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Tips for Eating Nutritionally on A Budget

By on June 19, 2008 in frugal & simple, natural & green

I must confess…I don’t have it all figured out. I wish I did. I wish I could provide you with ten simple steps to eat nutritionally and organically on a budget. But no…month by month, it seems like it just doesn’t quite work out as I had hoped. My $300 budget has often resulted in a final bill of $350 (my goal has been to get it to $300, although our budget has a buffer of $50), and that is really with nothing fancy, and includes our groceries and general household products.

With my knowledge of health and nutrition and not being able to buy everything organic has resulted in fear and worry at what the end result might be. The Lord has graciously and gradually brought me to the understanding that He is indeed sovereign! I can fret till I am blue in the face, but God is ultimately in control! I have a strong conviction that we are to eat healthy in order to be fit for the Master’s use, but again, it will not add a day unto my life apart from what has already been destined by the Father!

I have learned a few things lately that have helped me in the process of eating nutritionally on a budget, and I pray they may be of some assistance to some of you.

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Avoiding Harmful Plastic Products

By on June 4, 2008 in natural & green

Check out the Smart Plastics Guide for all you need to know on plastics! Not all plastic is harmful, but research shows that #3, 6 & 7 are the ones to avoid. Glass & stainless steel are the best alternatives I believe for durability, longevity and helping to avoid plastic waste.

What do we use?

Water bottles – Kleen Kanteen
Food Storage (dry goods & leftovers)- canning jars (all sizes) – collect from garage sales, goodwill, etc., save all glass jars that food purchases come in (jam, pickle, mayo jars), pyrex glass storage, we have a small set of Rubbermaid flex & seal plastic storage containers (which are BPA free)
Baby Bottles – Evenflo Glass Baby bottles (only $5 for three 8 oz bottles!)
Baby Bibs – Crocodile Creek bibs (Note: I no longer recommend the crocodile creek bibs – they are very mold prone and I have experienced this in two different sets – one of which was returned for a free reimbursement set, and I still experienced the same problem on the replacement set. I now highly recommend IKEA’s Barnslig Bands Bibs – awesome and safe!)
Sippy Cups – Avent Magic Cups (I would really like to get one of the Kleen Kanteen sippy’s)
Baby Dinnerware - currently use Gerber bowls (#5), IKEA cups & plates (on my to buy list) – IKEA products are reasonably priced and BPA & PVC free
Shopping Bags – IKEA reuseable canvas bags – these are awesome because they are huge! I only paid $1.50 each and have three for all my shopping needs – grocery store to the mall!
Ziplocs – I have discovered that ziplocs are a #5 plastic, being safe for use. Avoid using for reheating. They get lots of reuse and I haven’t found any better alternative at this point.

The main caution with plastic: don’t use it in the microwave or for any heating up uses!

Baby Products

If you are on the look out for safer baby products, I encourage you to visit The Soft Landing blog. They have done an abundance of research to reveal what products are safe for your baby in every area from bibs, to bath toys, to pacifiers, to safe cups and dishes. A great resource! Definitely do a little research before buying all the plastic gadgets for babies!

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Growing Tomatoes Q & A

By on May 29, 2008 in natural & green, recipes & kitchen tips

I referred these questions that were asked in regards to my Tomato Tricks & Tips post to the farmer who grew my tomatoes from seed (Michael @ MiIlenium Farms in Ridgefield, WA), and he provided this helpful information:

Autumn asked:

I told a friend about your great ideas for the tomato plants and she advised me against the plastic water bottle because of trying to go organic, the plastic would release toxins into the soil. Is this a problem?

Coming from a long line of Mennonite farmers, I am quite concerned with the soil and will do nothing to harm it or the beneficial life which dwells in it. As such, I am not aware of immediate breakdown of the plastic used in 2 liter soda or water bottles. In fact, they are high-value targets for recycling because of their long half-lives, so any idea of immediate breakdown in the soil is really stretching, in my humble opinion. One could always use glass vessels, unless one fears their breakdown as well.

Amy asked: How often did the guy say to water them? The lady at Shorty’s said to water once a week…??

Tomatoes in the ground should be watered twice a week, to the equivalent of 1 inch per watering, until the end of July. Then, I would suggest eliminating watering to allow the plant to rely upon deeper sources of water to help minimize fruit cracking, as well as to accelerate fruit ripening and fruit flavor enhancment. I would remove the plastic wrap when the plant fills the cage, which will then allow the bees to pollinate and further stimulate the plant. If in containers, you will have to continue watering as recommended above, twice a week.

I thought this information to be very helpful!

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Why Eat Local? Enjoying Local Abundance

By on May 21, 2008 in natural & green

How spoiled we are when we truly look at the abundance God has provided us within our own communities! Why should I buy food that has traveled thousands of miles at times, when an abundance is available in my own vicinity simply through doing a little research. The more I reflect on enjoying and supporting local agriculture the more I realize that eating locally is the way to go!

Benefits:

1. Buying locally provides you with the freshest food and ingredients

Local food is fresher and tastes better than food shipped long distances from other states or countries. Local farmers can offer produce varieties bred for taste and freshness rather than for shipping and long shelf life. The average food travels 1,300 miles from farm to table! That means it needs a lot of preservatives and added chemicals to make it last! Refining and processing allow these products to store for months. Supermarket food often travels seven to fourteen days before arriving in your local supermarket.

2. Buying locally is beneficial for the environment

Local food doesn’t have to travel far. This reduces carbon dioxide emissions and packing materials. When you buy local food, you vote with your food dollar. This ensures that family farms in your community will continue to thrive and that healthy, flavorful, plentiful food will be available for future generations. This is another small way we can be good stewards of the world around us!

3. Buying locally is often cheaper

Buying according to the what is in season is definitely cheaper! It doesn’t have to travel very far to your table and thus doesn’t have all those additional costs for transportation and perservation.

4. Buying locally is so much fun!

Getting to know farmers in the area is quite enjoyable! It is refreshing to know where your food is coming from, knowing how farmers go about producing their goods, and to get to knows them in the process is a great joy.

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Eliminating the Junk Mail

By on May 8, 2008 in natural & green

Supermarket flyers, advertisements addressed to “current resident”, catalogs you never asked for! It has started driving me up the wall!

In an effort to cut back on the waste in our family, we began recycling our junk mail! I would never have thought that you could save so much space in your kitchen garbage bag by recycling all this paper! I cut back from once a week, to once every two weeks in dumping the kitchen garbage.

But at the same time, we are still often just bringing in the mail and disposing of it immediately in the recycling bins. The question begs to be asked…is this the best way to be good stewards of the earth that the Lord has entrusted to our care? How can we cut this stream of junk mail at the source?

Here are a few options:

1. Register for the Direct Marketing Association’s Mail Preference Service. It costs $1 (only if you mail in, online is free with the provision of a CC to confirm identity, but they do not charge it), and it will stop commerical mail from companies that you don’t already do business with.

2. Email your full name and current address to the Abacus Catalog Alliance ([email protected]), which will take you off the list of its members.

3. Sign up for OptOutPrescreen, which will stop prescreened credit-card offers.

4. Sign the Do Not Mail Registry, a petition to stop junk mail.

4. Lastly, you will still have stragglers to which you will have to give a ring! Hang onto these throughout the week and make a once a week call to the company’s toll-free number. It works! We have been receiving unnecessary gift receipts for our monthly giving to different organizations. I would rather these costs of printing be cut back and used for more effective use. So I called them and just asked for a annual statement for tax purposes. They were more than happy to change this for me.

It may take a few months to notice a difference, but I want to make an effort to cut back on all this junk!

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Costco Organic Finds

By on April 26, 2008 in natural & green, recipes & kitchen tips

If you have a Costco in your area, here are a collection of organic items our local store carries. Does vary according to location. I found with Costco still sometimes they have it, sometimes they don’t.

Organic Baby Food (Earth’s Best)- 24 jars of organic baby food for $13.99…that’s $0.58 per jar! Now that’s a good deal, and a good brand! The box came with 3 different kinds, 8 of each. Varieties were: vegetable and turkey, banana, pear & oatmeal combo, and the last was sweet potatoes, I believe.

Ecos Laundry Detergent - approx $13.69 for 105 loads -wonderful natural detergent! Concentrated so you don’t use very much. Lasts us 3 months while washing around 5 loads per week.
Organic Butter – $6.89 for 2 lb – another good deal – I stretch its use!
Organic Peanut Butter – 2/28 oz for $7.45
Organic Cold-Pressed Olive Oil – 2/1 litter $17.49
Maple Syrup – they often sell an organic version (around $20 for 64 oz)
Organic Pacific Tomato Soup – 6/32 oz. $9.99
Organic Chicken Broth – 6/32 oz. $9.49
Amy’s Organic Soups – 8/14.3 oz. $11.79

I was so excited to find these tomato products, as their prices were much cheaper than my other source, Azure Standard:

S & W Organic Tomato Paste – 12/6 oz. $4.99
S & W Organic Tomato Sauce – 12/15 oz. $5.95
S & W Organic Diced Tomatoes – 8/14.5 oz. $6.69

Uncured Bacon- 3/12 oz. $10.75
Organic Ground Beef - 3 lbs $11.99
Organic Whole Chickens for $1.99 per pound!

Organic Raisins – 48 oz $5.69
Organic Salsa (30 oz) & Bean Dip (16 oz) -come together – $5.89
Lundburg Organic Short Grain Brown Rice – 12 lbs $11.49
Organic Whole Wheat Bread – 2/26 oz loaves $4.95
Organic 14 Grain Bread – 2/26 oz loaves $4.79
Organic Sparkling Lemonade - 6/25 oz. $9.29
Annie’s Organic Macaroni & Cheese – 15/60 oz. $9.99
Treetop Organic Applesauce Cups - 36/4 oz. $9.99
Alden’s Organic Ice Cream - 2/48 oz. $7.85

They also carry organic pop tarts…but that’s where I say the “organic” label doesn’t necessarily mean healthy! I am sorry…organic sugar is still sugar!

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Energy Efficiency tip- Take less showers!

By on April 16, 2008 in frugal & simple, natural & green

1. Turn down your thermostat

We starting doing this in February. We turned our thermostat down just two notches over the past two months, from 68 down to 66. We also turn it off at night.

2. Take less showers

We found that it is really not necessary to take a shower every day like we were previously. Over this past month, we started limiting our showers to the mornings when we did our exercise routines, and desperately needed them. We now take showers around three times a week. Maybe our natural deodorant recipe is keeping us smelling fresh longer!

We are finding that frequent showers are not necessarily good for you anyway.

According to Jordin Rubin, author of The Maker’s Diet, “excessive showering -even in the purest water – can actually rob your hair and body of the natural oils. It can also alter your body’s pH. Then you have the added problem of heavily chlorinated public water supplies.”

Chlorine in water can be very harmful for your health…more on this later.

Our Savings

Our electrical bill went down $22 over the last two months! We went from an average of $65 per month, to our bill this month was $45 (although April does tend to be a cheaper month).

Comparing our figures to last April, I realized that the savings wasn’t so significant, as our bill was $52 last April and $45 this April. It is definitely helpful to compare last year’s use! Since we live in a condo association the water bill is paid by the association (a flat rate for us, that doesn’t change no matter how much we use), so if you pay your water separately this would provide more of a savings. I do think the health benefits of decreasing showers are worthy to consider though.

Works for me!

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Lotion, Aftershave – Natural Alternatives

By on April 11, 2008 in natural & green

There is one product that meets all of these needs without doing a thing, except rubbing it on! Can you guess what it is? This product is fabulous for you health both on the outside and the inside. It feels wonderful, without being too greasy or messy. It is all natural! When purchased in bulk and used for other things (listed below), it can be quite reasonable!

What is it?

Coconut Oil!

Lotion/Moisturizer - a little dab will do you! Scoop out and rub on your skin. Sweet fragrance as well. I have replaced all my miscellaneous lotions with this one product!

Aftershave – I told my husband he just had to try it as an aftershave, and low and behold it worked. I love using it as well after shaving those sensitive areas. Calms and refreshes.

For Married Women -It also works well for that special hubby and wife time.

Other uses I have had success with:Deodorant

Cooking uses:

stir-frying
replacing oil/butter/shortening in baked goods
melting and adding to smoothies
greasing pans with it
any other ideas?

I am a huge fan of coconut oil (if you haven’t noticed already)! The more products I can cover with just this simple natural alternative, the more I save and the more I rejoice! I just found a recipe for toothpaste that uses it as well. Can’t wait to try it and share the results (if successful)! The way I am going, pretty soon this will be the only product in the bathroom!

Buy it here at:

Mountain Rose Herbs

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Sprouting Seeds

By on March 27, 2008 in natural & green, recipes & kitchen tips

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My sunflower sprouts – aren’t they cute?

Sprouts are a wonderfully nutritious and frugal way to incorporate good nutrition into your diet! They are a great alternative to expensive nuts or to replace lettuce when the greens are not in season. Sprouts can be added to so many dishes with great success, including salads, soups, sandwiches, omelets, and breads. Seeds actually increase in nutritional content when sprouted! Sprouting is a simple, indoor method of gardening…for anyone!

Lately, I have been exploring sprouting sunflower seeds (read more about the wonders of these seeds here), and it has been so much fun! These are packed with all the nutrients we need for survival, and receive vitamin C when sprouted. They are so cheap and easy to sprout! My frugal tip of the day: learn how to sprout seeds!
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Energy Efficiency in the Kitchen

By on March 24, 2008 in natural & green, recipes & kitchen tips

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Studies are showing more and more that, when used to maximize energy-saving features, modern dishwashers can outperform all but the most frugal hand washers. Studies show that most people pre-rinse dishes before loading them into the dishwasher, even though dishwashers purchased within the last 5-10 years do a superb job of cleaning even heavily soiled dishes. If you find you must rinse dishes first, get in the habit of using cold water.

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