One Lumps or Two?

A long time ago, in a previous life, I was dining at a rather pricey restaurant downtown with friends (that WAS a long time ago!). It was a sort of a "bistro" style eatery, with fair trade coffee and locally-sourced greens in the salads. Yeah, one of those. But the thing I remember the most about that meal was the little ceramic cups presented with the coffee, containing hand-crafted sugar cubes!

They weren't cubes per se, more ovoid lumps, with rough shapes and edges, and a cheerful rustic feel that bordered on the pretentious. 

For no reason whatsoever, I was remembering that evening the other day, and those rustic sugar lumps, and I knew they were embarassingly simple, so why not give it a try? So I did!

With about a cup of granulated sugar in a small mixing bowl (no real measurements here really, that would fly in the face of the rustic-ness of the project), I added enough cold water to get the sugar to the consistency of wet sand. Not so much that it melted the sugar, just to get it wet and so it stuck together.

I didn't have the patience or motivation to try to form actual egg-shapes, I  was content with half-spheres created with a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon. It was simple enough to scoop up 1/2 teaspoon of the wet sugar, press it into the spoon, then gently tap it out onto a ceramic plate (you could use parchment paper, a Silpat(tm), or any non-porous surface), and let dry an hour or more. 

Once dry and hardened, I brushed off the crumbs, filled the sugar bowl, and enjoyed a perfectly smug cup of tea using my pretentious little sugar lumps. 

Get A Little Culture

Everybody loves yogurt! If you don't, you should! The health benefits are legion, it's tasty, and yes, it's simple to make at home!

I got sick and tired of watching my favorite unflavored/plain yogurt price climb, and with a tiny bit of research, discovered hey, I can make it myself!! A quick search for those home yogurt machines knocked me back to reality...dang, those aren't cheap!!!  It's cheaper to just buy the stuff I guess. Darn.

Then one day a light went on. Girlfriend...you have a WOOD STOVE! And the rest is history!!

I found that a container of yogurt culture situated about a foot to the side of a burning wood stove can make for a very efficient yogurt maker, without electricity, and without an expensive kitchen gadget. But first, let's talk about actually making yogurt!

It's easy...ridiculously so! It doesn't have to be fancy, it doesn't have to be raw organic grass-fed yak milk, you don't need expensive yogurt cultures from the hippie health food store. I use pretty much whatever milk I have extra of. Recently I bought two gallons of skim milk on sale, and half of one of those gallons I poured into a large glass measuring cup (it's an 8 cup measure...BIG!). The other half I put in the freezer (skim milk freezes great, without separating and turning lumpy like higher fat milks will when frozen). The other gallon I'm just drinking I guess.

So with roughly 6 cups of milk, I microwaved on HIGH for 15 minutes, or until the milk temperature reached 180 degrees f. Then let it cool down to between 90 degrees and 110 degrees.

Meanwhile, for a starter, I use existing yogurt (it has to have been made with live cultures! Very important). You can save out a few tablespoons from previous yogurt batches to start the next one, once you get going.

(*Note: Some months ago I lucked into two quarts of near-expired Dannon Plain Yogurt...I filled a silicone muffin pan with the yogurt, and froze it. Then popped the frozen yogurt muffins out into a zip bag and keep it in the freezer to use as starter for future batches of yogurt.)

When the milk has cooled, mix in the yogurt starter. It has to be cooled or the heat can kill the good bacteria. Stir it in good, then pour into containers with some kind of lid. I just use plastic cottage cheese containers. The lid is to keep dust and whatnots out. Then set it near your heat source, with a thermometer so you can monitor the air temperature. If you have a wood stove or fireplace, you're set to go!

It takes between 4 and 8 hours for the yogurt to set up into the "curds" and "whey". Some people drain off the whey, but that's so full of good things, I just stir it back together. The longer you let it sit, the tangy-er the yogurt. Refrigerate and chill before eating.

I also discovered that if you drain the yogurt with cheese cloth and let it sit in a strainer with a weight on top (in the cheese cloth) in the refrigerator, after a couple of days you'll end up with an interesting soft yogurt "cheese". I've used it as a base for chip dips, and "cheese spreads" by adding flavorings, herbs, seasonings, chopped chives, etc. And it keeps quite a while!

I've not had any luck using an oven set on "warm" as it's usually too warm. If you have a gas oven, maybe the pilot light will be warm enough, but I'd check that out before actually trying a batch. You want the temperature to be in that 100 degree range, not getting over 110 degrees. A kerosene or space heater MAY work but I'd worry about the temperature and the fire danger. If you  have an old-timey steam radiator system, that might work.

But don't despair if these won't work. If you have the financial means, go ahead and invest in an actual yogurt maker appliance, they work great!! I was lucky enough to find one at a yard sale for $10, and that's what I use in the warmer months when the wood stove isn't in use. Thrift stores and auctions are additional places to find them cheap.

The nice thing about your low-cost quarts of home-made yogurt is that YOU can control the flavors and ingredients. The commercial stuff  can be a travesty, full of gelatin and cellulose and high-fructose corn syrup at worst. One of my favorite combinations is yogurt, a dash of vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of strawberry jam. Better than anything commercial, in my opinion! Add in some frozen blueberries and raw sunflower seeds, you've got an awesome snack!

Like with any home cooking, use common sense. Your home-made yogurt should smell like yogurt. If it smells off, or starts growing alien life forms, THROW IT AWAY! It should keep for a couple of weeks in the closed container in the fridge.

Never hurts to gain a little culture in your life!

Warm Fuzzies at ALDI

Our area just recently added an ALDI grocery store, which, I'm learning, is a pretty big deal. Don't want this to be an ad for ALDI, but let's just say I plan to shop there a lot!

One of their things is that you have to put down a 25 cent deposit on the shopping carts. They have devices on the handles that "lock" them together, and to unlock one for your use, you have to insert a quarter. Then to get your quarter back, you have to return the cart to the store instead of leaving it in the parking lot. So I keep a special ALDI Quarter in the car just for this purpose.

Was walking into the store recently (they had gallons of milk for $1.89, who could resist THAT??), and had my quarter at the ready... and the first cart locked in to the others...had a quarter in the slot. The previous person had left their quarter, I'm assuming as a "pay it forward" kindness gesture! Of course I used that cart for my shopping, and beat back the little devil on my shoulder urging me to take the free quarter. No, the warm fuzzies I felt by that stranger's two-bit generosity won me over, and after my shopping I returned the cart and locked it...and left the quarter in the slot for the next person.

It's hard to think of a discount grocery store bringing out the best in people, but this little quarter protocol seems to do just that. Pay it forward!

The Saga of the 30 Pound Turkey

One of the highlights of last month's trip to the local food auction was the purchase of a 30# frozen turkey (for $15.00!). A few problems presented themselves right off:

1. No way would it fit into my freezer
2. No way would it fit into any roasting pan I own
3. No way would it fit into the oven

And hate to admit, I'm not THAT big a fan of turkey. But for that price, around 50 cents/lb...can't beat that with a stick!!

So Mr or Ms Turkey pretty much sat out on my enclosed, unheated front porch for a few weeks. Temperatures were in the single digits outside, so it stayed nice and frozen solid. Then we got a warming spell, and since the porch is south-facing, well...the turkey started to thaw. I was okay leaving it in a refrigerated state, and there were no real heat waves in the forecast, but it could't sit out there forever. The frequency of dog fights over Who Gets To Guard The Turkey was escalating, and T-Day had to arrive sooner than later!

Hauled that 30# of dead weight inside, accompanied by a parade of eager Corgis. It barely fit into the sink where I could remove the wrappings and rinse it off. Then, feeling uncomfortably like a serial killer, proceeded to dismember and hack apart the carcass!

Ended up cutting off the legs and wings, carving out the white meat, and the rest of the carcass I hacked up into hand-sized portions to feed to the dogs (I feed a raw diet, so they'd love that!). If I were a big fan of turkey I probably would have made broth and then soup from the carcass. IF.

This bird was HUGE! I'm sure each breast half weighed 5# alone, and the wings...just dang!

 Not having the time that day to deal with the legs and wings, I put them out on the deck into the freezing temperatures (no room in the refrigerator). Didn't check the weather forecast, but the snow didn't hurt them any. Just had to rinse them off, pat them dry, and eventually pan-roasted them up for quite a few meals and an ultimate turkey pot pie!

The white meat ended up as turkey jerky! Half I made for me, using a basic beef jerky marinade and letting it spend many hours in the dehydrator at 135 degrees. Came out GREAT! The other half I didn't marinate, just dried it, and ended up with a pound or so of dog treats. Cheaper than store bought dog turkey jerky, and I know this didn't come from China!

The dogs enjoyed the carcass for their raw meals for three days in a row, which included the skin and giblets. And all that was left was the un-used pop-up timer, and the little plastic leg binders.

Pretty much used everything but the gobble!

Monday is Laundry Day

One of the coolest "lifestyle-changes" I've made in my quest to pinch those pennies, is the change from store-bought commercial laundry detergent to home-made laundry soap. It's surprisingly easy, and the savings add up fast!

Assuming an average gallon of commercial laundry detergent runs around $8, and one gallon of home-made laundry soap runs around 75 cents...it's no tough decision to make!

I heartily recommend The Hillbilly Housewife web site to find the formula for laundry soap and many other home-made household mixtures. This is her recipe for laundry soap, and I totally, heartily recommend you give it a try!

Homemade Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

1 bar Fels Naptha soap, shaved (or chopped into tiny bits)  (Note: I've also used the pink "Zote" soap, you can use pretty much any soap you like..."Ivory" has been used, same for a good castile soap.)

4 cups hot water to melt soap

3 gallons of hot water

1 cup of Borax

2 cups of Washing Soda

1 cup of Baking Soda

1 large container (I used a 5 gallon bucket)

Directions:

1. Grate/shave/chop soap into sauce pan.
2. Add 4 cups hot water to pan. Simmer on low until soap melts completely into water.
3. Add Borax, Washing Soda, and Baking Soda to the soap mixture. Simmer on low until it dissolves. You may have to add water if it doesn't dissolve.
4. Add 3 gallons of hot water to the bucket. Then add the soap mixture to the hot water, mix until completely dissolved.
5. Let cool overnight. It will turn into a thick gel.
6. Use 1 cup of soap per load of laundry

I store this soap in gallon milk jugs or repurpose old laundry soap containers, but pretty much anything covered can be used. Over time the soap will gel up, but it's easy enough to break it apart with a spatula, and add more water to get it to the consistency you prefer. If it's too gel-like, it may not dissolve in the wash and you'll end up with clumps, especially if you wash in cold water.

You can find the Borax and Washing Soda in the laundry soap aisle, the baking soda in the baking aisle, and I've found the Fels Naptha (which has a lovely citronella scent) on the bottom shelf in the bath soap aisle.

Some people also add liquid bluing to the mix, but I haven't tried that yet. 

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Another integral part of laundry is the Fabric Softener!  Once I bought a box of fabric softener sheets, and made the mistake of putting them in the same bag as a loaf of bread. By the time I got home, the entire loaf of bread had absorbed the fragrance and was inedible! Something that stinky can't really be good for you I'd think. Plus, of course, the expense and the zillions of fabric softener sheets that end up in the landfill.

Didn't take but a few seconds of research to find a GREAT home-made fabric softener recipe. It's so simple, so cheap, and so easy, I'm almost ashamed it took me so long to see the light.

Amusingly, I found this on Food.com!

Homemade Fabric Softener

Ingredients:

1 cup baking soda

6 cups distilled white vinegar

8 cups water

10-15 drops essential oil (Optional, fragrance of your choice. I don't bother, personally)

Directions:

1. You will need a one gallon container (I use a clean milk jug with lid)
2. Add baking soda into the empty container
3. Add 1 cup of the water
4. SLOWLY add vinegar to the bottle. Be prepared for major fizz-action! Just add the vinegar slowly, giving time for the fizz to settle down.
5. Add the rest of the water, swirling to stir. The baking soda may settle to the bottom, so I use a long dowel to stir the bottom.
6. Add the essential oil if you wish.

Use:

Add 1 cup to your final rinse cycle for each load.

I've found this makes THE softest, most wonderful clean clothes I've ever experienced! Almost pornographic in its softness!! And for mere pennies a batch, I'll never go back to the chemical-based commercial products!

This all takes some time, and then there's the storage issue of the laundry soap (you'll end up with around 5 gallons of soap). But it's worth it in my opinion! Give it a try and share with how it works out for you!

Excuse me, I have to go add the fabric softener to the wash. Until next time!

Homemade Hand Soap and Soap Dispenser

Some folks spied my home-made soap dispenser in the background of the dish cloth article, and wanted more information on it! Happy to oblige!

Mason Jar Soap Dispenser

These "mason jar soap dispensers" are the "new" thing, the internet is lousy with how-to articles, and you can find them all over Etsy. But they're so easy to make, it's almost shameful!!

1. Take a pint-sized canning jar, lid and ring. You'll also need the pump from an old bottle of liquid soap or similar product (or buy a new one at a craft store if you like, but that'll cost money). 
2. With a Philips screwdriver, nail, ice pick, or other sharp scary object, punch a hole in the middle of the lid. Widen the hole to fit the pump. This is easy to do with a pair of pliers, the metal is very thin and soft. Bend the pointy bits back on the underside so you don't cut yourself.
3. Insert the pump through the hole in the lid. Using a strong household glue, glue the pump to the lid, let dry.
4. Fill jar with favorite liquid soap (hopefully home-made), put on lid, screw on ring, enjoy!

Home-made Liquid Soap

Granted, liquid soap isn't THAT expensive to buy. But year after year, it can add up. Plus there's all those containers heading to the landfill. I've found making my own is easy, inexpensive, it's nice to have control over the ingredients, I'm not sending more stuff to the landfill.

You can start with pretty much any bar of soap. It can be hand-made soap from the farmer's market (or if you make it yourself), it can be scrounged-up soaps from hotel rooms, it can be a bag of soaps from a yard sale or thrift store, or just a nice bar of soap you had sitting around the house. Don't use soap that has un-soap like bits embedded in it (oatmeal, lavender flowers, poppy seeds, etc), that'll just clog your pump.

1. Grate the bar of soap, or cut it into slivers or shavings. The smaller the better. 
2. Add 3 cups of water and heat on stove, stirring occasionally until the soap has melted. If it looks too thick, add more water. 
3. Transfer to a bigger pot, and add 3 more cups of water. Stir until blended. I usually let it sit overnight to cool, and if it's solidified in the morning, I add more boiling water and stir it until the soap has dissolved again. For a quick test, pour a little bit of the liquid into a cool saucer and let it cool. That'll give you the final thickness of your soap. Add more water as needed. You'll be surprised how much water you'll need to get a creamy liquid soap.
4. Once it's at the right consistency, you have the option of adding essential oils (if it won't conflict with whatever the soap smells like already) and/or safe soap colorings (available online and at craft stores). The soap in my picture was made from a bar of Tea Tree Oil soap, with added lavender oil, and some natural purple coloring. Pretty!
5. To add more moisturizing to your soap, you can add a tablespoon of glycerine (available in any drug store/pharmacy in the skin care aisle) and mix well.
6. Don't expect your home-made soap to have the lathering ability of the commercial stuff. They add chemicals to liquid soap to get the lather. Better to not have chemicals just for appearance's sake. 
7. You're probably end up with a couple of quarts of liquid soap from one bar of soap, but it stores just fine, you may have to add more water as time goes by, but water is cheap. 

There's plenty of other recipes online for home-made hand-soap. A quick Google/Bing search will offer you plenty of variations! Enjoy!

Everything You Wanted To Know About Food Auctions But Were Afraid To Ask

Bidding for Food? Absurd!!

Most people have never heard of such a thing. I'll admit, up to a few years ago, the same went for me. The mere idea sounds dodgy and black market. You auction off cars and storage units, not something you'd actually ingest...right?

A quick bit of research will show that food auctions are everywhere, and have been for quite a while. Mostly near large population centers, they sell off wholesaler's overstock, scratch-and-dent, and yes, even expired food. Perfectly legal in most states. And a HUGE money-saver for anyone who attends!

Thankfully there have been a few different auction businesses offering food at auction up here in rural Michigan, and I try to support them whenever they hold one. This is such a valuable facet to the frugal lifestyle, and it's a shame more people don't take advantage.

At first glance, a food auction might seem to be nothing but processed junk food. Plenty of cookies and chips and instant oatmeal and snack foods. Disheartening if you're trying to maintain a healthy lifestyle and diet. (One quick glance at the crowd, and you'll see who buys up the cookies and snacks, lol). But if you look over the merchandise, often you'll be able to find healthy offerings such as olive oil, whole wheat pasta, fruit juices, and the like.

Usually all they'll have out for inspection is the dry goods/canned goods...and you have to wait for them to sell off that stuff before the main event: What's In The Freezers!

The freezers are always the last to be emptied for obvious reasons. Therein contain the Holy Grails of the Food Auction...the meat! Food Auctions are an awesome place to stock up on meat products, everything from hot dogs to New York strip steaks to poultry, fish, and frozen processed foods and desserts. It's worth sitting through the dry goods for the frozen bargains yet to be revealed.

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“Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action comes, stop thinking and go in.” ― Napoleon Bonaparte

There's a definite strategy to bidding at a food auction. Since usually there's multiples of each item, if you want to get something, it's important to get in on the bidding early, so at least you're on record as a "back-bidder". Let's say they have 10 cans of peaches, bidding starts at a quarter per can. If you don't bid, but you want some, and the bidding stops at 80 cents a can...usually only the people who actually bid on it can claim as many as they want at that price. Only if there's unclaimed cans do they open it up to people who did not bid. More times than not the winning bidder will take all 10 cans, and everyone is out of luck. But sometimes not. It's a chance you take.

So if you get a bid in at 50 cents, and the bidding ends at 80, and the winning two bidders take 4 cans each, the auctioneer will go to the back-up bidder (you), and offer the remaining cans at 80 cents, which is a good price and you take them.

Something I've observed: the typical food auction crowd is NOT full of healthy eaters. So if you're in the market for healthy food, such as frozen vegetables...you'll be able to get them VERY cheap. Trust me. No guy addicted to frozen cheeseburgers is going to bid up the frozen broccoli.

I can't stress the importance of being educated on the retail price of food at the time of the auction! Sometimes the bidding gets a little crazy and the price will go above retail! One auctioneer I knew would actually stop the bidding when it approached retail, because he wanted to make sure people didn't overpay. That was cool of him! Others...not so much. I messed up a couple of times, thinking I was getting a bargain, only to find out I'd actually overpaid what I could have bought it for at a retail store! So, as they say, Buyer Beware!!

Auctioneers are also very careful of the condition of the items they're selling. I've seen them yank a particularly damaged package from the table or freezer and throw it away because the inner packaging was broken or the product was too damaged to be used. I've never, ever EVER come across anything that was spoiled or rotten. The auctioneer knows better. But, just like buying at a retail store, examine the items to make sure the cans aren't swollen or leaking.

Also very important: BRING BOXES! Bring boxes, shopping bags, coolers...more than you think you'll need! There'll be a few boxes available at the auction, but probably not enough for all your loot! They always sell the frozen food last, especially in the warmer months, but you should still bring a cooler just in case.

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If I eat it I will DIE!

Some people are going to be leery of the whole "expired food" thing. True, much of the food is "expired", or it's "best by" date is long gone. BUT...the law is that if the food is frozen BEFORE the expiration date, and is kept frozen, it's legal to sell. I've purchased frozen blocks of cheese that were a year over their "expiration date", and found them perfectly fine to use. The fact I'm still here to blog about it proves it! But in case you need a little more reassurance, please check out Still Tasty which gives you more than enough information on expiration dates, best by dates, and the shelf life of about everything. You'll be amazed!

Who Broke The Can?

Food with damaged packages may not be pretty, but if you get past the ripped end flap or the dent in the side, you'll find the product within is perfectly fine, as tasty as ever, and you can enjoy the bonus of having saved a ton of money!

As mentioned earlier, just keep an eye out for bulging/swollen cans. I'd mention it to the auctioneer if you see one during the pre-auction viewing. But I've never seen one...I've found more swollen cans in retail grocery situations than anywhere else.

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What The Heck Am I Supposed To Do With Ten Pounds of Tater Tots???

A lot of times the food auction will offer the food in bulk proportions. Recently I was able to buy a 4# smoked pork loin (a.k.a. Canadian Bacon) for around $2/lb. Unfortunately it was one, entire pork loin. This is where I heartily recommend acquiring or borrowing a FoodSaver vacuum sealer or some similar appliance. It was no trouble to allow the pork to thaw partially in the refrigerator, then cut it into smaller chunks, then vacuum seal the smaller portions, and re-freeze. 10# bags of hot dogs? Not a problem if you've got the freezer space. Divide into smaller zip bags and freeze. 4# blocks of frozen spinach? Let partially thaw, saw into 1# blocks, and re-freeze. Sort of like dealing with a warehouse club purchase at a fraction of the price!

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Jump on in! The savings are fine!

If you think you're ready to investigate the wild, and entertaining world of food auctions (sometimes all the amusing action takes place in the crowd, not up front), I urge you to snoop out a food auction being held in your area. A good place to start is the auction web site, AuctionZip.com. I'd love to hear from anyone else who enjoys food auctions, or if you do take the plunge and find yourself in a heart-pounding bidding war over the last six Lean Pockets available!

And the winning bidder is....YOU!

In Praise of Dish Cloths

Like most people, I grew up washing dishes with the foam scrubby pad...the Chore Boy or Brillo Pad. Never thought anything of it. They wear out, you throw them away, and buy new ones!

One day I bought a box lot at an auction, and in the bottom were four crochet dish cloths...pretty, but faded cotton yarn squares. Too pretty to throw out, so I washed them and put them in the dish towel drawer... maybe I could use them for hot pads or something.

When The Event happened (i.e. I lost my job of 25 years), and the income dried up, I was looking EVERYwhere for ways to save money. I spied the dish cloths in the drawer...and tried one.

That was almost 2 years ago, and I'm never going back! I love doing dishes with cloths instead of pads! There's the money-saving aspect, of course... when they get dirty, throw them in the laundry, and they're ready to go again! Save to use on non-stick finishes, they fit to the shape of about anything you're washing, from bowls to glasses. They have enough texture to clean very well!

The low-impact aspect is obvious compared to kitchen pads. They don't go into the landfill, they don't directly use petroleum products like the synthetic pads, they're biodegradable, being made of cotton yarn. And they can be multi-purpose, for doing dishes, wiping counter tops, washing windows...and when done, throw them in the laundry!

Where to get dish rags? I believe you can buy ones made from terry at about any store selling housewares. If you prefer the cotton crochet or knitted variety (like I do), they can be found at about any craft show or market, on Etsy.com, or thrift store, or if you knit or crochet, make them yourself, or bribe a friend to make some for you. To find easy patterns, a quick Google search brings up hundreds of them!

Some may worry that a dish cloth is germy. Turns out the sponge is much worse. But use common sense, and you shouldn't run into any problems!

Happy dishwashing! (Yeah, right)

Living the Scratch-and-Dent Life

It's winter, 2013. A hard season if you're scraping by financially. Bills seem higher in the wintertime. The furnace seems to want to die in mid-winter. Food prices are higher than in summer. Heating costs are higher. You don't even get the same amount of gasoline at the pump due to the colder temperatures. So I thought I'd share my experiences on harassing currency (or penny-pinching, if you prefer) in this Blog!

Officially off the worker roles since the Spring of 2011 due to the company I worked for for nearly 25 years going out of business, and finding my income curtailed severely, yet not willing to have to scratch out an existence, over the years I've discovered many ways to save money, yet not scrimp on comfort. This blog will share some of these ways, and hopefully inspire others in their challenges.

Read, learn, and share!