Tunisian kesra bread

I believe that everyone should be able to make homemade bread. Not necessarily difficult artisan bakery style bread; just a simple recipe will do. Baking bread, in my opinion, is an essential life skill or at least something that can come in very handy.

Today I'm sharing my kesra recipe. Kesra is a Tunisian bread that's made on the hob and very delicious. It's also known by other names in some countries, such as tachnift or batbout in Morocco. 

I learned how to make it many years ago from my mother in law and my sister in law, and tweaked it a little bit to suit our taste, but other than that it's the same as theirs. And my mother in law, on her turn, also learned it from her mother- so I'm proudly sharing a real family recipe here! 

For 6 medium sized round breads, you'll need: 

9 cups of fine semolina flour 

2 heaped spoons of instant yeast 

2 teaspoons of salt, or more depending on your quality of salt 

5 cups of warm water (could be more depending on the quality of the flour) 

Oil to grease your bowl 

Some seeds, such as sesame or nigella seeds (optional) 

Start by mixing the dry ingredients in a big bowl. Add the water until you're able to make a dough that isn't sticky. 

Knead for 10 minutes. Ideally more, but I've found 10 minutes of kneading to be sufficient. 

It should look like this: 

Then devide it into 6 equal pieces. I don't have a dough scraper or other special equipment, so I just use a good old knife. 

Then I formed nice round balls from the dough, rubbed it with a bit of oil and devided it in two bowls: 

I covered both bowls with big round trays, as I try to avoid disposable plastic as much as possible, but you could also use plastic wrap. Or don't grease it and cover with a clean dish towel. Now let it sit and rise until it's at least doubled in size. The bigger the better, so don't do this when you're in a rush! Since my kitchen is very warm during the summer, it didn't take long. 

It's good when it looks like this: 

(Now compare it to the picture with the two small balls of dough in it...) 

Get the dough out, punch the air out and make two balls again. Now heat your pan on the hob. I have two cast iron pans that are purposely used for baking breads, but you can use a "regular" cast iron pan or just a regular frying pan. Just whatever you have will probably work, although I would recommend cast iron (some people here even bake their kesra in clay pans, especially in the villages)

Make sure there's enough room on your counter and that it's clean. 

I always thoroughly clean my counter after making dough 🙂

If your pan is ready (it shouldn't be really really hot!), you can start to form your bread. Just gently push it down in a rotating way so you end up with a nice round bread. Prick a few times in the dough with a fork.

Now you can transfer it into the pan. I usually fold my bread and then when it's the pan immediately turn back the piece of dough that was folded over, to make picking up the dough a bit easier. 

When it's starting to bubble, it's probably time to turn around the bread. I used a spatula for this.

Then bake the other side as well. 

Then, and this is optional, when the other side has browned enough, it's time to bake the sides. Some people prefer the sides to be more on the dough side but we like them a bit more cooked. 

It's a bit of a blurry picture lol. This was the best picture I could take with using just one hand. Just turn the bread little by little until the whole side has a nice golden brown colour too. 

Now bake all your breads like this. I use two pans at the same time so it's a bit faster, but one pan definitely works fine too. Pile them up on a tray/plate with some towels (I use old t-shirts) and try to let them cool off completely...which is probably the most difficult part! 

Tightwad tip: the broom

It might surprise a lot of people, but I rarely ever vacuum the floors. And it's not that my house is dirty- quite the contrary. You see, I suffer from tinnitus and hyperacusis, which means I'm very sensitive to a lot of sounds. The vacuum cleaner happens to be one of those sounds that I really can't stand. I used to use it for my floors but then just decided to do what everyone else is doing around these parts, which is to use a broom. 

Honestly, using a broom is just so much easier! Our vacuum is quite big. It's a Numatic, the "old fashioned" type of vacuum, so no robotic quality involved, nor is it a stick vacuum cleaner type of model that's rechargeable (which, in my opinion, must be quite annoying). In fact, it's that big that it was hard to find a place where it could sit without bothering us and out of sight. We eventually found a place behind our sofa, and the handle is laying under one of our wardrobes. Every so often it's being used to clean the sofa and that's all. Usually my husband does that when I'm not there as to not get overstimulated by the sound. Like all houses here, we have tile floors, which are easy to maintain and easy to sweep. Owning a vacuum cleaner isn't something very common here- most people just do it the old fashioned way by using a broom and mop. And perhaps in addition to that, a manual carpet cleaner. Some people even borrow their neighbours/relatives' vacuum for those few times year you need one. Most car washes offer services to clean/vacuum cars, so that's not really a reason to own one. 

Using a broom regularly instead of a vacuum cleaner saves me money, by paying less for utilities, plus not having to replace the vacuum itself in just a few years. It also keeps me fit, as vacuuming isn't as labour intensive as using the broom is; I'm using more muscles when sweeping. I know, I know, I'll probably get the "what about allergies"- kind of question. The interesting thing is- I used to have dust mite allergy, but it seems like dust doesn't affect me like it used to when I always vacuumed. Also interesting: my mopping water isn't more dirty compared to when I still used the vacuum. 

Our very handy carpet cleaner

A broom definitely takes up less space! 

Zero waste-y kitchen activities

Time for an update on what I did to save some food from being wasted. I know i could always do better, but I'm still pleased with these accomplishments. With photos this time- I decided to get out of my comfort zone a bit 😂 

Fermenting watermelon rinds: this is what I do each summer. It works best with watermelons that have a thicker skin, thinner ones work too, but it's just a bit annoying to peel. This year I'd like to try to pickle some too. 

Two jars, one large and one small, of fermented watermelon rinds 

Melon ice cream: we bought a few very bland tasting melons, and upon some googling I found recipes to make melon ice, without an ice cream maker. Since I don't have an ice cream maker, nor am I planning on buying one, I decided to give it a try. It was so worth it, the ice cream was delicious and I didn't have to waste a melon. I think i should add that i'm not the biggest fan of ice cream so that must have been really good. 

Doesn't really look like it contains melon though, nor does it taste very melon-y, but it's still good!

Onion powder: as I was decluttering my kitchen cupboards I found a big bag of dehydrated onion peels. Probably a project I once started but then forgot about it, lol. So I figured it was best to finish it or it would never happen. So I ground the onion peels in my coffee grinder. That's all you have to do for homemade onion powder! It adds a nice, somewhat sweet onion-y flavour to many dishes. 

My homemade onion peels. It has quite a dark colour as the majority of the onions I use are red onions. 

Rendered chicken fat: 

I usually collect chicken fat/skins in the freezer until there's enough for a nice batch. So a few weeks ago it was finally time to render some skins.

I don't have a picture of the final result - it's still liquid here. But once it solidifies, it becomes a bit more light yellow. I love using rendered chicken fat for frying eggs, potatoes etc. Gives the food a nice almost buttery flavour. Or sometimes I just add it to random foods as a flavour enhancer. 

Banana peels mock pulled chicken: 

Isn't it nice to see all this food that would otherwise have gone to waste? Most of these are made with by-products such as peels, skins etc. I think it's good to realize that in most cases, everything of that particular food can be used- not just what's commonly known. Just think a bit outside the box and of course, internet helps a lot too. I really don't think I would have learned all these things without the internet, I'm definitely grateful for this modern convenience. 

That's it for now. I hope I can give an update soon with other nearly-wasted food tips. 

What if electricity was free?

The temperature is increasing almost per day now, yesterday was the first day above 40° (104° f), 42 degrees to be precisely. Today was around 45°. Yes, that's very hot! Fortunately, we live in a dry semi desert climate, which makes it a lot more bearable. Humidity makes the windchill a lot hotter. 

Despite the hot temperature, we still try to be moderate with the use of air conditioning. It's set on 26° c, and it's not on for the majority of the day. It's not that we cannot afford running the airconditioner all day long, we can, but I really don't see the need to pay that much for utilities.  And not just because of finances, although that certainly plays a role too. My first and foremost reason is the environment, then our health. Yes, I don't think airconditioners are good for our health - especially if there's a huge gap between outdoor and indoor temperature. The other day I read an article written by an pulmonologist about that, and how it can trigger issues for asthma patients. Both my oldest daughter and me happen to have asthma... We're not with a lot of issues during the summer drought, fortunately, but anything we can do for our lung health is a win. 

But something got me thinking: what if electricity was completely free? What would I do in such an instance? I need to be honest with myself (and my readers 😉). I'd probably use it a tad more than I do now. Not necessarily all day long, and I wouldn't mess up with the temperature setting, I still want summer to feel like summer. And I still value protecting the environment, within my limited means anyhow. It doesn't really feel hypocritical to be honest, because I just don't want to spend fortunes just on getting our house cold enough so I can wear sweaters at home (lol). So I would still use it moderately even if electricity were free. 

There's a reason why that came to my mind. Somebody I know is married to a man who works for the electricity and gas company. There's just one such a company here, owned by the government. Their employees get the privilege of having free electricity- and also for one extra house of their choice, for example their parents home or whatever other home they wish. I think that's pretty cool. Without wanting to sound too socialist, it seems like things like these usually stop when those companies are being privatized, sadly. As soon as it's being privatized, company greed changes a lot. My grandfather also worked for the electricity company in the Netherlands, before it was being privatized, and he had exactly the same privilege. I remember my grandmother using only an electric hob, which was a bit rare, and I only ever saw it at her house, not anywhere else. Apparently, now it's getting more common to use an electric hob but at the time it wasn't- she even got hers from Germany as they were better available there. Interestingly enough, my grandmother was one of the most frugal people I've ever known, despite her electricity bill being zero regardless of her use. She didn't have a lot of electric guzzling appliances, such as a dryer or even an electrical lawn mower (despite having a big garden). So basically, electricity being free didn't affect her use at all - she could have taken advantage of that privilege but didn't.

And to get back to my acquaintance I was referring to, it happens to be the same with her. I was visiting her recently and noticed that she still hadn't installed her airconditioner. She owns one, but having moved to her current house around a year ago, the airconditioner being installed apparently wasn't a big priority. She said they didn't really miss one and that her fan was enough. I must add that she lives in a house that stays relatively cool during the summer, but still, most people in her situation probably have taken advantage of free electricity. Also, like most people here, she's frugal by nature. She doesn't necessarily call herself frugal but she definitely is. 

And of course, then there's people who have plenty of solar panels to have enough electricity during the summer for all their appliances. That's a bit of a different story. I wish we had solar panels, but unfortunately they're so expensive! That might be a disadvantage of the grid not being privatized... it's still a future goal of ours to have enough renewable/sustainable electricity. Not necessarily going offgrid, but to have our "own" power for the majority of the time and to still be connected to the grid as a backup. I think probably when one has solar panels, that's also a way of being more mindful of your usage of electricity. Because you never know when you run out. 

I guess the moral of this story is that we should always be mindful of what we use, regardless of its abundance, it being free of charge, etc. In the end, even "free" stuff is never totally free- someone or something is paying a price. In this case, that something is the planet. 

Very easy pancakes recipe

I like pancakes for breakfast, all kinds. American style pancakes, poffertjes (tiny Dutch style pancakes), baghrir (north African style pancakes also known as a thousand hole pancakes), crêpes, etc. It's just that some are so nice, I tend to overeat them. I want to be able to portion and freeze pancakes to avoid over indulgence. Unfortunately, not all pancakes are freezable, especially crêpes. It's also nice to have a go to breakfast waiting to be thawed in case there isn't anything else to eat. So I prefer freezable pancakes. 

Also, since I'm trying to lose weight, I'm always looking to decrease my calories without making too much sacrifices (if that makes sense, lol). Typically pancakes contain milk, eggs and fat - in addition to be cooked in yet more fat. Substituting white flour for whole wheat (and/or oat flour) is something I've been doing for a long time already, but I was looking for a solution for the eggs and milk. Don't get me wrong, I'll still consume eggs and milk, but I just prefer them as is, not as an ingredient just adding more calories. So after some googling and trial and error myself, I came up with partially whole wheat pancakes that don't contain any milk or eggs- and STILL taste amazing. 

For a large batch (around 16-19 pancakes), you'll need: 

2 cups of whole wheat flour 

2 cups of fine semolina (can be substituted for white or whole wheat flour)

1.5 tablespoons of instant yeast 

Half a teaspoons of salt, or a bit less or more to taste 

A tablespoon of vanilla sugar/vanilla flavour/extract (I don't use extract because of the alcohol it contains, but apparently alcohol free extract does exist) 

As much warm water as needed to create a pancake batter- I used around 5 cups 

Oil or butter to cook your pancakes in 

Combine all the dry ingredients and mix well using a whisk. Then add the water, not adding all the water at once to avoid a batter that's on the runny side. If you find it too thick just add a bit more gradually and mix well using the whisk. Mix until there are no more lumps visible and it's a smooth batter. Then cover your bowl, I use a bowl with a lid to avoid using unnecessary disposable plastic. 

Let it sit for around 45 minutes to an hour and a half, depending on your room temperature. If you've got enough time it should even be possible to let it rise in the fridge. 

If the batter has doubled in volume and is bubbly it's done and ready to bake. Heat up your skillet, and use about one ladle or a bit less (depending on your preferred size of pancakes) of batter per pancake. Cook them as you would regular pancakes and let them cool. 

These pancakes might seem a bit flavourless, but trust me, they're so yummy! The semolina gives them that rich flavour and so does the yeast. There's absolutely no need for eggs or another ingredient for binding, which makes these pancakes not only easy, eggs allergy-friendly, vegan and lower in calories, but also WAY more affordable in this economy 😉 

Some notes: 

I made this the night before breakfast and kept the ones I was planning to eat in a container, the others went into the freezer right after cooling down.  

Keep in mind- both semolina and whole wheat flour absorb more water than white flour does, so keep in mind you'll need more liquid than when making regular pancakes. You can make this batter with whichever flour you like, making it 100% whole wheat or 100% white. 

Back at blogging and some updates

I can't believe it's been almost 5 months since I posted here! That wasn't quite planned but I guess there were other things to do besides blogging. I really want to keep up with my blog but sometimes it's just a bit difficult. 

Despite our summer break, we're in the thick of it! With abundance of summer produce, there's so much to do. 

Homemake-y updates: 

We home butchered a goat. 

My father in law gave us a box containing well over 10 kg (22 lb) tomatoes, which he in return also got from someone but didn't know what to do with it. I turned the majority of it into marinara sauce, which is now in the freezer.(and a bit stayed in the fridge to use within a few days)

Also made a big pot of fig jam, my husband's all time favourite jam. 

I finally found the courage to make my own sourdough starter. It's still intimidating to use it, I must admit, but at least now I have the starter... 

Made homemade onion powder with onion peels. 

Rendered a big bag of chicken skins and I now have a lovely jar full of rendered chicken fat! 

Cooked a lot from scratch, as usual. 

General life updates: 

My oldest daughter finished middle school. Youngest finished her second to last year of elementary school. 

We have a new cat to take care of, a beautiful Siamese girl. She's VERY talkative- I had to get used to that amount of meowing! She has a defect in her tail - it has a bend in it, which is probably the reason why she was roaming around in the streets. Unfortunately, some people want to get rid of "imperfect" pets, and it's not very common to see breed cats on the streets. 

A very sad one: just one week ago, our ginger cat died 😥 We all loved him dearly and are heartbroken. He lived here for three years and a half and I'm just so grateful we could give him the best home possible for him for that long, and save him from the streets. He was buried in our garden this past Friday. The other cat doesn't really understand that her bigger brother is gone, although she's coping quite well with it, but it's noticeable she's missing him a lot. 

Health updates: 

Just finished a two weekly high iron diet. My iron was super low, and i'm feeling much better now. I just don't want to see liver for the next couple of months, lol (I actually do like liver but after eating it every day for two weeks long... it certainly gets boring!). 

I'm steadily losing weight, so far lost 27 kg and I'm not there yet, but certainly proud of this accomplishment. 

I started walking again. I walked daily but then fot busy with other things. Which is now excuse, so I really try to make time for walking daily, even if it's just 20 minutes. My muscles were so stiff without walking (I have fybromyalgia) and I definitely feel better with walking daily, even if it's not a lot- I probably don't reach the 10.000 steps a day, but it's better than nothing. 

I think that's it for now! Trying to blog a bit more regularly from now on 👋

The last picture I took of our beloved ginger cat 😿
 

Some (frugal) cooking hacks

Cooking from scratch for 20 years surely teaches one a thing or two. No matter how much recipe books you own, the most you'll learn by experience. It takes practice and time and really is a matter of trial and error! You'll likely have to adjust to your spouses and children's preferences, adjust to what's available (especially when, like us, emigrating to another country) and perhaps even more challenging, stick to a budget which makes being creative even more important. 

Here's some of the things I learned along the way: 

When using garlic in dishes, the later you add it, the more garlic-y your dish will be. For a subtle garlic flavour, it's best to afford the garlic from the beginning, and for a strong garlic flavour, add it towards the end of your cooking time. 

Plain cooked beans go bad quickly, usually faster than I'd anticipate. If you're not planning on eating the beans within 48 hours, or have leftovers, you better freeze them. Beans cooked in a sauce/stew of some sort keeps well a bit longer in my experience. 

Another bean hack: most legumes are quite a pain to cook. Even though we eat a lot of legumes, I admit I don't like to cook them (let alone thinking of soaking them on time...). You have to wait for hours (ok, slightly exaggerated!) until they actually cook so you can stand right there to get the foam off. I've noticed, however, that cooking them with plenty of seasonings massively reduces the forming of foam. So then it's only the annoying long cooking time that remains. 

Soft carrots can be easily rescued by letting them soak in water for a few hours. The softer the carrots, the longer the soaking time. It really works, but you just need some patience. 

Onions are another vegetable I sometimes soak in water. Not necessarily to firm them up, but it does reduce the amount of tears involved in peeling and cutting them! 

Batch cooking saved my sanity. (LOL) However, some dishes taste better the 2nd batch, and some don't. There are just a few dishes that I only make a single batch of. 

The smaller the pasta shape, the further it stretches- I know this sounds a bit strange, but when we're eating a pasta made with "bigger" shapes such as penne or fussili, we never have leftovers and it sometimes even feels like it's barely enough. Whereas there's usually leftovers when using ditalini/elbow macaroni etc. Even when the quantity in weight is the same. This is the same for spaghetti by the way, that stretches much better as well. Weird but true! 

Thawing meat or just anything is best in the fridge. It does take a bit long, but it's best for the foods to thaw slowly, plus you'll use less electricity- win win. 

Speaking of pasta, obviously not all pastas are alike; there are literally hundreds of shapes. However, not each sauce suits all shapes. What I've learned (from experience... dear Italians, if this isn't accurate please be nice ok 😉) is that the bigger the shape, the thicker your sauce needs to be, and the other way around. So if my sauce is a bit on the runny side, and I was planning on using a bigger pasta shape, I usually use either a small shape or spaghetti instead. 

Soups are the solution for almost every food problem- not having quite enough on hand, not knowing what to make, not feeling like cooking an elaborate meal, having tons of leftovers and having to recreate a new dish out of those. 

Leafy greens go bad rather quickly, so I usually use them on the grocery shopping day or the day after. Alternatively, you can stretch the leafy greens shelf life somewhat by wrapping them in a damp cloth towel. It may sound a bit contradicting, but it really works. 

But when it comes to getting the most vegetables for your money, you might reconsider buying fresh leafy greens. After all, leafy greens shrink big time! Vegetables that don't shrink and don't need peeling (or just the bare minimum of peeling) are usually the most economical. That's why I love cooking with carrots, turnips and onions during the winter (seasons are changing obviously and it's summer now, but carrots are pretty much available all year long). Contrary to what many people think, frozen and canned vegetables are as healthy as fresh ones and depending on where you live, can be much cheaper than fresh. Where we live they're much more expand therefore not a frugal choice. But I know for many people it's the other way around and buying canned saves a lot of money. You just have to know how to prepare them to avoid that "canned vegetable taste". 

You can bake a muffin batter in nearly every shape of dish, just make sure to adjust the cooking time. This is something I found out quite recently! 

No need for a lot of condiments as long as you have a decent collection of dried (or fresh) herbs and spices. My stack of fridge condiments is quite basic: garlic paste, mustard, mayonnaise, homemade mock soy sauce and tomato paste (if that counts as a condiment...). Most other popular condiments are easy to make yourself as long as you have those on hand. For example, salad dressings, BBQ sauce, sweet chili sauce, and even ketchup. 

Don't be afraid to not follow a recipe to the letter- especially cooking/main dishes recipes. No need to buy an exclusive, expensive ingredient that you end up only using once for that particular recipe, that's just a waste of money and food.

To thicken soups and sauces, my go-to is cornstarch. However, no need to panic if that's not something you have on hand: there are many ways to thicken up liquid dishes. I've literally used anything as thickeners: from ground oatmeal to potatoes to stale bread. 

There's almost no end to what you can freeze. I mean, it's quite obvious that meat and ice cream can (should) be kept frozen, unless consumed immediately, but there's just so much more to freeze. Think of milk, bread (very logical to me but apparently in some countries it isn't), tomato paste, peels and bones (for future broth making), condiments (such as my homemade soy sauce which doesn't last too long in the fridge), leftovers, etc. At the moment, I have a freezer drawer full of pancakes, muffins and portion sized baked oatmeal, as well as one drawer full of dates. And my freezer doors are full with broth. They're in fact that full, not all broth I had did fit in there so I had to freeze some broth in "regular" containers instead of plastic bottles.

By freezing leftovers you can really avoid so much food waste. And during the weeks when money is a bit more tight, just clear out the freezer of all the leftovers 🙃 Or have one "left over buffet" once a week. It really does add up. During those times when I'm clearing out the freezer it seems like there's tons of leftovers, even though it might look like there were just a few. It's amazing how far that stretches. 

Something we all should try is to step out of the box and try not to cling tight to certain "food rules". Wether it's because of cultural practices or other- we're all guilty of it at some point. Who said we can't eat soup for breakfast, for example? We once stayed at a hotel where lentil soup was being served for breakfast, as the majority of the guests were Turkish. I certainly wasn't familiar with that but I really liked the idea! I assume it's common in a lot of other cultures as well, and why not- it's fast (especially when it's leftovers) and nutritious ar the same time. I remember when we first got married, my husband and I disagreed completely about what time pancakes should be eaten. I was raised with pancakes for dinner only, whereas he ate them for breakfast only. Eventually he did convince me of eating pancakes for breakfast and to be honest, I'm so used to it now thar pancakes for dinner seems to be a bit odd. Some people might consider eggs breakfast food. For me, it's usually for lunch or dinner and we rarely have them for breakfast but it's just so versatile I think we can have them at any time (or some boiled eggs as a snack... yum!) What I'm sometimes struggling with is my own food rules (because of pasta eating disorders, being autistic and some other factors...). For example, combining dairy and an iron source is something I really struggle with- even though a lot of people would see it as accomplishing their "protein goals", but since there's more to life than just protein, and as a former vegetarian, I was always taught to NOT.combine.dairy.and.iron... it's a bit hard to letting go of that. Even when it means I'm avoiding food waste by that. So that's definitely something I try to work on. 

Food doesn't need to be elaborate to be delicious. That's a grave misconception. And to be honest, I also think that over varying of dishes is quite overrated. I've talked about this before and I think I'm a bit repetitive, but I don't see the point of variation if that means that there are dishes that we'll eat only once and then forget about it completely. 

Tightwad tip- eat more cabbage

We're big on eating mainly seasonal produce. It just makes sense: it's healthier, cheaper and has less of an environmental impact. However, when I tell people about this, the main response is that they don't really have an issue with eating summer produce, but don't really like eating cabbage all the time. Now we don't eat cabbage all the time during the winter (other local in season produce includes turnips, fennel, parsnips, chard, carrots, etc), but it is something we do eat a lot. Cabbage is very nutritious- it belongs to the cruciferous vegetables, and is often referred to as a superfood. The word 'superfoods' might turn some people off, because of its price and the fad around them, but the great thing is- this particular superfood is super affordable! I know that fresh produce is expensive and makes up the bulk of the grocery costs of many people these days, so it's actually nice to know there are options that are a bit more affordable and just as healthy. 

When it comes to taste, it really is a matter of preference obviously.  We do like cabbage, but to each their own. I can't say that cabbage is my absolute favourite vegetable of all though, but it does rank quite high on my list. I like that it's just so so versatile so there's probably always a way in which people that don't prefer cabbage still like it. You can: ferment, fry, steam, stuff, bake, boil (and probably a lot of other things...) this lovely vegetable. And it's even nice for making winter salads. I find it hard to think of a dish to which you can't add some sort of cabbage. It can bulk up meals very nicely. That's how I use it a lot: as a "filler" for meals that lack enough vegetables. 

Even though most in season produce here is quite affordable, the thing is that most vegetables are sold by the weight (per kg). Some other vegetables, such as carrots and turnips are being sold in bunches. At times, you can get big bunches, and there are times the bunches are as tiny as three not very big turnips, which obviously make them more expensive. The thing with cabbage is that they usually aren't sold by the weight, but per piece, which typically make them even more affordable than other in season produce. Also, unlike most vegetables, cabbage is kind of 'what you see is what you get': there's no need to peel anything, nor does it shrink. And cutting cabbage is done in a few minutes, unlike some other vegetables, which comes in handy for those days when you're short on time. 

So, all in all, I believe that eating cabbage is a really is a good strategy when wanting or needing to cut back on groceries. 

Making something out of nothing

As we're reaching the end of the month, it seems like most people's budgets are getting tighter. Perhaps it's coincidence, but when I'm on YouTube, I always get a lot more "extreme/emergency grocery haul" content, so I thought about doing the same. 

We ourselves have been in the situation where we had to stretch every €, and even then we're not certain about making it through the month. We used every tin of food to the last drop, had very simple meals (porridge for dinner was quite the norm towards the end of the month!), our sandwiches were certainly "creative" (i'm looking for the right word I guess... and the generic brand of simple cookies or chocolate were such a treat. We were blessed to never go hungry, even though finances were so tight, but it took a lot of work and creativity. It truly could feel like a sport to make something out of nothing. 

And that was pre inflation! I can imagine the stress so many people go through right now. A grocery haul that used to cost €100, has now doubled in price. So naturally, almost everyone is trying to stretch their budget as fat as possible. And that usually means that as the month lasts, the money is getting tighter, and the food is certainly getting more "creative". And for a lot of people it's not just to cut down on takeout coffee, or to wait for next month to buy that treat you were craving. For a lot of people, tough decisions must be made: to buy the kids some fruit or to have an occasional meat this week. To buy new sport shoes for your child because they're beyond repair or to skip breakfast yourself. And you're too embarrassed to borrow money from your neighbours yet again... As I said, I'm fortunate enough to not be in that situation anymore, although finances are getting tighter with the increasing prices which does stress me out honestly. It's just that I do know what it's like to have to make tough decisions, so hopefully I can give some tips here for those that are struggling. 

Using up odds and ends- this can mean everything from using up that last bit of ketchup on a slice of bread (which tastes surprisingly good, my children still love ketchup sandwiches!), to combining various leftovers and turning them into a meal - some of our favourite dishes were invented this way. Don't be afraid of "weird" combinations. Search your kitchen cupboards, you might find some half empty packages that need to be rescued from being wasted. Have breakfast for dinner more often! Especially if you have kids, it will probably be a big hit. I remember how excited I got about eating pancakes for dinner. Little did I know that my mum made this when she was struggling towards the end of the month! Reconsider the items you think you need- are they really an essential, or just a nice extra? And if you're like me, and you're saving way too many one person's sized meal portions in the freezer, this is the right time to thaw them. 

Try to find cheaper substitutes- a bit of your own creativity and a lot of Mr. Google go a long way. You might know of some substitutes already, such as lentils or beans instead of meat. But I bet not everyone knows how to substitute butter for oil, like I do in many baking recipes (it's 3/4 cup of oil for every cup of butter, to be precisely). Or that you can easily make your own oat milk for pennies if you've ran out of milk or if you find oat milk expensive. I know, I might know a bit more tips and tricks than the "average" frugal person, but that's exactly why I'm suggesting to just Google anything. It really does help a lot. This is why internet is essential to me and it was even more so during our poor period. Even when it did cost a bit, that was totally worth it, since I've saved hundreds if not thousands by just paying monthly for my pretty basic (and cheapest) internet connection. It definitely paid off with all the frugality tips I found over the years. 

Struggle meals - this is probably an unofficial word but I've seen it for some time now in the frugal bloggers/vloggers atmosphere. A struggle meal is just that: meals to eat when you're struggling. It doesn't sound fun but some struggle meals are surprisingly good. One of my favourite meals are "rice and beans" with its numerous varieties (couscous and lentils, pasta and chickpeas, or even lentil soup and bread). Nourishing, comforting and cheap at the same time! What's not to like? Other struggle meals may include various pasta dishes, mostly vegetarian obviously because meat is expensive, or porridge. I think every family has their own "struggle meal". We have quite a few dirt cheap dishes that we repeat often, but since we eat them just because we enjoy them, it doesn't quite feel as a struggle meal. I honestly think that's the trick: you can serve insanely cheap meals but as long as they don't feel cheap it makes the struggle somewhat less. You can achieve that by serving it in a nice way, adding as much as fancy seasonings you have on hand, and variety (if possible). You may have some other tips on making struggle meals feel a but less "struggle-ish". If you're looking for other's people's struggle meals, you might be interested to look up great depression recipes, when people made nice meals with very few and with beyond frugal ingredients. It's basically just struggle meals buy from an certain era. For people that aren't really familiar with struggle meals, it's probably an eye opener that you van still make relatively healthy meals on a tight budget. Sure, Mac 'n cheese is nice every so often, but even on a very tight budget you can cook foods that are as affordable and healthier. 

Don't be afraid to ask- OK, I know this is a tough one. Especially for people that rather give than take. Been there, done that. But you can't always be the giver, we sometimes are just on the receiving end too. And remember, the people that are willing to help you have as much as a giving heart too, so don't deprive them from giving too. Keep in mind that giving doesn't always have to be money wise; even if you're broke you can help out others babysitting their children, help paint a wall or deep clean/declutter their homes, etc. Or just to keep company, perhaps there are others that are feeling lonely and are craving human contact. Being broke doesn't mean you can't help people. 

Tightwad tip - single bananas

Today's tightwad tip is a bit on an unusual, as we're not necessarily saving a lot of money, but you're still doing the environment a favour. 

Ever seen very sad, lonely bananas waiting for someone to grab them? That's probably a familiar sight in a lot of supermarkets. Most people will buy bunches of bananas, as those look more appealing, plus some people might think that those keep well longe. But did you know that I general, those single bananas are thrown away at the end of the day? That's indeed very sad. Whenever we see single bananas, we tend to buy those so that we'll avoid food waste. Wasting food isn't just what families throw away in their homes- the supermarket contribute a lot to food waste, too. Even though I don't think that as a costumer that's my responsibility, but sometimes it's just a very small thing we can do. After all, less food waste (and thus less environmental damage as a result of that) will benefit all of us. 

If you're lucky and your supermarket has a reduced rack, you can do that too! Unfortunately, they don't really do that here, so that's not an option. 

Fast food vs real food, which is cheaper?

We've been told a lot of lies by the food industry. One of my biggest pet peeve is the claim that fast food is cheaper than real food. It's probably one of the biggest food myths out there, but somehow people keep believing it wholeheartedly. And I don't think it's to fraud themselves, it's just that the food industry's propaganda machine is really working. 

First of all, let's define fast food. I'm not necessarily talking about the literal meaning - grabbing an apple from your counter could be faster than driving to your nearby McDonald's restaurant. I think we all know what's meant by fast food. But just for clarifications sake, when I (or most people) think fast food, we think of not so nutrient dense meals, coming from factories or fast food style restaurant, highly processed at least. And usually not very expensive, which is why people get attracted to those foods. 

Secondly; it might be interesting to look at some reasons why people buy fast food. Some may like the taste, but for the majority, it probably has to do with a lack of time or not a very big budget. 

What I find quite interesting is that looking at the poor people from the past (and no, i'm not necessarily talking about centuries ago), they all cooked from scratch. Eating out was considered a rich person's hobby, and absolutely unaffordable for poor people. And not just the past- it's still like this in most parts of the world; where we live, eating out or having a takeaway isn't the norm, even for people that are financially well off. And not only that; people were very resourceful and great at not throwing away anything, stretching whatever they had to feed as much people as possible. It sure might have been nice for that exhausted homemaker living in poverty to have had the ability to have a takeaway, but when everybody's living like that, it's just your normal. So, despite limited resources, people still put a lot of love and effort in making simple yet wonderful meals- and above all, used their creativity! It's amazing how much that has changed over just a few decades. 

When it comes to time, I get that people that are working multiple jobs and come home exhausted late at night don't have energy to cook. Still, there's solutions to (almost) every problem, including this one. Why not do one from scratch cooking marathon on a day you're not working and freeze all those meals? Or just buy canned vegetables or frozen vegetables, which are usually just as nutritious, but it's still saving you some time. Eggs are also fast to prepare, as is boiling some rice or pasta. A sandwich can be whipped up in a few minutes and can be made as healthy as you like. And these days, with all our technology, we can use crock pots (some people put them on right before they go to work), or they do some meal prep in advance and they throw those ingredients in a pressure cooker once they've arrived home. Others might throw some "homemade fast food" together of items that are considered convenience foods, but still are healthier than what most fast foods restaurants would sell (for example: some tinned vegetables, instant mashed potatoes and something quick as a protein on the side). 

There's so many options!

But now, when it comes to money- which are actually cheaper? Is fast food really that cheap? It probably depends on where you buy your food and to which restaurants you go to. Some restaurants may have an "happy hour" with reduced prices, or some small convenience stores in food deserts will have higher prices. I'm not really up to date with most prices in the US (I'm talking about the US specifically since that's where the fast foods are so prevalent and more of an issue than in other countries), but I'm sure that cooking healthy, homemade foods from cheap ingredients still is much cheaper than fast foods or even convenience foods such as frozen dinners. It's just that it takes a bit more effort and adjustment, but once you're used to cooking from scratch, you'll probably don't want to go back and you're not really into that greasy, MSG-ish fast food taste anymore. 

Remember that you don't have to buy meat or fish products all the time, as those are quite expensive. Or even the more expensive vegetables... For example, now that it's winter, we have plenty of cheap vegetables in season, such as different kinds of cabbage, turnips, chard, carrots, pumpkins... Those are all so cheap and very versatile. In fact, I'd find it hard to mention a dish in which one of those vegetables don't fit. When it comes to starches- just find the ones that are most affordable for you. For us, it's bread, pasta and couscous. Potatoes, barley, and rice are more expensive but can still be made into a healthy frugal meal, especially when you keep it vegetarian. I like to have lunch with leftover pasta or some fried potatoes, an egg and some vegetables on the side- nothing special but still a nice and filling meal. On the days when we don't have meat (those days outnumber the days that we do have meat), we either have legumes such as lentils, chickpeas or white beans, or I make an egg based meal. Yup, no eggs for breakfast here 🙂 Same goes for breakfast foods. Just keep it simple, don't set very high goals- that way you'll burn out and are tempted to get a takeaway.

Not that there's anything wrong with a takeaway every so often; we just shouldn't make it a frequent habit. I could go on but I think you're getting the idea of trying to make meals stretch as much as possible, prepping ahead and thinking of cheaper ingredients. While fast food may seem cheap, when keeping our health in mind it's not quite that cheap at all.