On repeat: some cheap ingredient replacements

With food prices going through the roof, everyone is experiencing major or minor food budget changes. I think we all can agree on cutting corners when it comes to replacing more expensive ingredients. Since it's been quite a while since I blogged about this, I thought it would be a good idea to share some ingredient replacements that can make your meal just a bit more frugal. These swaps aren't necessarily even always because of money, at times you just might not have an exact ingredient on hand, which saves you from that grocery run for one single item. 

Proteins: you can replace the more expensive cuts of meat for the cheaper ones, or even replace red meat by white meat. For example, use turkey mince instead of beef mince. Most legumes can also be used interchangeably- brown lentils and green lentils, for example. Split peas instead of red and yellow lentils. Cheaper white fish instead of the more expensive ones. I've found that tinned sardines can be a decent replacement of tinned tuna, depending on the recipe. 

Dairy: use milk instead of cream, or make a bechamel sauce using flour, milk and butter of oil. Greek yogurt- if you need it but only have plain yogurt on hand, just strain the yogurt and don't throw out the whey (I once did a post on what to do with whey: https://aglimpseofmykitchen.blogspot.com/2022/01/uses-for-whey.html?m=1). If you do have Greek yogurt you could use this like crème fraîche. They have the same consistency but just differ in the fat percentage. When it comes to milk, I've found that it's replaceable with water in some baked goods. I usually make biscuits with water instead of milk, and when a cake calls for milk I might use water instead if we don't have milk on hand. Making your own oat milk or rice is also an option. I would not suggest to drink it as is, although it's good as an ingredient or even if you want to make hot chocolate. 

Eggs: depending on the recipe, I use different kinds of egg replacements: cornstarch (for making French toast), ground flax seeds (in cakes and cookies), chickpea flour in certain savoury dishes. Applesauce and banana can be used as egg substitutes as well. Sometimes you can just leave out the eggs, like when you're making pancakes. I haven't really noticed a big difference. We try to substitute eggs whenever possible since they've gotten so expensive. That being said, we still enjoy eating eggs as is, either fried or boiled. Since we don't eat meat that much, it's one of our meat substitutes and that way we're still saving money, because eating eggs is cheaper than eating meat (unless you eat four eggs per person or so... But that's not the case) 

Flour: corn meal and semolina have more or less the same texture, even if they differ in taste. Therefore these can be used interchangeably in a lot of recipes. Self rising flour is one of the most pointless ingredients to buy (in my humble opinion); you can easily replace it by flour + baking powder, whereas you can't the other way around- imagine needing flour and having just self rising flour on hand. So I would suggest to always buy flour and baking powder as separate ingredients. Also, whole wheat flour can be substituted by many other whole flours; rye, barley, spelt etc. They all have a different taste and texture, but if that's all you have on hand it's doable. Also gluten free flours such as oat flour, buckwheat flour and sorghum flour can be used when making cookies (not recommendable for breads, as bread needs gluten to rise). 

Fruits: most dried fruits can be used interchangeably in baked goods. Fresh fruits, too, depending on the kind can be used interchangeably. Think of pears instead of apples, different kinds of berries, peaches instead of apricots. 

Vegetables: the same goes for vegetables. I personally just like to use whatever I have on hand, so let's say, whenever I want to make stir fry, I'll just use what's in the fridge. The same goes for many other recipes. There are of course certain vegetables that go good together or can be substitute each other; such as turnips and potatoes, sweet potato and pumpkin, courgette and aubergine (they certainly are different but especially in casseroles or stews, both taste just as good in my opinion). Speaking of courgette, even cooked cucumbers are a decent replacement for them, whether you believe me or not! Of course, various leafy greens can be used interchangeably- yes, this includes lettuce. I've also found that equal amounts of carrots and potatoes can substitute pumpkin puree. Green bell peppers instead of yellow, different kinds of cabbage, etc. Vegetables are so versatile and you really don't need to stick to one certain one if the recipe book says so. Even if you're eating a vegetable as is, when you're eating it as a side. Why not replace that awfully expensive asparagus by roasted pumpkin or broccoli? Yes, the taste may be different but you've reached your goal- to have a vegetable with your meal. 

Starches: use barley, buckwheat or bulgur instead of rice- or the other way around. Orzo can be used instead of rice too. Different pasta shapes (ditali instead of elbow macaroni etc, linguine instead of spaghetti). Yes, I am aware of the fact that pasta shapes do matter, but if that one shape is all you have, and you can only stretch your budget so much- you just make do. I sometimes find myself having many small remants of various pasta shapes and if I have enough of them, I combine them all in one dish, which I call 'mixed pastas' (sometimes you just have to come up with fancy names for stingy things, right?) and the children absolutely love it! Italian and Asian pasta/noodles can be used interchangeably. In fact, sometimes linguine and Asian style noodles are the very same product, made in the same factory, just with a different package. Same with bread - just use what you have. A sandwich can be made in about every shape of bread- baguette, flatbread, pita, etc. You don't necessarily have to use "sandwich bread". 

Fats: butter can be substituted by other animal fats such as tallow or even rendered chicken fat, or even coconut oil. When baking cookies/cakes, each cup (226 grams) of butter can be substituted for 3/4 cup (180 mililiters) of whichever oil you prefer. Most neutral tasting oils can be used interchangeably (sunflower, soy, canola, corn, and peanut oil, etc). Butter can be substituted by margarine, especially when making not-so-healthy baked goods and you're clearly not using the butter for its health benefits. 

Nuts: I was a bit hesitant to include these, as they're already expensive in and of itself, and it's not necessarily something everyone on a tight budget could afford. I'm including it anyway. You can use most nuts interchangeably, even if the taste might differ. Or you can peanuts instead of nuts, which again will affect the taste, but not in a bothersome way. The same goes for nut butters. You can replace nuts by seeds as well, such ad sunflower seeds. 

I think that was enough for now. 

You don't always have to exactly use what you want. This makes cooking so much more fun (AND frugal, obviously!). I think that knowing how to substitute ingredients is an important part of knowing how to cook, it truly is such an underrated skill. I can't recall how often people asked me about certain ingredient substitutes, assuming that I could help them. And yes, in most instances I was able to help them. This isn't rocket science- it's just reading and especially trying out a lot. Just put that fear aside and try. Some of these tips may be money saving, but even without being on a budget, you'll likely find yourself in a situation in which you'll need this. 

Apple sheet cake

We had a bunch of apples that were gifted to us and that no one really wanted to eat as is, because they were soft and had spots. There were quite a few, and since I didn't want to waste them, I decided it was best to make a treat out of them. Was in the mood for baking anyway, and this way we didn't have to waste the apples. We love apple pie, but I figured that the apples we had that I wanted to use weren't quite enough for that- plus, butter is so expensive here. So I opted for a cheaper treat, an apple sheet cake with crumble topping. The recipe I kind of made up myself - I know, I know, some people say that baking is all about precision, but somehow, my inventions never really seem to fail! So I decided to take the risk. And I'm glad I did take the risk because everyone loved it. The thing is though, with these kind of baking recipes, I hardly ever remember how I exactly made them. So when I make them a next time they might come out quite differently 🥲 Which is why I immediately wrote down the approximate quantities so I could make this exact cake again. 

For the dough, I used: 

1 3/4 cups oatmeal 

1 cup ground oatmeal 

2.5 cups white flour 

4 teaspoons baking powder 

1 cup of sugar 

2 teaspoons cinnamon 

2 eggs 

1.5 cup butter, melted (I used margarine 🤫)

Combine all the dry ingredients and then mix in the liquid ingredients. If it's a bit too dry, add some liquid, either milk or water. If it's too sticky, add some more flour or oatmeal. Now spread out the dough in the pan of your choice - I used a rectangular one which is used to make lasagna etc. Not sure what the exact measurements are. I didn't use all of the dough, around 1/4 or 1/5 was left, which I used for the crumble topping. 

Then peel, core and slice around 5-6 big apples, divide these slices over the dough. 

Now make your crumble topping. If you're like me and you've got a bit of cookie dough left over, then divide that into smaller chunks, so that it will mix easier into the crumbs mixture. Melt another half a cup of butter - or a bit more. Then add half a cup of sugar, half a cup of white flour and half a cup of oats. Mix this with the tops of your fingers until a crumbly consistency forms. If it's not yet crumbly, add some more flour, or oats, or both. If it's too dry add some butter - doesn't have to be melted, soft butter will do, too. Then spread this as evenly as possible on the apple slices. 

I baked this for about one hour on 180° c, which is 356° f. 

Some notes: 

This is a very adaptable recipe. You can add anything you'd like to add more flavour; raisins or other dried fruits, nuts, etc. We don't like raisins in sweet baked goods so I left them out. Or just use different fruits altogether. 

I call this a sheet cake which is the literal translation of what we call 'plaatkoek' in Dutch. A plaatkoek is a bit in between a large cookie and a cake, so don't expect it to be very fluffy. 

This can be freezable, although it certainly wasn't enough for all of us to have that much leftovers 🤭

Use whatever flour you'd like - I just used what I had on hand. However, I wouldn't leave out the oats, as they give this cake so much flavour and a nice texture. 

Tightwad tip: making your own laundry detergent

For as long as I can remember, the recipe of homemade laundry detergent is circulating around the blogosphere - the frugal blogospgere that is. Some people add a bit more ingredients, such as washing soda or borax, or both, while others prefer to keep it as plain as possible. No matter how you make it, it's going to save you LOTS of money. I did some math, and compared to the cheapest powdered detergent I can find here (bought in bulk which is cheaper than the smaller packages), using a frugal dose, my homemade detergent is still five times (!) as cheap, per load, compared to the cheapest powdered store bought detergent. That doesn't seem to be a lot, but small things add up - especially when you do several loads a week. If I'd compare it to the more expensive name brand detergents such as Ariel or Tide, it's an even bigger saving. 

I've been making this on and off for years - at times I switched back to store bought detergent, only to realise that those store bought detergents don't really work better than the homemade ones. The big companies have done their utmost best to make us customers believe that store bought detergent cleans much better. And not only that - they also make us believe that you really need to have something scented, otherwise it's "not clean". I've been making this detergent again for a while, and now that I'm back to making it, I don't get why I sometimes did switch to the store bought stuff. Probably because of the scent, despite the scent usually being gone when completely dried. Apparently the pro-scent marketing worked for me too, despite me being sensitive to most scents! But not anymore. Clean is clean, even if it's smells of "nothing" (and line dried laundry always smells fresh already!). I read that weaning yourself off of scented detergents to gradually make the shift to scentless ones, is like weaning yourself off of food with artificial flavours. It sometimes just takes some time. And I think that's a rather good comparison. In a few weeks, you're so used to it that the smell of store bought detergent is just overwhelming. If our grandmothers could just use soap for cleaning clothes, and didn't miss a scent, so can we. It takes some adjustment because we're so used to all the chemicals and scents- something our ancestors didn't have to worry about. 

I remember the hard financial times we went through, and making my own detergent was just a life saver, as we were already very penny pinching but still couldn't get by. At least our clothes could be washed for almost nothing! We had the assurance to have clean clothes and that we still could afford simple foods instead of having to borrow money for food because there wasn't any money left after having to buy detergent (I've heard that way too often!). Last year, I bought a 10 KG bulk sack of powdered detergent and was shocked that the price had more than doubled in a year. We don't go through an insane amount of detergent, but why paying a high price for something that isn't even food? Heck, it's even bad for our health - despite it not being that heavily scented, I still get respiratory issues of it, not to mention that most detergents (except the very expensive green ones) itch on our skins. The environmental impact of homemade detergent is obviously not as much compared to store bought, as it contains less harsh chemicals, doesn't come in much packaging and doesn't need a car to for transportation- as detergents usually come in heavy packages. So a in all these are all good reasons, in my opinion, for making detergent. 

No more talking, here's how I make it. You'll need: 

A bar of soap of approximately 80 gram (I've never really measured it, one gram more or less doesn't really matter), whatever brand or kind you prefer

5 liters of water 

Grate the bar of soap and dissolve in a litre of hot water- just stirr it until it's all melted, usually it reaches a boiling point by then. While I'm stirring I have another pot on the hob with 1.5 litre water that I want to reach a boiling point. If it boils, just combine the hot soapy water with the hot plain water in a bucket that's big enough and add another 2.5 litre water, just cold tap water. Make sure to rinse the pot in which you were stirring the soap with hot water as there are usually remnants there. Cover it with a lid and let it sit for a day - I usually make it in the morning and won't come back to it the next day's morning, which means I let it sit for around 24 hours. You could probably also wait a little bit less. If using soap that is palm oil or tallow based, the soap will likely thicken. It's a bit difficult to handle as it's quite lobed, so you need to stirr it with a whisk (or use an immersion blender). I usually kind of knead it with my hands. And then I transfer it to an old 5 L jug (a one that had washing up liquid in it). If using olive oil based soap your detergent probably won't thicken and stay liquid, but that won't make any difference in terms of cleaning. 

Just a few notes: some people add more ingredients such as washing soda of borax. I can't find either of them here, so I just only use soap, and although I did add washing soda when I made this when living in the Netherlands, I haven't noticed a difference with or without it anyway. But if you prefer using washing soda, you can totally use it. Just make sure to add the exact same weight of that. So when using 80 grams of soap for instance, you'll need 80 grams of washing soda as well, which you'll add after the grated soap has melted. With borax I don't have any experience. There's also powdered detergent recipes out there, which I'm yet to try, and they all use a bit of different ingredients (some use washing soda, some both washing soda and bicarbonate of soda, some even use plain salt, etc). My mother in law is an old fashioned woman who always used soap instead of harsh chemicals, and didn't even bother to make a "detergent" out of it. She always rubbed some fabric with soap, an old sock for example, and then put that in her semi automatic washing machine.  So if you're too lazy to grate, that is even an option too 😉

In-between seasons and making do with less produce

During the peak of most seasons, the supply of produce is relatively large here. But there are some periods in which that's not necessarily the case. Those are usually the gaps in between two seasons, such as between spring and summer. But right now, it's a bit similar. Last week, all of the vendors at the market sold more or less the same: onions, peppers, potatoes, and tomatoes. A few vendors sold the remnants of summer produce- such as aubergine, which were clearly not looking that good anymore, and at very high prices. Fortunately, there were also a few vendors that sold pumpkins for a good price. As the market here is Mondays and Tuesdays, another time to go to the market went by, but this time they sold even less. There wasn't really a point in buying anything, as we still had onions and a huge pumpkin at home, as well as some potatoes and bell peppers. So we're just making do with what we have. 

As we build our meals around vegetables usually, rather than meat, one can imagine how important they are for people like us. But without as much produce, I clearly needed to get more creative with what I would be cooking that week. In the past, I used to panic a bit in these kind of situations, but I've been trying to cope with these minor problems (which is what they are, in the end) to look at it as a challenge rather than an issue. We're certainly not starving, we just have to make do with just a bit less than the usual. And that is OK. As we clearly can't just eat however, whenever what we want right now, we need to be get creative and just try to combine whatever there is. This is also a good moment to clear out the fridge/freezer of leftovers. This is what we were doing already for the past weeks and it just continues. You'd be amazed how many things there actually are in the freezer that are somehow usable. As a bonus, you'll create much more freezer space! 

We don't really buy tinned foods, simply due to the fact that they're just so expensive. If that wasn't the case and we would have lots of tinned veg in the cupboards, we'd certainly be using that. We only have two tins of mushrooms still waiting to be used. Other than tinned foods, what I do a lot in periods like these is to make a lot of legume based meals. Dried legumes are my go-to ingredients when we don't have a lot of vegetables. They're as nutritious -or even more nutritious- and just so versatile. This week, I made large batch of bissara (Moroccan broad bean dip, which can also be made with split peas), which we had twice. Today we'll have rice with fried onion, bell pepper and eggs. Since we have quite a lot of onions, I try to use them a lot, and for some reason, this very simple dish happens to be one of my family's favourites! We also had Tunisian pasta once, which is traditionally made without any vegetables. Usually I make a salad as a side, but since there wasn't anything "salady" I made some onion pakora - south Asian chickpea flour based fritters. It was a big hit and since I made it without meat anyway, nutrition wise a good choice as a side. 

This is kind of how I try to still make tasty meals in periods of less produce. A bit of "freezer shopping", clearing out the fridge, and a lot of dry goods. We'll be fine. Yes, it won't be always as nutritional denken as it is in the peak of season, I must admit, but it's not terribly unhealthy either. Hopefully the first autumn/winter produce will appear in the markets in a few weeks!

Finally, I can boil eggs

It's funny how sometimes the seemingly easiest things can be a challenge. This is true in the kitchen as well! I don't consider myself a masterchef, but I definitely know how to cook. Not every dish that exists in the world, obviously, and not a lot of dishes from cuisines I'm not familiar with, but I can cook. And I do cook some more elaborate foods, too. 

But it's the easiest things that I sometimes struggle with to make right. For the longest time I struggled to make a perfect boiled egg. I prefer medium soft boiled eggs, and so does my family. Not too liquid, but certainly not too hard either. Somehow that just seemed impossible to make. It was always either towards the hard boiled side, or too soft! Quite frustrating. We do like to eat boiled eggs a lot: as a snack, with sandwiches, or as a side with our meals. And i knew it had to be possible to make a perfectly boiled egg thar suits our preferences, so I wad determined to keep trying until I had perfected it. I know there are many techniques nowadays and people use egg boilers, air fryers, or instant pots. With most things, I prefer the mild fashioned way- I don't like single purpose items/appliances. And I don't have an instant pot anyway. I'd sti like to try the air fryer one day, just for fun. But with most cooking, I prefer to stick to regular cooking pots.

I looked up a lot of tips and tricks on boiling eggs, all claiming to be THE best tip, but neither of them really worked so I figured it had to be my own way! And I finally did find the way to boil a perfect half soft boiled egg. 

I put 5 to 6 eggs in a pot with a lid, cold water, eggs directly from the fridge. Then wait till it starts to boil and time it: I boil it exactly for two minutes. If it's very small eggs, the boiling time should be decreased. Then take out all the eggs and put them together in a soup bowl- this step us important because the eggs all have a lot of residue heat, and will continue to "cook" a bit when in the boil. I leave the eggs like this for at least an hour, but usually just until we eat it- if we want eggs for lunch, I boil them early in the morning. It takes some time to cool down, even after one hour they're quite hot so I find that the easiest way. With this technique, it's important to use at least four eggs in one go, or it won't really work (yup, tried but failed!). Anyway, I'm happy to be able to boil eggs to perfection finally! 

Tightwad tip: repurposing old towels

As of lately, we had quite a few towels that were thinning out and weren't really suitable for drying ourselves anymore. However, that doesn't mean to just toss them, there are still many uses for old towels. We did buy some new ones recently. Well, "new" as in thrifted, but in perfectly good shape! I really like how these thrifted towels seems to be of better quality than brand new ones. Unfortunately, bad quality is being used for most stuff nowadays!

Here's some ways I use old towels.  

Handkerchief: I use these a lot because I have a chronic cold. I prefer them over regular handkerchiefs, as they're usually a lot softer. They also tend to absorb more- even when they're thinned out. 

Washcloth: my daughter likes to sew and she made a few washcloths out of an old towel. We use washcloths a lot, since we use a bar of soap instead of gels when taking a shower. These washcloths may be a bit thinner than the usual washcloths, but still perfectly functional for this purpose. 

Reusable makeup pads: essentially the same idea as the handkerchiefs, but just cut in smaller squares. I do want to add that you have to make sure to always use a laundry bag to wash these when putting them into the washer! A friend of mine told me that a few of those pads almost ruined her washer, with even a lot of water damage on the floors. So beter be careful. 

Cleaning rags: I've used old towels as cleaning rags a lot too. I like their texture for cleaning, as it's somewhat similar to microfiber- minus the microplastics that come with many microfiber cloths! 

Cat: our cat always love to lay down on something, even during the summer, he doesn't like the bare floor. So I use old towels for him to lay on. I've read that some people even make cat toys out of old towels, but I'm yet to try that. I don't know if he'll like that anyway, as my boy is more of an outdoor cat, coming home just to catch up on sleep. 

Using an old towel as is: I like to keep at least one towel intact (there is one with a very retrospect design and a label with 'made in West Germany', so that's a very old one!). When I treat my hair with henna and I'm afraid it's going to be messy and my hair is leaking still some reddish water after rinsing, to protemy clothes, for example. Or when I rub my arm with oil/cream when my skin has dried out that much it starts to hurt, and I don't want to make a mess of my pillows and sheets. I also like to dry the bathroom floor with a towel. I do use a squeegee, but especially during the winter it dries a bit slowly, so I usually wipe it with a towel to make it as dry as possible (yes, I know some people use the very same towel for this that they use to dry off themselves. But we defenitely use our towel more than once, so that's not really an option in that case.

Those are just some examples, and I'm sure there are so many other reasons for keeping at least one old towel. Waste not want not! 

Saving on meat expenses

Most of my readers must have noticed that we're not big on eating a lot of meat. I was pretty much raised as a vegetarian, so I'm familiar with vegetarian/vegan eating. My husband, on the other hand, was raised with a more meat heavy diet and not eating meat for a day was out of the question in my MIL's home! So you can image that was a bit of a shock for both of us when we first got married. It took a while, but after some time we did find a good balance of meat, fish, vegetarian and vegan meals. Now, my husband says he couldn't eat meat everyday anymore - regardless of the price. And this goes the same for me; I couldn't go back to completely vegetarian. 

The thing is, meat can be very expensive so for most people, it's typically the biggest expense of all their groceries. We're certainly no exception to that! (Although olive oil is getting more expensive every year and will eventually become an even bigger expense... But that's another topic.) I remember when we went through hard financial times, meat was the first thing to cut back on. There are so many people in the world for whom meat is a rare treat. And for me as a former vegetarian, it was a logical thing to do anyway, as meat is so expensive and you technically don't even need it. Not that much, anyhow. We still had it every so often though, and really enjoyed it when we did. But it was a good way to cut back on our spending. As time went by, I've just stuck with my "less meat policy", as it just hurts to pay that much for foods. There are other ways to spend the money I would have spent otherwise on all that extra meat - but that's just me, I do realise that others value meat more than we do, and that's ok. Throughout the years, I've come up with many tricks to save on meat expenses. 

First of all, the quantity: try to have meat as an ingredient, instead of the main meal. We usually have meat as a side, with carbs (grains/legumes) and vegetables being the fillers. You really don't need that much even to satisfy yourself taste wise, in my experience. There are also many examples of dishes where  meat is stretched a lot. For example, mince (ground beef) in pastas- just use a bit less. A baked chicken/rotisserie chicken can be used for at least a few meals worth of meat - you can use shredded chicken in about everything; soups, salads, rice and pasta dishes, on sandwiches, etc. And then just try to stretch the meat as much as possible. When I make pulled chicken, I stretch it by adding low cost vegetables, such as onions and shredded carrots. That way you don't even notice there isn't as much chicken in it.

The kind of meat: red meat is most expensive, so that's obviously a thing to keep in mind. In a lot of dishes, red and white meat can be used interchangeably- it will affect the taste somewhat obviously, but it's still as good. You can even use fish instead - I like using sardines instead of beef/lamb mince for making kofta, and even fish haters don't notice it's fish. I've heard that turkey is the best replacement with mince. I've never tried that, as my husband doesn't like turkey, but I'm keen to try it. Texture changes the taste so I guess turkey mince should taste different from, say, a part of the leg. You can still splurge on red meat once in a while if you want to obviously, but it's good to realize that there are cheaper options and can splurge just every so often on the more expensive favourite meat. 

Vegetarian options: I obviously had to mention this one, but I really makes so much difference in your budget! Even when I compare our local legume prices with the cheaper meats or fish, legumes are much cheaper. One kg of lentils is about €2, whereas chicken is around €5 per kg. But, a kg of dried legumes will stretch a lot better than a kg of chicken, as the lentils will expand whereas the chicken not only just doesn't expand- it actually will shrink when being baked. So you'll even save more if you take that into consideration. You obviously don't have to eat only vegetarian meals, but a few times a week will make so much difference already. What I like to do is when I batch cook, we'll have one meal with meat and the other batch without. That way it still has the flavour- meat can be such a flavour enhancer. I do this too with legumes; when I make lentil stew in advance, for example, I cook some chicken in it for extra flavour. And then I take out the chicken to have with the meal we're eating that day. You can obviously cook lentils without chicken, but it does give the dish more flavour. I also like making my own tofu and seitan, which I hadn't done in a long time but recently started doing again. I know not everyone likes tofu, but I think seitan is definitely adaptable for meat eaters compared to other plant based alternatives, as it has a bit of a meaty texture. 

Nose to tail: I've talked before about how we love nose to tail eating, which essentially means to eat ALL the parts of the animal, not just the more popular parts. Not only is it healthier but it's usually cheaper too. You don't necessarily have to buy organ meats (although I would highly recommend it!), but there are many alternatives for the more expensive cuts of meat. And that's not just the case with red meat. When I want to use chicken breast, I never ever buy a chicken breast, but instead I buy a whole chicken of which I cut the breast off, then use the remaining parts for other dishes. I usually use the legs/tighs/wings together a dish and then what remains are the frames and the necks, which makes a very good base for any soup. My husband also likes to eat the necks as is, so if I have a lot of them I might cook them up separately and only use the frames for soup. 

Using everything: we're very big on not wasting anything, and this applies even more so for meat. As it's so expensive and does have quite a big environmental impact, I just can't not be frugal with meat. I really use everything - the bones (for making bone broth), chicken skins to render, sheep fat to render, etc. Scraps also make good cat food. When I make broth with chicken necks/frames, I take off the meat after cooking which our cat obviously loves! 

So many leftovers! And freezer activities...

This week I didn't post a weekly menu in retrospect, as it was a bit chaotic and not really that interesting anyway. 

There were so many leftovers that I was trying to get rid of - not getting rid of in the sense of throwing away, obviously 😆. Both in the fridge and many one person's portions from the freezer. I desperately need more freezer space and all the containers were really just cluttering up the top shelf. I have a tendency to forget small portions of frozen leftovers and I'm trying my best to avoid that from now on. I know that if the said leftover is there too long I usually toss it, even if it still might be edible. That's such a waste and I wanted to put a stop to that. 

I'm nearly done, especially with the fridge leftovers- the fridge looks so much tidier now. The thing is, new leftovers come in place of the other ones... So I'm having leftovers for lunch again today. And I'm pretty sure today's dinner will leave us with some leftovers as well. Sometimes it feels like a never-ending story, but then again I love having a warm lunch with leftovers, so I guess it's just a love-hate relationship. 

Another thing that was taking up space in the freezer were bones - a big bag of chicken bones, as well as lamb bones. I always save the bones for making bone broth, but the thing is that it takes up quite a lot of space. One bag had to go and I decided to take out the bag with chicken bones first. So yesterday I made a BIG pot of bone broth- when I say big, I mean that there are now 3 1.5L bottles of broth in the freezer, with plenty of broth for the few coming days (probably Another 3L). Fortunately, there was enough space for the bottles in the freezer. Hopefully I'll do the same with the lamb bones soon. That way a LOT of space for other things will be available again. Hopefully I'm finding some cheap summer produce such as bell peppers and courgette to freeze for the winter months. If I don't, that's OK too, it'll just mean that my freezer has space for other things. I can't recall ever having an empty freezer so somehow I'll find something to fill up that space! Oh, I almost forgot to mention that my husband bought nearly all the ice cream the corner shop in front of our house had- they usually stop selling it from October. And it's nice as a treat every so often, so it's worth the freezer space. 

Productive kitchen days

Some days are quite productive and on other days... Well, I'm glad if there's dinner on the table on those kind of days. Yesterday I had a quite productive day, and it always make me feel very good. It was especially a productive day in the kitchen. I don't really plan on having a "meal prep day" once every week/fortnight or something but that's essentially what it was, be it a bit spontaneously. 

I noticed that there were a lot of containers with leftovers in the fridge so I organized them in a way in which I could better see what was where (to avoid wasting foods). Some leftovers, we finished that same day- I had some combined leftovers for dinner: pasta with cooked cucumbers and lentils and tomato sauce. Most combined leftovers sound as a strange mix but I must say, it's meals like these that I enjoy the most! I also organized the freezer somewhat. 

And I decided to make seitan. To make seitan, you need quite a lot of flour, and since white flour is being sold finally again after more than a year of shortages, we all kind of forgot about seitan, even though we so enjoyed it when I made it regularly. It's a good meat replacement in my opinion, especially chicken fillet. And since meat has become so expensive lately, I thought it was the right time to make a nice large batch of seitan. It's not complicated to make, but it does take some time, and I wouldn't recommend making it if you need it that same day. So I left it in the fridge to prepare later, probably tomorrow. It will only increase in flavour and texture! Since it was a large batch, I'm probably going to freeze half of it. 

There was another pan of homemade tomato sauce yet again in the fridge (I probably haven't ever made that much tomato sauce in my life as I have recently) that I needed to organize. I froze about half, and the other half I'm planning on using it soon, so I stored in a smaller container to create more space in the fridge. 

Also in the fridge were the peels of a large watermelon, which I wanted to cut up to use the rinds. As I previously cooked up some rinds, I wanted to do something else with these rinds, so they got fermented. (Well, they're technically not fermented yet, but in the process of being fermented.) I have to credit my daughter for helping me with this - she knew I was planning on cutting the rinds so decided to do it for me. Now, I'm left with about half a cup of salty water, which I wouldn't dare to throw out, so it will be used the next time I'm cooking whatever dish that needs both salt and liquid. 

I cooked a large batch of lentils- Wanted to do this for a while ready, as my freezer supply was running out, but everytime I thought about it too late to put the lentils to soak. Ideally, I soak them around 5 hours (but 3 hours minimum), as their cooking time will be significantly less then. Just to compare: soaked lentils take up 5 minutes cooking to become tender, whereas this will take around 45 minutes for uncooked lentils. I'm yet to portion and freeze them, will be doing that today probably. 

Also made today's breakfast in advance. We all craved rghayf, so that's what I made. Rghayf (also known as baghrir) are north African style pancakes with a lot of holes/bubbles in them. They are quite spongy as the batter is yeast based, and brushed with olive oil after each one is done. I prefer to make them the night/day before as they take quite a long time to make, if you include rising time. 

With some leftover watermelon and a few other ingredients, I made a batch of gazpacho (cold soup). I also made a batch of buttermilk for my MIL and then late at night again another batch for ourselves. 

Doesn't seem like a lot perhaps, but of course there were those daily in-between things like cleaning up, serving breakfast/lunch, sweeping floors, doing dishes (I had three batches of dishes yesterday), cleaning the toilet. With all this cooking and prepping, was there any time left to make dinner? Well there probably was but I didn't, as there were so many leftovers. This is again why I love batch cooking, so I can simply heat up a meal on days that I'm busy doing other things. All in all I was pleased with yesterday's accomplishments. I know there are many days on which we can't get it pulled together, but I'm grateful for these better days. 

Tightwad tip: upcycling socks

As the weather is changing from unbearable hot summer weather to slightly autumn-ish (yes, it's a bit early this year), I've begun to wear socks again. It's not that cold yet but I just get cold feet very quickly. And I just really like wearing socks. Kind of silly maybe, but I don't really like the feeling of bare feet. It's probably a sensory thing. When I was younger, no matter how warm it was, I couldn't even sleep without socks on! While that has improved a bit and I do sleep without socks during the summer, I still wear socks a lot and start wearing them quite early on every year. The thing is, the socks that are being sold here aren't of that great quality. And even if they were - my opinion with good quality socks, too, is that they get worn out quickly and holes appear so fast. At least I'm glad that our socks don't get lost in the washing machine. 

We're a family of four and I have developed kind of a colour coordinated system, so each one of us has his/her own colour. Having socks from just one colour is a really good hack, in my opinion. If just one sock gets a hole beyond repair, I can still wear it - just combine it with another pair (preferably from another pair with of which one single sock that has a hole). There you have a "new" pair of socks, and with the other pair, there's still some options. 

Here's some things I do with old socks. 

First of all, try to repair. Small holes are usually repairable. 

I keep some pairs of socks in my bed side table to use as "gloves" at night when I rub my hands with cream/Vaseline (I get really dry hands during the winter usually). The socks are tight enough not to slide off my hands during sleep. My children need this every so often as well, so I need at least a few pairs of old socks. 

Cleaning: way back when we had blinds, I dusted/cleaned them with a sock on my hand. That was the easiest way to do it (although cleaning blinds can never be considered easy in my opinion...). Cleaning with a sock on your hand works the same for other areas with tiny openings. 

Crafting: if you like crafting, old socks are an inexpensive, environmentally friendly way to use materials you otherwise would buy. My children liked to make sock dolls and they were so cute!

Vacuuming: when looking for tiny lost items, or in case you're afraid those will be laying around somewhere, take off the floor brush and put a sock on the extention tube. Whatever will be vacuumed, won't be suck inside. Pretty clever, isn't it? 😃

Shoe protectors: put your shoes inside a sock while traveling. 

Hot water bottles: I like to wrap a sock over a cold water bottle for protection against the heat.

Or just use socks instead of rags as unpaper towels. 

So that was today's tightwad tip! It won't make you a millionaire, but little things definitely add up. I'm sure there are many many more uses... But these are the ones I can think of now, and that we implement ourselves. I'd love to read more ideas in the comments 🥰

What did we eat past week

Another Monday, another weekly meal plan in retrospect! 

Couscous, 2x- one with chicken, courgette, onion and chickpeas, the other with mixed vegetables and lamb 

Pearl barley and chickpea soup, 2x- one time with boiled egg sandwiches, the other time with kafteji (see below). We butchered some pigeons that were used for this soup. Absolutely delicious. It's not very different from organic chicken, just a lot smaller! The 2nd batch was without the birds though, as it was just enough for one meal. 

Kafteji, 2x- this is a Tunisian kind of fast food, but I made it at home. It's grilled tomatoes and hot peppers with egg and fried potatoes or fries, in a sandwich. We had it once with homemade mlawi (layered flatbread) and the next time stuffed in a sandwich when we finished the rest of our soup 

Roz Djerbi with oven baked chicken wings and salad (which is a steamed rice dish, but I made it with orzo pasta instead of rice)

This week things went a bit more smoothly and less chaotic, fortunately! Could have been a bit less meat dense, but that's OK. There are many other weeks in which we barely have any meat.