Frugal Healthful Food

It is almost the end of September and I still have money left in my food envelope so I have nearly made it through the month on $600.  It wasn't too hard really.  Eating out declined sharply for us.  I had much less coffee out.  I packed cheap lunches -- a la pbj for everyone.  I still bought organic milk (with the Organic Valley coupon).  I did make more conscious choices to have less expensive dinners.  The kids seem to prefer a light dinner of bread, cheese, and fruit anyway.  We took advantage of the u-pick apple farm and bought 42 pounds of apples at 35 cents/pound.  They were deeelicious and provided many side dishes -- apple sauce in the crockpot, fried apples with breakfast, apple pie, dried apples, and apple fruit leather and of course just apples.

Here are some general tips on eating green and healthy on a budget:
1) Don't buy organic junk food.  If you are going to eat chips, just eat chips and don't waste your money.
2) Eating out is the most expensive.  If you can substitute ready made healthy food for eating out you save.  If you can substitute a mix for ready made, you save.  If you can substitute home made for a mix you save.  You have to decide where you are on the financial food chain for that particular meal. 
3) Buy organic staples in bulk: rice, beans, flour, pasta, coffee (this is a staple, isn't it?). 
4) Some more processed foods are no longer more expensive than totally unprocessed.  For example, shredded cheese is nearly the same as block cheese for many brands now.  Shredded cheese saves me a little time, effort and a dish or two. 
5) Eat simply -- 3 or 4 ingredients in a meal can suffice. 
6) Consider cooking less -- have hummus, veggies and pita wedges for dinner.  Frittata and fruit.  Goat cheese, slices tomatoes and crostini.  These meals are complete, simple to make and simple to clean up.  I pile everything on one big plate in the center of the table and everyone takes as much as they want.

There are many great recipes out there to try but if you'd like to make your own staples, I would suggest starting with bread and yogurt.  Here's a great yogurt website:  http://biology.clc.uc.edu/fankhauser/cheese/yogurt_making/YOGURT2000.htm .  A loaf of whole grain organic bread usually costs me about 50 cents to make.  Organic home made yogurt costs about $1.25 per quart. 

My etsy site -- wooly, green, and frugal!

I love creating these wool hats.  I've also been making wool toys, hair accessories and pins.  I hope to get them all up on-line soon. 
Check out my etsy site: 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/woolia

The Danger of Dogma

Sometimes I think it would be easier to be dogmatic -- I've tried this.  I will not shop at Walmart, ever.  I will not buy a single new thing for a year.  I will only eat things that come without packaging.  But, I actually have a life.  And while I am inspired by people like Colin Beavin (No Impact Man http://noimpactman.typepad.com/) or Christopher and Kerri at the Dollar a Day Diet Project  (http://onedollardietproject.wordpress.com/about/), I think their projects are limited in their application for others.  (Colin Beavin has a wife with a high paying job. Christopher and Kerri are vegans and without children.) So, this is all my excuse for not following to the letter, my desire to buy nothing new.  I've done really well and bought very little new.  However, I'm also in the middle of transforming my home to a micro-farm, working at the university, raising three kids and transitioning out of a failed marriage.  So, last week when the opportunity arose to buy a pre-cut chicken coop that we could assemble ourselves in about an hour.  I bought it.  It's lovely, done and in the backyard.  My daughters and I put it together with very little stress.  It came from Portland, Oregon which is at least in the region.  And, it accomplished a major goal at my household with a minimum of stress! This weekend I also bought a metal waterer and feeder that I can attach mason jars to -- and 4 chicks at the Fair. 

Maybe it is a cop-out  on my part, but I think it is really a friendly, karmic reminder not to be so dogmatic.  Last year, Richard, a friend and activist in the Transition Communities initiative, told me that people who want to be totally self-sufficient are just control freaks.  He was right (and had been told that himself when he got on the self-sufficiency dogma bandwagon.) 

In our efforts to obtain a better way of sustainable or green or green frugal living, we can't lose sight of the goal of making our lives and the planet better.  Also, we can't forget that we do need each other and that community is a good thing.  So, it's ok to buy something we need that's made well or that we cannot do ourselves or even that we might hate doing. Bread baking, carpentry, canning, sewing, wood chopping, car repair can't or at least don't have to be everybody's thing.  We can work together to make our communities strong and economies stable without being so dogmatic. 

So that's my take on Green, Frugal, Sane Family Living for this week. 

coupons

I look through the coupons in the paper when they come out but rarely find anything that we actually would purchase normally.  I have started to discover internet coupons from manufacturers.  Since organic milk is one of the most expensive things that I buy, I looked up Organic Valley coupons.  It was pretty simple and I'll save $1 on a gallon of milk.
Visit: http://www.organicvalley.coop/coupons/

Make your own playdough

Yesterday, the little girls (Indigo and Antonia) wanted new playdough so we made a batch.  It's so easy and it does not smell toxic like store bought playdough.

Playdough Recipe
3 cups white flour
1/2 cup salt
1 and 1/2 cups water
food coloring
essential oil drops

Mix with mixer/bread dough hook.

I put a few drops of food coloring in and let the girls knead it in.  Unfortunately, Antonia secreted away the food coloring and spilled pink dye all over the wood floor in a spot that the sealant is thin.  This stain may be there a while!

Ouch! I blew my budget!

Well, I did so well this week that I decided it would be ok to go see a friend (our former nanny) in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and take her out to dinner.  We drove up in the afternoon and went to the restaurant her boyfriend, Sam, works at as a cook.  It was a nice afternoon and a great dinner.  I ordered the special dish that Sam has created -- a Huckleberry marinaded skirt steak.  The girls ordered mac and cheese and pasta -- very exciting.  Finally the bill came and it was $75, another $15 for the tip and I am over budget for the week.  At $600/month or about $150/week, that dinner is going to cause some serious rice and bean dinners for a while.  It was fun and I am glad we went, but I need to live like a frugal person and that was not it!   

I did have about $60 left in the budget for the week so it leaves me with about $120 for next week. We can live on that.  All in all, I can't do that very often but I'd say it was worth it to take the girls up to see Kristin and treat her to dinner.

So far, so good

OK, so I'm only 1 and 1/2 days into my pledge to spend less on food and to buy nothing new.  But, so far, so good.  Yesterday I bought eggs and milk at the local food co-op.  It was all I needed and I want to stick with organic on the dairy and animal products so I spend about $10 on the two items.  After the first day of school, Simone and I shared a snack at the co-op too.  We split a Zevia soda and a french bread stick ($1.35).  Today I needed cereal (my late night snack addiction), broccoli and bagels.  We went to the discount grocery called Winco.  We also bought carrots for the horses we visit at the University farm.  (Does that count as a food purchase if we feed it to the horses?)  I bought the big bag of bran flakes for the same price I would have paid for the small box (2 lbs vs. 13 oz) so that was a good deal.  Bagels are .38/each at this grocery and they make them there.  At Einstein's on campus they are about $1.10.  Anyway, we're well within our budget so far.   Got out of Winco for less than $10.  I also found myself looking at all the things I might have spent money on without my pledge.  Little things that seem so harmless and then add up later.

The little girls and I went to Goodwill and bought a new alarm clock for me.  I broke the old one somehow.  $1.99.  Now if I could just get the girls not to expect to always get a toy or book at Goodwill I'l do even better.  But, each girl got a small toy for .49 -- a Barbie and a small doll house.  I've begun to consider Goodwill a kind of lending program.  I buy cheap and take toys and books back regularly.  It's not a bad way to do things, I guess.

It's sunny today and I don't work on Tuesdays so it's time to get the laundry going and out on the clothesline. 

Bran flakes, laundry, Goodwill...it's an exciting life I lead!