Monthly Archives: December 2021

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, I’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. 🙂

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.)

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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.

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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.)

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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.

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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. 🙂

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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!

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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

Where has all the discourse gone?

personal development

The last two years have been trying in many ways for many people, and unfortunately, I believe that we’re far from the resolution of the situation that has been the impetus for so many difficulties.

One great concern to me has been the seeming disappearance of civil discourse, the ability to listen to, dialogue with and even to be good friends with someone who has a differing opinion on a significant issue. It hurts my heart to see the widespread fracturing of families and friendships. For many, many years, people could interface with others of different beliefs in a way that is becoming much less common today. Where has the civil discourse gone, and why has it disappeared?

I don’t think this has been a sudden shift. For years, we’ve become increasingly used to communicating with others via a screen, removed from their face, their expressions, their voice. That has made it easier to forget that there’s another live person on the  other side of the screen, a person who can be hurt by what you say.

As we have created more distance between ourselves and others, it’s become increasingly easy to negate others and their opinions. Social media has become an echo chamber, with people seeing news that matches their perspectives. But just as our immune systems are strengthened by exposure to unfamiliar germs, our emotional and social systems are strengthened by exposure to the thought processes and perspectives of others.

The cancel culture has been ramping up in recent years, and more and more positions on various topics have become taboo, something to be mocked and denigrated. Gone is the understanding that respectful communication and different voices are important and healthy for our development as a society and as individuals.

Listen first to understand, then be understood: a key principle that I learned initially from Dr. Stephen Covey that has been an integral part of my understanding of communication. To listen to someone doesn’t mean to listen to his words, readying yourself for a response and debate before he’s finished his sentence. It means opening your heart and mind to truly hear how someone else is feeling. We know our own stories so well, and we want to be heard. It isn’t easy to set aside the desire to speak and convince others of the rightness of our positions, and listen with an open mind to someone else.

With the dramatically accelerated censorship that has become an integral part of our media culture, communicating with others of differing perspectives has become much more challenging. We are shown only one perspective, we are told what is right to believe and told that those who don’t have those same beliefs and practices are a danger to the rest of society. Dialogue and sharing of differing opinions has been shut down. This is particularly alarming since historically, censorship of this sort has always been a preface to institutionalized tyranny.

While the alternative news sources haven’t been completely shut down, those accessing a different perspective from the mainstream narrative are accessing information that the vast majority of people aren’t seeing, and as conversations aren’t based on shared information, conversations become fraught with tensions. As a result, people become increasingly committed to their own perspective and can’t fathom how someone can think any other way.

Whether this has been a natural result of the online social world that so many call home, purposeful media manipulation or something else entirely, we don’t have to let ourselves be led down this road. We reclaim our own humanity when we see the humanity in others, as we respectfully acknowledge the right of others to a differing opinion.

Particularly at this time of so many interpersonal frustrations, it’s incumbent on each of us to be willing to open our minds to respectfully listening to someone who has a different point of view. Sometimes when I’m feeling frustrated after an interaction with someone, or even thinking about perspectives that are disturbing to me, I’ll stop myself and think about why they might respond the way that they did. What causes them to think the way that they did? What paradigm of the world might they be operating from, what kind of life experiences might they have had?

I acknowledge that my life experiences and interpretations of events have led me to the conclusions that I live my life by. Others could have very similar experiences to mine and yet come to the exact opposite conclusions. This isn’t rocket science. It’s basic respect for another human being. But what is simple isn’t necessarily obvious.

Times are changing rapidly and it will be our ability to see the humanity in another, rather than caricature him as a member of a group that you’ve mentally written off, that has the power to reverse the dangerous and polarizing road we’re traveling on as a society.

Avivah