Living with food shortages

This post is probably going to be a bit long, and perhaps triggering to some people. Just saying. 

Lately, food shortages, food insecurity and subjects connected to that are on my mind a lot. I don't know if it's just me, but it's almost like I keep reading about yet another food crisis: then it's rice, or wheat, or coffee, then it's sugar and then suddenly bananas are threatened with extinction. I honestly don't know what to think of it, as I know that there are so many people somehow benefiting from crises like these. But I'm not necessarily a conspiracy theorists so I'll just leave it with this. All I do know is that how the world is right now is giving me much anxiety. 

For all (or most, anyhow) of my adult life, I was very frugal, and as a result of that, very waste conscious. My husband and I married young and started off very humbly with not a lot of money. We really tried to work up ourselves. There were good times (in terms of finances) and bad times. And there were also very bad times (for reasons beyond our control, but I won't elaborate too much on that now). I'd say it was definitely relative poverty, as we were living way below the poverty line. But I must admit, I don't like to use that word a lot, because there are millions of people who are way worse off than we were. And when I say "very bad", I think mainly of how food was a major stress point. I didn't really care about our furniture being from garbage bins or thrift shops, or cheap outings, thrifted clothes etc. But food insecurity was much more of an issue. There were weeks that we had 20 € or less to feed the four of us - still we were very "lucky" that our youngest daughter, as a newborn back then had allergies so her formula was covered by insurance. But still, it was very tight. There was always this anxiety of not having enough for the whole week, or having unexpected guests and not being able to serve them something slightly decent. Even though our friends probably wouldn't have minded, but the anxiety was still there. With lots of hard work we tried to get out of poverty which we did and were proud of that accomplishments. Probably we would still have classified as "(very) low income", but to me, it wasn't really poverty because I didn't really stress about food anymore. Still, you can get out of poverty but it's more difficult for poverty to get out of you - the anxiety stays. Not with everyone, probably, but this is what I've heard a lot from "formerly poor people". I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing in and of itself- it's human nature to be aware for dangers and to be prepared for that. It does become a problem when it's causing anxiety though. 

Fast forward to now and I'm kind of in the same boat. Kind of, because it's not due to a lack of money. But the anxiety is the same. Ever since we emigrated we were used to having some food shortages, from time to time. A few years ago, it wasn't such a big deal because it was usually very temporary, and limited to one product at a time. It wasn't really an issue. And then came covid, which made it a bit more difficult - there were more shortages, with a few items at a time. And for longer periods of time. Then came the Russian/Ukraine war and with that, energy and multiple food crises, causing more inflation (and I mean, it's not that the economy was going good here before that). And dare I say, a crisis of greedy multinationals who can't stand governments subsidizing certain food items. 

So anyway, that's a brief summary of how things got how they are currently. We have been dealing with shortages of many staples: rice, flour, semolina, milk, sugar, tea, certain pastas, couscous, coffee, eggs, oil, chicken. As of lately, it's actually better than it has been for a long time; there's milk, semolina, and white flour at the same time! Yeast is yet again a new item that seems to be not available... sigh. But fortunately, we found a box of small sachets and bought that despite the higher price. Some products had been unavailable for a year or longer until they came back to the store shelfs- white flour, for example, has recently come back but hadn't been available for a year and a half. Rice is another staple that has been gone for around a year and a half. Subsidized oil even around two years. It's quite frustrating and as one item comes back, people can't help but wonder for how long the said products will stay- it has happened many times that they came back and then went unavailable again. Some products are completely unavailable, whereas other products are slightly available, or at a very high price. Oil, for example, is available but at least 5 times more expensive than the exactly same but subsidized oil (the only difference being the packaging). This is especially difficult because the price of olive oil has skyrocketed as well, so more people use vegetable oil now. Same with sugar, which is now mainly important from a neighbouring country, for double the price. Even if some items are slightly available, or available yet suddenly very expensive, I think this still talks under the umbrella of shortages, because the supply is still limited. And since we're dependent on importing that's another uncertainty- the border of Libya has been closed for a few months now. For a good reason, but it still affects the shortages even more. 

This whole situation does affect us more than one would expect. I think it's the uncertainty that is particularly difficult for me. And it brings back memories from our toughest financial situation.We could live without these products obviously, but since they are staples they're just used a lot by many people, including us. It's just having to be creative all the time and look for solutions, which can be quite tiring. And having to cut back even more for a lot of people since so many foods are a lot more expensive. It's always on your mind. It's being afraid you can't buy that flour anymore next week, and not knowing how long it'll be gone. 

There was a time that most pasta, couscous, and every kind of rice weren't available all at the same time. Now we were fortunate that we build a stockpile, but for those that didn't, it was quite a challenge. And for some reason, stockpiling isn't something most people here do, even after these years of shortages. What do you eat if all your go to staples aren't being sold anymore? At that time, even bread at the bakery was very limited. You could buy oatmeal or ground sorghum and make porridge of course. But at least for us, that's not really considered dinner foods- I know, it's food and very filling, and if that's all you have it's certainly better than nothing but it is an adjustment to switch to other types of foods. Also, sorghum and oatmeal are quite expensive here, much more expensive than pasta and couscous, so some people (especially with large families) can't afford to eat that three times a day. Fortunately, the couscous and pasta shortages didn't last long, which was a big relief for many people.

This is an important lesson. Despite the difficult situation, and it being a trigger because of our previous poverty situation, I think you truly learn to be appreciative, be even more frugal and resourceful and to come up with creative solutions. When there were milk shortages, I made oatmilk to use in pancakes, French toast etc or to just make some hot chocolate (I don't lile drinking oat milk as is). Despite milk shortages, there was always yogurt so we had that regularly, as well as sesame seeds and sardines for our calcium. I came up with rice substitutes, such as wheat/barley burgul and orzo pasta. I drink more herbal tea to stretch the bags of loose leaf tea that we still have at home as much as possible, herbal tea is better for you anyway I guess. In many recipes, I halved the sugar.  And I'm still planning on trying to make date pit coffee. Apparently it's quite good and almost similar to the real thing. My husband will need to test that, as I'm not a coffee drinker. I must acknowledge that we're privileged not to be poor anymore (and our poverty being very different from the poverty where we live now anyway), so if we do want to splurge on an expensive product, like rice imported from the neighbouring country, we can do that. The sad reality is that for many people, this simply isn't possible. It's either buying the regular, cheaper products and if they're short of those, poor people just have to go without. I sometimes feel sorry for people whose only "splurge" was coffee with homemade cake or something, can't even buy that anymore because sugar has become too expensive. Or they have to cut back on other essentials even more. That's the sad reality for many people. But if you're living in absolute poverty, things like a nice drink once in a while isn't a luxury but an essential to feel human (in my opinion), as being poor really takes a toll mentally and physically and you really need such a "splurge" sometimes.  

I truly learned to appreciate that we do have. Although we might not always have exactly what we want, it's always much more than we actually need. I also learned that as much as I like planning, sometimes it's best to just take things as they come- by just buying what's available instead of having everything planned ahead. We obviously went never without anything we needed, even if it meant that the type of food wasn't our first choice necessarily. It makes one very creative. As aforementioned, I found a lot of substitutes for everyday items. Even though my anxiety is still there, I've tried to be a bit more relaxed about it- trying to relativize, because we're not going hungry. It's just that we're going without some food items. Yes, that can be hard, but there are many people in much more difficult situations. 

What's interesting is to see how people in general deal with this situation. People tend to gift each other bags of sugar as if it's the most valuable thing they possess, or coffee, etc. It's both funny and heartwarming at the same time. But unfortunately, as always, there are people trying to take advantage of the situation- I've heard of people trying to sell one kg of sugar four times higher than the original price. It's just ridiculous. But as long as people are willing to pay that price there are others that continue to do these things I guess. Witnessing less foods being wasted is something that really excites me. In the past, many people would buy their bread fresh everyday, usually more than actually needed. Leftover bread would be put near the trashcans on the streets "for the cats".  Only, stray cats (and dogs) couldn't finish all the foods being put on the streets- because it wasn't just bread, but also lots of leftover cooked pasta etc. It was just so much. Because of the way that hospitality is ingrained in the culture, people are used to cooking more than necessary for unexpected guests. But guests showing up unexpectedly isn't a daily occurrence, which is why sadly that extra food is thrown away. This is at least one thing in which a difficult situation still had some positive impact! It makes me happy to see that people are becoming a bit more conscious about food waste, even if the reason isn't necessarily the most fun. I do hope that once this shortages situation is over, people will remain this waste conscious. 

So, all in all, it's a tough situation but it had taught me gratitude at the same time, as well as ways to deal with my trauma based anxiety when it comes to food insecurity, food shortages etc. All we can do is pray that the situation will improve and in the meantime we'll just have to find ways to be creative and come up with substitutes and alternatives. There is however so much to be grateful for. 

Our canceled vacation

When summing up my recent frugal activities, I mentioned the biggest money saving thing of all, which wasn't a very conscious frugal thing technically, but still saved us quite a lot. We were supposed to go on a short vacation, just like we did last year, but was canceled due to different unforeseen circumstances- floods in the area where we wanted to go, among other reasons. Fortunately, we never book anything beforehand, so that wasn't an issue. To be honest, I don't mind it at all- I'm a homebody, I love being at home, relaxing, peace and quietness, and just doing everyday things. And I have a hard time with change. By the time I've adjusted to the new temporary environment, it's usually time to head back home... Which is another adjustment to deal with again! That doesn't mean I don't enjoy vacations at all, it's just that I don't really miss it. It's that the children like to go on holiday, but I wouldn't necessarily do it for myself. 

But here's the interesting part. While vacationing can be done for many reasons, people usually go on vacation to recharge themselves kind of, escaping their busy and complicated lifestyles so they can manage somewhat and wontburn out. They literally need a break and feel the need to escape for a while. It's interesting how vacations were almost nonexistent around 100 years ago, despite the lower standards of living generally. As people gained more wealth, so did vacationing become more common. This is a bit ironic to me- you'd think that with a hard, poverty stricken life, you'd need to escape every so often more than anything. But apparently, the wealthier kind of lifestyles, despite all the comfort, are quite tiring as well. More stuff usually means more worries. Not just more stuff- more appointments, more everything... I would be stressed out too. 

We, on the other hand, made a conscious decision to have a slower, more simple life, which is also probably why it's not really a big deal that we didn't do a holiday trip this summer. It's almost like our life is a holiday in and of itself- well, not completely, but by just doing what makes us happy, not worrying too much over small things or people's opinions and being in a beautiful environment. I once read a quote saying "I want a life that you don't need to escape from with a vacation" (or something similar). And that was really relatable! Not only do I want that, I also feel like we're living such a lifestyle already- or are very close to anyhow. The children said that they too didn't really mind their vacation being canceled, which probably has to do with peer pressure (or the lack thereof). Not many of their classmates would actually go on a vacation anyway. Those that do, most probably wouldn't even go abroad, but instead go to this country's coastal region (which is a few hours driving from where we live). I'm glad that there isn't very much pressure here to have the newest stuff, farest vacation and biggest car. That really does put so much pressure on kids, as well as on their parents. I personally find it odd that there can be pressure on parents to take children on a vacation because otherwise they must be poor, neglected and have a miserable childhood, even though vacationing isn't something people have always done, but is rather a modern phenomenon. I'm glad that pressure (and even worse: bullying) is nonexistent here, and I feel sorry for parents that take their kids on vacations just so their kids don't get bullied, especially for people whose finances are tight and that money could have been spent in better ways. 

I think it all comes down to mindset. If vacations are essential to you it must be quite miserable not to be able to pay for one. If you don't value it that much, it's a whole different story. I think people should reeducate themselves about keeping themselves and the kids entertained at home and to enjoy the small pleasures of a simple way of life. I'm not saying people can't go on a trip if that's what they like, but just a suggestion as to what's possible if going on a trip is too expensive, or impossible for whatever reasons. 

So anyways, our vacation plans being canceled wasn't a big deal to us. And it saved us a lot of money! Either way, we all did enjoy our three month long summer break. 

Thrifting is fun!

As mentioned, I recently thrifted some clothes. Thrifting clothes is something we're big on. We try to only buy clothes when needed but if we do need them, we nearly always thrift. Most people here buy their clothes at the 2nd hand store or at the market where there are 2nd hand selling vendors. So it's quite the norm to thrift clothes. Brand new clothes aren't of good quality and for shops like H&M or Zara, you'd have to drive well over three hours- not to mention it's out of budget for many people. Buying and wearing pre loved clothes being socially accepted really does make it more fun in my opinion. Everyone is doing it, so it's not a big deal- I say that because in the past, we were judged because of buying second hand clothes, even though they were still in perfect shape. I don't mind people having opinions, but I just wish people wouldn't be so judgmental at times. 

Anyway, back to the topic. My daughter needed some shirts and pajamas. So she got some of those, and we ended up buying two shirts for me too. Didn't really need them, oh well... My rule for buying clothes that I don't strictly need is that at least it's something I will definitely wear. One shirt I already wore and the other is still in my closet. The funny thing is that the yet--unworn-shirt had the tag still on. I'm not really an expert when it comes to fashion and brands, so I looked up the brand. Apparently, it's quite an expensive one and one brand new shirt of them costs $90 on sale. Brand new and without being on sale, it's probably close to $150. So I'd say it's not bad to find such an item for the equivalent of just $1. Thrift store finds like these definitely make thrifting even more fun to me. 

Just to clarify: I'm not specifically on the lookout for expensive brand clothes when shopping at thrift stores/markets. I just look what fits my size and style. Looking for expensive brands only would be a bit difficult anyway, as I don't really know/remember brand names. I do know a few, but my knowledge is certainly limited. And I'm not really looking to expand that knowledge either as it doesn't really seem interesting to me. But, I must admit that I find it really cool to pay that tiny of an amount for something that expensive! Lol. I think other frugal people can relate to this. If not, I must be just a weird lady 😅

What did we eat past week

Couscous- 2x. One with vegetable stew, and the other one made by my sister in law with lamb, chickpeas and raisins (which is another traditional way to eat couscous here)

Makarouna, Tunisian pasta made with spaghetti, 2x. One was meatless and served with a side of with a salad. And my sister in law actually made this same dish for us as well, but made with chicken

Steamed vermicelli with sticken and a tomato/onion/raisin stew (kind of Moroccan flavoured) 

Ojja - Tunisian style shakshuka, with bread (this was actually lunch, I don't really cook for lunch usually though). 

Slata mechouia - a Tunisian hot condiment/dip of onion, garlic, tomatoes and peppers, served with homemade bread and olive oil and a side of fries 

Rice with dhaal and leafy greens (I think it was chard) 

See, it's nice to have family visiting but it does kind of mess up with our meal planning. This is a reminder why it's very hard to meal plan here because of the people that are so spontaneous. I really do appreciate that they show their love by cooking us foods. But the lack of planning can made me a little bit frustrated at times, I must admit. 

Recent frugal activities

I've been quite busy lately, which is obvious when you look at the blog. There's just so much to do that blogging is put on the back burner! I think August is one of the busiest times of the year in terms of cooking/ food preparation. And we don't even have a garden (we do grow a few things here and there, but just don't consider it as a "real" garden- as in, a garden which is sufficient to sustain us with most of our homegrown vegetables for the rest of the year). But, even if you buy your produce at the store or at the market, there's a lot of things to be busy with, I guess. 

Here's some things I did lately: 

Since we were almost drowning in tomatoes (no exaggerating- since they're so cheap right now, we bought a lot and also got a lot from neighbours), I made tomato sauce which I canned. And also made slata mechouia (a Tunisian dip/sauce similar to salsa), which I also canned. 

Made broth with chicken scraps, and since there was still some more broth in the freezer, I thawed that broth and let that evaporated until about half of the original quantity was left over, I then poured this into smaller containers (3/4 cup in each container), and froze it for later use. 

Froze aquafaba (chickpea cooking brine) for later use 

Had a lot of leftovers from the freezer, both because I needed that freezer space but also because I didn't want those foods to get too old and getting wasted 

Tried to use up as much nearly-spoiled produce as possible- especially sad looking hot peppers. They were a bit wrinkly, but perfectly edible. 

Did a lot from scratch cooking including baking bread. Not sure if that counts because that's just a usual practice for me. 

Thrifted some clothes for me and my oldest daughter. 

My husband mended some of our clothes. 

Repaired a few things in and around the house. 

Didn't run the AC for many days as the weather is changing a bit. It's still warm, but bearable. On some days we didn't even need a fan. 

And tthe most cost saving thing: we postponed our holiday plans, due to a few unforeseen circumstances. Possibly we'll skip going on vacation altogether this year. Despite it not being because of wanting to be frugal, it sure is a frugal thing not to go on vacation (fortunately, we never book anything beforehand so that wasn't an issue). 

Probably did a few more things that I can't recall because frugality is just daily life for me. But these are the things I could immediately think of. All in all, considering I'm so busy lately I'm pleased with these accomplishments.

Cleaning on a (tight) budget

Whenever people are mentioning their low weekly budgets, they usually tell "...and that's even without cleaning supplies". I get that getting by on a low budget can be stressful, having had personal experience with that myself. But, the cleaning stuff have never really been an issue. In fact, it's where we'd spend the least out of all groceries. I'm convinced that with almost no money, it's possible to buy all your cleaning necessities. 

As time went by, and our finances improved, I've noticed that our spending on cleaning stuff hadn't increased so much. Not spending a lot in this area isn't just a choice out of frugality, it's also for the environment- not wanting too much harsh chemicals in the home. I'm not completely using only good stuff and rigorously shunning all the chemicals, but I'm still glad our detergent cupboard doesn't equal some sort of chemical factory either. 

What do I all use? First of all, I probably have mentioned this a lot by now, but we try to use as little disposable products as possible, so that includes wipes. I really don't see the need to pay for disposable wipes that are usually much more pricey than the good old reusable ones. So, no disposable wipes it is. I only use a piece of kitchen roll when I clean the shower drain (we live here with three girls which means quite a lot of hair...). But, only if it's a lot and I always cut one piece of paper unto four squares. So one roll still lasts a long time. Another disposable product I use are sponges - I like referring to them as semi disposable as they don't get tossed right away, but still get tossed in the end. I'm still looking for a solution to that though, I do have a cleaning brush but sponges are just more convenient in my opinion. 

Now we'll move on to the detergents. I try to keep this as minimalistic as possible, and especially not using single purpose cleaners. Those are really a waste of money in my opinion. The main products I use are washing up liquid (which I buy in large 5L jugs), a block of household soap, which is insanely cheap here, powdered laundry detergent -not just for the laundry-, and vinegar. I also have a jug of "all purpose cleaner", which is a bit of a misleading name because there is no cleaner in that jug; it's just scented water which you can add to your mopping water or even throw some of it to the toilet bowl etc. And yes, I use bleach too. Bleach water to be exactly, not the concentrated stuff because bleach water is much cheaper here. But I try not to use that a lot honestly. I'll elaborate some on how I use each of the aforementioned cleaning products: 

Washing up liquid: for the dishes (duh!), as we don't have a dishwasher. And to me that includes the counter, sink and hob. I pretty much use this washing up liquid as an all purpose cleaner, adding some drops to a bucket of water for mopping the floors, or when dusting surfaces, cleaning the fridge etc. It's basically my all purpose cleaner, just a very concentrated one. 

Block of soap: I like this for cleaning the bathroom - rubbing it on a sponge and then cleaning the sink with it. And then for the wall tiles, toilet, shower surface, floor etc. I use it diluted in a bucket of water. I also make my toilet cleaner by diluting a bar of this kind of soap and boiling it, then adding some of the scented water that I mentioned. I also use this soap to remove stains out of clothes, which works great. Sometimes I rub some of this soap on stains before the clothes get washed in the machine too. Washing clothes by hand is something which is still done by a lot of people where we live, and because this soap is so powerful at removing stains, most will use this plain soap - also because it's insanely cheap (the ones that wash by hand are doing so usually because they're very poor). One bar of soap costs onder €0.30, which is very very affordable. 

Powdered laundry detergent: We buy big bulk sacks of detergent, of 5 or even 10 KG. The main purpose is laundry, obviously, but there are other uses. When I'm short of washing up liquid, I use this detergent, as do many people here (which they then mix with bleach... But that's something I would never do!). And I use it in the toilet bowl- whenever I'm not using my other toilet cleaner. Note that this detergent isn't exactly the same as every other powdered laundry detergent, it's a multi purpose product- at least that's what the package says. 

Vinegar: I used to use it a lot more than I do now, which is because quite a few surfaces in our home aren't suitable to be cleaned with vinegar. But I still use it as a fabric softener replacement, to descale taps, etc. Last winter, I made a cleaner with a lot of leftover lemon peels soaked in vinegar - then diluted with water because the peels make the vinegar even more strong. Not only is this a great way to use your leftover citrus peels (I used lemon, but orange peels are a great option too), it's also smelling less vinegary, for those who are put off by using vinegar because of the smell. I regularly use this in the toilet bowl and for other things that I would use regular vinegar. 

Oh, and this one is probably a bit unusual but I also keep some cheap shampoo for certain cleaning jobs such as heavy duty descaling, or when I need a "real" all purpose cleaner instead of washing up liquid. I already have shampoo ar home anyway, and thus way I'm avoiding buying expensive and big bottles of cleaners that I'd use a few times before it's just sitting endlessly in the cupboard. So I guess I'd need to add shampoo to my list too. You might not consider it as a real cleaner but I guess I do. 

Bleach: I try it to use it as minimal as possible, so one bottle lasts quite a while. I clean my bathroom with it every so often and the main use is when I've been cutting chicken. Sometimes I even dare to just use washing up liquid for that. 

So these are the main cleaners we use, which allow us to spend as little as possible on cleaning while at the same time staying organized because we don't have a thousand of different kind of detergents, cleaners and whatnot. Cleaning doesn't need expensive, ultra scented stuff (although that's fine too if that's important to you, but I guess for me it isn't...). Soap is usually enough, you might have to use some extra elbow grease at times. 

What did we eat past week

I've been really busy lately, and I was planning on posting a few blogs, but I really need some extra time! Still wanted to share my weekly menu in retrospect. 

Couscous 

Vegetable, potato and chicken stew with homemade bread 

Creamy tomato soup with homemade dinner rolls and egg salad 

Pasta made with leftovers (some of my huge batch of tomato sauce I made earlier, leftover stew, and some leftover stir fried courgette) -2x

Sandwiches with canned sardines and harissa

Homemade slata mechouia (a spicy Tunisian dip) with boiled eggs and homemade bread 

Lots of tomatoes! + recipes

It's all about tomatoes lately at our house! Theyre in season now, and very cheap. We bought a lot at the souk, and then we were gifted even more by our neighbour, whose aunt lives on a farm and apparently had a very good harvest this year. So I've been making lots of tomato/marinara sauce. I'm also planning to make slata mechouia, which is a Tunisian condiment quite similar to salsa. 

I've used the tomato sauce as is in a pasta dish, and also made a scrumptious tomato soup. My husband and children aren't the biggest fans of soup (tell me you're north African without telling youre north African 😆), but they all gobbledit up, it was that good! Best thing is, the soup was beyond easy to make - that is, if you don't include making the huge pot of sauce. There was still a lot of sauce left, so I used that sauce to can. It's a bit work, but it's so convenient to have some jars of canned food at home. I love that it doesn't take up precious freezer space - while we do have a relatively freezer, there seems to be never enough space somehow. So if I can save space by canning instead of freezing, I'm happy to do so. 

I want to share the recipes, but as always, just take the amounts as a guide- just add less or more seasoning, oil, onions etc. 

For the sauce, I used about 2/3 bucket full of tomatoes, diced into pieces. This was all chopped before starting. Then I chopped 4 large onions. I sautéed the onions in a generous amount of olive oil, then added two heaped teaspoons of garlic paste and the seasonings: black pepper, paprika, parsley, basil, oregano, sage, and rosemary. I also added salt. Then I added about half of the chopped tomatoes, stirred well so the tomatoes would be mixed with the seasonings, and then added the remaining tomatoes, and stirred again. I then added some bay leaves. Then just let it simmer until enough water has evaporated (this depends on your personal preference, some people prefer thick sauce whereas others prefer the sauce to be runnier). Towards the end, I blended it shortly (on the lowest setting, my immersion blender has 5 settings), then let it cook a bit more. Keep an eye on it and stirr regularly! I made two of these pots of sauce. Perhaps I will even make more if we find/get more cheap or free tomatoes. As I mentioned, you can use whatever seasonings you like, even keeping it as basic as possible with just salt and pepper, so it's more versatile without a distinct flavour profile. 

As for the soup, I used about 2 cups of sauce, diluted with water and blended (in a regular blender which you use for making smoothies) until very smooth. I then made a simple white sauce, and added the tomato "juice" to that. The remaining sauce in the blender was diluted with more water - to make cleaning up more easy. I poured this in a small saucepan, added two vegetable bullion cubes (could have use real brothbut I guess I was lazy!) and about 2/3 cup of vermicelli. I let this boil until soft and then added it to the soup. Easy but delicious! I served the soup with homemade dinner rolls and egg salad. These kind of meals are among our favourite; simple yet delicious. 

Tightwad tip: line drying laundry

I must admit, we never ever owned a dryer. Growing up my parents did have one, but line dried whenever it was possible, or even used an indoor drying rack. But then when I was around 12 and my parents divorced, I lived with my mum in smaller houses where there wasn't room for a dryer. 

When my husband and me moved into our own small rental apartment, there obviously wasn't enough space for a dryer, as only a washer just fitted in the tiny kitchen. Fortunately, the garden was quite big so we did have enough space for line drying - if the weather was good enough. On other occasions, we used indoor drying racks, which was and still is quite common in most parts of Europe. 

In northern Africa, dryers are kind of unheard of - usually appliance stores sell just one kind of dryer in between hundreds of fridges, hobs and washing machines. So line drying here is even more the norm than it is in Europe. Which is logical given the fact that for the majority of the year, the weather is good. But even during the winter, people will line dry. And so do we. At first I was a bit reluctant of line drying during the winter - despite the mild winters here, it's still a bit damp and chilly. And honestly it does take longer to dry than it does during the summer, but when I hang our laundry to dry in the morning, it's usually dry in the evening. Since rain is quite rare where we live, that's not something we have to worry about. Even if it does rain, we have a place in the backyard where there's a roof over the drying line, for emergencies. It does dry a little less fast but it does dry anyway. Last winter we did have a bit more rain than usual, and I was tempted to buy an indoor drying rack- something I hadn't used since we emigrated. But, I challenged myself not to buy one at least that winter and just see how we could manage with line drying on the main line on dry days and on the backyard pine for rainy days. In the end, I didn't really miss the rack. And I must admit that it would only just clutter up our living space even more. Rainy winters are exceptional here anyway so if I would have bought the rack it would probably just be sitting here in the winters to come. 

Line drying isn't necessarily a very "thrifty" thing to do in my mind; I just find it logical. However, I do realize that for some people that are used to dryers, it's quite a frugal thing to do, hence my tightwad tip of today. For me it's logical because I haven't really experienced something different, I don't think it's a lot of work and it has a lot of benefits over using dryers. The main benefit, obviously, is the lower electricity bill. Appliances that cool and dry are usually the most expensive to run, so that definitely includes dryers. There's also the cost of purchasing one; dryers can be quite expensive, especially a qualitative one, so you'll save lots of money by simply not buying one. Your clothes will also last much longer which is saving you money too. There's also the additional saving on not having to buy dryer sheets and balls.And lastly, hanging clothes to dry is quite a good exercise for your arm/back muscles. And of course, nothing beats the smell of fresh line dried laundry, I think we can all agree on that! 

So, whether line drying is a really thrifty thing to you or just a normal thing, it really does save a lot of money, it saves space, and a gym membership. Ok, that last one is slightly exaggerated, but still it adds up to your daily exercise! 

What did we eat past week

Couscous - 2x (the first was our 2nd batch of a double cooked batch, the other one made by our neighbour)

Pasta with lamb and vegetables

Leftovers from the pasta sauce with bread (hubby's idea, and that turned out to be quite nice) 

Ojja - Tunisian version of shakshuka, with bread - 2x 

Couscous with courgette, chickpeas and chicken fillet (not really a traditional dish, but quite nice anyhow) 

Nearly all meals were served with a tomato/cucumber/red onion salad again. We're trying to take as much advantage as possible to have cheap and delicious in season produce! 4 of the 7 meals were meatless. 

Previous week, it was a bit too much bread. This past week, it was a bit too much couscous! It seems like I never learn to balance and vary a bit more! Oh well. Fortunately, I did not get any complaints. If there were any leftovers, they were eaten for lunch. 

Easy and delicious pasta recipe

The other day I made a scrumptious pasta dish with boneless lamb and vegetables. It was quite an easy "recipe" (I find it hard to call a bunch ingredients thrown together a recipe though), but it was delicious! Since we had a lot of tomatoes that I wanted to use, I thought pasta would hit the spot. 

Lamb meat, cut into small pieces, about one kg 

Around 8 large tomatoes and 3 large onions

Some carrots and bell peppers, depending on how vegetable-y you want the meal. You can use other veges but this is what I had on hand and what I thought would suit this meal best

Seasonings used: sage, parsley, basil, oregano (all dried), black pepper, cumin, paprika, garlic, salt, olive oil 

2 heaped spoons of tomato paste 

About half a cup of water 

Chop the onions in whatever size you wish, I diced them. Then saute and in the meantime chop your tomatoes. Now add the seasonings to your onions, saute for some minute or so and then add the meat, keep sauteeing for a few minutes. Now add the tomato past tomatoes and water, stirr well, then let it simmer on a low flame. Now peel and dice your carrots and slice the bell peppers. Stirr every so often. When the sauce is simmering for about half an hour, add the carrots. Then after half an hour or so, add the bell peppers. My sauce simmered for almost an hour and a half. It depends on how young the lamb is, so it might need more or less cooking time. By the end my sauce had the perfect consistency, not too thick but not runny either. If you like olive oil as much ad I do, you can add some more olive oil a few minutes before turning off the heat. 

Now cook your pasta - I used fussili/rotini. I used 1.5 package (750 grams) because I was cooking for our neighbours too. It was exactly the right amount, with some leftover sauce, so I could have used one kg exactly to use up all that sauce (but that didn't fit in the pan I was using... 😆🫣) When the pasta is done, drain and mix with the sauce and serve. 

I have no idea what this is called because it's really some ingredients that I had on hand and that I threw together. But apparently it comes close to what some people would call goulash. My husband liked it that much that he was happy to have some leftover sauce and he's already planning how to have the leftovers, and my children asked if I could make this again! I love it when I try something new and everyone loved the dish. 

Rescuing foods - produce edition

Here's a few tips to save your produce from spoilage. Of course it's better to plan everything perfectly in advance and try not even to come near that stage, but sometimes life comes in the way. Fortunately, there are still ways to rescue produce, even when that doesn't seem to be a possibility. 

Carrots 🥕: softened carrots can be firmed up again by soaking them in water for as long as needed. The softer they are, the longer they need to soak. As we're speaking, I put some carrots to soak that had become way too flexible. They soaked overnight and are firm again! 

Tomatoes 🍅: spots need to be removed obviously. Our cat loves tomatoes and gobbles it up as if it were meat. So spotted tomatoes become cat food in our house! Tomatoes that aren't ripe enough (think green tomatoes) can be used in a variety of ways, I read some about a green tomato chutney, but never tried that myself (I have never come across unripe tomatoes here honestly, but I know it's a common problem for gardeners at the end of the season). 

Cucumbers 🥒: Like carrots, they can become flexible too. Especially the breed of cucumbers they sell here, which is a bit different from what I was used to in the Netherlands. If the soaking trick doesn't work, I usually just cook them. They resemble cooked courgette in taste and texture. This is also an idea to use up accidentally frozen cucumbers. Even if you don't have to "rescue" them but you've become bored of eating raw cucumber day after day, it's still nice to get some variety and cook up yourself some cucumber. 

Lettuce 🥬: The most common problem with leafy greens and especially lettuce is probably wilting. Rconsidering the way of consuming it isn't restricted to cucumbers, and I have added lettuce to soups and stews. Of course, you won't end up with a lot, so unless you have a massive amount of lettuce, don't use it as your main ingredient. It really does give some extra flavour to many dishes - you can use it in place of using spinach, kale, chard or whatever leafy greens you're used to. If you insist on eating your wilted lettuce raw, you can firm it up a bit with ice cubes. 

Potatoes 🥔: Just like carrots, softened potatoes can be soaked in water to make them more firm. 

Apples 🍎: I must admit that I'm not the biggest fruit lover in the world. And while I eat apples, if there's something I especially hate, it's softened apples. It's like biting into a sponge or something 😬 A few days ago we had some soft apples again. While I will absolutely not eat them as is, I don't mind cooked apples. So, I cut off the bad spots, cored them and cut the apples into small chunks. It was a great addition to my oatmeal porridge, and a dash of cinnamon made it extra nice. If you have more apples, making applesauce is a great idea too. But I had just three small ones, with quite a few spots, so cooked chunks of apple it was. There are many other ways to use up soft apples. You can add them to cakes, muffins, make apple crisp, apple bread, even stews...  There's so much to choose from really, there is just not an excuse for tossing that soft apple. (OK sometimes there is... But I'm talking about normal situations lol)

Watermelon 🍉: Sometimes they sell watermelons here that are not that tasty. What to do with a bland watermelon? I have used them for making cold soup, smoothies (sometimes it was just "juice" of watermelon, some sugar and water), even for making jam/syrups. I also tried to dehydrate watermelon, which was quite a fun project, which the kids loved because it was basically just turned into candy! And you can even fry watermelon- it's a bit like a fish/meat replacement for sushi (of course, it can be served in any way but apparently some vegans use it for their sushi). Yes, watermelon is very versatile. And remember not to toss the rinds as they can be cooked (and used as a vegetable), as well as fermented or pickled. 

Bananas 🍌: especially during the summer, Bananas ripen fast. But fortunately, baking with bananas is really good- some people buy bananas on purpose for certain baked goods. They make a great egg replacement and give a very nice flavour overall. In some cuisines, bananas are being used in savory dishes too. My Somali friend from the Netherlands always had a banana as a side with her dinner. If you're having banana with your dinner, a few spots aren't as annoying as they are when eating them as is. 

Melon 🍈: we once bought a melon that appeared to be bland and also not soft enough. I cooked it up and made "pumpkin" soup with it. No one noticed it was melon and not pumpkin. 

These were just a few types of fruit, but all fruit in general can be frozen and used for smoothies. 

Courgettes/zucchini: if it's a bit too bland (usually when it's a massive one from the garden), you can make "mock pineapple", make courgette muffins, or add it to dishes in which it isn't the main ingredient. 

Lemons 🍋: if it's starting to become a bit dry, why not dehydrate the lemon altogether? Dehydrated lemons (also known as black limes) make a perfect addition to many middle eastern/central Asian dishes. 

This was all I could think of right now... Possibly this post will be edited when I come up with more ideas. 

Tightwad tip: avoiding plastic wrap/aluminum foil

People have become so accustomed to using disposable products. Even though they sometimes come in very handy, usually it's not difficult to find a more green and frugal replacement. I,too, must admit that I use them from time to time! Especially my homemade garlic paste- I keep them in small yogurt containers that I clean and reuse. I tightly wrap aluminum foil over them to reduce the risk of a smelling freezer. My experience with using reusable containers for this wasn't ideal because you're dealing with remnants of garlic smell for ages! But aside from the garlic paste,I noticed that I was using my aluminum foil a bit too much- usually quite unnecessary. 

Sometimes you don't have containers with a lid on hand, and you don't want to use lots of aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and you're torn between either using all that disposable stuff or freezer burnt food. But the other day I read that some people brush their frozen foods with some vegetable oil, which will create a layer that prevents from freezer burn. This way you don't have to use disposable materials or having to deal with freezer burn. I tried it on many foods already (soup, aquafaba, pasta sauce, lemon juice, homemade broth, pesto... among others), and it really does work!

So my tightwad tip for today is that just one drop of oil will save you dozens of disposed aluminum and plastic without the fear of weird tasting foods. 

If you don't like an oily layer on your food- even though it's just a very tiny amount, so in most cases you won't notice it at all- you can easily scoop off that layer of oil by wiping it with a paper/cloth (I use un-paper towels), ideally a few minutes after taking the foods out of the fridge, when the defrosting process starts. 

Seasoning food on a tight budget

I've been watching some "emergency grocery budget" videos lately (you've gotta do something when you're feeling sick and can't do anything but being in bed, right?). One thing that I noticed was that most of these vloggers - no matter how good their intentions are - somehow assume that people have all these "pantry staples" on hand. I'm talking about basic items, or even less basic items, like rice, oil, flour, tinned tomatoes, but also the seasonings. And while that's true in some cases, there are also people that are truly broke, having nothing but empty cupboards and with a budget of maybe 20 euros/dollars for the next week or two weeks for ALL their groceries (been there, done that...). If that's the case, it's hard to expect your meals to be flavoured with dozens of different seasonings and all kinds of additional ingredients. With 20 euros, you want to stretch your meals as much as possible so seasonings just won't be as important as your main staples. In such a situation, it's more about filling your stomachs with whatever is the cheapest. 

Yet, at the same time, you still need to have a tiny bit of flavour in order not to feel very deprived when you're going through such a situation. Not having a lot to choose from for a few weeks isn't that difficult. But sometimes, these situations can go on for years. So I get that people want to "indulge" on at least some extra flavour, especially when you have to make do with so little already. Having been there, done that I definitely know that it can be a challenge, but still possible when you precisely budget and shop smartly. 

Bread: while bread toppings aren't strictly necessary, I find it kind of hard to eat bread as is, especially if it's not day fresh. I've found that toasting bread enhances the flavour (which is the very reason toast was "invented"- to make stale bread a bit more palatable). During rough times, I didn't mind to have just a bare toast with a cup of tea. We also had times when we just had margarine (because it's much cheaper than butter), which felt quite luxurious when compared to bare bread. Or even margarine sprinkled with some sugar (and cinnamon, if possible). That wouldn't even feel like "cheap food" to me honestly. It's not that healthy obviously, but with an extremely tight budget, that's not always the #1 priority. Bread can also be part of the main meal, such as a slice or two of bread along with a cup of soup. Which is good, because then the soup becomes the topping/easoning of the bread without needing anything else. I would advise using butter (or at least margarine, if butter is too expensive) over oil, because butter is more versatile/multi purpose. You can use it both for bread as well as cooking, whereas cooking oil isn't that suitable for bread obviously (unless you have olive oil... Which isn't quite what I'd expect for someone on a very low budget). Alternatively, you can buy peanut butter, and then use it for bread as well as for main dishes (you can make sauced and salad dressings based on peanut butter). 

Main meals:

Salt : the bare minimum, in my opinion, is salt. Black pepper would be nice too, but as long as you have salt, that's the most important. Salt can make such a difference to foods, even foods that initially would seem to be bland. 

Herbs/spices: if you don't have any on hand and your budget allows to buy a few spices, the ones I'd suggest would be black pepper, cumin, oregano, parsley (dried or fresh), ginger (ground is cheaper), and paprika. And cinnamon, especially to flavour up sweet dishes/breakfast foods. If you don't have money for all of these, just pick a few. Pepper, oregano and cumin would be good to start with. Usually, herbs and spices are more affordable at Asian/Middle eastern stores. Spices bought in supermarkets are just so much more expensive. And in my opinion, spices bought from those stores usually taste stronger too, which means you'll end up using less. That makes it even more cheaper. 

Onion/garlic: in my humble opinion, each meal must include either onion or garlic, preferably both! It doesn't just add a bit of nutrition - they're both great flavour enhancers. You don't have to use a whole onion or cloves of garlic, just a bit is usually enough to flavour your food so it doesn't taste bland. If you just have a tiny bit of garlic, the best thing you can do is to add it towards the end of the cooking time, so it tastes as garlicky as possible. As for onions: when I make a stew or soup of some sort, I sometimes add onion peels instead of whole chopped onions. I keep a container in the fridge with some onion peels; that way I don't have to peel and chop another onion (and possibly washing up another chopping board...), for as much flavour. If you're truly broke, that's an affordable way to add more flavour to your food. Even a small amount of chopped and sautéed onion does wonders to about any dish. 

Tomato paste: it's a key ingredient in most Tunisian foods, so needless to say, we go through a lot of it! Even for many non-Tunisian dishes, we use tomato paste. However, tomato paste has become ridiculoudly expensive lately. We're paying now exactly double for the same tin compared to three years ago! And it's not that it was that cheap back then. We definitely try to be more frugal now with the tomato paste, often resulting in a bit more runny sauce, but still with a nice tomato-ey flavour. When you're in that bad of a financial situation that you barely can afford seasonings, if you can afford some tomato paste, I'd highly suggest buying it. You can use a tiny amount just for some flavour. When I'm being lazy I sometimes make a "soup" of some tomato paste, salt, and garlic paste- and then add vermicelli. My children absolutely love this. If tomato paste is more expensive than pasta sauce/marinara sauce, that's absolutely an option as well. It's basically just tomato paste with added seasonings, so you can just forego adding extra seasonings. In an emergency, even ketchup would be an option. I must admit that we never ever have ketchup at home but on the rare occasion when we crave it, I make it myself. But if you do have ketchup on hand, just use that as a seasoning. It won't be as good as real tomato sauce, but most people will prefer ketchup over blandness. 

Stock cubes/bullion cubes: not as good and certainly not as healthy as real brother made out of fresh ingredients, but does a decent job to flavour up your food. Just one cube will do wonders to your rice. It's not limited to rice of course. You can flavour up soups, sauces etc. One cube will probably be enough for one 4 persons meal. Maybe one of package of stock cubes is not the cheapest item out there, but it will last a long time. The good thing here is that you can buy them per cube (for the same price you'd pay in a complete package), but that's probably not possible everywhere. Still, a complete package will not break the bank even on a very tight budget. 

These were the bare basic seasonings that I'd recommend when on a very restricted budget. If you have some more breathing room, I would also advise to have mustard, sesame seeds, marmite, soy sauce (and/or fish sauce), and any hot condiment of your choice on hand. BBQ sauce is also a versatile condiment to flavour up your food. I posted a mock soy sauce recipe, just in case soy sauce us hard to find, too expensive, or in case you're allergic to soy.                        And remember- the best seasonings are the main ingredients. If you use good, fresh ingredients, you'll likely use less seasonings. Although that can be challenging on an extreme budget, I must admit. 

As I mentioned, there were periods in our life when we had to go through similar situations; having to ration everything and calculate precisely so we wouldn't go hungry. Even though it was tough at the time, it really taught us to be resourceful and creative. Hopefully this can help people in similar situations. There are many people struggling these days, so I'm convinced tips like these are needed more than ever. 

What did we eat past week

Past week was a bit of a messy week; we all caught the flu, leaving little energy for cooking a lot (or doing anything at all really). Fortunately I still had some pre-cooked meals in the fridge and freezer. And my sweet neighbour brought a meal one day. 

The meals we had as main meal were: 

Couscous 

Douara (offal stew) with bread

Migli, also known as Tunisian style fish & chips (from our neighbour) 

Lentil stew with bread, 2x

Makarouna (Tunisian pasta), this time with ditali shapes 

Ojja, Tunisian version of shakshuka (eggs in spicy tomato sauce), with again, bread 

That was a lot of bread! Hopefully this week it will be slightly better in terms of variety. I guess bread is easiest when you don't feel well. 

Tightwad tip - remember dates

My father in law is one of the most frugal persons I know. Seriously, he is even stingy at times, depriving himself from basic needs, even though his finances aren't tight. As frugal as my husband is (which is something to be expected when raised by parents that frugal), my FIL would describe him as a "big spender", just because he's not as insanely frugal as him. 

He does have very smart tricks though, even if they'd be categorized as extreme, but who cares? A while ago, we needed a washing up liquid bottle - we buy 5L jugs of washing up liquid, so I pour that into smaller bottles. We asked my FIL if he had an empty one. He did, and handed it over. I had to chuckle a bit when I saw the bottle, because it was typical my FIL. Apparently, he wrote on the bottle a date - probably the date of purchase or when he started to use it. I'm sure he set a goal for himself, that it wasn't allowed to get empty before a certain date. 

Even if this seems a bit extreme, I found it quite clever. I sometimes find myself thinking of how long ago I've opened a certain item - usually detergents. By simply writing down dates you can keep track of that. Being stingy or "extremely frugal" isn't always that bad, in my opinion- it's only bad when it negatively affects others. 

My best anti food waste tips

We really try our best to be as anti waste as possible, if you hadn't noticed that already. It's just something that really makes me cringe. My perfect world would be one with no wasted food and no hunger. 

However, it can be a bit hard to tell which of the things we do are considered an "anti waste measurement", because it's just how we've been living for so long. I'd have to think deep if someone would ask me what THE best anti waste tips would be, as there are so many factors weighing in when it comes to wasting food.

Since I believe a lot of foods are wasted because of poor shopping management, that's the first thing I would suggest a beginner to focus on. I talked before why meal planning doesn't really work for us. But, for many people it does, so I will definitely include that one. If you don't really meal plan, like us, it's best to estimate what you'll be using, keeping in mind that fresh produce doesn't last that long (although some does last long). Also, it's a good idea to read up on all the tricks that the supermarkets have to make people buy more impulsively. Once you're aware of that, it's easier not to spend money on unnecessary items. With shelf stable goods that isn't really a problem though (unless it's a product you're unfamiliar with and ends up in the bin), but buying too much fresh produce all at once isn't a good idea, even if it's for a good price. Checking out the reduced rack is a good idea if you want to save money, but it's not in that rack for no reason - be sure you're using it right away or freezing it or you're ending up with tossing it anyway. 

Speaking of how fast certain produce spoils, it's best to make dishes in order from how quickly a certain vegetable spoils and then the one right after that etc. For example, when we buy leafy greens, that's used on the grocery shopping day. Or at best the day after. Leafy greens tend to spoil quickly, no matter how well you store them, in my opinion. If there's too much to use right away, I immediately freeze them or spread them on a large tray to dehydrate (in summer time). I usually then use up the vegetables that keep longer but not that long, such as courgettes, aubergine, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers etc. Root vegetables are least perishable, such as carrots, turnips etc. 

When we buy our produce at the market, especially carrots are covered in sand. There were times that we bought a whole lot of carrots because of their low price and they almost lasted for two months (!). Sand is a great way to keep vegetables for much longer, however odd that may sound. I heard of people living fridgeless and this was their way to store vegetables. If your veges come clean from the store, I would suggest to rub some sand on certain produce. Yes, it probably doesn't look that neat (although there's nothing dirty about sand), but it's not always about aestatics. It's not very hard to clean your fridge drawer from a lot of sand, but it does prevent a lot of food waste. 

Storing food is a way people make a lot of mistakes with, ending up with spoiled foods. And this is especially true for leftovers. I try to keep one shelf in the fridge solely for leftovers. That's the easiest way I can see all in one go whatever needs to be used. I like to use reused glass jars for smaller amounts of leftovers. Glass jars allow you to immediately see what's in there; if you don't see what's in a certain container, you'll likely forget it and end up wasting it after it goes bad. When there are no glass jars, or the glass you have are too small for the quantity you want to refrigerate, the next best option is to use a transparent container. And I also have a certain way of arranging my "leftovers shelf", putting those jars that need to be used up first at the front row. 

Preventing food waste doesn't necessarily mean just preventing your cooked dishes going to waste. I learned a lot the past few years about what's edible of different vegetables and fruits. Most produce have parts that people mindlessly throw away, when in fact they're totally edible. Just to name a few: strawberry tops, fennel fronds, broad bean pods, banana peels, broccoli stems, among other things. If they're all totally edible, I don't see a reason why tossing those wouldn't considered food waste. Yet, in most households these go all to waste. This really comes down to people not being educated on what actually is edible and what isn't. The good thing is, it's never too late to learn. 

Sometimes it takes a bit creativity to avoid waste. Let's say you have some leftover pasta sauce in the fridge that you have to use up quickly. But you don't have any pasta, and can't go to the store/have no money until payday. What would you do? I know there are people who would just toss it. Or freeze it in the hopes it would get used another time, only to toss it eight months later when the freezer is being deep cleaned. If it were me I would just combine it with whatever starch we had on hand - possibly making a pizza with it, serve over rice/bulgur etc. This way,we have had the most amazing food combinations (and some less amazing combinations 🥲). 

Lastly: A giving spirit and being anti waste usually go hand in hand. If you've got a bit too much of whatever is about to turn bad, why not simply share with others? Last year, we bought apples - quite a large amount, 20 kg (45 Lbs, for my American readers). The thing was, we could only buy it in that large amount, as the vendor wanted to get rid of it all. So we bought it and shared about half with different neighbours and relatives and used the rest to make applesauce. Of that applesauce, I also gave some. And we get a lot of things in return. It's a matter of sometimes giving and sometimes receiving, and I'm grateful that in our community it's still like this. If you declutter your pantry and there are shelf stable goods you won't use, you can likely donate it to your local food pantry/food bank. We don't have food banks here, so I can't do that, but I thought I'd share this tip anyway. 

Since there are many poor people where we live, there are beggars. Now the thing is, sometimes they're faking it and aren't "real" poor people. While I do love helping others, I still prefer to help out those who need it and not people who just take advantage of other's goodness. So I'm a bit reluctant to hand over money to these people. Since they go door to door, our solution is that we just give food, be it shelf stable or fresh produce. If they aren't grateful for food, they're certainly not poor in my opinion. 

Makarouna bel salsa - Tunisian pasta recipe

Tunisians LOVE pasta. It's their main staple food (along with bread), even more so than couscous. According to the statistics, Tunisia is the second largest pasta consuming country in the world, right after Italy. It's the Sicilians that originally brought pasta here and people have been eating it in large amounts ever since.

It's interesting that people don't associate pasta with north African cuisine when it's consumed that much (Libyans also love their pasta). Perhaps that's the interesting thing about north African cuisine anyway- it's not always what you'd expect, being an interesting mix of indigenous (Amazigh), Turkish/middle eastern, Italian and, due to the colonization, French foods. The pasta that people usually eat here does have a different flavour profile when compared to its Italian counterpart. It really does have that typical "north African taste" (a bit of a vague explanation, I really don't know how else to put it!). There are various pasta dishes that people eat here, but makarouna bel salsa ("pasta with sauce", translated) is the one that's eaten most.

What I also like about the pasta here is that 1) it's of good quality- legally, only 100% semolina based pasta is allowed to be sold, unless it's wholegrain pasta so no plain white flour pasta can be found here. And 2), it's about the cheapest food imaginable, being heavily subsidized to make it affordable for everyone (just to compare, rice is six times as expensive as pasta here). And since pasta is so versatile, you don't get bored quickly. It's for sure a staple in our house.

To make this typical Tunisian pasta dish, you'll need: 

Meat or fish of your choice (I mainly use chicken), tomato paste, Tunisian spice mixture, turmeric, salt, harissa or any other hot pepper condiment or even ground hot peppers, an onion (or just an onion peel), garlic, oil, some bay leaves, a few potatoes and hot peppers (optional). 

First off, mix the tomato paste with the seasonings, salt, and water. I use about 400 grams of tomato paste and 3-4 cups of water (you may want to add more water if using red meat). Then add some oil - this dish is usually a bit heavy on oil, as it really  enhances the flavours. I try to be a bit careful but still use some oil, usually a mixture of olive oil and a more neutral tasting oil. Also add the meat and some onion - the onion is for extra flavour so you don't have to add a lot. This is why I mentioned using a peel, since that is usually discarded, but works really good in recipes like these. Let it heat up until it reaches a boiling point and let simmer until the meat is tender. Some people also add in potatoes and green peppers. This seems like an odd combination but it's really delicious! My MIL also added chickpeas to her pasta. It's just a matter of preference. When the sauce isn't thick enough (it shouldn't be as thick as regular pasta sauce but not very runny either), you can let it simmer a bit more. Then boil the pasta of your choice, drain and add the hot sauce to your pasta, letting it sit for a few minutes covered with a lid. This way the pasta absorbes the sauce. Most people here prefer using spaghetti or ditali shapes, but you can use any pasta shape of your choice. When using spaghetti, keep in mind that it's OK for the sauce to be a bit runnier. 

Since there are no vegetables cooked in the sauce, you can add a salad or any other vegetable based side - some people, however, don't (and yes, they're still alive 🤭). I usually serve this with a simple tomato/cucumber/onion salad during the summer. I also like a yogurt based cucumber salad with this dish. And if you want to serve it even more traditional, make sure there's also some crunchy baguette to scoop up the pasta! Yes, carbs with carbs with carbs.

Sa7a! 

A women's gym

One of the most frequently asked questions I get about living in Tunisia (by like minded women who'd also like to emigrate) is: are there women's only gyms there? 

I must say that when I speak of Tunisia, I usually speak of the region we live in. There are a lot of differences between the different regions, especially when you compare the central/southern regions (like where we live) with the more affluent coastal/northern regions. Despite the regional differences, and our region being a little less "modernized", the answer is yes, there are. The other day we were driving through a village and we even saw a gym there. It's interesting if you think about it - gyms are quite a new phenomenon here, but so is being overweight. My husband told me that when living here as a kid, he didn't really know a lot of  people that were overweight. And yet, gyms were nowhere to be found. Sadly, these days, being overweight is becoming more common, especially with all the junk in the stores that's being sold more and more. So the solution must be simply to sweat off all that extra calories then (and to pay an arm and a leg for that...). 

My thoughts on gyms are quite unconventional and I even dare to say controversial. I don't really believe in having an inactive lifestyle for most of the week and then suddenly working out like crazy for a few hours per week to compensate on all that sitting. As they say, "sitting is the new smoking". While I don't think there is something comparable to a thing as bad as smoking health wise, I think there is some truth to this. Being inactive doesn't just affect your physical health, it's even affecting your mental health. So it's not that I don't believe in exercise- let that be clear. I just think it's much more effective to incorporate more physical activities into your daily life, rather than having a few extreme workouts per week with an otherwise very inactive lifestyle. 

Nowadays, people tend to have machines for about everything. And while I do love my washing machine (although I sometimes do small hand washes), I'm not interested to have everything done for me by others or by machines. I have never owned a dryer or dishwasher for example, and rarely use our vacuum- we just have a broom and dustpan that do the job just as good, with the additional benefit of having more physical exercise. Also, I regularly bake bread and don't have a kneading appliance or other types of bread maker, so the kneading is done by hand. My mother in law did this until she was in her late 70s, despite having many health issues. I'm not saying that everyone should deprive oneself from every convenience, but there is something in that old fashioned way of living that just makes sense to me. People can still combine convenience and being a bit more active in my opinion, so it's not either this or that. I think it's just cool to be able to do your everyday chores and stay fit at the same time, while saving money on all the expensive appliances you didn't have to buy for that specific purpose! If someone likes working out at a gym, and finds it important, I'm not against it. But at the same time I think it's important to think for ourselves and not just do something that society tells us to do "because otherwise it's unhealthy". Quite the contrary actually, in my opinion. 

So yes. There are women's gyms here, but it's not necessarily attended by many women because they keep themselves fit in other ways- walking their kids to school, housekeeping with a minimum of equipment, baking bread and much other things. 

A kitchen without an oven

One thing in particular has caught my attention when it comes to being frugal with utilities, and cooking in general. And that is that we don't use our oven a lot. It seems like for most people, an oven is a kitchen essential, and they'd be lost without one. The other I saw someone on a Facebook group asking what other people make if they have no oven. This was supposed to be a frugal living group, so I assumed that most of the people there were like me and used their oven occasionally. But I was wrong, and most people's responses were that they absolutely didn't know what to do without one. 

That made me thinking of my use of the oven and what I do differently from others. First of all, the frequency. Last week, I used the oven twice- once for making a cake, and once to make baked chicken. I usually bake chicken on the hob, but I sometimes like the convenience of not having to flip the chicken every 10 minutes or so since I had other things to do. The cake was a big one, and I froze about half. That's not only healthier (if I wouldn't freeze it right away we'd surely be tempted to finish it anyway), it's also more frugal - less electricity used, as well as saving money on the baking ingredients. This week, I made some cookies and muffins. However, there are also weeks that we don't use the oven at all.  So I'd say, on average it's being used once a week. Another thing is that we don't eat casseroles as much. We rarely do, in fact. I like to make lasagna on special occasions- all of the ingredients are quite expensive, and it's a time consuming meal to make when you make about everything from scratch. Every so often, I make Tunisian tajine (which is like a crustless quiche), and makarouna bechamel, also known as "Arabic mac 'n cheese". But for the most part, we don't do a lot of other casseroles. Probably partly due to the fact that casseroles are considered cold weather meals (in our family, anyway), and around these parts, the cold weather doesn't last that long. For most of the year, it's nice warm weather or unbearable hot. And while I don't mind eating hot foods during the summer, for some reason, casseroles are a bit different. They're just too "heavy", and usually containing dairy of some sort which makes a meal more expensive. Casseroles aren't really a thing in Tunisian cooking anyway, and while I do make dishes from other cuisines from time to time, it's Tunisian foods that are our go to meals. Pizzas are a rare occasion here too, and a rare treat. Bread is either purchased at the nearby bakery or if it's homemade, it's usually stove top flatbread. 

All in all, I think that an oven isn't really an absolute necessity, although it's a nice extra. I've had people asking me what in the world we have for dinner if we don't use our oven regularly. Well, just that: soups, pasta dishes, potatoes, rice dishes, couscous, stews, and I think I can go on and on. I, on the other hand,wonder what they do serve for dinner if they can't function without an oven! My husband was raised in an oven-free household for the most part; my MIL didn't have one until he moved out of the house. And now she doesn't really use the oven anymore and is just used as a storage space. My MIL did have a "wonder pan", a pan you use on the hob and functions as an alternative for an oven. She used this when making cake, among other things. For cookies, the communal oven (which I wrote a post about earlier) was used. She didn't really make casseroles and when baking bread she used the tabouna (outdoor oven, which is comparable to an Indian tandoor). This bread tasted absolutely amazing. 

Here's some other ways we save on electricity when it comes to the oven, other than just not using it very frequently: we have a toaster oven, albeit a relatively large one, but still smaller than most average ovens. This takes less electricity. When we do bake, we tend to do a "baking marathon", as preheating the oven does take more electricity. So we might make muffins and right after that, cookies or bread for example. This is actually quite an old fashioned thing to save on utilities- most women did a baking day once a week. Also, I might be a bit stubborn but I go against some conventional "rules" when it comes to baking. I rarely adjust temperature, for example, and our oven is set at 200° c (which in reality is more like 180° c - talking about stubbornness, ovens kind of do have their own characters I guess 😄). I also don't really preheat, which is an advantage of having a separate/toaster oven, as they heat up much quicker. I turn off the oven before it's "officially" ready, and make use of the residue heat. Yes, I do this when baking cakes too. I must say that I usually stick to the easier recipes, so I'm not sure how that would work out with more complicated recipes. 

Anyway, those were some insights on the use of ovens. I could definitely live without one, although it's a nice extra to me. But a necessity it is not (in my opinion, anyhow).