Always be prepared

As I'm writing this, we're recovering from quite a long blackout. It started quite early- when we woke up for fajr (morning) prayer today at 04:00 AM, we found that our bedroom fan wasn't working so we figured it must be a blackout. That happens quite regularly, as in a few times a week, especially during the summer. But we didn't anticipate that it would be the longest blackout yet to experience. Assuming the blackout didn't start at 04:00 but, say, half an hour before that, and the electricity came back at 11:45, we were roughly 8 hours without electricity- possibly even a bit more. Since we experience blackouts every so often, I honestly don't really panick. Yes, it's annoying especially if you can't use a fan, or air conditioner when it's warm. 

I'm actually more concerned with the fridge. Even though the fridge is quite full and the two top shelves are nearly a freezer temperature during the summer, still, 8 hours is a long time for a fridge to be without electricity, especially in this heat. The same goes for the freezer. I've learned to be prepared for a blackout by storing a lot of bottles in the freezer. Usually it's broth, but if there's room left the gaps are just filled with bottles of water. Those bottles can go straight into the fridge in case there's a blackout. I put a few bottles in the fridge, just in case, and it probably did help, as those 8 hours powerless didn't seem to affect the temperature a lot. We did try not to open the fridge unless strictly necessary, so that helped too. Fortunately, I wasn't planning on using the washer or oven today, so that wasn't an issue. Another way we prepare ourselves for these kind of small calamities is to have an alternative source of light. Even during daytime, our house doesn't have that much sunlight, as our house was built to be insulated against the heat- not so much against the cold or to let sunlight come in, just like pretty much all houses here. We usually need to use lamps, especially in the kitchen.  Today it happened to be a cloudy day so that definitely meant we needed more light. Apart from our phones, we bought a lamp that can be charged either by electricity or by solar power (there's a tiny solar "panel" on the lamp). It's a very strong light so that comes in very handy. Much easier than candles. So even during daytime blackouts, we need to think about light, but obviously during nighttime blackouts that's even more of an issue. 

Water being cut off is more rare than electricity blackouts here, but still it does happen, especially since there is water scarcity. In our city it doesn't happen as much as in oather areas, but we've still found ourselves in situations with the water being cut off. Usually that happens a bit gradually, with the tap stream becoming weaker and weaker until no single drop of water comes out of the tap. There have been instances when neighbours had to ask us for water since they didn't have any. Honestly I don't really like asking others unnecessarily, even though I know my neighbours wouldn't mind at all. 

This is why I think it's important to be prepared. And I've noticed that a lot of people, even more so frugal minded people, talk about preparedness. But this preparedness is usually about greater calamities such as possible war or terrorism, wildfires, floods or earthquakes. To be honest, even if there is a chance that would happen, I think it's also good to look at the smaller calamities and it's much more likely we'll have to deal with them at some point. Now I understand that where we live blackouts are more common, but not so long ago, there was a blackout in a huge area in Spain, Portugal and even some areas in Morocco. I bet those people weren't really anticipating that either. It's not a major crisis (in most circumstances, anyway), but it's always good to be prepared. And yes, we should be prepared for bigger calamities, in my opinion, but also for the smaller ones. I would be quite annoyed if there's a blackout and my phone's battery is almost empty. Or our spare lamp wasn't charged. Or we didn't have enough cold water in the fridge. Not insurmountable problems, but still problems I'd rather be prepared for. 

                     Our nifty rechargeable lamp, in the kitchen

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. 

Hot weather foods

One thing that distinguishes Mediterranean/northern African cuisine and culture from the (northern/western) European one, is that there isn't really such a thing as cold dishes. I'm not talking about breakfasts- I'm well aware of the fact that in some cultures, there isn't even really a thing such as breakfast foods, and typical dinners would be eaten for breakfasts. 

I'm talking about lunches and dinners now. In Europe (the part where I'm from anyhow), as soon as the weather starts to change, people nervously switch from their usual warm dinners to all types of cold foods- sandwiches, salads etc. It's not a bad thing in and of itself, and it even seems quite logical, as you're not heating up the kitchen unnecessary. The thought alone of eating a warm steaming stew or soup is suffocating to a lot of people! Here in Tunisia it's rather the opposite. While there are some typical winter dishes, people generally are not afraid of eating warm meals during the summer heat. Why would they? Just living off of salads for three months on end certainly doesn't do your body good, and it's just kind of... boring.  

I must say that I haven't noticed a difference physically, eating a cold evening meal vs a hot one. Either way, you're going to get hot during the summer. Personally, I prefer the hot type of foods that they eat here, and I make a pasta salad maybe once or twice during the entire summer, usually when the children crave it and they're asking me to make it on and on and I can't procrastinate it any longer. I've even been eating soup a lot lately for lunch. We do like to eat sandwiches every so often though, but not nearly as often as our regular hot meals. Since living here, one thing that I learned is that eating hot foods doesn't really mean you have to eat them piping hot. I usually decrease the temperature a little bit, so that it's still warm but not too hot. I feel like this way of eating is not only more delicious but also healthier. Why? Well, people who switch to cold summer foods tend to have sandwiches a lot. I don't think that sandwiches are bad in and of itself but the amount of vegetables you can put in there are obviously a bit limited. Or you need to serve big sides of vegetables, which would defeat the purpose I guess, since they still need to be cooked (unless it's just salads). Also, most people tend to make their sandwiches less healthy than their usual, warm meals. There's always exceptions of course, but I know I don't really make a sandwich as healthy as I would make my regular, warm meal. 

When it comes to heating up the kitchen, the people in Europe have a good point. The other day I was making roz Djerbi, a Tunisian rice dish that needs to be steamed. Even though it's technically a one pot meal, the kitchen was 3 degrees (C) higher than it was before cooking. That's a big difference! So I totally get why people avoid that. And honestly, I was relieved when the cooking time was over and I could turn off the heat and go to the living room where it was a bit less hot. But personally, eating delicious and healthy meals is more priority for us than keeping the warmth out of the kitchen - although I try to do my best to not heat it up that much. 

I mentioned before how much I love batch cooking, and especially during the summer this is a huge advantage! Just heating up a meal takes a few minutes. Thus, heating up the kitchen isn't something to worry about on those days. On other days, I like to make meals that take less time to cook. My rice dish had to steam an hour and a half in total, which is quite a long time, and there's a lot of foods I can think of that don't take nearly as long. The pressure cooker (or cocotte as it's called here) is quite a popular kitchen gadget. Since it reduces the cooking time and it doesn't really release steam, especially dishes that take long to cook can be made in such a pot easily. Unfortunately, I'm just too afraid to use one. There's been too much accidents with pressure cookers that I don't want to take the risk I guess. In fact, not too long ago, my husband's aunt had an accident and had quite a bad burn as a result. 

My mother in law had a habit which I initially thought was kinda weird but now I understand it better- she started cooking the main meal as soon as she woke up. In fact, she started with the meal even before having breakfast! In the morning, with the window having been opened all night, the kitchen is much cooler than it is in the early afternoon. So that also makes sense, even if you're not big on batch cooking. 

Pasta vs rice

As some of my readers have noticed, we eat quite a lot of pasta! Pasta, in my opinion, is the frugal cook's best friend. The variety of sauces, protein sources and whatever else you add to this starch are just unlimited. Not to mention the kind of pasta you're using, there are just so many choices! 

Where we live, pasta is insanely cheap, costing a bit less than €0,15 (or $0,16...) a bag. A bag contains 500 grams/1.10 lbs. This is due to government subsidies on certain food items, to keep them available for all people, including the poor. There's also subsidized bread, semolina, milk, and couscous. But for some reason, pasta seems to be the most popular starch of choice- probably because couscous can be time consuming to prepare. There's a history behind the reason of pasta being so popular. Apparently, around 100 years ago, there were many Sicilians living in Tunisia who brought with them various kinds of pasta. And they quickly fell in love with the pasta! Nowasays, pasta is consumed almost as much here as it is in Italy. I must admit that when I first came here, I was overwhelmed by the variety of pasta shapes and sizes. In the Netherlands we usually did our groceries at a budget supermarket chain where they had spaghetti, elbow macaroni and maybe some bigger shapes such as penne or fussili. Here, the pasta aisle is the most elaborated one of the entire supermarket. Not only are there a lot of different shapes, each shape has different sizes as well, suitable to use in different dishes. Overtime, I've learned which shape and size works best for which dish and we know our preferences. There are also some more luxurious pastas that are more expensive, such as cannoli and lasagna, but most of the pastas are cheap. They also go by different names, in some cases. Most shapes have their original Italian name, but some are changed to Arabic or French, possibly to make pronouncing a bit easier. I think it's fair to say that we don't even eat as much pasta as many other locals here, they consume it that much. 

Rice, on the other hand, isn't really a thing here. And not just because it's not a culinary tradition, but the cheapest rice here is 6 times as expensive as pasta. So for many people, including us, rice is really an once in a while treat. I personally am also a bit sensitive to rice. I had no idea that it was a thing (being sensitive to pasta is understandable... you know, wheat, gluten and all that!), but after trying again and again I've noticed that- with many kinds of rice, many ways of preparation- soaking, not soaking, using water, using broth etc. Everytime I eat rice, my esophagus really hurts, as if it's being suffocated or something. I do like rice though, so sometimes I can't help but to "hurt" myself and still eat rice when I prepare it for my family. And every single time I regret it again. I did find some decent replacements, to eat when my family eats rice. These include burgul (or bulgur) wheat, barley, and orzo (rice shaped pasta). It's still different, but a decent replacement in case you can't buy or tolerate rice. 

So pasta it is for us, on a lot of days. How do we eat them? Here's some ways we enjoy them most often: 

The most well known traditional Tunisian way (recipe soon to come). 

Makarouna bechamel, also known as the "Arabic mac 'n cheese" 

Italian pasta all'ortolana (with mixed vegetables) 

Aglio e olio (garlic and olive oil) 

The "Dutch way" of pasta with red sauce, mince, and lots of veggies

Pasta with a creamy sauce and whatever vegetables we have on hand; we had this on Monday, when I used up a lot of chard 

Pasta salads during the summer 

Pasta based soups; such as mhamsa (Tunisian pearl couscous soup), or makarouna jaria (another kind of soup with small pasta shapes), cream of chicken soup with vermicelli/orzo, etc. We eat these mainly during the winter. 

Steamed pastas: vermicelli and nouassar (which is, I think, a very traditional shape that isn't even found in Italy - it's flat, like the shape of a small postage). We also have a steamed orzo dish regularly. Steaming pasta is probably a very north African thing to do, and it's very yummy. Some steamed pastas are one pot meals whereas others have a separate sauce/stew added on top. 

And of course, pasta is very suitable for using up all kinds of leftovers! This is probably one of my favourites as you never know what you end up with and it's never disappointing. 

We do eat some Asian style dishes with noodles too, however, I don't think that fits in this post and probably needs it's own post. 

So, these were some of the reasons why we eat a lot of pasta and how we eat them. 

Nose to tail

On monday, DH and I decided to do some shopping at the souk, the north African equivalent of a wet market. I love going there every so often. Everything is divided by category- vegetables, fish, etc. There's also a large meat section. We wanted to see what the butchers sold that day- as they don't always sell the same meats everyday. We were all craving an organ meat dish, which I'll go to in a minute. I also wanted to see if they had some fat to render. 

Coming from Europe, it's quite interesting how it all works here when it comes to meat. First off, meat is very expensive here, hence, it's not something that's eaten a lot. Most people here won't eat meat on a daily basis, especially red meat. And we are no exception to that. Since meat is so expensive, people are in general not very picky, so they won't just eat only certain cuts of meat. They don't shy away from eating the "weird" parts - or which is considered weird in western societies, anyhow. Everything of the animal is appreciated equally, it seems. Since I was raised as a vegetarian, I think this is why it's not that big of a deal to me. I wasn't used to eating only chicken breasts and mince, like many Europeans, rather all meat was foreign to me anyway. So when I did start to eat meat, because of that, I didn't differentiate between a chicken breast and sheep lungs. It's not to say that people here eat the "weird" parts just because it's more economical. In fact, some parts are truly considered a delicacy. 

I wanted to make douara (a stew with offal meat), something which we realized we didn't have in a long time and is one of our favourite dishes. There is absolutely no reason to look down upon organ meat; organ meats are super nutritious, and delicious. If the picky eaters would only get over their initial hesitation! The fun thing is, that even if it's not insanely cheap, the "regular" meat is 5 times as expensive, or 3 times as expensive when it comes to very old meat that requires a long cooking time. It's interesting that organ meat is becoming more and more popular in certain circles, especially those that focus on eating a nourishing tradition kind of diet, also known as ancestral diets. 

Honouring the whole animal and being appreciative for the nutrients that all of the animal has to offer, is also known as 'nose to tail eating'. Where we live, one can take that quite literally! When we walked by some of the butchers (there are a lot to choose from) there were several butchers selling heads: goat, sheep and cow's heads. I was amazed by how massive that cows head was though! I must probably be integrated quite well, because I don't have a problem seeing this. I do eat meat, so I have no problem to see that it actually came from an real animal. I would have a problem eating meat from a factory, but I know these animals were raised at the countryside, which is probably also why they're expensive. 

Hopefully I'll be posting my douara recipe soon. 

Package free grocery shopping: pros and cons

As I mentioned before, our groceries are partially purchased at a refill store. Meaning, they're package free. I'll try to elaborate a bit more on this way of shopping in this post. Depending on which store we'll shop at, they have shelf stable goods in huge baskets or more tidy containers. From what I've noticed, the tidier the containers and the shops, the more expensive they are. Usually it's not self service, but an employee will measure/weigh the goods. You could bring your own container,  but usually they put it in a baggie, similar to a sandwich baggie. It's then labelled with the product/price on it. 

What kind of foods do we buy there? Legumes, some grains (such as whole wheat flour, sorghum flour, and oats), spices, nuts and seeds, cocoa powder, cornstarch, as well as some "candy". Traditional healthy treats such as frankincense (this is like natural chewing gum), corn for making popcorn, and carob. This obviously doesn't cover all our needs from the store, and there's certainly items that we don't buy there. If it were me, I'd buy everything there, but unfortunately not everything is available at the refill store. I really hope these stores will expand their assortment one day and that about everything would be available there. 

Its obvious that this kind of shopping does reduce the amount of plastic going into the landfill, which is the foremost reason why we shop like this. Seeing nature sites getting more and more cluttered with rubbish is so heartbreaking. It's frustrating when you realise that the world's plastic pollution is not inevitable, if people would just put a little more effort in how they shop. Other than environmental reasons, which are obvious, what I especially like about these kind of shops is the simplicity! You've probably seen pictures (if not in real life) of colourful markets with heaps of different coloured spices. Well, apart from the fact that it's not just spices there, it still looks quite similar. The more modern refill stores will sell their goods in a bit more neat containers, which has a bit more of the aesthetic look. It's both very simplistic in their own way. I also really appreciate that this way we're cutting back on our plastic use. Living in a country where there's a garbage problem in some areas, it's clear how much plastic is being wasted. I cringe at every disposable plastic item that I can easily avoid using. Yes, they do use sandwich baggies in those shops, but I make sure to simply reuse those. So that's not too big of an issue (to me), and otherwise I can still bring my own containers. Another benefit of these shops is that they're usually just so much cheaper! Just to compare; oats are about double the price here if you'd buy them in the supermarket. And at the refill store, they already are quite expensive. You'll get the exact same product, which means you're paying all that money just for a cardboard box. Not even a firm reusable box with a lid or something. That's just throwing money into the trash, in my opinion. What I also like is that with package free shopping, you're not dependent on the package sizes that you find in the supermarket. When you have a small household or only want to buy a certain (small) amount for whatever reason, this is possible- you can buy just however much you want (this is the case where we buy our goods anyhow). This is a good way to avoid wasting foods. 

Of course, as with everything, there are cons - or others may consider them to be cons, anyhow. I only see benefits in shopping this way but I'd thought of including them anyway. Since it's package free, there's obviously no "use by" date. To me, that's no issue at all - I think that putting dates on shelf stable foods is just a way to encourage wasting foods. If it looks and smells good, I'll just eat it.                                                            With foods not being "properly" packed, you do need suitable containers. Yes, this may cost a bit initially, but it doesn't necessarily mean very trendy and expensive ones with the "zero waste aesthetics", you can just buy the cheapest plastic containers you can find, or simply reuse food containers. With smaller kitchens, this does take up a bit more space at times, but I'm willing to sacrifice that space (I have no idea what else to store in my cupboards anyway). We have a lot of smaller buckets, I think they're 5L buckets, not completely sure - there fits about 3.5 kg of flour in a bucket. I also have smaller containers for the foods that we don't buy in bigger quantities, such as sorghum flour. Yes, this does take up space but I don't think it takes up much more space than stocking the average pantry with packaged items. The reason why we need a lot of space is due to the fact that we're buying in bulk, not so because of the lack of packaging. As long as you're using suitable containers, it's not that much of a space they're occupying. 

All in all I like the way we shop- the way people have been doing this before supermarkets were there. You may find it too costly, which unfortunately is the case in some countries, unfortunately, and I can totally understand that especially in these times, people look at the prices solely. Some may find it too time consuming, which I can understand too. I'm privileged with a refill store in our street, even though we usually go to another one in a different neighbourhood, but it's still very accessible.

Still, despite people's general reluctance of returning to the old ways of shopping, I am very enthusiastic about it. It just may take some planning and making shopping lists and investing in containers. 

Our cat

Where we live there are a lot of stray cats. Our cat is a former stray cat too, and there's just something special about giving a strat cat a home. We never looked for a cat, but he was suddenly just here. Initially, he was quite timid, only coming at the door for food, which is what he got. Then he slowly allowed us to pet him, and dared to come inside the house. He's still pretty much an outdoor cat- he always sleeps outside, and during the day most of his time is spent outdoors too. He might come in the morning and spend a good three hours of sleeping on his blanket, then go outside and come back in the afternoon for some sleep again. When it's rainy or stormy, he's inside the house more, but he'll always spend the night outdoors. We have an area in the back yard that's covered and there's some furniture on which he sleeps, during the winter we have a blanket on one of the chairs for him. There's also a heap of straw in the garden (don't ask me how that's gotten there), on which he loves to sleep. 

Unfortunately, he fights a lot and I can't really recall a time when he didn't have a wound of some sort. They always seem to heal quickly. Once he had one of his nails ripped off completely- it really looked scary. His paw was blue ish and he couldn't walk, let alone run. But even that, he recovered from. Probably he will not change when it comes to fighting. It's interesting how stray cats can be so different from cats that have been indoors from the beginning, although I'm wondering if it's just because of being a stray cat. It could also just be his character. Anyway, he's certainly quite wild, that's for sure. 

When it comes to food, it's fun to find out what he likes. Cat can have some really weird preferences! Most of his preferences I found out because of being caught on the counter. Chicken and fish are obvious ones, so I never leave that there (unless it's covered). But to my surprise, he absolutely loves legumes! All sorts, but broad beans are his favourite. And then chickpeas. I also caught him once sipping in a pot with aquafaba (chickpea brine). I do try to teach him not to jump on the counter, which he does when I'm in his sight, but he still tries to. Fortunately our kitchen is not an open-plan kitchen and separated from the living room so I can close the door, when necessary. The thing is that they don't really sell cat food here, so we need to get creative and make our own cat foods. For the most part, he just finishes leftovers- he LOVES pasta for example. This is supplemented with fish and chicken and some harder stuff to chew on, such as dried bread chunks. The other day I found cat food in the supermarket, which apparently was something new there, but it turned out to be a very small bag for a ridiculous price. I'd rather buy 5 KG sardines for him for that same price. We also get free fish heads from the fish vendor. The vendor knows my husband as we usually buy our fish there. As loyal customers, he usually saves the fish heads for us, which we get for free, as well as nearly expired fish that he sells for a small price. I honestly think this way of eating is much healthier for a cat than all that store bought cat "foods". His fur is amazingly soft and usually you can tell how good a cat's diet is by the softness of the fur. 

What I find quite annoying, though, is that he seems to refuse to eat out of a bowl. He always wants to eat directly from the ground. Especially when he has fish, it's such a mess! That's probably another difference between "real" house cats and (former) stray cats. He was used to eating on the streets and not from a bowl/plate. Same with drinking, he exclusively drinks from a bucket, not from a bowl. It's quite funny how cats have a these "weird" traits and you'll be annoyed by them yet at the same time you love them so much. I am annoyed by the fishy kitchen floor and then wipe the floor clean after him with so much love. 

But overall it's just an amazing experience to be cat owners. We feel very blessed that he chose our home and we're so grateful to give him a home he deserves. Even though the stray cat part will always be present in him somewhat, that's ok. He's just so affectionate and sweet overall. Having grown up with cats, it's kind of funny how I sometimes compare it to previous cats my parents had, and how every cat is so unique. I loved being around cats growing up and I love for my children that they have the same experience. 

Learning frugality from other cultures

For most of my life I've been living quite frugally; my father is very very frugal, and so was his father. And I've defenitely inherited his frugal genes. There was a time when our finances were so tight that basic necessities had to be reconsidered and budgeted for. We did a lot of very frugal stuff such as not driving a car, eating mostly legumes as our main protein source, reusing food packaging, and buying second hand clothing. Growing up in a western country, all these things were considered very frugal or even cheap, or I dare say even poverty... Because for some reason, poverty in most western countries is considered something bad, something which you should be ashamed of- almost like it's omething sinful. Even though in most cases, and certainly ours, it was something we couldn't do anything about. We didn't buy a dozen of TVs on credit nor did we have a shelter full of cats, nor were we addicted to any substance- those are the most common prejudices about poor people, I guess. 

So sometimes we were proudly being frugal whereas other times we really tried to hide it a bit, because that's just how the society was. I honestly don't like hiding who I am. But having been bullied throughout all my school years, even in college by teachers, this really shaped me as a person, and I always tried being careful not to be the "weird" one. It took many years to heal and somewhat unlearn that and to be proud of who I was- with all my "weird", yet so valuable habits. I still carry bits of my past and I think being careful will never completely go away, but I can honestly say that I've made big improvements. The thing is, with people becoming more environmentally conscious these days, it's a bit less of a shame if you're not wasteful and you're not always considered "the stingy one" anymore, which is nice. Because of this you can just disguise your frugal practices as being environmentally friendly- even though both are usually important to most frugal people. But somehow being frugal is a bad thing, whereas being eco conscious isn't. People can be weird sometimes. 😃

It was such a relief for us when we moved to a country where not only being frugal wasn't something that was frowned upon; rather, it's the norm for most people! The "very frugal things" we did I mentioned earlier in this post, are actually quite normal things where we live. Yes, most people here don't eat meat daily, and certainly not red meat. Nor do they have more than one car - even middle class, two adults working kind of families. Even having no car isn't a big deal here. Yes, nearly everyone buys second hand clothing because new clothes means Chinese crap and there aren't fashion chains such as H&M or Zara in our area, so second hand clothing isn't necessarily something people do to save money, it's just the best choice you can make quality wise. Also it's totally accepted to haggle, especially with large expenses. Now you can't try this in the supermarket (well you can try, but with no result), but in a lot of other shops, at the market, and for services you're hiring someone, it's totally normal to haggle. This is honestly something you really need to learn. There's a lot of other things that are more acceptable societally here when it comes to frugality, and I could go on and on I guess, but my point is that you can really learn from other cultures. It just fascinates me how one thing is something shameful in one culture, yet in a different culture, it's the norm. And of course people here don't live perfectly zero waste, but at least I can really appreciate the more simple approach to materialistic aspects. 

What's also interesting is that they can learn a thing or two from the frugal ways I brought with me from my own country and upbringing. It's honestly not as much as I learned from them, but a typical simple Dutch practice they were not familiar with, for example, was to have just a sandwich as lunch instead of a cooked meal. This isn't something we do a lot because I like hot meals way more than I do cold sandwiches, but it was for sure a thing especially children enjoy. And probably the parents too, as it saves them time and money.