Category Archives: frugal strategies

Cleaning out the pantry

aliyah, frugal strategies

Back in February, I cut our family food budget down from $600 a month for our family of 11 to $400 – this was done knowing that we’d be moving and I wanted to use up our food in storage.  Usually I’m constantly replenishing and stocking up on whatever’s a good price, but with the upcoming move I obviously could minimize how much stocking up I was doing.

Well, I didn’t do as good a job as I could have with this, because even though I stuck to $400, it still didn’t force me to rely on my pantry as I had hoped.  Last month I went down to $200 for the month, and I’m still not using up the food fast enough.  Once a month I allocate cash for the food budget for the month, and though I had budgeted $200 for this month also (to be taken out today), I realized that I really don’t need to budget that much at all. 

Firstly, we’re only here for another two weeks, so to be consistent I should allocate $100.  But my pantry….well, it’s nowhere near being empty.  So I decided that I won’t do any more shopping, in the hopes that I can whittle this down a little more.  I jokingly told ds18 when he got home to be prepared for my austerity menu.  (Our menus really aren’t austere at all, though I am relying more on frozen and canned fruits and vegetables than usual.)

As we’ve had lots of expenses related to moving, I’m grateful for not having to spend so much on food, and still being able to eat healthfully and well!

Avivah

PS – If you’re in  my area, and always wished you could buy in bulk at the prices that I pay, I’m now selling my remaining bulk foods at less than wholesale costs (ie below what even I or a retail store would pay for it!), here’s most of what’s available:

Spelt berries – 50 lb bag – $50
Spelt berries – 40 lb buckets (5) – $40 each
Millet – 1 1/2 40- lb buckets – approximately 60 lb, $30
Steel cut oats – approximately 50 lb/1.25 square buckets – $30
Rolled oats- 1.25 square buckets – $20
quinoa – approximately 25 lb/1/2 square bucket – $18
popcorn – 1 round 50 lb bucket – $30
cornmeal – 1-0 lb bucket – $25
Sunflower seeds, hulled, raw – 1 40 lb bucket – $35
Pecan meal – 1 -40 lb bucket – $60
Almond meal – 1- 40 lb bucket – $60
Shredded coconut – 1.25 40-lb buckets in volume, but not weight (since it’s not dense like the grains)- $25

There’s other stuff, like beans (individually packed by the pound – .75 lb), bulk spices, and other things I need to inventory.  But this is the bulk of what will be available, I think.  (Square buckets hold 40 lb if the grain is dense; otherwise it’s listed to give a sense of quantity but not weight.)

High quality and inexpensive probiotics

frugal strategies, health, nutrition

Dh has been on the GAPS diet since a year and a half ago, yet after the first month, he didn’t use the recommended probiotic supplements since they were so pricey.  We figured we’d do probiotics the frugal way – with cultured foods like kefir and fermented vegetables. But even though he’s found his digestive health improved, it hasn’t been to the degree we would have hoped and expected.

Back in January, I started researching probiotics in order to find an affordable option that would allow us to buy the full amount to give dd16, to see if this would help resolve the stomach pains she’d been having – but high quality and affordability don’t seem to go together when it comes to probiotics.  Until I found Custom Probiotics, a company that sells  customized probiotic blends. 

I called to order an eleven strain oxylate blend that isn’t offered on the website,  and the person who answered the phone (Harry – turned out he was the owner of the business), asked why I wanted this particular blend.  I told him it for dd.  He asked about her stomach pains, when it started, and some other specific questions, and then told me it sounded very much like something he had experienced. Actually, it was what led him to starting this business ten years ago, after healing himself naturally by using probiotics.

I had never heard of the term he used -H pylori – so I asked him twice to repeat himself and the third time just asked him to spell it for me.  When he asked me if her stomach pain felt like someone stabbed her in the stomach with a knife, I told him I know it’s pretty bad because she doesn’t complain much so if she says her stomach hurts, she would only say something if it really hurt, but I wasn’t sure if that was how it felt (I was hoping it wasn’t, because it sounded so excrutiating). H pylori is a bacteria that about 50% of people in the world have, but that causes infections in a only some of those people.

A little later in the day I spoke to her and asked if this was an accurate description, and she said that’s exactly how she feels.  I told her all about what he had shared with me, and then while I went off to do some shopping for her, she went on to do some research about it.   When I got back, an email was in my inbox from her, saying she looked at the detailed symptoms and she thinks it looks like a good match for her.

Since then, we’ve done lots more testing and eliminated the possibility of H pylori, and since she had taken massive amounts of this probiotic without change, I was pretty sure even prior to the testing that it wasn’t H pylori.   Before this testing, a naturopath and osteopath both also were strongly inclined to think it was H pylori as well based on her symptoms, so it was a very good guess.  Though it wasn’t what dd16 needed to remedy her stomach issue (and I unfortunately still don’t know what to do to help her – nothing we’ve tried has helped), I strongly believe probiotics are very valuable for the digestive system. 

And back to dh – he and I both feel it would be helpful for him to really get the full benefits of gut healing that are supposed to result from the GAPS diet.  But even inexpensive probiotics aren’t cheap, and so we pushed off purchasing any for dh.  That is, until today, when in preparation for our move to Israel in two weeks, I ordered 200 grams for dh of the customized GAPS blend so he’d have enough to last a good while. 

By the way, I’m very impressed with the owner of Custom Probiotics.  Back in January, in addition to spending 20 minutes talking to me and sharing some ideas about treating H pylori that he’d have no benefit from me buying since he doesn’t sell them, he insisted on sending me the probiotics Fedex at his expense – I told him I’d rather the cheaper shipping option, but he said he wanted to be absolutely sure it arrived to me before I left to visit dd, and he’d cover the difference in shipping.  Today, I asked if there was a larger container available than 100 grams (you know how I buy everything in bulk!), and he said there isn’t but is doing me a favor and filling the bottle fuller (beyond the weight I’m paying for), and charging me the same amount. 

In case you’re wondering about the cost of this particular blend, it’s $175 for 100 grams.  (There are a number of different probiotics blends available and most of them are less expensive than this one.)  I know it sounds insanely expensive to pay that much for a little bottle, but when it comes to probiotics, you have to see how many billion cfus there are in a given serving, then compare that.  Once I did that, I realized that this probiotic was much more powerful than others I looked at, and as a result, a smaller amount was necessary.  We originally bought the BioKult probiotics that are recommended in the GAPS program, and using it was shortlived since we couldn’t keep up with the expense – this is comparable quality and lots more affordable. 

I really appreciate dealing with people who care about what they do, and offer great service in addition to great products!

(This post is linked to Real Food Wednesdays and Pennywise Platter Thursdays.) 

Avivah

Camping trip – day 2 and 3

frugal strategies, miscellaneous

Back to our camping trip.  🙂

On Tuesday morning, I and the four older kids woke up pretty early and wanted to get the fire started for some hot cocoa.  Unfortunately, someone (not mentioning names :)) left the matches out of the zip lock bag they were in to protect them from moisture, and sitting out all night in the humidity right after a major rainstorm, they were worthless.  When it got late enough in the morning, ds12 found a ‘neighbor’ to borrow a flame from – he borrowed a clicker, lit our hurricane lamp with it, then biked back to return the clicker.  When he returned, he found the hurricane lamp had blown out, because he had forgotten to close the opening.  Nature is nothing if not a good teacher of natural consequences.

At this point, I decided that I’d let ds12 figure out how to remedy the situation, so I took the littles to the beach.  It was 8 am by now, and there was only one older woman on the entire beach, doing laps.   They had a great time playing – it was interesting that there are tiny fish that nibble their toes in the evening, but in the morning would run away from them.  By the time we headed back, ds12 had found another ‘neighbor’ to borrow a tiny box of matches from, so the fire was going and the kids were enjoying hot cocoa.  We changed the plan for breakfast from oatmeal to hamburgers, since the kids discovered that someone forgot to pack the dairy spoons, which made it impossible to eat any of the breakfast food we brought along.  Like I said before, adaptability is a great trait!

By the time we finished breakfast, it was close to lunch time.  Dd10 and ds12 went fishing while dd14 and ds9 hiked around the lake (something like 2 or 3 miles, not sure which trail they took). They were all back by 3 pm; ds12 had found the boat rental place and asked if they could go boating.  I was willing to rent the boat for them, but I had to be there, and the littles were pretty desperate for a nap by the point, so I told him we could do it after they napped.  But by then the boat place was closed, so instead we got the campfire ready for dinner.  In the outdoors, you need to plan ahead if you want to cook a meal The kids climbed a huge hill/small mountain to gather firewood – gathering firewood and making a fire is a big part of camping- it takes a lot of work and it’s something kids find very gratifying!

The kids also biked over the camp store and bought a box of plastic cutlery, which made breakfast the next morning a lot easier!

We went to the beach after dinner again, and though we didn’t have the empty beach like the night before, a lot of people had left so we still had a nice amount of space to ourselves.  We rarely go to beaches and being able to go every evening and morning while we were camping was really nice!  The campfire that night was much more easily started than the night before, and again we enjoyed singing together until late into the night.

The next morning, we had an early breakfast which was easily accomplished since dd14 banked the fire the night before – they learned their lesson from the day before that it paid to think ahead and minimize unnecessary work!  Then we all headed to the beach.  After swimming for an hour and a half, we walked over to the boat rental place.  We all got into lifejackets and I rented two paddle boats.  After some discussion, we decided that dd14, ds12, ds9, and ds3 would go on one boat.  I went on the second boat with dd10, ds5, and ds2.  Part of what made it challenging to figure out is the two strongest people have to be in front to paddle, but the two seats in the rear back up to the front seats, so you can’t see the children there.  So we had to work out the logistics of how to keep the littles safe and still have the oldest and most responsible people in front.  This is why I put ds3 in the back of the first boat with ds9, and in my boat, held ds2 on my lap as I paddled (then he started to fall asleep so I moved him between me and dd10 to a kind of shelf where I kept my arm around him as he slept – dd steered so I didn’t need to use my arms for anything else!), while ds5 was able to safely keep himself in the boat without needing someone to keep a constant eye on him.

Dd10 and I chose to go around the entire lake, but the other kids had different ideas, so they took their path.  It was a gorgeous, sunny, hot day – and about 40 minutes in, we needed some water. So we headed back to the dock, dd10 jumped out and got our big water bottle, and jumped back in. We passed it off to the other kids when our boats crossed paths.  I really enjoyed boating with the kids; usually dh does this kind of stuff while I wait on shore with the littles.

Since we did similar but not the same things on different days, it blurs in my mind exactly when the kids went biking together, when they went on exploratory nature walks – they did a lot of that.  Though it doesn’t sound like our days were that full, the time was comfortably used .  We weren’t pressured to rush from one activity to another, which is critical for everyone to feel like they’re able to relax internally.  But somehow there was always something to do.

We decided to leave a little on the earlier side on Thursday, so we could get back an hour beforeds9’s art lesson and dd14’s flute lesson, so they’d be able to shower and change without rushing.  It was a good thing we started earlier than we originally planned, since as we were packing up, the skies got cloudy and the wind started to blow…..yes, another storm hit!  It was amazing how fast everyone got everything into the van; we were able to beat what was a huge rainstorm that we drove through all the way home.  It was kind of fun to come full circle, starting off with a rainstorm and then finishing off with a rainstorm!

The kids were so tired that every single one of them totally conked out on the way home – camping is tiring in a good, deep kind of way.  We had a really, really nice time together, and created nice shared memories for everyone – and you never regret investing the time into creating memories!

Avivah

PS – on the cost side, it was a little under $53 for the campsite, and another $24 to rent two paddle boats for an hour.  So less than $80 for a really nice vacation together!

Camping trip – day 1

frugal strategies, homeschooling, parenting

I’ve told you about preparing for our trip, now on to the fun of the trip itself!

The state park we went to is one that we’ve gone to three times before – the last time we went camping at a different state park that had some less than pleasant surprises, we agreed we’d go back to our favorite campsite in the future.  The park is called Greenbriar State Park, in Boonsboro, MD, about an hour and a half away.  One thing we especially like about this park is that there’s a beach for swimming and fishing, in addition to the hiking trails.

We usually choose the campsite closest to the path that leads to the lake, but since it was prime camping season when we went this time, our usual site would be in the middle of where everyone was walking.  We got there and told them we’d like to drive around and pick the site we liked before registering, and found a site we were really happy with.  The way the campgrounds are set up is like this:  in the center is a public bathroom.  Then in a ring around that are campsites, a ring around that is the road that people use to access the campsites, and then the final ring around it is campsites.

We chose a site that was across from the bathroom (important in the middle of the night, when it’s nice to have an easily followed path), but on the outer loop.  Even though there were a lot of people camping when we got there, the sites across from us and on each side of us were empty.  On one side of our site was a forested area, with a stream running through – the kids could explore this huge area and I was able to easily keep them in sight the entire time.  There was a path from there to the fishing part of the beach, and since the entire time we were there we only once saw people there, it was like our personal path and forest.  It really didn’t feel that different from when we’re the only people there!

The first thing we did when we got there was to set up both tents.  I had wanted to bring only one (keeping it simple!)  but the kids asked to take both, so I agreed on condition the site we chose had room for them.  I took ds2 for a walk to the lake while the older kids set up the tents – he was out of sorts from sleeping in the car and being woken up abruptly, so keeping him happily occupied made things more pleasant for everyone.  Ds3 and ds5 explored the stream and forest next to the site in the meantime, and then everyone collected firewood.

When I got back, the tents were up, the campfire was going, and a lot of the things unpacked.  I heard a distant rumble and asked the kids if they heard anything.  It was sunny and nice out, and they said they thought it was an airplane.  I wasn’t so sure, and when I heard the distant rumble again a couple of minutes later, I told them we needed to get the rain flys on the tents.  As they were putting it on, I was racing to get all the gear into the tent with the better rain cover, and put away all the food and supplies that had been unpacked.  Ds12 told me he didn’t see any point, that it wasn’t going to rain and if it did, it would take at least a half hour until it got there.  I told him we’d need it and to get it up fast; not even a minute later the wind started to blow and I warned the kids that a storm was coming fast – and within a minute of saying that, the rain started to pour.  (This was about five minutes from when the sky looked clear and the rumble had been so distant that we could hardly make it out.)

The rain fly on the main tent wasn’t fully on yet, but it mostly was so it stayed dry as ds12 and dd14 worked to get it totally on.  Then they put on the fly for the other tent – I told them to forget about it and come inside the first tent, but I think they were enjoying working in the pouring rain together.  🙂  We had started a campfire for dinner, planning to cook hamburgers, but our fire was quenched by the rain; even after the storm was over, the forest was soaked so there was no dry wood to be found.  So I brought sliced bread, butter, jam, and canned vegetables into the tent to have for dinner instead.

After the storm cleared, we decided to take a walk to the beach, so everyone got into their bathing suits (except me and dd14 – she no longer has a modest bathing suit that fits, and mine is a maternity one so I wasn’t going to wear that).  When we got to the beach, we were the only people there – they closed the beach for 90 minutes because of the storm, so all the day visitors who were there left.  We were the first ones on the beach after the beach reopened, and after that only two other families came (who were also camping there), so we each had our own spacious section of the beach to ourselves.  I hadn’t been sure we’d be able to go to the beach at all since it’s such a popular place in the summer, and not exactly filled with modestly clad people.  So this was really, really a nice bonus resulting from the storm.

We got out a few minutes before 9 pm and headed back to the campsite.  Since it was almost dark, I said it was time for bed.  But ds12 wanted to get the campfire started – he said it didn’t feel like a camping trip without a campfire – and the littles didn’t want to stay in the tent when they could hear the action all around them.  Dd10 figured out how to get the hurricane lamp working (the second lamp was defective), and between that and the electric lantern we had, we had some dim light at the campsite.

I started our new readaloud by Joan Aiken, The Serial Garden, which was easy to get into, and easy to see thanks to the camping headlight that I strapped to my forehead!  When it was just a few minutes to ten, I told ds12 he had four minutes to get the fire started and then it was bedtime for everyone.

Remarkably, after almost an hour of trying, he got it started in those few minutes, and we all sat around singing together.  (Every time we go camping, I think that we should make a booklet of songs that we like to sing that we could pass out, but I haven’t yet done that.)  After about an hour, I put the littles to bed (or should I say, to sleeping bag?), and went to sleep myself.  The kids had asked if I could stay in one tent with the littles so that they could have a ‘party’ tent, and I agreed.  I didn’t have a very restful night, since ds2 and ds3 kept waking up and being frightened since they didn’t know where they were, so I would quickly wake up each time to reassure them. I heard the middles and dd14 drying out their tent and then talking together until late into the night.

Avivah

Camping trip preparations

frugal strategies, homeschooling, parenting

We’re back from our fantastic camping trip!

Usually we go camping the first weekend after Memorial Day, when the season opens but no one is there yet so we have the campgrounds to ourselves.  This year that weekend coincided with the Torah Home Education Conference, and the following two weeks I was busy with lots of doctor and dental visits – and then it was in the prime of camping season with lots of people out, so we missed our chance.

But as we were talking about going through the garage and selling all the stuff in it, I was feeling like I really wanted to go camping one more time before we moved.  I asked dh about it, and he said he didn’t have any vacation days to use, so he couldn’t do it.  Last year no one wanted to go camping because they felt it would be so much work with the littles, but this year, the littles are 2, 3.5, and 5, which (in my opinion) makes the dynamic a bit easier.  Then again, we wouldn’t have the help of dh, ds18, or dd16 – in short, the most heavily involved organizers of past trips.  But I felt it would be a good opportunity for the middles to step up and into the roles of responsibility.  There’s also the bonding factor in camping that I wanted us to share before we move – we’ve noticed on past trips that there’s very little interpersonal friction when we’re camping; something about being in the outdoors all day and doing what you need to do consumes all of the available energy in a constructive way.

So I ran the idea of a trip on our own, with minimal preparation, by the kids.  All of the kids liked the idea, except for dd14.  She said we have so much to do to get ready to move that it would be too much pressure to pack for this trip, then have to unpack – just too much work.  I told her we’d keep it really simple (she was skeptical about this – she said I always say that!), but if she would rather stay home, it was fine with me.  She opted to come along.

The check-in time for the state park we chose was at 3 pm, so I figured we’d leave at 1 pm.  We started preparing for the trip that morning, since dh had worked late on Sunday night and we didn’t have the car to pack into.

Camping gear – So Monday morning, we pulled out two tents, seven sleeping bags, and three camping pads from the garage.  I told the kids if we didn’t have something, we’d have to manage without it – we were short a sleeping bag, so I said the three littles could share two sleeping bags between them (two sleeping bags can zip together to create a double size sleeping bag). They took out the camping stove and a few bottles of propane, which ds then checked – all empty.  They told me we could exchange it at Walmart – but I said, nope, we’re keeping it simple and I’m not making an extra trip.  Then they said the campground might be able to exchange them (the one we went to last time did), so we took the empties along.  Turned out this campground didn’t sell propane, so we did all of our cooking directly over the campfire.  Most of the flashlights and lanterns needed batteries, so we didn’t take them since….. right, keeping things simple.  We took along a couple of hurricane lamps and torch fuel instead.  I told the kids if we couldn’t work out the light situation, we’d go to sleep when it got dark, and manage with the light of the moon and whatever shone out from the public bathroom.

Food – Packing food for the trip was super simple – I went to my pantry and started pulling down jars and cans – home canned cherries, mandarin oranges, pineapple, home canned butter and jams, pickles, corn, green beans, pickle relish, ketchup, mustard, oats, sucanat.  Then to the freezer – bagels, hot dog and hamburger buns, bagels, sliced bread, cottage cheese, sour cream, hot dogs, and ground beef.  And then we took some cukes and tomatoes from the fridge – and that was it, except for a trip to the store for smores fixings – which I don’t keep around the house. (Breakfast – fruit, oatmeal, milk/cottage cheese; lunch – sandwiches with butter and jam, cukes and tomatoes; dinner – hot dogs or hamburgers with corn, green beans.)

Clothing – I told everyone to take one outfit in addition to what they were wearing, and a bathing suit.  Since it’s July, I didn’t think sweatshirts would be necessary.

Misc supplies – matches, dish soap, large bucket (for hauling water), garbage bags, can openers, paper plates, plastic cups, and silverware.

Fun stuff – since we didn’t have three family members with us, we were able to take out the front bench in the van.  This gave us more space than usual, so we were able to take along two adult bikes and helmets.  We took three pairs of roller blades, two fishing rods and tackle, and a big floaty toy in case we went to the beach.  We took along two books so we’d have something to choose from for a read aloud.

Adopting the attitude of managing with what we had kept the preparations simple and low stress.  Usually I’d go out to buy everything we’d need, and have an impeccable detailed list of things to take, and that feels kind of stressful.  We cut out all the pressure by adopting the attitude that we’d manage with what we had.  This is an attitude that in general that makes life easier, but when on a family trip, is especially valuable since you could easily otherwise get irritated about not having what you want with you!  And for us, this trip wouldn’t have happened without this attitude, because I would have felt too overwhelmed with all that I’m already doing to have taken on planning for a family trip as well.  🙂

Avivah

Flute lessons

frugal strategies, homeschooling

Three years ago, three of my children began taking piano lessons.  This year, dd16 was in Israel and dd10 started, so it was still three children but with a little bit of switching.  Two weeks ago, dd14, ds12, and dd10 had their final piano recital.  Every Sunday morning for years, three kids have one after another had their lessons at the beginning of the day; it’s been part of our routine and we’ve watched them progress in ability and skill.  The recital was lovely, as always, and there was the added poignancy of knowing this stage is coming to an end.   

I’ve been so grateful that my children have had a chance to have these lessons.  I love music and being able to play adds an extra dimension of enjoyment to experiencing music.  I didn’t feel piano was the right instrument for ds9, so last year he took violin lessons for a period of time, but we didn’t continue when the summer began.  (Tomorrow he’ll begin art lessons – drawing is something he really enjoys.)   Dd16 took guitar lessons this year while in Israel – she didn’t mind piano but it wasn’t something she was passionate about – she enjoyed guitar much more. 

After the recital, I was talking to an adult neighbor who recently began taking piano lessons with the same teacher as my children.  She mentioned that she also plays flute, and that she had recently started giving lessons.  As we were chatting, she made the very generous offer to give any of my children who are interested lessons – for free – until we move.  Isn’t that amazingly generous of her? 

Though more than one child expressed interest in taking flute lessons, there was only one child who I felt should really, really do this – dd14.  And she was the one whose eyes lit up when I mentioned it.   To me, the flute is an instrument that matches her personality; it’s such a gift for her to have this opportunity now. 

 Her 15th birthday is coming up in a month, and as a slightly early birthday gift, we bought her a flute.  Though it would have been less expensive to rent a flute for such a short time, I wanted her to have her own instrument to support her interest.  The flute is a very compact instrument, and she can easily take it along when we move. 

We were fortunate to find a nice quality flute and case on Craigslist for $75.  Her teacher looked at it today and told her it’s silver-plated; I just assumed it was nickel because that’s the less expensive kind.  It’s nice when you get an even better deal than you expected! 

 Her first lesson was today, and both she and our neighbor enjoyed it very much – so much that the teacher suggested that they continue with lessons via Skype!  Wouldn’t that be nice if that worked out?  Regardless of how long this continues or if this ends up being an instrument that dd advances with or not, I’m so glad she’ll have this opportunity this summer, and I am once again amazed at the blessings that Hashem is constantly sending our way!

Avivah

Lambs quarter – free for your foraging

frugal strategies, gardening

Something I’ve felt especially aware of lately is how being frugal and innovative truly requires a certain amount of headspace.

Last year I took the kids on a private tour of a eco-farming community that is in the works, and at one point the person I was speaking to pointed out a wild edible, lambs quarter.  I was so glad to learn what this looked like since I had been specifically wanting to identify this particular weed for a while.  It turns out it’s something I frequently see growing, even in my own yard! However, it was the end of the growing season at that point so I had to wait until spring in order to be able to pick some for myself.

Soon after spring began, I noticed lambs quarter springing up.  Do you think I picked any?  No, I didn’t.  I just didn’t have the extra head space to pick it and prepare it – even though you could legitimately ask, how much energy did it actually take?  I wasn’t willing to spend even that tiny bit of energy on something extra.  So it wasn’t until this past week that I finally prepared some for my family for dinner.

Lambs quarter is nice because it can be used raw or cooked – I chopped it up into a salad with some cucumbers and tomatoes, dressed with olive oil, lemon juice, and Real salt.  It was tasty – not one of the kids made any negative comments.  Lambs quarter can be used in place of spinach – one nice thing is that when you cook it, it doesn’t cook down as much because the water content is so much lower than spinach – so you end up with more food to eat. To use raw, I prefer the leaves and not the stems, but if you’re going to cook it, you can go ahead and use the stems as well – steam it until it’s soft.  It has a whitish coating on the underside of the leaf, which is pollen, and I prefer to wash it off – there’s nothing wrong with it, but it lends a grainy texture when eating it.

If I were staying here, I’d allow some to take root in my garden beds, as I have with plantain, in order to have it conveniently located along with my other vegetables that are growing.  Though I’m not doing this, I’ll still continue to keep an eye out for it so I can enjoy it while we’re still living in the US.  And maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised to discover it growing in Israel!

It’s fun to learn to recognize the free food that is all around us!  Sometimes I look at a big area of weeds and wonder how much food is there that I just don’t yet know how to recognize as such!  If you’re interested in learning about wild edibles that you can enjoy for free – and are organic to boot! – you can take a look at youtube to see videos that will make it easier to identify the particular plant you’re wondering about.

Avivah

Buying carrots in bulk

frugal strategies

Today I took ds3 for a dentist appointment, and afterwards we had some “together time” shopping for Pesach vegetables.   Most of our food shopping is done, though I’ll need to buy more vegetables right before Pesach – we use a LOT of produce on Pesach!

I’ve periodically mentioned buying bulk amounts of food and enjoying the discount that usually comes along with that.  Most people think that I have these secret sources of shopping and that there’s no way that most of them could enjoy discounts like what I get.  It’s true that I’ve found good sources for some things, but it’s also true that I find discounts at the same stores that everyone else shops at that they wouldn’t think of as a likely source.  I’ll give you an example of what happened today.

When I stopped at the vegetable store, I asked about buying a 50 lb bag of carrots. They didn’t have any left and told me to stop back in on Thursday.  I asked how much it would be, and he estimated around $33- 35, since the price fluctuates and at this point, it’s always more each week than the week before.  Three years ago I was buying a 50 lb bag of carrots for $12 and thought $14 was a lot!  That’s inflation for you. 

Right after that we stopped in at the large local kosher supermarket that just about every Jewish family in this area shops at.  When I got there, I asked someone working in the produce section if they had 50 lb bags of carrots for sale, and if so, how much would it be.  She didn’t know, and when she didn’t emerge after asking the question, I asked someone else working there the same thing.  In he went to inquire, and after me waiting about 10 minutes for a response, he came out and said the person in charge who could answer that wasn’t there.  Off I went to complete my shopping, but just a couple of minutes later the worker rushed after me and said they could sell me a 50 lb bag and it would be $35.  That worked for me – I’d get what  I needed right then without having to make a trip another day- so I asked him to load it into my shopping cart. 

 Note: in this store, loose carrots are selling for $1.19 lb.  I paid .70 per pound.  As you see, I’m shopping at the same store as everyone else, at a time when many people are buying massive quantities of groceries – but from the response when I asked about buying a bulk bag of carrots, I’m guessing that it’s not a question that comes up often.  Lesson?  If you don’t see what you want, ask!!!

Almost all of my great sources have been created by me asking the person in charge if I could buy an item they offered in bulk and get a discounted price.  Does this always work?  No. (I once asked at this store about buying raw cheese in bulk and they said they wouldn’t discount it.)   But it’s worked enough times that it’s worth it to spend a few minutes to ask about something that interests you. 

Remember, the store still makes a profit selling to you in bulk – you save them the work of unpacking the groceries, stocking the shelves, etc – they hardly have to do anything to your bulk item except mark it up from the price they bought it at, and sell it to you.  So don’t feel embarrassed to ask – it benefits them just as much as it benefits you to sell to you in this way!

Avivah

Tattler reusable canning jar lids

canning, food preservation, frugal strategies

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been steadily selling off canning supplies, including a couple of days ago when I sold all of my fantastic Tattler canning jar lids that I never got around to telling you about last year.  

Though I’m not using them now, I still want to share about them since even in the canning community, many people don’t know about them and they’re a great option to be aware of. 

Tattler lids are made of BPA free plastic, and have a separate rubber ring that is fitted onto the lid before the lid is placed on the jar.  After putting the lid on, you put the metal canning ring on to hold it on, then process as usual.  The only difference is how you tighten the lid before processing, and when you tighten the lid after processing (instructions are on the box). 

What’s great about them is that they can be used long term repeatedly – no more having to buy lids and then dispose of them after one use (and though I’m a frugal person, reusing lids isn’t a way I recommend saving money).  That means that one dozen lids can be used continually for many, many batches of canning!   The other big advantage is there’s no concern about BPA leaking into your food. 

The big challenge is the upfront high cost of the lids – about $7 – 8 dozen (not including the rubber rings).  That means you have to can about six batches of food to break even (compared to the cost of buying disposable lids).  For me, I was able to purchase a large number of these lids for a super price through a private seller – I bought about 60 dozen lids that included the rubber rings (all unused) and paid about $120 for all of them- I was really excited about this when I found them.  

I passed on my savings to the person who bought from me – I know I could have made a nice profit by selling them at a higher price (which would still have been less than 50% of retail price, but that’s not what I wanted to do.  I was so grateful to have found these at a price I could afford and wanted someone else like me to be able to have the same experience.  She knew what these lids were and appreciated what an amazing buy they were; she told me she had been asking G-d to send her these lids since she really wanted them but didn’t have a budget for buying them at the regular price, and as I told her, “G-d provides!” 

Parenthetically, the buyer of these lids was Mormon.  Mormons are advised by their religious leaders to have  a year’s supply of food stored in case of emergency, though I’ve read only 10% of practicing Mormons do this.  She wanted to know how I could sell off all of my canning supplies at a time when it seems there is tremendous instability, and many are afraid that massive inflation and all that comes along with that is coming down the road for the U.S. in the not so distant future.  At this time, more people than ever are interested in canning, buying in bulk, and being prepared to weather at least a part of the financial storm by creating a pantry ‘hedge’.  We had quite an interesting conversation!

You can find these lids online , but as I said, there is a high upfront cost (though there’s a bulk option that lowers the cost).  These lids have been around since the 70s and so there’s a long term record for them holding up for decades (though the rubber rings will need to be replaced at some point if they get stretched out – they’re not expensive), so if you can often, even at the retail price you would still end up saving in the long run.  And it’s a nice to have a reusable option rather than constantly buying and discarding lids.

Avivah