Category Archives: frugal strategies

Chickpea Cheeseburgers

frugal strategies, recipes

I made these chickpea cheeseburgers for dinner last night; they were very frugal and very much enjoyed!  For those who are avoiding gluten, they’re also gluten-free.  I served them with sour cream, red pepper strips, and snow peas.  Since everyone enjoyed them and they were very frugal, I thought you’d appreciate if I shared it.  I’ll post my costs at the end.

As always, I make recipes up as I go along so I’ll try to estimate how much I used of each ingredient as accurately as I can.  This made enough as a main dish for our family of 11, about 50 4-inch burgers; you can either cut it in half (or 1/4!), or make the full recipe and put some in the freezer to use at a another time.

Chickpea Cheeseburgers

  • 2 lb dried chickpeas,  soaked, sprouted, and cooked
  • 1 large onion or 3 small onions, minced
  • 12 eggs (I used pastured eggs)
  • 1  c. arrowroot flour (if you want it to be gluten-free) or bulgur (cooked with 1 c. water or yogurt – I meant to soak this ahead but forgot)
  • 1 lb mozzarella or cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 T. salt
  • pepper to taste

(If you decide to use bulgur for this recipe as the thickener, start it cooking while you prepare the rest of the mixture.)

Blend the chickpeas in a food processor until they are somewhat smooth (they don’t have to be pureed, but you want them pretty well broken down).  You’ll probably find it helpful to add some liquid to this so they can blend easily – either water or the juice the chickpeas cooked in is good.  Add in the minced onion, garlic, and eggs.  Mix, then add the shredded cheese and spices.   Mix well, and add either arrowroot powder or cooked bulgur as the thickener.

Drop onto parchment-lined or greased baking pan into the size you desire.  We made them about 4 – 5 inches across.  Bake at 500 degrees until they are browned, about 10 – 15 minutes (smaller ones will cook faster).  They should stay in a burger form when they’re cooked through – if they’re falling apart, you need to cook it for longer.  Serve warm.

Here are my costs (remember that I buy almost everything on sale and if I didn’t the costs could be double what I’ve listed – but still would make for an inexpensive dinner!):

  • chickpeas – .59 lb – $1.18 total
  • onion – .28 lb (bought in 50 lb bag) – .28 total (I’m overestimating since one large onion was less an a pound but I prefer to overstate costs than to understate them)
  • eggs – 1.75 dozen – total $1.75
  • organic bulgur – .79 for 24 oz – .20 total
  • mozzarella/cheddar (bought in 5 lb block) – 4.69 lb – $4.69 total
  • garlic – 5 lb peeled organic garlic was $7 – .20 total
  • spices – not significant, but I’ll add another .15 for that

Total cost for burgers – $8.45 – since this served 9 people (not including dh and baby), it works out to .84 cents per person, and each person had enough for 5 – 6 burgers.  I think that served with more sides, three would have been enough per person.

The sour cream we served it with was 2.29 for a large container, sliced red peppers were .99 lb and used about 2 lb, and the snow peas were 1.99 lb (used 1 pound).  I meant to chop up a large head of napa cabbage but got busy with something else and forgot about it until halfway through dinner – that would have only been an additional .50 since I bought a case with 20 heads for $7 from the Asian grocery (but we would have ended up eating less of the other things!). So $6.29 total for the add-ons.

The total cost for the entire meal was $14.61, which works out to $1.62 a person.  Most of our kids have adult appetites, with the exception of the 2 and 3 year olds.  I love figuring out these kinds of things! 🙂

(This post is part of Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays , Real Food Wednesdays, and Pennywise Platter Thursday.)

Avivah

Clarifying what products need Passover certification

frugal strategies, Pesach

Have you ever noticed that packaged foods that are certified for Pesach (Passover) are very expensive?  (How’s that for a nicely phrased understatement? 😆 )

After seeing the prices for some foods I want to use for Pesach that are certified for Passover use, I decided yesterday to get some more information about these foods and if they really need that additional Pesach supervision that I’ve been paying extra for until now.   Although I have a few more items I want to call about tomorrow, the information I’ve learned will help me to buy a number of foods for Pesach at the price I pay year round, and I thought I’d share that with you.  (However, it’s always good to ask your questions yourself.)

Quinoa – some people don’t use this because of the suspicion of it being kitniyos.  Here in my city it’s accepted across the board that it’s not; I believe it was the local kashrus agency that did the research about if quinoa was kosher for Passover and brought it to public attention.  My previous understanding was that it had to be purchased from one of two sources, both of which were much more expensive than what I can buy it for.  My question was if I could use quinoa from any company or not.  I called the OU (Orthodox Union) Hotline yesterday and was told that as long as it’s purchased in a sealed bag and is checked before Pesach (in case of accidental cross contamination), I can buy from whatever company I want.  That means that I can buy from my usual bulk source and get a 25 lb for under $4 lb instead of paying between $5 – 6 for a 12 oz box.   I had already decided I wasn’t going to use much quinoa if it meant paying over $7 lb – I’d rather buy meat for that price! I use quinoa year round so buying a 25 lb bag isn’t a waste for me, and this means I can use as much as I want for Pesach.

Nuts – any shelled nuts (ie without shells) that are whole and have no additives or preservatives can be used for Pesach even without certification.  Be sure that there’s no BHA or BHT in the nuts you get.  This is also something I use and buy in bulk year round – since I don’t have any unopened packages I’ll buy new ones for Pesach.  I usually space the expenses of bulk nut purchases so that I don’t buy more than two a month, and since there are four kinds of nuts I’d like to get, this will be a big expense in the coming month for me.  But it will all even out since I won’t have to buy nuts for a long time.  I was told sliced almonds also have this classification, but nut flours don’t.

Dried fruit – all dried fruit needs to have a special certification for Passover.  The exception to this is raisins that are grown in the US and are certified kosher for year round use.  Since last month I bought a 25 (or 30?) lb box of raisins that meet this criteria and haven’t yet used them, this was good news to me.

Milk – last year dh asked about this and was told that we needed to use milk certified kosher for Passover.  So I didn’t use any raw milk.  This year I decided to ask for myself since after speaking to dh, I realized the answer was applicable to both pasteurized and raw milk – I thought the answer had been given expressly about raw milk.  I was told that as long as it’s purchased before Pesach, it doesn’t need any Pesach certification. That means that this year we’ll be able to enjoy raw milk on Pesach.

edited to add – I just called again and was told that organic sucanat is okay (called back a second time and was told it’s not, so won’t be using this after all), as is extra virgin coconut oil (which was also mentioned in the comments section before I made this call).  I asked about unsweetened coconut products but all of those will need Passover certification.  It didn’t hurt to ask, though!

There are other foods that don’t require certification that I was already aware of – this is by no means an exhaustive list!  These are all new to me, though.

I’m very pleased with all of this information.  I thought I had no choice but to pay extra for Passover certification on the above items, and am glad to know that I can eat these foods just as affordably for Pesach as I do year round.  And just as nutritiously, too!

Avivah

Explaining money limitations to kids

frugal strategies, parenting

>> i am wondering how you deal with money and your kids. as the children get older, there are certain things that they need- and certain things they just really really want- that we just can’t afford. my husband thinks we should tell them our finances- like, “there is only $28 in the bank until the next payday, so we can’t get you x”. that gives me the heebie jeeebies. i think we do a good job of teaching our kids the value of money- so they don’t generally ask for frivolous things.

i know some people who tell their kids ‘this is just not how we choose to spend our money right now.’ that avoids the kids feeling poor, but i think sometimes it isn’t fair, because it implies that you are choosing to let them do without, when really you wish it could be different. i don’t want my kids to be afraid to need things or to feel like we can’t provide for them or to be complexed about our finances. i would prefer is our finances were none of their business, but as they get older, this gets harder.

so, i hope you will see through to the main ideas here- giving over god values while being comapssionate, while balancing everyone’s needs.<<

I decided to ask my kids for their thoughts on this before responding.  So at dinner last week, I told them the question, and asked them what they thought.  There was a long silence and they all looked at me blankly.  Then one of them said, “What do you mean?”  So I explained, “Sometimes we have money limitations and can’t buy you what you want – so how do you feel about that?”  And then they said that that situation has never happened!

Since we’ve had times of being extremely financially limited, I certainly have had to curtail expenses, so I guess they have selective memories. 🙂  I think they have the feeling of not having been deprived of something because they know the difference between wants and needs.  If they have a need, they know we’ll take care of it.  If they have a want, they realize that even if we have the money, we may not choose to spend it in that way – it has to be something we feel is valuable.   So the focus becomes on what the value of the purchase is, not our finances.

I feel it’s really important that kids feel secure in their parents’ ability to provide for them.  And this isn’t about how much you make, but the attitude you project.  I remember years ago we were living on a very, very small income – honestly, it was too small and very stressful just trying to pay bills.  Somehow the name Bill Gates came up, and my kids asked who he was.  So I said he was a man who created Microsoft and became very rich.  My oldest son was about 10 or 11 and he asked, “Is he richer than us?”   I said yes, he was even richer than us.  My son said in an awed voice, ‘wow, he must really be rich!” 😆

I’ve always tried to focus on all that we have, and this is particularly important at times when you really are tight financially.  You can always look at those who have much more than you and feel deprived, or you can look at all of those (most of the world) who don’t have adequate food, shelter, clean water – let alone all the extras we take for granted.  It may sound like something that works to tell a four year old, but none of us are too old to count our blessings.

If I would tell my kids we have $28 left in the bank or not would depend on if we had a savings account and if it was something that was causing me anxiety.  If I knew that we had some kind of cushion, I’d be very comfortable saying I’d spent the budgeted money for the month and am not willing to buy something with a credit card since I don’t have the money right now; they can see you’re being fiscally responsible and feel secure that you have savings of some sort.  ‘Not now’ is a different message than, ‘never no matter how needy you are’.  I routinely tell my kids that I have $x for food (generally a small number since I spend most of the monthly budget at the very beginning of the month) for the next two or three weeks, but I feel no pressure about it – in fact I enjoy the challenge! – and they know that we’re well stocked so that doesn’t leave them wondering if we’ll go hungry.  I wouldn’t say that if I had an empty pantry and my option was feeding them one meal a day.  If you literally have only $28 in the bank, I would absolutely not say anything about that – you’d be anxious and fearful, and so would your kids. Better to just say you don’t have the money right now.

I’m comfortable explaining that we have a limited amount of money and we have to make choices.  Everyone has some kind of financial limitation, so I don’t see this as an indication that we’re poor or something unique my kids have to suffer with.  In fact, I see this as an important and positive concept for children to understand, something that many kids (and adults!) nowadays don’t have much of a concept of.

Sometimes our children need help recognizing when they are making choices that limit what they get.  For example, if you can afford a certain item at a thrift stop this month (obviously in reasonable condition) but have to wait until next month for that item at the mall, and your children insist that only the mall works for them, then it’s not about you depriving them.  It’s about the choices that they’re making.  My kids enjoy going with me to thrift stores since I only buy good quality items in excellent condition, so their association with thrift stores is positive – they see it as a way to pay low prices for nice merchandise.  If I bought what looked like other people’s throwaways, they’d have different associations.  Also, they know that if I can’t find what they need there, I’ll buy it at a retail store, so I think that also affects their perception – it’s not like they have to take whatever I get them regardless of how they like it.

As our children have gotten older, they have some things they’d like and they use their own money to buy those things.  If they really want something and I’m not inclined to buy it for them, then they can get it themselves.  They work for their money and they’re allowed to use it as they see fit. But sometimes I put limits on this – for example, sometimes on our shopping day one particular child will request to buy junk food with his money.  I don’t mind if he gets a small amount, but just because he’s willing to pay wouldn’t make me more likely to get  processed breakfast cereals than if I was footing the bill – I just don’t see it as beneficial.

I understand that feeling of wishing you could give your kids more when you run up against a financial limitation.  Generally I feel like we can give our kids most of what they want and need, but sometimes we can’t and I feel a tug when I say ‘no’ to something I want to say ‘yes’ to.  As my kids get older, I’ve run into more of these situations.  I think that’s where the struggle is, when we feel we’re depriving our children because we just don’t have enough, that they really are deprived.  I said above that I’ve taught my kids to differentiate between wants and needs, and sometimes I have to remind myself about this.  Otherwise, we parents can always find something to feel guilty about!

Avivah

Keeping Purim costs down

frugal strategies, homemaking,

Holiday costs very easily spiral out of control, and like all other holidays, a person can enjoy the spirit of things without unnecessarily spending lots of money.  So I thought I’d share a little about some ways I keep Purim related expenses in check.  Some of these ideas will help you now; some require advance planning and can be put into use at different times of the year.

Mishloach manos – (also called shalach manos, this is the gift of food that is traditionally given on Purim to friends) – I set a limit of $1 for each family shalach manos (the kids send their own and my budget for them is lower).  Lest you think this looks cheap and chintzy because of my low budget, you’re wrong.  I actually have to be careful not to make it too nice because I  don’t want anyone to feel outdone, which is why I lowered my price from $2 to $1.  I know how little I spend, but most people wouldn’t be able to accurately guess by looking at it.  This price range allows me to send nice foods while keeping it simple – and it doesn’t overwhelm anyone.

We really enjoy preparing and giving mishloach manos (I try to keep the main list to thirty, and with the kids friends it goes up to fifty or so), so it’s not a pressure for us.  For some people, they might be best off by significantly cutting down the amount of people they give to.  As you see, we don’t spend huge sums of money that would make this financially stressful.

Food – Keeping food costs down is typical of my food saving strategies – make homemade foods, buy packaged foods in advance when they are on sale, buy at discount stores, etc.  This year I’ll be sending two sets of mishloach manos.  One will contain a half pint of homemade (home canned) salsa with a  7.5 oz bag of Garden of Eatin’ organic blue corn chips.  I bought a few cases of the chips when a store heavily discounted them to move them fast – .50 per bag (usually they’re several dollars each).  The salsa was made with tomatoes that I bought for $3 per case, tomatillos that I got free, and ended up a very nominal cost.

The second set of mishloach manos include organic chocolate bars, natural strawberry kiwi juice boxes, and 5 homemade sugar cookies that spell out Purim in Hebrew.  Again, I bought the chocolate and juice boxes when I saw them heavily discounted.  I don’t wait until a few days before Purim to start thinking about it.  The chocolate and juice were bought six weeks in advance, the chips were bought ten weeks in advance; all of these purchases were included in my regular monthly grocery budget.  My monthly food budget always includes any holiday expenses, which is nice since it keeps my financial outlay in that area constant.

Containers – The canning jars I’m sending the salsa in I bought in August 2008 for $1.30 a dozen (they were new and I shared about how I did that here – look halfway down the post).  So each brand new jar, including the lid and ring, cost me about .12 cents. If I were to buy a dozen jars new right now, it would be at least $6/.50 a jar.

After Christmas, I bought all of the non-seasonally themed candy gift boxes that were available at clearance prices, 75% off.  So I paid .25 cents for each one.  I didn’t know what I’d be sending for Purim and if this would be the right size, but figured better to buy it and have them than to regret not having them later on – it turns out that these will be a little small for my needs this year so they’ll be stored for next year.  I bought nice sized gift bags that were 75% off after Valentines Day that are large enough to fit the salsa and chips.  Those were also .25 each.

The second mishloach manos is wrapped in cellophane we were given a couple of years ago by someone cleaning out their basement – they gave us a number of unused rolls because they didn’t want to store something they wouldn’t be using until the following year.  The kids are all very good at being creative with what we have.  I was out of ribbon to tie the cellophane up with, so we found a roll of thin black string, and then the kids used the thin threads of tinsel (the kind you use as metallic ‘grass’ at bottom of baskets) to tie on top of the string to make it look more festive.  I had gone to Trader Joe’s with my toddler the day we prepared these, and got a few helium balloons while we were shopping.  Some of the older kids snipped off lengths of the ribbon it was tied with to wrap theirs with.  🙂

When I send gift bags, I don’t write on the labels, so that the person receiving it can save it for future gift giving if they so choose.  Gift bags are expensive and it’s a shame for them to only get used once, don’t you think?  It won’t surprise you that I save the containers we receive on Purim. 🙂  I let the kids choose from these throughout the year when they need to take something to a birthday part, and the following Purim they can choose from those containers to send mishloach manos to their friends.

As I mentioned yesterday, the kids made a lot of containers this year, so they didn’t take much from what I was stored in the Purim box (they used mostly card stock and paper plates).  If you learn to look at containers that are already coming into your house with an alternative idea in mind, you’ll see lots of free containers that you can use.  For example, the little plastic baskets that cherry tomatoes come in, the lidded microwaveable containers that some frozen vegetables come in, foam containers that one local grocery packages their discounted vegetables in – there are so many choices.  When I bought pearl onions that came in a small purple net bag, I saved them.  You can recycle jars or cans, then decorate them for this purpose.    The kids did this last year for Chanuka food gifts to our parents (one example was when they layered dried beans in glass jars, added spice bags and instructions for cooking).  You get the idea!

Costumes – I’ve made a number of costumes from cheaply purchased clothing at the thrift store.  Sometimes I buy it to use as is, sometimes I buy it for the fabric.  I’ve purchased elegant used formal wear made of nice fabrics like silk, taffeta, and velvet evening gowns (if there’s a stain somewhere on it you can get these very cheaply), taken the item apart, and then resewn it into dress up gowns for girls, and king costumes (jacket/cape with pantaloons) for boys.  I once bought a blue cotton sheet to make a prairie girl’s dress, and the bonnet and matching apron came from a old cotton robe that was checked red and white.  Costumes are fun to sew because it doesn’t matter if they are perfect, and your kids will think you’re incredible just by whipping together something basic. You can also buy costumes at the thrift store after Halloween, or buy them new when they are deeply discounted after Halloween.  I can’t usually go to yard sales because my dh takes our vehicle to work on Sundays, but I have gotten some nice costumes for the littles in the past (lion, Tweety bird, horse) for just a dollar or two.  Don’t forget to ask friends if they have something you can borrow before running out to buy something.  We’ve rarely spent more than a few dollars at the very most for a costume.

Seuda – (festive Purim meal) – I’ve been flabbergasted by how much people spend on this.  Last year we spent $15 for 13 people.  That was the first time we had a dairy meal for Purim, but it was very nice and everyone enjoyed it.  We had homemade challah rolls with butter, thick vegetable soup, homemade pizza (equal to about three or four pies), chevre (goat cheese), cottage cheese, roasted potatoes and yams with rosemary, and a big fresh salad.  And we put out orange juice and milk to drink, in addition to water.  For dessert we had banana chocolate chip cake, chocolate cake (both cakes were from shalach manos), and rice pudding.

This year I was thinking I’d be hard pressed to beat that price, particularly since this year we’ll be having a family of 9, in addition to our family of 11, and then our three parents as well (23 people total).  But you don’t have to keep it to less than $1 a person for it to be very affordable.    Providentially,  tonight my dh came home and told me a friend wants to empty his freezer in preparation for Pesach (Passover) and give us three pans of food from his daughter’s wedding – meatballs, chicken, and a cooked vegetable dish.  This is really nice food, and since I also want to empty my freezer for Pesach, this will be used for our Purim meal.  🙂

Remember an important mitzva of the day is to give charity to those in need that at least equals what you spend on mishloach manos.  This is above and beyond regular tithing, and it’s not the place to cut costs!

Avivah

Taking advantage of vegetable bargains

food preservation, frugal strategies, , ,

I think I’ve hit my personal record for buying a huge amount of food for a tiny amount of money and if you’ve been reading here a while, you know that’s saying something.  I spent $45.63 at one store on Wednesday, which included but wasn’t limited to: 4 cases of tomatoes (28 lb each), 7 cases of yams (40 lb each), 19 heads of celery, 150 lb potatoes, and a case of bananas (40 lb).   To be honest, I did have a store credit of $24 from the two cases of yams I bought last month that spoiled in a very short time, so the total would have been a little more had I not had the credit. But I was quite pleased with it.

Note: if you buy something and there’s a problem with it, don’t assume it’s your fault.  I knew that something was wrong when the yams went off so fast (I’ve been buying in bulk and storing in bulk for a couple of years now and this was unprecedented in cold weather), but at first I assumed I’d have to swallow the loss – the store I bought the yams last month from was far away from my home, I no longer had the receipt, and I wasn’t able to return until five weeks after the original purchase.  But I’ve learned it doesn’t hurt to ask, and when I called and explained to them the date I bought them, how I stored them, and what happened, they readily agreed to refund the entire price whenever I’d be back in their area, without having to show any proof of purchase.  It took about five minutes to make the call and get the person in charge on the phone; $24 for five minutes ‘work’ is pretty decent, don’t you think?

Along with my wonderful windfalls came a lot of work!   People often think I’m just lucky that I find so many things so inexpensively, but the truth is that most people walk right past these kind of deals and don’t recognize the opportunity in front of them.  Or even if they realize the price is really low, they don’t know what to do with such huge quantities without it spoiling before they use it.  I never let a concern about quantities stop me from buying (as you see from the fact I bought almost 300 lb of yams :)), I figure somehow I’ll find something to do with it! 😆

The tomatoes were super cheap because they were very, very ripe.  So I had to process them right away.  That meant that I (along with my kids) spent a solid chunk of time yesterday washing, chopping, cooking, and canning.   Was it worth it?  I think so.  We made 15 quarts of tomato sauce, 12 quarts of salsa, and 5 quarts of tomato juice.  Pretty good, since the ingredients for all of it didn’t cost more than $15!  (My kids wanted to know why I didn’t buy all of the cases available at this price.)  It’s a nice feeling of satisfaction at the end of a day to see the counter filled with beautiful jars of home canned foods.  And I like knowing that my kids are developing an attitude of self sufficiency as well as learning real life skills like preserving foods.

I was considering canning the celery but to do that I’d have had to pressure can it.  Though if you look at the actual processing time, pressure canning looks faster than water bath canning, it doesn’t take into account the time needed to bring the canner up to pressure, process the food, then wait for the canner to depressurize before moving on to the next batch. That can add up to an hour to each load.  Since I wanted to get about 80+pounds of tomatoes dealt with in one day (saved some to use fresh), I decided to only can what I could water bath and the celery ended up being dehydrated instead.  Dehydrating celery is so easy – just slice it thinly and put it on the trays.  But it’s honestly almost disheartening to watch sixteen heads of celery becoming so compact that they fit into a quart sized jar – and there’s still room left in the jar!

I’m planning to can a bunch of the yams, since they’re in beautiful condition now but they won’t stay that way forever.  But I won’t get to that until next week, since there’s no rush.  Then I’ll have them in a ready to use form to add to soups, stews, or casseroles.

The bananas were very ripe (had lots brown flecks on them but weren’t turning black), but my kids attacked them so I doubt there will be enough left by Sunday to even consider turning into fruit leather.  Bananas make great snacks since they’re so filling, especially when spread with lots of peanut butter.

An additional frugal perk of canning in the winter is that you really appreciate the added warmth from the hours of cooking and steamy smells wafting throughout the house.

(This post is part of Frugal Fridays.)

Avivah

Delicious Cabbage Soup

frugal strategies, Pesach, recipes

Cabbage is a wonderful winter vegetable – it’s inexpensive, stores well in a cool room, and can be made into a huge variety of tasty dishes.  I created this soup a couple of days ago, and though I thought the twelve quarts I made would be enough for two lunch meals, it got gobbled up at one sitting!  The amounts below should work well for a smaller family than ours  – I made about three times this amount.

Delicious Cabbage Soup

  • 2 medium onions, chopped
  • 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 2 – 4 T. oil (I used rendered chicken fat)
  • 1 – 2 lb leftover turkey or whatever meat you have from making broth (you can use ground meat instead if you don’t have any leftover meat to use up)
  • 1 large head of cabbage (purple or white)
  • 1 T. sweet paprika
  • 2 t. thyme
  • 8 c. broth
  • salt to taste

Heat the oil in a pot, and add the chopped onions; cook until translucent.  Add the soup chicken and saute it until it’s warmed through.  Then add the cabbage, spices, and broth.  Cover the pot and cook on medium until the cabbage is so soft it’s almost melting.  Taste it and add salt according to your personal taste – I’d estimate I used about 3 T. sea salt for my large pot full (12 quarts).

This recipe is super inexpensive and it’s a great way to use up your leftover chicken from making broth.  The cost for me to make 12 quarts was under $5: the onions were .29 lb (I used approximately two pounds – .60), the cabbage was .39 lb (I used about 8 – 10 lb/3.90), and since I got the turkey carcasses for free, the broth and turkey were free.  It’s packed with flavor and nutrients, and is very digestible.  Perfect to warm you up on a cold winter day!

(This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday and Ultimate Recipe Swap.)

Avivah

How to render animal fat

frugal strategies, nutrition, Pesach, recipes, ,

>>How do you render animal fat?<<

Sometimes I forget that many things I do that have become second nature to me need explanation!   Rendering fat is very, very easy, and it’s a frugal thing to do since most people tend to throw away the skin and fat; you can save money while simultaneously benefiting your health.

Take the fat of your choice (chicken, duck, beef), and cut it into chunks if it’s large.  It doesn’t need to be ground or minced, but if you have big pieces from beef, cutting it into 2 inch chunks will help it melt faster.  I don’t usually have any pieces big enough to cut.  You can separate any flesh from it, but I don’t bother since that’s more easily done at the end.  Put the chunks of fat into a pot on the very lowest flame/heat setting on your stovetop so that it will very slowly melt – if you put it too high, it will burn.  As the fat melts, it becomes clear.  Keep the pot covered to keep the heat in, and after a few hours (sometimes significantly less) on low, the fat will be totally liquified.  Be sure to take a look at it every once in a while to be sure it’s not cooking too fast.

Once it’s fully melted, you can do one of three things, depending on how you’re planning to use and store the fat once it’s rendered.  1) Carefully pour the liquified fat through a fine mesh strainer/cheesecloth to catch the little drippings.  This will give you the best result in terms of asthetics; additionally, by straining out all of the protein sediment, it will stay good for a very long time.  2) Use a slotted spoon to take the cracklings out, saving them to use in a savory dish.  3) Don’t bother straining it because you’ll be using the rendered fat in cooking (vs baking) and you don’t care about if there are a few little pieces. Whatever you choose, store it in a container with a tight fitting lid.

I tend to go with option 2 or 3, since I only use animal fat for sauteeing, not baking (coconut oil is my ‘go to’ fat for baking).  And I use it so quickly that it doesn’t matter to me if it will only stay good for a few weeks vs a few months.  If I’m doing a huge batch, though, I’ll take the extra few minutes to strain it out.

I also reserve the liquid that is left at the bottom of the pan after roasting poultry or meat.  When it’s refrigerated, it naturally separates, with the fat rising to the top and the gravy sinking to the bottom.  I scrape off the fat layer to saute with and add the congealed broth that is left to  a stew or casserole – it packs in a lot of flavor.  When I make broth and refrigerate it overnight, the fat will congeal on top.  If it’s a very concentrated pot of broth (ie large amount of bones to water), then I skim the fat or the broth tastes too greasy.  This is particularly important when I do lamb broth, since it tastes like drinking oil if you don’t skim it first.

Is anyone familiar with gribenes? My mother used to make these on Pesach (Passover).  Gribenes are a traditional Jewish food, the kind of things people now consider a heart attack waiting to happen, but if you know about saturated fats and why they’re so important to your body, you can enjoy them with a clear mind.  🙂

Gribenes are basically just crispy fried chicken skins.  To make them, you take some unrendered fat and chicken skin (cut it in strips).  Chop up an onion, and put it together in the pot with the fat and chicken skins.  Keep the flame on low until the fat has melted, then turn it up to medium and keep cooking until the onions and skins are golden. Sprinkle with a little salt, and enjoy!  My kids like these hot from the pan as is, but it’s a nice addition to chopped liver or any mashed potato dish (on Pesach, you know that means you can put it into everything :lol:).

Note: kosher supermarkets sell chicken fat around Pesach (Passover) time, not so much the rest of the year.  Our local store sells schmaltz (rendered chicken fat) throughout the year, but it’s way more expensive than making your own (I haven’t checked for a long time, but I think it was over $5 lb).

(This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday.)

Avivah

(My apologies for mentioning Pesach when Purim is still over two weeks away; everyone who felt anxious at the mention can now stop hyperventilating. :))

Grass fed beef at a great price!

frugal strategies, nutrition

Back in December, I shared my thoughts about the King Corn documentary, and in the comments section (where lots of good information is shared but most people miss seeing it!), Miriam shared about a source for kosher grass-fed beef (Golden West Glatt – where it says ‘source’ in red letters in the sentence right before this is a link to their site).  When I checked out the prices, they looked pretty good!  Until that point, I had only been aware of one kosher source in the country and at almost $10 a pound for ground beef (the cheapest cut), it was simply out of our budget.

Years ago I spoke with an Amish farmer who agreed to sell me the whole cow, but it was such a complicated and expensive process to arrange for everything (couldn’t use his facilities, would have had to truck the cow somewhere, rent processing space from a kosher butcher and hire a private slaughterer!) so I gave up on the idea.  When I heard about an affordable option that didn’t require me to do anything but pull out a credit card, I was excited that grass-fed beef might finally be on the horizon for us.  🙂

I contacted the company to find out about how the animals were raised, and here’s the response I got:  ”They are grass-fed and then grain finished which means they are given corn and alfalfa. They are also very humanely raised, meaning that the animals are grass-fed and bedded down at night as well as shielded from inclement weather.”  They aren’t organic, which to me is less important than being grass-fed.  (A little peeve of mine are organic chickens that are marketed as exclusively grain fed.sigh.gif)

At that point they didn’t have ground beef in stock (I was looking for the least expensive cut I could get:)), but they soon added it and I placed an order for 40 pounds last week.  The price for ground beef (family packs) is just $3.49 lb!  That price is cheaper than even the the regular kosher ground beef at the supermarket – and after reading Wardeh’s poll on grass-fed beef prices, it seems it’s a pretty good deal for non-kosher buyers, too!  And with shipping at just $9.95 for any size order, it’s an incredible deal – my order of 40 lb was just $150 including shipping – yes, it’s a big chunk of change at one time, but that’s a lot of meat!  (Edited to add – it seems this shipping special just ended. 🙁 )

In case you’re wondering about the family packs, you get a large box of individually wrapped 1 lb packages. Very compact and easy to store.  (Usually at the store I buy family packs, which are about 3 – 4 lb, and I have to separate it and repackage it into 1 lb chunks before freezing.)  I like buying in bulk so this works well for me, though the minimum size is about twenty pounds, so that might be a bit much for smaller families.  (I think you can buy in smaller amounts for about 3.79 lb.)  The order came today in a large box packed on all sides with thick styrofoam, like a makeshift cooler.  It was in transit for three days, but was still frozen solid when we got it.

I’m not a discerning connoisseur of meat – to me everything tastes fine, and I’m buying this because I care more about how it’s raised and having the right balance of Omega 3 fats – but  several of you have told me you’re very happy with the flavor and I’m expecting it to be very good!

(This post is part of Fight Back Fridays.)

Avivah

Disclaimer- in case you’re wondering, I don’t make any money off of my recommendations on this blog; I’m just sharing an affordable source for meat that is often hard to find at a decent price.

Transform your soup chicken!

frugal strategies, nutrition, recipes,

All broth makers share the same experience: they make a fantastic broth, packed with nutrients, and then are left with the meat that has fallen off the bones – tasteless, unappetizing, and uninspiring.  Is there something to do besides choke it down or feed it to your cat? (We don’t feed our cat commercial pet food, so it’s not a waste, but still…)  🙂

Being the frugalest of the frugal, I’m not about to waste any food that comes into the house if I can help it!  But I’m also not about to torture my family and leave them with bad memories of unpleasant food I forced them to eat so it didn’t go to waste.   Bland soup chicken is easily transformed and made into a really tasty dish.  Here’s what I do:

Revamped Soup Chicken

First I shred the chicken.  Then, using chicken or lamb fat that I’ve rendered, I heat the fat and saute the chicken in the fat – this gives it a rich and delicious flavor.  (If you don’t have rendered animal fat, you can use expeller pressed coconut oil, but it’s not going to be nearly as good.)  Then I generously season it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and anything else that appeals to me that day.  After it’s been sauteed and seasoned, I add it to stir fries, pot pies, tacos/burritos, chimichangas – lots of possibilities!

Because I tend to think of this as a humble thrifty supper, when we recently had a couple for dinner mid week, I wanted to serve something nicer.  I had a different main dish planned, but something happened and I ended up having to serve this.  I was a little embarrassed when the husband asked me how I cooked it (I thought he was thinking it looked wimpy or not up to their standards – they live on a much higher income than we do), so I gave him a brief answer.  Turned out he really wanted to know because he was trying to figure out why it tasted so good and wanted his wife to make it the same way; he’s a good friend of my husband and kept raving about how good it the next couple of times they spoke!

Simple, frugal, and good for you, too – can’t beat that combination!

Do you have tips on how to use your leftover soup chicken?  Share them below in the comments section!

(This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursdays.)

Avivah

Couldn’t breakfast be cheaper?

frugal strategies, nutrition, parenting

>>Maybe it’s because by 7 -7:30 every one but me has to be out of the house, but our breakfast is always fresh bread and spreads, and you have what I’d call “fancy” and varied breakfast every day. Why? Wouldn’t you save time (and maybe expenses) by having only bread and bits for this meal?<<

I responded to this question in brief in the comments section, but wanted to bring it back up here since there are a couple of other issues that I didn’t respond to there.

It’s true that if saving time and money was my highest priority for breakfast, I could  cook differently.  For example, I can buy 50 lb of oats for under $25, and at that price I could easily serve oatmeal every day and spend less than $1 total for the entire family for breakfast!   It doesn’t get much cheaper than that!  And as I’ve written in the past, oatmeal can be a fast meal to prepare.

However, I see mealtimes in a slightly different way than just a time to fuel everyone as fast and cheaply as I can.  Food has emotional power in addition to providing physical nourishment.  When you eat foods that taste good, you tend to have positive associations surrounding the food.  Making different foods that our children enjoy is an easy way to use the emotions associated with food to connect our children with us and one another when we sit down to eat.

Also, I’m sure everyone has noticed that there’s a widespread belief that healthy food isn’t appealing and the ‘good stuff’ is the typical fare that most Americans are eating.  Along with that belief is the idea that having less to spend on food means being deprived.  My kids don’t see other people eating or shopping like us.  We rarely buy processed foods, and when we do, it’s the kind of processed food that most people consider wildly healthy, we integrate traditional principles of food preparation into all of our meals as a matter of course, and our food budget of $600 monthly (family of 11) is less than anyone I know.

Every time I serve a meal I have the opportunity to show my kids that healthy foods are delicious and not a reason to feel deprived; that’s daily mental programming towards their attitudes and outlook on food!   And it’s working!  Despite the fact that when kids feel different there’s a tendency to feel like the mainstream view is better and resent being put in the position of not being like everyone else, my kids feel happy to eat the way we do.  They’ve told me (kids ages 10 and up) that when they were younger they thought their friends who could have frozen pizza three times a day were lucky, but now they see it differently.

Lastly, though I’ve often thought how much simpler my weekly menu planning would be if I just made the same things week in and week out, I enjoy the variety!

Avivah