Let’s say you don’t care about the environment at all. All you care about is money. Why? Well, perhaps you’re testing the theory that money can’t buy you happiness—and you demand first-hand proof. Maybe you have a psychological disorder—greed may be just that. Or possibly you look forward to living in the most unequal society […]
frugal
Minestrone Soup
I love to cook not-written-in-stone recipes. Add a bit of this, a scrap of that, taste as you go, repeat. For the batch of minestrone soup pictured in this post, I used celery, carrots, a bell pepper and potatoes that I had on hand and bought some parsnips and a turnip to reach the three […]
Garlic-Dill Pickles
For pickles, fermentation was the primary means of preservation until the 1940s, when direct acidification and pasteurization of cucumber pickles was introduced. — The Art of Fermentation Store bought pickles may taste good but to render them shelf-stable, food manufacturers pasteurize the cucumbers in vinegar. On the plus side, they last forever. On the down […]
Good, Better, Best Zero-Waste Shopping
Every time I post pictures on Instagram or Facebook of my bulk shopping or farmer’s market hauls, I get lots of questions: Do you bring your food home in bags and transfer it to jars? (No, I bring the jars shopping and fill them directly.) Doesn’t your food cost more because the jars weigh so […]
DIY Mouthwash
This easy-to-make mouthwash passes the I-avoid-putting-anything-down-the-drain-that-I-won’t-eat test, which I mentioned in my recent TMI post. You might actually want to drink this, since it contains only vodka, spices and water. With just these few edible ingredients, you can make a large amount of inexpensive mouthwash that works really well to freshen your breath. Original Listerine, on the […]
How to Cook Beans In a Pressure Cooker
“All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.” — Noam Chomsky I think the quote above fits well with a post about my second-hand pressure cooker […]
My Zero-Waste World: The TMI Post
In recent interviews, people have asked me if I follow zero-waste practices in aspects of my life other than food. The short answer: Yes but besides food, what else is there? The long answer follows. Food I’ve got this one covered in the 145+ posts on this blog. Essentially, to go zero-waste in the kitchen: […]
10 Ideas to Rescue Citrus Peels
The average American eats 12.5 pounds of citrus each year. I searched for the average peel to fruit ratio but found nothing credible. I did have this juicy and delicious mineola on hand, however. Holy cow! The peel accounted for fifty-three grams—23 percent—of this orange. Let’s assume the average peel weighs even less. Even a […]
How to Rescue Vegetables Past Their Prime and Avoid Food Waste
For the holidays, my younger daughter and I drove to my brother Paul’s in North Bend, Washington. At the end of our visit, before we left, I went through Paul’s refrigerator and pulled out some of the produce I had bought up there since he said he wouldn’t eat it (Paul doesn’t cook much). After […]