the foam scrubbers covered with tinsely textured stuff for dishes, though I buy the plastic round scrubbies to use for Shabbos. I consider stainless steel scrubbers critical for getting pots and pans clean without using the above technique. It makes it much easier to get the burnt stuff off, rather than scraping away at it with a spoon.

4) Don’t let the dishes pile up – the longer the dishes are in the sink and the more of them there are, the more intimidating it is and the more you want to push it off! This is the hardest one for me. We all eat dinner together, but due to different schedules, breakfast and lunch happen at different times for different people. Since each of those people don’t individually wash their dishes and cooking utensils, breakfast and lunch dishes tend to get washed together.

For Shabbos, it helps tremendously if I do the dishes right after the Friday night meal rather than wait until the next morning. Everything gets cleaner faster when it hasn’t been sitting overnight, and it’s nice to wake up in the morning knowing it’s been done. Sometimes I’m too tired and it doesn’t happen, and that’s okay, too.

5) Get your kids involved – the youngest I’ve started my kids washing dishes was age 7, but I tend to wait until around 9. At that age, I don’t expect them to wash pots and pans, but the basic dishes are very doable. Having a chore chart with assigned tasks makes this easier, rather than randomly asking people after each meal.

6) Do something else while washing dishes – Though I enjoy washing dishes, I find added benefit if I use the time to listen to music or a podcast. Sometimes I like to have the quiet, though – there’s something about water that helps one’s thoughts flow, and I find this true when washing dishes. Your experience may differ on this, though!

If you have tips that have helped you, please share in the comments below!

Avivah

Talking about uncomfortable stuff – the economy

frugal strategies, homemaking

Yesterday I went to pick up a long awaited package from the post office. It was mistakenly sent to a location two hours from me, then sent back to the central processing center, then finally arrived back in my area.

It wasn’t fun or easy dealing with Amazon regarding this order, and I wondered if I was going to have to accept the package was lost, along with my money. I was relieved when I finally got the notice it arrived.

I had wanted to order two of this item (it was a set of five toy cars, a gift to be split for children and grandchildren), but waited to confirm that first package made it before buying another one. After picking it up, I logged on to order a second set, to see the following message:

“Currently unavailable. We don’t know if or when this item will be back in stock.”

I checked other sellers – one other seller had it for close to fifty dollars – for an item that five weeks ago cost $22.

I kept looking. I found the same toy cars being sold individually for $11 each (totaling $55 instead of $22). That’s a serious price increase. And my item isn’t the exception – I was notified that a different toy I was considering buying went up over 30% a week or two after I put it in my cart. The prices have risen significantly on many items that I looked at.

I’ve been watching the worldwide economy pretty closely for a number of months so this wasn’t a surprise to me – it was more of a question of when than if.

In the beginning of August when I wrote my sheepdog post, I referenced having concerns that I wasn’t able to share about. When you’re too early to talk about something, people think you’re crazy or paranoid, and it’s not always a blessing that I tend to accurately anticipate things on the horizon before a lot of people. Actually, it’s quite challenging.

I’ve been waiting months for the mainstream media to write about this inflation issue so I can say something to you, so that you can take steps to prepare yourselves. Now that they’re finally writing about the price increases and the serious supply chain issues, they’re still doing their best to minimize it and keep people in the dark.

My understanding is that we are in an inflationary period, which – according to the theory that makes the most sense to me – will be followed by a deflationary period, and then a more rapid inflationary period. I don’t pretend to predict the future, I’m not an economist, I’m not giving you financial advice – I’m sharing my understanding of what the indicators seem to be. So obviously I could be completely wrong and if I am, no one will be happier than me.

Though back in June US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that the inflation was “transitory“, it was pretty obvious to those of us paying attention that it wasn’t. I was disgusted then at the efforts to hide from the population what was happening, and I continue to be very concerned about being lied to and manipulated. Yes, strong terms and you’re welcome to think I’m exaggerating. I’d rather think I’m exaggerating. Looking at unpleasant facts isn’t fun. History will show retroactively what isn’t obvious to many right now.

This isn’t going to be a small blip on the economic scene, despite the media effort to minimize or explain away the issues. They don’t want a panic and they’re not telling you the truth about the severity of what is underway. They waited as long as they possibly could to even begin to mention the financial crisis developing, and are going to break it to you slowly, so you get used to the idea bit by bit.

I’ve lived on a budget for years and so do many of you. If we were to experience significant price increases in products, food, housing or energy (different parts of the world are seeing increases at different times), that would affect many people. Will that happen? It’s happening across the world right now.

Blessedly, Israel seems to be on the later side of the curve to be affected the the downward economic cycle. I pray we will continue to be minimally affected but the global economy is interconnected, and something major that affects one country inevitably affects the others.

Am I fear mongering, or telling you to panic? Absolutely not. I’m concerned, but I’m not panicking, and neither should you. Wherever you live, and whatever your income, there are things you can do to minimize the impact of increased living expenses on your family. But doing that means you’re going to have to be willing to consider some uncomfortable possibilities rather than hide your heads in the sand (which in the short term is really much more comforting).

One practical suggestion for right now: if there’s something you need or want that is of practical value to your family and you have the resources to purchase it, now’s a good time to buy it.

Going back to that cycle (inflation-deflation-rapid inflation), deflation is when prices fall because rising prices (inflation) have caused people to cut their extraneous spending. If we experience deflation, prices will go down on the things people can live without. (Yes, like toys!) However, it’s unlikely that prices on critical items go down.

The material costs are dramatically shooting up – metals, cardboard, plastics – and that impacts the price for you as the buyer. It also impacts what continues to be manufactured. As with my toy purchase above, some things will no longer be available because the company has decided it’s no longer profitable to make them.

The most important things you can do now are pray, and visualize our world stabilizing and healing. On the physical plane, I’m going to be talking more about frugality since taking responsibility for your personal economy is more important than ever.

Avivah

Bulk food shopping option for regular shoppers

frugal strategies

Before I left social media months ago, I was part of a Facebook frugality in Israel group.

In that group, someone mentioned going to a store that sells to smaller storeowners and directly to the retail buyer as well, and finding significant savings. This is a unique shopping opportunity, since almost none of the wholesale stores sell to private individuals.

Naturally, I made a note of the details and put it into my schedule to check it out.

The first time walking into this store was a bit overwhelming. It’s different, and you feel that as soon as you get your shopping cart, which is a heavy duty loading cart. I learned that it’s a good idea to find several discarded boxes and put them on my cart as soon as I go in, to put your small items in, since they would fall off a cart like this. (Empty boxes are discarded as they are unpacked throughout the store.)

Once inside, items are available in standard sizes with a minimum purchase of six or twelve, or in larger sizes just one can be bought. Prices, if listed, are all listed before ma’am (17% sales tax). Lots of things don’t have the price listed, and when I first went in, I wasn’t impressed since I saw items I could buy for less at my local large supermarket chains.

However!! It was worth continuing on past my initial impression, because if you’re a discriminating shopper and you pay attention to item pricing, you can definitely save a lot of money. Just don’t assume that everything will be cheaper. Which is true when you go into any store, really.

When I shopped for my fifteen year old’s bar mitzva, I saved a ton by getting many of the items here. They have almost everything you would get in a regular store, but in bigger quantities. So you’ll find paper goods, cleaning products, drinks, food – but not fresh vegetables or chicken and meat, and there’s a very limited dairy/refrigerator section.

It’s not a store I regularly shop at, since it’s so far away. But when I’m ready for a group buy of staple items, it’s worth the trip. So don’t be quick to dismiss this as an option for you, because even if you don’t have a big family, if you shop with a couple of friends, you can all save money.

Spices – these are available in bags of a kilo, and I haven’t found anywhere cheaper for them. Previously I was buying the largest size spice containers at Osher Ad, but this is definitely a much better price.

Dried fruits, nuts, seeds – also all available in 1 kilo bags, and also good prices. Again, I haven’t found cheaper prices.

Canned goods – you can get flats of twelve of whatever items you usually buy, but that’s more than I can store so I generally don’t get them. They also have 10# cans, which I find more helpful for items I use a lot of like tomato paste, olives, and pickles. (There are all kinds of canned goods in both sizes, I’m just mentioning what I get.)

I used to get vaccuum packed tuna in kilo packaging, but I haven’t seen that for a long time. Then I got the 2 kilo packages of tuna instead, which I didn’t find nearly as useful because there’s just too much in each package, but now that’s no longer in stock either. And it’s been over a year since the canned salmon I used to buy has been available. It definitely makes me wonder. Maybe it’s there at other times than when I’m there. But although it’s not personally as helpful for me, there was still plenty of other canned fish items in different sizes when I last went.

Refrigerator items – there is a built in dairy room that reminds me of the walk through freezers when I used to shop in Amish country, though this is on a very small scale. They have cheeses, butters, large containers of chummus and a few other dips.

Snacks and candy – there is a huge selection of these things, and though I don’t buy any of it, I see it’s a big item for the kiosk owners. (Most of the other shoppers are restaurant or store owners – you can tell if someone is shopping for a store or for themselves by a glance at their cart.)

Condiments – this is interesting, because there is such a huge variety of sizes. For example, you can get a liter container of soy sauce or a five gallon bucket. I like getting the four liter container of vinegar since I use vinegar and baking soda for cleaning, and I rarely see that size in regular retail stores. They have all the sauces that restaurants use in their cooking.

Legumes and grains – they have packages with ten or twelve standard sized units, or you can get 5 kilo bags. Or 25 kilo bags (other than sugar, five kilo is as much as I buy here – but again, with friends, splitting bigger packaging could be a great option).

They also have things like eggs and packaged baked goods. Other than for the bar mitzva, I haven’t bought any of that but the savings were significant then.

I took this picture to show you the biggest sizes available in the very back, but in most of the store the items are packed in a more user friendly way for a family. I didn’t think of taking a picture for you until the end of my shopping, though.

You can find other pictures and videos if you want to get a better sense of it from their FB page, which also has address details. Shimurei Eichut, Holon. (In case you’re wondering, I have no financial links to them and receive no compensation for sharing this information.)

As prices move up, it’s helpful to know there are other shopping options that can help keep your budget in check!

Avivah

Making homemade grape juice – so easy!

canning, frugal strategies

I’m fortunate that being in an more agriculturally oriented area, that sometimes I get really good deals on produce. It tends to be feast or famine (like when friends of the farmer picked and shared watermelons left in the field after harvesting with us and many others, and every day for a couple of weeks our boys ate an entire watermelon. Seriously. Every.Single.Day.). It’s not predictable at all. But when it works out, it’s really nice.

Last week I got a great deal on green grapes (free :)). I decided to get more than what I would use for eating during the course of the week, and to experiment with using them for making grape juice.

It’s been a loooong time since I made homemade grape juice. (Nice thing about having a blog is I can check details like this – it’s been twelve years!) And I didn’t know if green grapes would make good juice. But with the price being what it was, it seemed like a worthwhile experiment. 🙂

Ds13 did the first batch, and he did it his way. Though I shared the general instructions with him, he didn’t feel there was any point in heating the grapes before blending them and then straining, so his batch was totally raw. Very fresh tasting. A day later it began to ferment, and then he had fizzy grape juice. I thought that improved the flavor!

But I wanted to do it the traditional way, so I made a batch and then ds12 made the final batch. It was interesting that the color changed when cooked. The raw juice was the color of the green grapes, but the cooked juice had a pinkish hue.

Here’s how complicated making grape juice is: 1) destem the grapes (that’s the most time consuming part). 2) Put them in a pot with some water (I didn’t add too much, but if you wanted it to be less concentrated or added sugar, you could add significantly more water), and sugar if you desire (we didn’t desire :)). 3) Let boil and then continue simmering on low for about fifteen minutes. 4) Mash the grape mixture with a potato masher to release the flavors. (You can also use a food processor but this was easier.) 5) Strain. Voila!

It’s fun to make something that you’re used to thinking of as an item you need to buy at the store.

I don’t have a lot of freezer space for a bunch of bottles, and I had just bought some glass jars the day before, so we decided to preserve the juice so that it would be shelf stable.

I haven’t canned in AGES. I used a couple of recycled juice jars, and all the rest were standard glass jars with pop-top vacuum lids. (These lids vacuum seal when water bathed.) Since I could only fit six jars in the pot and I wanted to go rest, I asked ds13 to finish canning the last jars.

When I woke up, he had cleaned up the kitchen for Shabbos, the jars were not only taken out but had cooled and put on the pantry shelf. He was so excited to show me! It really is gratifying to do something like this; I know that very pleasant productive feeling.

From our free grapes, we made 13.5 liters of sugar-free, all natural grape juice (there are four cups to a liter). We canned 11.5 liters; the two liters of raw juice we didn’t heat process and enjoyed as is. We opened the first bottle that evening for Shabbos kiddush, and all agreed that it was very tasty. We should have enough to get us through the holidays, when we can share it with visiting family!

Avivah