Using up applesauce and an easy baked oatmeal recipe

This past autumn we were gifted a lot of apples. I think it was more than 20 KG. Of course we shared with family  and neighbours, like most people here do when they have an abundance of whatever is in season. But still, there was quite a lot apples left over and as a small family we couldn't just finish the apples as is. So making applesauce turned out to be a good solution. I don't like the traditional Dutch way of eating applesauce- which is like a condiment with boiled potatoes and vegetables, probably to make all the blandness a little bit more edible. Instead, I just use it as an ingredient for baking. Applesauce is very versatile, it can be used as an egg replacement but also instead of other liquid ingredients. And of course, it gives all your baked good such a nice apple flavour. On top of that, whether you prefer homemade applesauce or store bought- they don't sell applesauce here in Tunisia so if we want to have applesauce you'd have to make your own anyway. I must admit that growing up I didn't like my mum's homemade applesauce and preferred store bought instead. Which is a bit weird if I think about it now. Oh well... My taste buds defenitely have improved a lot. 

The next issue was: how am I going to peel ALL that apples without my carpal tunnel syndrome not instantly coming back? After all, I don't have a fancy apple peeler. Well, after a bit of googling it turned out to be as easy as to cook the apples with their peels on! At times like these, I'm so grateful for having access to the internet and to be able to save time, food and energy. So the only thing I did was coring the apples- which obviously was way less work than peeling. Still it was quite a chore to accomplish. The applesauce turned out a bit browner than "normal" applesauce would have, but it did have a lot of taste! 

So then I just froze all the applesauce. Fortunately I have a big freezer, but still it took up a lot of space. Hopefully next time I'll have enough glass jars to be able to can applesauce and to save precious freezer space. I love making applesauce cake and muffins, or just using some applesauce as a spread on pancakes. But a few weeks ago, I decided to try something new and above all, something a bit more healthy, so I made applesauce baked oatmeal. It turned out to be so delicious. I'm not new to baked oatmeal, but my original recipe wasn't quite a healthy one, so I tried to make a healthier one this time. Here's how I made it: 

 2 cups of applesauce                                             1 cup of milk                                                           2 cups of oatmeal 

That's it, super basic. Just mix this in a bowl and then add whatever flavourings you like. I usually keep it quite basic and only add some cinnamon (for flavour) and desiccated coconut (for healthy fats). But if I think of other add-ins that would be nice: raisins, date chunks, nuts. Then I add it to lightly greased baking dishes- I like to use small individual baking dishes, but you can also use one large one and cut it into smaller portions after baking.                           

I like this baked oatmeal for breakfast, whereas my family members prefer it as a snack. I have tried out multiple ways to eat it, and as for now my favourite way is with some peanut butter and honey in top of it. When you don't eat this right away, I recommend heating it up- which I do in my air fryer, as I don't have a microwave (which might be interesting to do a whole different post about). 

The communal oven

It's been almost a week since it was eid ul fitr. I must admit that I don't enjoy festivities as much as most other people do, probably due to being overstimulated, as I have autism. I just thrive on the daily routine. But for the sake of the children I really try to do my best. It does take a lot of rest to recover somewhat though, which is probably also why I took a break from blogging. 

That being said, I do love doing the preparations- which is a lot of baking! This year I didn't bake as much as previous years, due to flour shortages. Still, I baked quite a lot. But I have a lot of in laws and love to share with others. Most of the cookies I bake in our oven, which is kind of small. Which is ok, because I just do batches. Cookies don't take that long to bake so it's not really an issue to bake multiple batches in a row.      However, there's one type of cookie which isn't baked in our oven. And if you thought I was talking about a no bake recipe, you were wrong. Because it's being baked in *a* oven, just not our oven. And it's not just us, it's something commonplace here. At the end of ramadan you'll see people walking with these huge baking trays full of what we call bachkoutou (biscuits), bringing them to the local bakery to be baked. Since there are so many people that bring their trays at the same time they'll number the trays as not to exchange them accidentally. Although people make them a bit different in terms of additional ingredients, all bachkoutou usually looks a bit the same. Our bachkoutou was made by my husband with the help of the children, just like they did last year. It's a bit funny how this is really the most simple cookie when it comes to ingredients, yet the most laborious to make. 

To make them you need a meat grinder - which you can also use for making cookies, (as long  as it has a star template). In fact, we haven't ever used our meat grinder to grind meat! This grinder especially is a bit tough to handle if you're not used to it, which is why my husband pitched in. Making bachkoutou is really a family event and for some families who make huge batches this takes multiple days. For us, it was "just" an afternoon- we only made one baking tray, which yielded about two kg of flour. Which is still a lot, in my opinion. 

This brings back a lot of memories for my husband for sure, which is perhaps why he enjoyed this so much. My mother in law would do the same when he and his siblings were younger. At that time, not a lot of people actually had ovens in Tunisia, especially the more impoverished areas of the country. So they made use of the local bakeries to bake their cookies. There were also other types of cookies which are being baked there, such as sablé (sandwich cookies with jam) and ghorayba (made with either sorghum flour or chickpea flour). My mother in law also had a special type of pan which she used when baking a cake. 

My conclusion is that living oven-free isn't that hard when you have solutions like these. But, it kind of is when the society is designed for people who have each and every appliance at home. Which brings me to another point, which is that people often don't have a lot appliances here, but instead borrow them, especially when it's things that don't get used a lot. Now don't get me wrong, I sometimes find this quite annoying - especially if people want to borrow your vacuum cleaner every single week. But I do understand why people don't bother to buy items that they're only using once a year. This includes meat grinders, zouza makers (another type of cookie, which is made in a specialised appliance), and baking trays. 

Borrowing, if done in the right way, helps you to stay away from overconsumption, cluttering up the house and the environment, and spending too much money. It also creates stronger bonds between people, in my opinion. No wonder it is something which was done from generation to generation, with the exception of these modern days. I truly hope that even though countries are getting more modern, the tradition of communal ovens will stay. 

Easy and delicious marinade - 3 ingredients

Yesterday, we had baked chicken wings, and that reminded me to do a post about how simple they are to make. I have a variety of ways to prepare chicken, but this one's my family's favourite. And it turns out to be the easiest too, with very few ingredients! 

For this marinade I just use soy sauce, garlic paste and ground ginger. Depending on how salty your soy sauce is, and how salty you like your food you can add some more salt. Sometimes I add chili flakes too. After marinating, let it sit for a few hours at least, but preferably overnight. 

I bake the chicken in a frying pan, turning the wings regularly (like every 15 minutes) on a very low flame. It may take a bit longer, but this way it'll come out more flavourful. Although I haven't tried, I assume this marinade will be nice for other foods too - tofu, mushrooms, etc. 

It's only single use if you use it once

Single use products are typically not very wise to use because you're paying for something you're essentially throwing away within seconds. You're tossing money directly into the trash, not to mention it takes a couple of hundred years (!) for that plastic to break down. And even if the products aren't made of plastic, but aluminium or cardboard instead, the environmental impact still can't be neglected. Of course, sometimes single use products are beneficial. Think medical single use products, period products (especially for women who don't always have access to water), and it can extend the shelf life of foods, etc. This is why I'm not radically against single use products, as it sometimes just makes sense. 

However, here's the thing: I've found that not all single use products are truly single use. In fact, there's a LOT of things around our home that are officially single use products, yet are being used over and over. That doesn't mean they last forever, but using them just once because marketers tell you to do so is just silly, in my humble opinion. Of course, I'm not talking about the obvious single use products that involve personal hygiene -other than tooth brushes- (although I have seen people reusing diapers here, which really is out of dire poverty). 

Of course, marketers, driven by their capitalist world view, want us to believe all their products are single use, and bad things will happen if you dare to use them more often. How else will they profit from the working class and destroy the environment? I'm very grateful that my parents taught me to think outside the box. It really is a necessary life skill to ask questions and come up with creative solutions for things "that are just the way they are". As a young girl, I remember that one of the presents I have the most vivid memories of was some sort of appliance that could cut styrofoam with heat. Those appliances were a rage in the 1990s, with toy shops selling them quite expensively. The one I got, however, was hand made by my father. My father was very handy- he once made one perfectly functioning car out of two older cars, need I say more? It didn't matter to me that it was handmade and had a bit of a "homemade look", I just remember the excitement of getting such a present. At that time a lot of foods were packed with styrofoam so I did a lot of crafting with that. Unfortunately I can't remember what actually happened to the styrofoam cutter, but I hope it was either disassembled (which is most likely, knowing my dad), or given away to someone else. Either way, looking back I think that even though I haven't been always as waste conscious as I'm now, my parents defenitely instilled this mentality from early on. 

Back to the "single" use products. As mentioned, there's obviously things that cannot be reused. But then there are so many products that *can* be reused! 

Bags: I try to always have a tote bag with me but plastic bags coming in the house still happens. I generally use them to freeze meat. You really don't want to re-use bags in which meat or fish has been. When I do use store bought sandwich baggies, I sometimes reuse them. Especially when they were used for freezing produce, if the produce comes out dry/clean (such as broad beans), I just hang them to dry and put them in a drawer in which I store my pre-used baggies, which works so well. Oh, and hoe could I (almost) doet er bread bags? They seem to last ages and are very suitable for freezing.

If that's not possible, I tend to divide the baggies in two, especially if I'm freezing smaller amounts. Other bags I use for the garbage bin. Sometimes, there are holes in the bags so they aren't really suitable for the garbage, but I use them instead of plastic wrap. 

Egg boxes: when my children were smaller, they did a lot of crafting with egg boxes. If you don't have small children you can also donate your egg boxes to local schools, or so I've heard. I'm yet to decide whether the crocodile or the train was their favourite egg box crafting project. You can also use them in your kitchen drawer to store small things that would otherwise clutter up the kitchen: thumbacks, rubber bands, etc. They're also very suitable for gardening, as you can grow seedlings in the holes. I have also used the boxes to sprout cress seeds. There's certain games you can play with your toddler using egg boxes, such as matching game. 

And lastly: I usually put some of the egg boxes in our trashcan- under the bag. That way, if something spills or leaches, you don't have to clean up the trash can immediately. 

Toothbrushes: my father had a huge collection of old toothbrushes, which he used for his car and many other things. Now I won't keep hundreds of them like he did, but I do have some old toothbrushes that I use for certain cleaning chores. Speaking of toothbrushes, it's a myth that you have to replace your toothbrush every few weeks. This is again a marketer's trick. Some people think it has to do with hygiene, but that's not the actual reason why this is adviced. It has to do with the brushes being "worn out", and because of that, don't function as they should. If you're not an angry brusher, you really don't need to replace it that often. And if your concern is hygiene you simply disinfect your brush with boiling hot water. 

Balloons: Now I think this is somewhat of a slippery slope. How on earth can someone be environmentally conscious AND even think of balloons? Don't worry, we generally don't buy balloons. Actually, I've always found them scary so it's rather a good thing they're considered bad for the environment. That way, at least I have a valid excuse to avoid them altogether! But, sometimes my in laws give a balloon to the children during our eid holidays, and I don't want to judge them for that. I think one balloon a year is quite good, though. Anyway, I've found that balloons can sometimes be blown up again when it's beginning to shrink. This way, my youngest daughter once had a balloon for months- instead of a few days. 

Disposable containers: I think most people will consider plastic food containers reusable, especially when they have a lid. But I'm talking about the plastic/aluminium boxes similar to disposable plates etc. We sometimes order cookies and they come in such boxes. They are very reusable. I like to use them for when I myself send food over to others, because if you give a plate they feel obliged to give something in return. (Which is OK, but especially when someone is ill or has just given birth or something, cooking food for someone else isn't the first thing that is on their priority list.) 

Food packaging: back in the Netherlands, we used to buy 5 KG rice sacks that were made from very firm plastic. I reused them over and over, especially when baking bread or other foods that needed plastic wrap. I now have some plastic from a bulk bag of sugar which is made from the very same material. As I mentioned earlier, milk cartons are very reusable too. I use them a lot in the freezer, as well as plastic bottles. 

Tins: we go through a lot of tomato paste, which comes in 800 grams tins. While I don't always reuse them, my husband has quite a few of those tins in the garage, as they're very handy to store tools in. I also use some in the kitchen: one for the breadcrumbs that are left after cutting bread, one for my small spoons, etc. If they're not reused, I use them as garbage tins. I've noticed that a lot of vendors at the local market use clean emptied tins as a "measuring cup", to scoop out their dry goods, and I found that genius! People in Tunisia are truly very resourceful.

Razors:  if disposable razors are your shaving method of choice, costs can add up when using them according to the "official" instructions. Still, there are ways to extend the use, which is by sharpening the knifes. A disposable razor can easily be sharpened using a small piece of denim fabric. I use a small old pair of jeans of one of the children. Some people also use a box of matches for this purpose, but I haven't tried it myself so I can't tell whether it works as good as denim fabric. 

Bottles: Throughout the years, I've seen so many ideas using bottles- from decorations (such as curtains), to planters, to homemade toys. We sometimes do an old fashioned game of bowling with empty bottles and the children have a blast! Not only water bottles can be upcycled. I have detergent jugs that I use for storing bulk bought or homemade detergent, and made some into baskets in which I store my unpaper towels. I also have planters made out of old detergent jugs. 

Aluminium foil: I try not to use aluminium foil a lot, but there's still some things it's used for at our house. For example, when I bake chicken in the oven, I always cover it with aluminium foil. That piece of foil is perfectly fine to use another time. Since we don't eat oven baked chicken often enough to leave that piece of foil in the fridge, I keep it in the freezer until the next use. 

Coffee filters: let me preface that I'm not a coffee drinker, so I can't make claims about the taste of the outcome of certain methods. However, my husband does drink coffee. When he uses a disposable filter, he uses the filter multiple times (it's important to let the filter air dry in between uses). He tried a reusable filter but unfortunately it didn't work as good, and the coffee he mostly drinks is made with a percolator. So this reusing filters thing is something done every so often if he feels like trying out something else. 

Kitchen paper/kitchen towel: I try not to use it often (I have a box of unpaper towels in the kitchen), but when I do and it's not too dirty I reuse it after having air dried. That second use is usually for more "dirty" stuff. Wiping spilled foods on floors (oh, and something that has to do with summer... and starts with a c and ends with ockroaches 🤫)  

I really could go on, but I think it's elaborated enough now. The point is that you really don't have to be afraid to (re)use your "disposable" items. 

Vanilla sugar

One thing us frugal people are really good at, is making things stretch and dilluting. And I don't mean just adding some water to a nearly empty washing up liquid bottle, but even the less obvious things that necessitate a bit more of thinking outside the box. Yesterday I was "making vanilla sugar" as my youngest daughter called it - essentially, it was just "dilluting" vanilla sugar with regular sugar, with a 1:1 ratio. And then it has to sit for some time in a closed jar, preferably at least two weeks, in order to get as strong as undiluted vanilla sugar. 

Why do I bother to do that? Well, vanilla sugar is quite expensive here- it's literally ten times the price of regular sugar. You don't really notice it when you buy a small package, but eventually small costs add up. That's why I usually look at the price per KG (they don't always display the price per KG here, so I just calculate it myself). It truly makes a big difference. There's also the issue of packaging. Vanilla sugar comes in tiny sachets of 8 gram each, and is being sold per 5 sachets which is packed again in plastic. Eek! I really don't like all that plastic. In fact, I hate it. So when I can avoid wasting a bit less disposable plastic, I'm happy to do so. And of course, vanilla sugar isn't that healthy, I'm totally aware of that. Now I'm not even talking about the sugar (which is obvious), but the chemicals as well. I'd love to switch to real vanilla beans, which I used in the Netherlands but can't find here. Even if it were available it would probably be way too expensive. And vanilla extract is a no no for us because it's alcoholic. So, until I find a better solution, vanilla sugar it is. And I use quite a lot in my baking. So I guess for all the aforementioned reasons, diluting my vanilla sugar with plain white sugar is the next best thing to do- less chemicals, less money and less plastic waste. 

Some of my recent failures

I know, I know, this is not the most uplifting title out there. But that's exactly the point- I don't think we should always only share our nice accomplishments. I know there are people who try to hide their failures so that their image isn't being tarnished. Especially if they have many followers or make money by "influencing" others. I want to stay authentic and if that's by being honest with my readers about things that didn't work out as well, I'm happy to do so. 

• Homemade laundry detergent: I loved making this relatively easy detergent as it's very frugal and environmentally friendly. However, unfortunately it didn't get my oldest daughter's shirts clean. She's a teenager, what else do I need to say? So I switched back to powdered detergent. 

• Fabric softener: I had never used fabric softener since owning our current washer, and always used vinegar. I found that even the powdered detergent didn't get my daughters clothes as clean as I liked, so despite it quite being against my values, I bought my very first bottle of fabric softener. 

• Disposables: unfortunately I have been using disposable items a bit too much lately. It's quite convenient when it saves on doing dishes and you're insanely tired. No, not disposable plates or pans, but still a bit too much paper towels and sandwich bags. This is really something I should be improving. 

• Did an unsuccessful attempt to make my own shampoo. 

• Wasted a bit too much of leftover foods- a few containers of food totally got overlooked in the fridge. Oops! This is me reminding myself to always store leftovers in transparent jars/containers. 

• Had to replace my kitchen scales' battery, although it was not replaced a long time ago. I guess that's one of the cons of living in a place where generally bad quality is being sold. 

These are the things that came across my mind immediately. There are probably a lot more, but it's just some insight in how my "perfectly" waste free live isn't that waste free at all. 

Living low waste: reality check

If you're looking around on the blogosphere and even more so on social media, living low waste can look like a dream life. Nice beautiful garden, beautiful shelves with streamlined glass jars in which shelf stable, package free bought foods are stored, not to mention the perfect white empty uncluttered kitchens. I can go on but you probably get what image I'm talking about. That might be true for some people, and I'm not saying there's something wrong with very nice looking kitchens and gardens. However, my problem with this image being created is that's not the reality for most environmentally conscious people. Showing these kind of picture perfect lives will trick people into thinking that they're not ready yet to live more green and frugal because they're not yet living in the perfect house or without the perfect monthly salary. I think quite a few of our low waste practices are very un-aesthetic. Reused glass jars (and not all looking the same...), reused tins with some reused "disposable" straws and ice cream stick, reused plastic bread bags to store homemade bread in the freezer, so many repaired objects. And much more. 

My 2nd problem is that people rarely talk about the work that goes into such a lifestyle. This morning I was emptying a 10 KG sack of laundry detergent into smaller containers - one regular container with a lid and the others were cleaned, empty washing up liquid jugs (of 5 litres each, I filled two to the rims and the 3rd for about half). I kind of underestimated how long that took and had to clean up the kitchen afterwards. Yes, of course I used a funnel but still this can get quite messy. We still bother to buy those sacks because the cost per load of laundry is about half the price compared to when we buy smaller bags. I also find it important to use as minimal package materials as possible- there's a difference between 20 smaller bags or one big bag. The bigger bag we can just use as a trash bag, whereas with the smaller bags, I haven't found any other way to reuse. And I was just thinking about how (most) other people go to the store and just buy a bottle of detergent and they're good to go. 

Anyway, this got me thinking about how much physical work goes actually in such a lifestyle. One might think 'well it's just a sack of 10 KG powdered detergent which will probably last a year or so'. Which is true, but then again it's not just this detergent- it's a lot more. Conserving as much water as possible, something we're very big at, already is a chore in and of itself- I usually reuse the rinsing water of our dishes to flush the toilet, and I reuse the water of washing vegetables to water our tree and plants. Doing household chores my way is probably quite different from how a lot of  people do it. I don't necessarily say that others do it wrong, I just like to do these things as energy efficient as possible. For example, we don't have a dryer (absolutely unnecessary in the dry climate that we live in where you can even line dry outside during the winter), so I hang up all our laundry. That includes a lot of reusables for which other people would use disposables. I can honestly admit that I don't like hanging up so many cleaning wipes/unpaper towels. But then again I just can NOT use disposables. So despite the work it still gives me a lot of joy and contentment. Cleaning the floors is also something that most people will take for granted with appliances. I don't vacuum, but not for frugality or environmental reasons. I just can't stand the sound. So our floor gets cleaned the old fashioned way, which is a lot more time consuming. (FYI, we do have a vacuum which my husband uses every so often to clean the sofas and the car - as long as I can't hear it, that is 😆). I must say that with housework being more laborious, the benefit is obviously that you're getting a workout for free. And as silly as it might  seem, your brains get a workout too! There have been various studies about physical labour being good for your brains (don't ask me about the specific details though), so all in all that's a win win situation I'd say!

The most work, however, probably goes into making our food. I don't make ALL of our food, and I honestly think that's rather an unattainable goal in this era. But we try to do our best. I have to make sure we don't run out of homemade bread, buttermilk, peanut butter - some of the staples in our house. And then I cook homemade meals, ferment, make desserts from scratch, store bulk bought and packaging free foods, rotate our stockpile, make condiments, make a year supply of garlic paste, jam etc. So this probably takes up a large amount of my time. Which is ok- this is, and always has been, a conscious decision. But, I think it must be said that this type of lifestyle just can be time consuming, which is something not everyone is anticipating. 

Sometimes people just need to be aware of the real life aspects of certain lifestyles, not just dreaming about picture perfect situations. It's not my intent to complain at all. As long as it's a conscious decision, I think we should accept the nicer and less nice parts of our lives.