Simple Things I Love #2: My Cast Iron Pans

There's a lot of talk these days about using safer, more environmentally friendly pans. There have been a lot of new lines of cookware come out in the past few years that are being marketed as "green" choices. I happen to think that the best pans are the ones that have been around for over 100 years: Cast iron.

Considering I've been cooking since I was old enough to hold a wooden spoon, it took me a while to become a cast iron convert. I didn't grow up with cast iron cookware, and I didn't know anyone else who used cast iron pans, either. For a while, I was intrigued by the idea of cast iron, yet intimidated by it because everything I read gave me the impression they were hard to care for.

I actually bought my first cast iron pan over 20 years ago (the smallest one with the wooden handle in the photo). I think I paid $5 for it at IKEA (as far as I can tell, they don't sell these anymore). This was before we even got married! I do remember using it a bit, and taking it on camping trips, but for some reason it eventually got stuck in the back of the cupboard and gathered dust for a decade or so. Thankfully, I never got rid of it during either of our pre-move purges.

Fast forward to a couple summers ago when I picked up the mid-size pan (bottom right in the photo) at a yard sale for $5. It is definitely an older, well seasoned pan and I was excited to find it. I really wanted to start using cast iron pans on a regular basis, but again for some strange reason I felt a bit intimidated.

Thankfully I got over it and have now been using both of the pans pictured on a daily basis for a couple of years. We added the largest pan in the photo about 6 months ago - I bought that one new for just under $30 at a Canadian Tire 65% off sale (gotta love those!). Of the three pans, it's my least favourite. You'll notice it doesn't look as glossy as the other two, which both have the wonderful dark patina of a well-seasoned pan. The newer one doesn't have as smooth of a surface and I'm finding it hard to get it well seasoned. Still, I'll take it over any of the ceramic-coated pans I've owned, hands-down.

So, why do I love these pans so much?

They are very safe to cook with: No nasty coatings, and you can even increase the iron content of your foods by cooking in cast iron!

They will take whatever you can dish out: You can use metal utensils when cooking, and scrape away at them hard if you get something stuck on them.

They will last several generations: Lodge, one of the best-known makers of cast iron cookware, has been making cast iron pans since 1896 and apparently some of the original pieces are still in use today. Considering as how my other fry pans typically lasted 2-3 years at the most with daily use, that is simply amazing!

They produce great results: The combination of my gas stove and cast iron pans means I can get some seriously crispy crunchy coatings when I'm pan frying. The nice thick bottoms mean foods don't get easily burnt or scorched (which can definitely happen when using flimsy cookware over a gas flame!)

They are easy to clean and care for: This point is ironic as it's what held me back from discovering the wonders of cast iron for so long. Really, it is no big deal at all to look after these pans. Ideally, you shouldn't use soapy water on them, as that will wear down the seasoning, but I do use a bit now and then when a pan is really nasty. Some people recommend re-seasoning them with oil after every use, but I don't find that to be necessary at all - probably because most of our meals start with a couple tablespoons of either butter or olive oil in the pan :) Once you've been using your pans for a while, you'll know when they need a bit of a reboot - I find mine only need it once a month at the most. Yes, my large pan above *does* need some reseasoning action! I have found coconut oil works really well for seasoning my pans, other people have different opinions about what works best! Some basic instructions on how to care for and season your cast iron pan can be found here. Even if your pan becomes a rusted-out mess (or you find one at a yard sale in that condition), it can still be saved! See this tutorial on how to clean up a rusty pan.

Despite how much I love my cast iron pans, I'm willing to admit they have two drawbacks:

1. They are HEAVY! It's difficult to lift my largest pan with one hand if I'm trying to drain fat out of it, or tip out the last portion of a skillet meal.

2. The handles get HOT - so you need to use an oven mitt while cooking (the wooden handle on my small pan eliminates this problem).

I think these two minor drawbacks are far outweighed by all their benefits. We now cook exclusively with these 3 pans and I've said goodbye to those ceramic pans. I like thinking about the possibility of my kids or grandkids someday cooking food for their families in these exact pans (yeah, I'm a romantic, what can I say?)

Are you a cast iron aficionado? Or curious about giving them a try now?

(And no, this post is not sponsored in any way by Lodge or anyone else - I just love my cast iron!)

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Ditching Our Dishwasher: Saying Goodbye to Another Kitchen Appliance

Photo by Stuart Miles/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We're officially down another kitchen appliance on what will likely be a permanent basis. About three months ago it became apparent that our dishwasher was toast. The age of this appliance is uncertain; all we know is that it was here when we arrived nine years ago and it was old then :)

Once it became clear that it was futile to try and extend its life, the discussions began. Do we really need a dishwasher? I know a good portion of you will commence questioning my sanity right here (if you haven't already ::grin::). Just remember that when our microwave died roughly seven and a half years ago, we decided not to replace it and we've never looked back. We've been living microwave-free quite happily ever since then and I can't remember the last time I even remotely wished we had one.

One of the main reasons we really wanted to give this some careful thought (aside from the expense of replacing a major appliance) is that our kitchen is of the very-modestly-sized variety, which means cupboard and counter space is at a premium. We've been planning to do some renos to the kitchen anyway, and eliminating the dishwasher altogether would free up a large amount of space and allow us to have both more cupboard and more counter space.

Yes, having a dishwasher is convenient - to a point. I've always thought that hand washed dishes were much cleaner than those that come out of the dishwasher, with all their cloudy buildup and baked on crud that didn't quite come off during the washing process. Plus it's just plain hard on your dishes - glassware can get pitted or permanently clouded, plastic containers get warped. Not to mention the ongoing frustration of trying to find an environmentally-friendly dishwasher detergent that actually works *and* doesn't cost a fortune!

While there are certainly still days when I'd be happy to toss everything in the dishwasher and walk away, overall I haven't minded our return to exclusive hand washing of dishes. The dishes are all sparkling clean, for one. A couple of side benefits have also become apparent: Firstly, we are more likely to minimize our dish dirtying (by reusing a barely-soiled glass or plate) so we cut down on the amount of items being washed on a given day. Secondly, I'm having more in-depth conversations with my husband and kids. Doing the dishes is one of those household tasks that is naturally suited to being a two-person job. Since it takes more than a couple of minutes, we have time for more elaborate conversations rather than a couple of quick sentences scattered in here and there before we dash off to various activities. I've even found it to be a wonderful mindfulness practice (when I remember not to think of it in terms of how-quick-can-I-get-this-done). I have the time to be grateful for each dish, spoon and platter, to consider how it came to be mine (wedding gift, yard sale find, etc.) and to really appreciate its presence in my life (because who knows how long I'll have it, stuff is known to get broken once in a while around here!)

So here we are, now happily dishwasher- *and* microwave-free, and down to half the number of appliances found in the typical kitchen, which is fairly ironic since I'm sure we do more than twice as much cooking as the average family!

While I know choosing to go without a dishwasher might not be the right choice for every family, it's another example of how it can be helpful to think through what you and your family truly want and need before going out and buying something just because that's what everyone else has.

Seven Kitchen Gifts for Newlyweds & New Grads

Image by Salvatore Vuono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's that time of year again when most of us will be inundated with invitations to attend graduation and wedding ceremonies - and of course that means that, in addition to helping our family members and friends celebrate their "big days", we need to come up with some thoughtful gifts, too!

I happen to believe that one of the best things you can do for a young adult is to encourage them to spend more time in the kitchen. Food skills are more valuable than ever in these uncertain economic times, and the earlier in life a person gets into the habit of cooking their meals from scratch, the better. Knowing how to get the most value for your dollar when food shopping, and how to cook simple meals from scratch using minimally-processed foods, means you'll always be able to eat well, even when your budget is tight.

So, if you're helping a young person celebrate their graduation or wedding this month, why not give them a gift that will make cooking easier and more enjoyable?

Here are some kitchen-related gifts that would be perfect for anyone just starting out on their own:

1. An assortment of kitchen utensils. 

Two of the most-used items in my kitchen are my wire whisk and my silicone spatulas. I usually reach for these several times a day. Surprisingly, I've found that you can get decent quality silicone spatulas at the dollar store - mine have performed at least as well as the much-more-expensive one I bought years ago at a fancy kitchen store. Wooden cooking utensils, which can safely be used in nonstick pans, make an elegant and eco-friendly addition to this type of gift (if you know someone in your area who does wood carving, you can  support a local business while you're at it!) If you're a knitter, you can add some knitted dishclothes to the mix for a personal touch.

2. A basic, all-purpose cookbook.

While it's fun to have a wide variety of cookbooks, the ones I've turned to again and again over the years are those tried-and-true tomes that have recipes for all the basics, from cakes to salads to soups to yeast breads, plus instructions on how to perform a wide variety of cooking-related tasks (like how to boil an egg, cook dried beans, or cut up a whole chicken). My personal favourite in this category is The Fannie Farmer Cookbook(of course I love it even more because I scored my hardcover edition for 50 cents at a yard sale). Other good choices are The Joy of Cooking,The Betty Crocker Cookbook: 1500 Recipes for the Way You Cook Today, and Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book . Of course, I'd also highly recommend my book, Cheap Appetit for any young adult who wants to increase their food skills and decrease their food budget!

[Disclaimer: Yes, those are Amazon affiliate links and I will earn a small commission if you purchase a book after clicking through any of them.]

3. A good quality set of knives

If your budget will accommodate a larger gift purchase, I think a good quality set of knives is one of the best gifts you could give a young person or couple just starting out. If my husband hadn't sold knives as a part time job during his college years, I might never have been turned on to just how big of a difference quality knives can make in your life. They make so many kitchen tasks quicker and easier and a good set can last a lifetime! I LOVE my Cutco knives, which have a lifetime guarantee. We actually had to take them up on it a couple years ago, and it was hassle-free getting our broken knife replaced. It was about 17 years old at that time, and a new one was promptly dispatched to us. The top three knives I'd recommend are a chef's knife, a paring knife and a mid-sized serrated knife. With this combination, you can perform a wide variety of kitchen tasks.

4. A set of good quality saucepans

The saucepans I received as a wedding gift are still going strong after nearly 17 years of daily use. Look for sturdy pots with heavy bottoms and firmly-attached handles. A set that includes a small, medium and large saucepan will meet most basic cooking needs.

5. A stockpot

Again, the important thing here is to find a good quality one that will stand up to years of use. A good place to find really rugged stockpots at great prices is a restaurant supply store. Here in Hamilton, Chris's Store Fixtures has been, well a fixture for the two decades I've lived here (in fact, you could probably find most of the items on this list at a restaurant supply store for great prices). A good stockpot is not only handy for making stock, it's perfect for canning as well (especially if you're making a big batch of salsa or pickles!)

6. A cast iron pan

I'm a fairly recent convert to cast iron, but since I bought a cast iron pan at a yard sale last summer, I've fallen in love with it. This is another piece that sees almost daily use in my kitchen. Make sure to include some instructions on how to properly care for and season a cast iron pan as many people aren't familiar with cast iron cookware.

7. Pyrex bakeware

Yet another item that should last for decades, Pyrex bakeware is another hard working staple of my busy kitchen. I think every cook should have 8 x 8", 9 x 13" and 11 x 7" pans, as well as one or more 8 1/2"x 4 1/2" loaf pans.

While there are much fancier and flashier kitchen-related gifts that you could give, these are the items I think are most useful to someone just starting out, that will stand the test of time in even the busiest kitchens. Unless they are specifically requested by the recipient, I don't recommend buying bulky kitchen appliances like bread makers or rice cookers - they take up a lot of storage space and may rarely or never be used (I've survived decades of cooking without either!)

What are your favourite kitchen-themed gifts to give to young adults?

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5 Kitchen Tools I *DON'T* Own

 Photo by nuchylee/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I cook three meals a day from scratch and have even written a cookbook. To say that I spend a good deal of time in the kitchen would hardly be an exaggeration. Most people who know how much I cook would probably be surprised to find out how much of a kitchen minimalist I am; I don't like to keep a lot of unnecessary equipment hanging around and cluttering things up. Multi-purpose tools are what I'm all about and I try to avoid anything that serves only one function (my waffle maker being the only exception that comes to mind).


You really don't need a lot of bulky, expensive equipment to cook a whole lot of great food. Here are five tools I get by without just fine:

1. Microwave: When our microwave died several years ago, we made the decision not to replace it and have never looked back. You can read about how and why we decided to go microwave-free here.

2. Bread maker: We make almost all our bread from scratch, but I've never felt tempted to acquire a bread maker. I really enjoy kneading dough by hand, and with my handy refrigerator dough recipe, making bread is super convenient (and I can make up to three loaves at once if I need to).

3. Yogurt maker: I used to have one of these (I received it as a gift). I found I got very inconsistent results with it, and as a result, I came up with my own yogurt incubation method that uses basic items you already have around the house. Not only do I get much more consistent results than I ever did with a yogurt maker, all of the items used to create my "incubator" can be used for other purposes when I'm not making yogurt.

4. Popcorn popper: This is another appliance we used to have and decided we didn't need to replace after it died. We now make stovetop popcorn in our trusty saucepan - and it's the best popcorn ever!

5. Rice cooker: We make rice just fine in our saucepan, eliminating the need for yet another bulky appliance.


Are you a kitchen minimalist, too? What tools do YOU think are unnecessary in your kitchen?

It's Mid-Winter Pantry Inspection Time!

Image by thanunkorn/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's February - that wonderful month where the light rapidly returns and I start fantasizing about this year's vegetable garden (that I won't be able to start planting for at least a couple of months yet).

While I'm waiting for this year's growing season to start, it's a good time to take stock of the fall produce I've been storing over the winter and see if there's anything that needs my attention.

Onions: I buy these in 10 lb bags when they go on sale in the fall. Usually they keep pretty well stored on a shelf in my basement for several months - but about now is when they might start to go south. I check to see if there are any that are sprouting or starting to go soft. These can be chopped and frozen without blanching; the frozen onions can be used in any type of cooked dish but will not have a good texture to use raw.

Apples: We still have some apples down in our basement fridge from our annual apple picking trip at a nearby farm. I suspect they are starting to get a bit on the soft side - which means it's time to make applesauce! If you happen to have a lot of soft apples and make an extra-big batch of applesauce, it can be frozen or canned for longer-term storage. I also have quite a few favourite recipes that use cooked apples, so if the apples start off a bit on the soft side it won't affect the finished dish: Upside-Down Apple Oven Pancake, Pork and Apple Stew, and in my book you'll find Apple and Bacon Baked Beans (p. 177), Sausage and Apple Saute (p.137), Morning Glory Muffins (p.98), Apple Raspberry Squares (p.228) and Basic Fruit Crisp (p.220).

Potatoes: If I find potatoes that are sprouting and going soft, I make up a big batch of mashed potatoes and freeze them in 1 cup portions for use in my Whole Wheat Refrigerator Bread Dough.

Carrots: I usually managed to stagger my purchase of 10 lb bags of carrots so that they stay reasonably fresh stored in my basement fridge; if you have a lot of carrots that are starting to go soft, they can be chopped and frozen. They will need to be blanched first (instructions here).

Squash: Winter squash stores pretty well, but even these can start to get soft at this time of year. When they do, they can be cooked, pureed and frozen in meal-sized portions.

And while you're busy freezing things, it's a good time to check what else might still be in the freezer that needs using up - I need to check on my supply of frozen strawberries, zucchini, tomatoes, and pumpkin to see how much I still have left from last season.

Do you have any favourite strategies for dealing with stored-over-the-winter produce?

A Tour of My Frugal Fridge

I know most people who are just beginning to learn how to reduce their food bill are pretty curious to know what is hiding in a frugal foodie's refrigerator - so I thought I'd give you a little tour of mine. These photos were taken a few months ago (back in April) when my fridge was (ahem) a wee bit more organized than it is right now!

Top Shelf:

-jug of milk reconstituted from skim milk powder (for cooking and baking)
-fresh milk for drinking
-chicken carcass awaiting the stock pot
-jars of homemade jam
-bulk-purchased oats, wheat bran and wheat germ
-bottle of lemon juice (for canning - I use fresh lemon for cooking!)
-sale-priced salsa (we didn't can our own last year but we're planning on it for this year!)

Second Shelf:

-homemade yogurt in single-serving containers
-eggs (purchased at rock-bottom sale price)
-leftover gravy from roast chicken
-Mason jar full of bacon fat
-leftover cinnamon sugar from making donuts with Refrigerator Bread Dough
-cut up pineapple chunks from a sale-priced pineapple
-bacon and assorted sale-priced cheeses in meat crisper

Third Shelf:

-bowl of Refrigerator Bread Dough
-sale priced pork (99 cents a pound!) to be portioned and packed for the freezer
-carrots from a 10 pound bag bought at rock-bottom sale price

Bottom shelf:
-cabbage
-bulk-purchased cornmeal
-container of pigs-in-a-blanket made with Refrigerator Bread Dough

Crispers:

 -sale-priced fruits and veggies (obviously, these will vary with the seasons; when I took the photo it was apples, avocados, cucumbers and sweet peppers)

On the door:

-bottle of brew-your-own wine
-mayo, several kinds of vinegar (white wine, red wine, rice wine), ketchup, mustard, a few store-bought dressings for nights when I'm too lazy to make my own :)
-ground flax seed (I put it in my bread dough)
-sale-priced butter

Obviously, the contents of my fridge are not exactly the same from one week to the next, but this is fairly typical of what's in there on any given day. Often there are more little bits of leftovers (like cooked veggies and rice) waiting for creative reuse. There's usually a pitcher of orange juice in there, too; I guess we were all out on the day I snapped the photos!

What's hiding in your frugal fridge?

Weekly Menu Retrospective #3

Welcome to my weekly roundup of the past week's eats. I prefer to report what we ate in the last week, rather than what we're planning to eat in the coming week. Why? The reason is pretty simple: although I usually have a general idea of what we're going to eat in the next week or so, life often unfolds a little differently than planned, and I adjust my menu plan on a near-daily basis to accommodate leftovers and other not-possible-to-plan-ahead circumstances. I find this is the easiest way to ensure that I minimize our family's food waste. I'm also willing to admit that I'm a rather spontaneous cook, given to preparing foods that strike me as the most appealing thing to eat right here and now!

Breakfasts: We went through a couple of batches of Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and had those most days.One day we had bagels with peanut butter/cream cheese/jam.

Lunches: cinnamon raisin bagels with cream cheese, salads with greens from the garden plus protein "additions" of cheese, sunflower seeds and/or leftover meat,  chicken on a bagel, cheese omelettes and leftover pancakes (from last week), peanut butter toast

Suppers: 

Monday: I made a batch of crepes and filled them with leftovers - the boys had "Pizza Crepes" stuffed with leftover tomato meat sauce and topped with melted cheese, I had mine filled with leftover turkey salad and avocado and topped with melted cheese (hubby wasn't home for dinner).

Tuesday: Hamburgers and Creamy Cucumber Salad (cucumbers were on sale for 59 cents this week!)

Wednesday: Hummus and Grilled Flatbread, leftover Creamy Cucumber Salad

Thursday: Lime and Garlic Chicken with Southwestern Spiced Barley &Vegetable Salad

Friday: Hummus and Red Pepper "Hoagie" (hot dog bun with cheese melted on one side, hummus spread on the other side and filled with sauteed red peppers and onions), the boys had hot dogs plus raw sliced veggies on the side (hubby not home for dinner again).

Saturday: out at my niece's birthday party (Happy 2nd birthday, Natalie!)

Sunday: Leftover Buffet (leftover roast beef and Old-Fashioned Layered Salad from my niece's party - I brought the salad and we got sent home with roast beef! - hummus, barley salad, raw veggies and fresh fruit)

We had lots of fresh fruit to go along with meals this week: cherries, blueberries, pineapple, cantaloupe and strawberries were all on sale!

For lots more great menu ideas, head on over to orgjunkie.com for Menu Plan Monday!

Food Waste Friday: I Have NO Idea!

I know there is food in my fridge that's no longer edible. I'm just not sure exactly what or how much right now. This week has been really hectic, and coupled with a heat wave that's left me reluctant to open the fridge door for any longer than necessary (not to mention the fact that we haven't felt like eating much in the heat) I know there are some food waste casualties in there. I'm hoping the temperature will drop off enough for me to dive into the depths and do a full-scale cleaning out before next week (I'm sure it's not going to be pretty!)

I did have a couple of food waste victories this week: I managed to eat the ENTIRE bag of five avocados I'd bought on sale before any of them spoiled, and I made my first ever batch of watermelon rind relish (thus transforming what would have typically gone into the compost bin into edible food).

As usual, you can head over to The Frugal Girl if you want to see how others fared with their food waste this week.

Food Waste Friday: Nothing...Yet!

I don't have any food waste to report for this week...but my fridge feels like a ticking time bomb right now! It's packed full of food; lots of leftovers and produce. So I'll have to be on the ball for the next few days to try and make sure everything gets used up in a timely fashion.

This also leads me to wonder: why is it that my fridge is either packed-to-the-gills full or nearly devoid of food? That middle ground seems elusive. One of the great mysteries of the universe, I suppose :)

To see how others fared with their food waste this week, head on over to The Frugal Girl.

Weekly Menu Retrospective #1

 This will be my first post of what will (hopefully) be a regular report of the previous week's eats. I prefer to report what we ate in the past week, rather than what we're planning to eat in the coming week. Why? The reason is pretty simple: although I usually have a general idea of what we're going to eat in the next week or so, life often unfolds a little differently than planned, and I adjust my menu plan on a near-daily basis to accommodate leftovers and other not-possible-to-plan-ahead circumstances. I find this is the easiest way to ensure that I minimize our family's food waste. I'm also willing to admit that I'm a rather spontaneous cook, given to preparing foods that strike me as the most appealing thing to eat right here and now!

What we ate in the past week:

Breakfasts: zucchini-pineapple muffins, chocolate zucchini muffins*, bagels with cream cheese (bagels were on sale for *4* packages for $5), peanut butter toast, pancakes


Lunches: mostly tossed green salads as we needed to use up all the bolting greens in the garden! I fortify these lunch salads with little bits of whatever protein foods we have hanging around (this week it was cheddar cheese and sunflower seeds) I topped mine off with chopped avocado to help use up the bag of five I bought on sale for $2.49.

Suppers:

Monday: sliced leftover sausage, leftover green bean, potato and barley salads

Tuesday: Vegetable Johnnycakes* with sour cream and rhubarb chutney, tossed green salad (using greens from the garden), vanilla ice cream with strawberry-rhubarb sauce

Wednesday: Baked Pasta*, sliced raw veggies

Thursday: Barbecued Pork Chops, oven fries, and creamy cucumber salad

Friday: leftover Baked Pasta

Saturday: Baked Frittata Squares* (using spinach from the garden), sliced raw veggies

Sunday: Pulled Pork sandwiches* on homemade rolls (using Whole Wheat Refrigerator Dough), Colourful Cabbage Salad (with a bunch of fresh herbs from the garden), chocolate peanut butter brownies

*these recipes will be coming to the blog soon!

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday.

Food Waste Friday: I Really Fell Off the Wagon

 This was not a good week in food-waste land at my house. I ended up wasting an entire bunch of broccoli (which, although it doesn't look all that bad in the picture, trust me, you wouldn't want to eat it!) It had gotten buried at the back of the crisper and forgotten about. There have been a lot of good sales on veggies lately, and I was a bit over zealous in my purchasing, forgetting how many greens I had in my garden that were going to need using up (they're starting to bolt).

The second victim was a bit of honey-orange breakfast polenta, which was a recipe experiment of mine. I thought it was not too bad but no-one else in my family liked it, and after eating it for a few days myself I let the tail end linger in the fridge too long.

I also wasted a couple of handfuls of sweet cherries (not pictured) that started to spoil faster than I expected (maybe that's why they were on sale for so cheap!) I did manage to salvage most of the bag.

To see how others made out in the food waste department this week, head on over to The Frugal Girl.

Food Waste Friday: Back to Zero Again!

I'm pleased to report that I'm back to zero waste again this week.I managed to save a couple of items from ending up in the compost by making a batch of muffins using the Universal Muffin Recipe from the Complete Tightwad Gazette. This is a very handy recipe to pull out when you have a few odd bits of things lurking in the fridge that need to be used up ASAP. In my case, I had about 1/2 cup or so of crushed pineapple left over from another recipe (and no yogurt to stir it into) and a couple of egg whites left over from making Boiled Dressing (I think I might try this recipe with one whole egg rather than 2 yolks to see how it turns out, otherwise I may be making a whole lot of meringues this summer!) I also had a couple packages of frozen grated zucchini left from last summer, and really wanted to get those used up, too. So I decided to make Zucchini Pineapple Muffins using the universal muffin recipe. They turned out quite tasty (although they would have been even better if I had remembered to add some spices to them; I realized I hadn't put any in right after I stuck them in the oven).

I bought another bag of 5 avocados on sale for $2.50 this week, so keep your fingers crossed for me and hopefully I'll manage to use them all up this time! I also have a whole lot of lettuce, spinach and arugula in my veggie garden that is starting to bolt, so I'll need to be vigilant about using that up, too.


To see how others fared with their food waste this week, head on over to The Frugal Girl for the weekly roundup of food waste reports.

Food Waste Friday: Oh, the Irony!

How embarrassing. After last week's extensive discussion of ways to use avocadoes over at The Frugal Girl, what was the first food victim of the week? Yup, nothing other than one of the little green fruits. It was lurking at the back of the crisper behind a lime and went unnoticed by me for quite a while. Unfortunately, by the time I found it there was no way to salvage it at all. This was the last avocado of a pack of 5 I'd bought for $2.50 (usually avocadoes are $1 to $1.29 each around here). They're on sale for that price again this week and I'm determined to make sure not a single one goes to waste this time!

I had a couple of other items that got wasted this week: a jar of canola oil that was left over from deep frying (it had started to grow something suspect in it) and some decomposing dandelion greens. While I'm not thrilled about wasting these, I know a lot of people don't reuse their frying oil in the first place, so in many cases it would have been discarded right away after its initial use. And the dandelion greens were foraged from my backyard, so not only were they free, they are something most people would have tossed in the compost bin rather than harvesting for consumption. At least the oil can go into my municipal Green Waste bin for composting (obviously the greens can as well), so nothing's going in the landfill.

Head on over to The Frugal Girl to see how others fared with their food waste this week.

Food Waste Friday: Zero Waste with a Bit More Effort

I managed to pull off another zero-waste week, but unlike last week's seemingly effortless achievement, this time I worked a lot harder for it!
My fridge was really full at the end of last week, so I had to pay a lot more attention this week to what needed to be used up or frozen before it became a science experiment. I had half a roast turkey left over from my birthday dinner on Sunday, so I chopped and froze the remaining meat from the bird, then made turkey stock to put in the freezer. I also froze the leftover pan drippings from the turkey so I can use it to make gravy in the future.

I had half a batch of lentil dal that I knew needed to be used up ASAP, so on Wednesday night I decided to try making lentil burgers with it. This was more successful than I expected (all four of us thought they were very tasty!) so I'll be sharing that recipe soon.
There were other assorted bits and pieces that we managed to polish off as well, I can't even remember what they all were now!
Even after all that effort, the fridge seems to have started filling back up again, so I'll need to do another in-depth investigation in a couple of days to see what else is calling out for urgent consumption.

To see how others fared this week in their quest to reduce food waste, head on over to The Frugal Girl.

Just in case you missed my announcement earlier this week, I'm running a giveaway for a $40 gift certificate from CSN Stores (which can be used at any of their 200+ online stores). You have up until Saturday night at 9 PM Eastern to enter, so go check it out! The contest is open to all my Canadian and U.S. readers.

Food Waste Friday: The Avocado Got Me!

 Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Last week's zero waste victory proved to be short lived. The very next day I went to cut up an avocado I thought was just fine, only to discover that it was well on its way to the dark side. I managed to salvage about 1/3 of it, the rest ended up in the compost. That was the only thing I wasted all week.

To see how others fared with their food waste, head on over to The Frugal Girl.

If this is your first stop by Abundance on a Dime this week, you might want to check out my recent post on How to Make Yogurt without a Yogurt Maker, Heating Pad or Crockpot. And be sure to stop by tomorrow for my weekly Yard Sale Report. It's a long weekend here in Canada, but there are still a few sales running so I hope to do some serious treasure hunting!

Food Waste Friday: Sweet Nothings!!

I did it! Finally, I have accomplished a zero-food-waste week.

::Does little happy dance::

Hopefully, I'm on a roll now.

To see how others fared with their food waste this week, head on over to The Frugal Girl for the weekly Food Waste Friday roundup.

My challenge for the coming week will be to use up all the rhubarb in my fridge! My neighbour kindly offered me free reign in his large rhubarb patch - I came home with about 15 lbs or so of fresh-picked rhubarb! I chopped up much of it with some help from my younger ds. There was SO much that I filled my largest storage container with it, plus a couple of others, and still had some left over. I'm running low on freezer space at the moment, so I'm planning to whip up a double batch of Rhubarb Muffins to sell at our yard sale tomorrow morning! I'm sure there will still be some left after that, so I might have to get a bit creative to use up the rest of it.

Since we're holding our own yard sale tomorrow, I'm not going to be doing my usual rounds, but I do hope to make it over to a church rummage sale that's not too far away. So, I should still have my weekly Yard Sale Report up tomorrow (last week's is here).

Food Waste Friday

I didn't have any "new" food waste this week (which I'm arbitrarily defining as anything purchased or prepared in the last 3 weeks). I did, however, find a couple things lurking waaay in the back of the fridge that should have been in last week's roundup:

-a couple more hunks of dead lemon (what *is* it with me and the lemons?? Definitely going to have to work on that!)
-a few fossilized strawberries
-most of a bottle of cheap champagne. We received this as a gift at Christmas. Since we're not champagne drinkers and I couldn't think of anyone else who would want it, I was a bit stumped as to what to do with it. I ended up making us Mimosas for Easter breakfast, then the rest of the bottle sat in the fridge until now.

This week's food waste prevention tip is about keeping your food pest-free. We had a pantry moth invasion about a year and a half ago and (uuuugh!) talk about having to waste a serious amount of food! Those little buggers will get into almost everything. One thing I now do to prevent little critters growing in food is to store *all* my bulk food items in the freezer for at least 24 hrs when I bring it home. This includes all my bulk flours and rice, and anything I buy out of bulk food bins. I do this with bags of pasta as well (I tend to buy a LOT when they go on sale for the lowest price, so sometimes they'll be sitting on the shelf for a while before they get used up). Since I've started this practice, I've had no problems with anything going "buggy" on me.

If this is your first visit to the blog this week, you might want to check out Why I Went $40 Over My Grocery Budget This Month and A Day in the Life of Our Frugal Family. And be sure to stop by tomorrow for my weekly Yard Sale Report. You can see what I've found so far this year here, here, and here. I'd love to hear about your own yard sale finds, so be sure to leave a comment and tell me all about it!

My First Food Waste Friday

I've been on a concerted campaign to get our food waste down to zero for a while now. So I was pleased to discover Food Waste Friday over at The Frugal Girl! I'm sure it will help keep me honest about exactly how much I'm wasting.

This is what I pulled out of the fridge yesterday that was no longer fit for consumption:

One dead lime, half a moldy lemon, about 1/3 of a small onion all dried up, and approximately 1 tsp of butter (I'd saved that from butter I'd melted to dip donuts in, figuring I'd use it for another melted butter application, then promptly forgot all about it!)

I *hate* it when I waste citrus!! Well, I hate wasting food at all, but particularly limes and lemons as they're one of the most "spendy" foods I buy - however I do consider them an absolute necessity for cooking good food!

The good news is that I'm pretty sure this represents my food waste for the entire month of April (thus far, anyway). Let's see if I can keep the rest of the month to zero!

I figured I'd try and post a tip about how to minimize food waste each week, just to keep things fun! This week's tip is about storing green onions.

I recently read that it's best to store green onions in a glass of water at room temperature, so I decided to give it a shot. These ones were in the fridge for a bit first, and the little wilty bits happened during refrigerator storage. I've had them sitting like this for a few days, and they seem much fresher now than they did when I took them out of the fridge (where they'd been stored in a Ziploc bag). The real bonus of this idea is that I can't possibly forget I have green onions to use up when they're sitting right on my kitchen windowsill. Plus there's no chance of anyone piling five pounds of carrots on top of them in the crisper and crushing the snot out of them (you know who you are!)

That's it for this week's Food Waste Friday. Have a great weekend, everyone!

Reflections on 5 Years of Microwave-Free Living

Image by Michelle Meiklejohn/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Our microwave oven kicked the bucket five years ago this month. At first, we were frustrated - the darn thing hadn't lasted nearly as many years as its predecessor, and a new microwave didn't fit into our budget! What on earth were we to do? While it's true we probably could have gotten one off of Freecycle, or possibly at a thrift store, after we'd calmed down a bit, we took the critical step of thinking "do we actually need to replace this item?" Heck, we'd lived without a car for three years (while we had two little kids, no less!) Surely we could live without a microwave?

We thought about what we actually used our microwave for, and the answer was basically 4 things:

1. Reheating half a mug of cold tea or coffee
2. Reheating leftovers
3. Thawing frozen foods
4. Melting chocolate

Not a whole lot, when it came right down to it. Surely we could figure out how to accomplish all of these jobs without a microwave? After all, we'd both been half grown before our family households even owned microwaves! And it sure would free up some extra space in the kitchen if we didn't have a microwave hanging around.

As it turns out, we figured out how to accomplish all of the above quite easily and have never looked back. We do get some house guests who are rather incredulous that we don't own a microwave (they seem to think we're leading them on, and we must have one hidden somewhere) but we don't mind at all!

In case you're wondering, here's how we do all of the aforementioned tasks in our microwave-free home:

Reheating hot beverages: We've learned to drink the whole darn mug while it's still hot! It's actually forced us to slow down and be more mindful of our cup of tea or coffee. At first I occasionally had to resort to reheating half a cup of cold coffee in a small saucepan on the stove, but I can't remember the last time I had to do that! I've learned to take the time to enjoy it freshly-poured.

Reheating leftovers: We purchased a thrift-store toaster oven for seven bucks. It's still going strong five years later, and has already outlasted that final (bought new) microwave of ours. I found some small baking dishes at the dollar store, which fit perfectly in the toaster oven two at a time. They are just the right size for heating up a single serving of leftovers. It takes 10-15 minutes to reheat food, rather than 2-3, but the quality is much better - the taste and texture are just like freshly cooked, and the food stays hot MUCH longer.

Thawing frozen foods: When possible, I take out the food I'm going to need for the next day the night before, and let it thaw overnight in the fridge. When I forget to do that, I thaw it in a stainless steel bowl filled with lukewarm water for 15-20 minutes (I only do the warm water thaw when I'm going to cook the food immediately afterwards).

Melting chocolate: I use an improvised double boiler; a stainless steel bowl placed over top of a saucepan of boiling water.

I know there are at least a few people thinking "but how do you make popcorn?" because I get that comment a lot! We've used a hot-air popper to make popcorn since long before our microwave died. You can also do it the good old-fashioned way in a pot on the stove.

Is there a common modern "gadget" that you've learned to live without? I'd love to hear about it, so please leave a comment!

Good Old-Fashioned Recipe Organization

"Now what the heck did I do with that recipe for Great Aunt Martha's favourite chicken salad?"

If you're anything like me, you probably have tons of recipes stashed away in drawers, folders, books, computer files and assorted random piles. And when the moment of truth comes, you can't quite remember where to find the recipe you so desperately need.

These days, there are a myriad of options for organizing our recipes, both on- and off-line. I've tried a variety of approaches over the years (and as a result, gotten into the mess of having more than one system in place at the same time, leading to even more chaos!)

I've found online options really don't work all that well for me. If I had a laptop on my kitchen counter, maybe this would be a better solution. I don't own a laptop, and even if I did, I don't think I'd feel comfortable having it on the kitchen counter while I was in the middle of cooking up a storm (too much potential for spilling stuff on the computer!)

In the end, I have developed a very simple system that works well for me. I refer to it affectionately as the Big Blue Binder Recipe Management System. The system is divided into two basic components:
1. a large 2" binder full of plastic page protectors that I have divided up into categories (main dishes, salads, desserts, etc)
2. a file folder for each category in my filing cabinet.

As I acquire new recipes I want to try, I add them to the appropriate file folder. Then, when I'm inspired to try out a new main dish or dessert recipe, I rifle through the folder until I find something I want to cook.

Every time I try a new recipe and it's a hit, it goes right into the binder. If it's not worth making again, it gets tossed into the recycling bin.

This works well because every time I find a new recipe I want to try online, I print it off onto a full-size sheet of paper (in a nice large font so it's easy to read when I'm cooking!) If a recipe happens to be on an index card or newspaper clipping, once it's gained "make it again" status, I take a couple of minutes to type it up and print it out.

Having one recipe per page makes it really easy to group similar recipes together (like different types of cheesecake in your dessert section), even when you're constantly adding new material to your binder. It also makes it easy to remove recipes that are no longer of interest! You can also find the recipe you're looking for easily with a quick flip through the appropriate section, since all the titles are at the top of the page.

I've been using this system for a few years now, and it has worked far better than anything else I've ever tried.

So, if you're still struggling to maintain an organized recipe collection, why not give it a shot? It only takes a few minutes to set it up, and once you've got it going, it maintains itself!