Is minimalism just about stuff?

I remember years ago, I was introduced to the idea of minimalism. I must say, it didn't quite appeal to me initially because I thought it was like having very little possessions for the sake of having little possessions without any purpose. Later on, I learned that some people's definition of minimalism was more like to focus mainly on the stuff that matters to them. Which in fact means that if somebody, say, values shoes a lot, it could be possible to still own 20 pairs of shoes but only one single cup or plate. That didn't quite sit right with me. That's not a good balance. 

I know that "maximalism" (whether that's an existing word or I just made it up, lol) certainly doesn't sit right with me either. It goes so, so against my values of simple and frugal living, of how to treat the earth and its precious resources. The "maximalist" industry makes big profits by selling and inventing new organisations tools and systems. I can't really understand how they succeed in leading to believe most people that they actually need all those boxes. If you've ever been to an IKEA or even a dollar store kind of shop, you defenitely know what I mean. It's ridiculous to have that much stuff to need entire rooms to store all kind of "nifty" boxes and drawers and containers full of stuff you don't use and likely are never be going to use, in my opinion. A lot of people who aren't well off financially could be benefiting from all those stuff people don't use, so even find this a bit selfish too. That's why and how I kind of embraced minimalism, but certainly in my own way and not the "trendy" kind of minimalism where you have a completely empty counter because you're afraid that your kitchen actually will look like a kitchen. Walking into our home you'll notice that there isn't a lot of trinkets on shelves etc. That's defenitely the "minimalist look" I guess. What parts me from other minimalists is that I'm not afraid to have an actual functioning kitchen where a lot of stuff is going on, so I'm defenitely not having a spotless, empty counter all the time. I'm also not afraid to reuse things like food containers and put them on shelves instead of hiding them because they don't quite match. And I really don't care that my mismatched reused jars in which I store my herbs in, don't make my kitchen look like a museum or laboratory- in fact, I'm even proud of that! It means that I have a fully functional kitchen full of activities going on, and that I'm not against reusing things, even if they're not the best aesthetically, which I really like. 

But- when it comes to minimalism, I've noticed that it's usually only about stuff and clothes. Even when people are really into that, I guess after a while you're done with minimizing your stuff and clothes. After all, you can't minimize possessions you don't have anymore. When I read about other people's minimalism, they proudly tell that they just own two jumpers and three plates. While I can understand that makes life a little less complicated, I also wonder what's it with this focus on stuff. A while ago, I began to wonder how I'm not your average kind of minimalist (in the traditional sense), yet I'm really a minimalist in so many other ways. 

For example, I don't have a lot of friends and acquaintances. I do have friends who live in another country, and I've never bothered to start new friendships after we immigrated (being autistic doesn't quite help with this of course). I enjoy my alone time and I've never felt lonely. Unlike many neurotypical people, I guess being alone for me is something different from being lonely. Being alone isn't something I do a lot, having a family. My husband doesnt work outside the home, so he's home a lot, which I really don't mind though- but this means I actually value my alone time even more when I get to enjoy some alone time! I must add that I'm not against friends or socialization in moderation. I just don't really feel the need to. 

Another thing that I minimized which wouldn't fall in the stuff/things category, I think, are our meals. In the past I really felt the pressure to try out new meals at least every so often. This had probably something to do with all these nutritional advices; eating as balanced as possible is a must, or that's what some nutritionists make us believe so. I don't think we should eat THAT balanced- in the past, people would just eat what was available in their country and people would only eat seasonal produce. And they only had a few staple foods. I was also afraid that my husband would find it boring if I'd serve certain meals regularly. Turns out it was the other way around; he actually complained a few times that there were dishes I'd only made once and he never saw them again. :') It took quite a while to figure out what our favourite dishes were, and how often we were willing to eat those etc. But now that I'm not experimenting that much anymore, I feel like we're enjoying the food that we do eat even more! And I still do try out new things every so often- just not as often as I used to. I also don't really go on vacations a lot. The other day I read this phrase: I want to a create a life in which I don't need to go on vacation, and I really liked that! I'm very much a homebody so being comfortable and cozy at home just makes sense. 

Ok, this one does have to do a bit with stuff, but I still found it worth to mention. We lived without television for a lot of years, and only recently own our very first TV. That doesn't mean it gets used a lot though, there's only 3 channels - educational/religious ones. And we don't have streaming services at all. If we feel like watching a documentary there's always the free optio of YouTube. So I guess we're quite minimalist in this aspect. 

When it comes to cleaning products, we're also quite minimalist- right now I use plain household soap (solid for cleaning random things/stains on clothes/the sink etc, and a liquid one for the laundry), washing up liquid, and vinegar. (And the occasional bleach but please don't tell anyone! Lol) I hate scented stuff anyway and it's much easier if you can't choose between 16 products. 

We defenitely minimize our outings: because we try not to use our car a lot (for environmental reasons, as well as financial reasons), and because of the weather- there's not a long period of really nice weather where we live, it's either very hot or very cold. Right now we're in a very nice month, but it won't be long until it's getting cold. Plus, we're just homebodies, all of us genuinely enjoy relaxing at home. Especially on days when the children don't go to school, because their school is quite demanding. A few months ago, we went on a small vacation to the coastal area of our country. It was the first time in at least 4 years. Can't say we didn't enjoy it, but I wouldn't care if we didn't go, honestly. So that's an area in our lives in which we're quite minimalistic too. And the same goes for eating out. It's sometimes a bit hard to understand for me why people enjoy that. We enjoy having a delicious home cooked meal rather than waiting for your food to come, not even knowing how nice it'll taste, and then of course paying a whole lot of money for that!

So in what areas ARE we minimalist when it comes to stuff? That's an interesting question because we're drowning in some stuff (who said it's a bad thing to collect empty glass jars? 😉), whereas of other areas, we don't have a lot. Let me start with appliances that most people do have, but we don't! We don't own a dryer, dishwasher, microwave, slowcooker, instant pot, standmixer, coffee maker, boiling water tap, and my hair dryer is 23 years old and is closer to not working than to working and I'm not planning on replacing one, just to name a few things. And oh, I really hate single purpose appliances, like egg boilers or electric pancake makers. It takes up so much space and it's just pointless in my opinion (we do have a waffle iron though... And even though you can technically use it for other things than waffles, we usually don't. But we just really like waffles, and fortunately it doesn't take up that much space). That's when it comes to appliances, but the interesting thing is that we don't own a lot of stuff that I see in homes of people who typically call themselves minimalist, which I think is rather interesting. We don't have a ironing board, knife block, "fancy" china (my grandmother used to have two sets of China- one for daily use and one for special occasions, but I just see that as needles space occupation), a wok, grill pan, Dutch oven, multiple chopping boards, tape holders, an attic full of camping stuff -which is common with so many people I now, and thankfully I don't have hobbies that require lots of things, like puzzles or crafting. Oh, and believe it or not, but as a family of four, we recently bought our first laundry hamper in a few years! Living without one is doable but it just began to irritate me, as I'm typically not the kind of person who is good at being on top of tasks such as doing laundry. Speaking of laundry hampers, as I mentioned earlier how I dislike all the so called organisation tools/stuff and the marketing around it, this is probably why it took me so long to buy that new laundry hamper- we had one, but my husband used it to make a grocery shopping trolley, and then I decided to do without a laundry helper for as long as I could... It reminded me of how needless all of those boxes, baskets and "nifty" organisation stuff really are (of most of them anyhow). 

So all in all, I would probably fit in the image of a minimalist but I'd rather not call myself one. 

Frugal snack ideas

Snacking isn't a very big thing at our house. Contrary to popular opinion, we don't believe that snacks (even healthy ones) are necessary. We're content with our meals as main means to get our nutrition.

Another pitfall of snacking, other than maybe health, is that snacking can be hideously expensive! While we don't have a lot of snacks to choose from in the supermarket here, small things add up. It can be tempting to buy snacks at the store but that temptation is gone very soon with the prices these days. When we crave something, that's usually when the snacking comes in, and most of the time it's homemade. Fortunately, homemade snacks don't have to be that expensive. Here's some ideas: 

- boiled egg - can be made as fancy or as plain as you like. 

- roasted chickpeas. This is something we sometimes do buy, at the small convenience stores that are all over. 

- homemade popcorn - no special appliances needed, not even a microwave. Just a hob (stove) and a large enough pot, and that's it!

- fruits. No further explanation needed. 

- snacking vegetables, like cucumber, bell pepper, tomatoes, celery. When those are not in season, fennel is a very good veg to snack on, too! We like to snack on fermented veg too, like fermented turnips or carrots. 

- peanuts - they're comparable to nuts, nutritious wise, but less expensive. 

- dates - we live in one of the world's biggest date producing and consuming countries. Do I need to say more? Dates can be enjoyed plain or stuffed with cream cheese/butter and nuts, which they do a lot here traditionally. 

- homemade sweets - can be anything from cake to muffins, to cookies. Usually less expensive than store bought and slightly less unhealthy. The same goes for homemade savoury snacks, like crisps, pretzels, egg muffins etc. 

- a slice of bread with whatever toppings you have. I love homemade peanut butter. It's nutritious and better than the store bought variety. Peanut butter can be pared with a lot of other foods too, like fruits (although I must admit I'm not a fan of peanut butter on anything else but bread, but I guess that's a matter of preference). 

- dehydrated fish - this is sold by various vendors at our local market. It's full of flavour and keeps us full for so long. It's our cat's favourite snack, too 😉

- a bowl of plain yogurt with add ins of your choice: nuts/seeds, fruits etc. Or keep it plain. 

- cheese (although that's not cheap round these parts, but I guess in some countries it is so I still include them to this list) or (vegan) cold cuts 

Easy hummus recipe

Making hummus from scratch is beyond easy. It's a staple at our house and is ready in a few minutes! The hardest thing I always find is to wash up the food processor. 

All you need is chickpeas, aquafaba (chickpea brine), lemon juice, olive oil, tahini (sesame paste), and some salt/seasoning. I don't usually use measurements but I fill up the smaller bowl of the food processor untill it's almost full. I'd guess it's about three cups of chickpeas, and make sure they're a bit warm as this will ease the blending process. Then I use about a cup of aquafaba, also lukewarm, it can be a bit less if you like your hummus firmer (we like it a bit more on the runny side, as we scoop it out with bread), a generous drizzle of olive oil, half a cup of tahini*, some ground black pepper, ground cumin, and salt. Finally squeeze out half a lemon on top of all this. Just blend until it's smooth and that's it! Serve on a plate with additional olive oil, sprinkle some extra (unblended) chickpeas on top and devour! We serve this with homemade flatbread. It's such an easy, delicious meal. 

*Tahini is hard to find where we live, so I make my own mock "tahini" in the blender with olive oil and sesame seeds. This is a bit more runny than real tahini, but since I mainly use it for these kind of recipes it doesn't really matter. I've heard that others even substitute the tahini for peanut butter, and I don't see why that wouldn't work! In fact, I usually make hummus after I've made peanut butter- the food processor it quite a hassle to wash up so this way I'll "use twice, wash once". 

Other substitutes: since we've got our own lemon tree, we kind of refuse to buy lemons. So when they're off season we rather find a lemon substitute than to buy off season lemons for a high price. The best lemon substitute I have yet found is whey. I personally wouldn't recommend vinegar. 

This probably is not the most authentic recipe out there. We're not middle eastern, so that probably plays a role too, but I hope this comes at least a bit close to real authentic hummus. 

Multi grain pancakes

There was some homemade buttermilk sitting in the fridge that smelled a bit off, so it needed to used up quickly. The thing with making things from scratch is that it usually doesn't last as long as store bought stuff, because it's lacking preservatives and other funny ingredients. So you need to plan ahead or at least make sure to make use of it within a limited time frame. 

Usually we go through the buttermilk quickly but somehow that didn't happen this time. Fortunately, there are still ways to use it. A lot of recipes call for buttermilk and the good thing is, when using buttermilk when baking it doesn't really matter if it's not in the best condition anymore. What's important that it's still sour, and that's the very thing which make it "taste off"; it's become a bit *too* sour. So this morning I decided to make pancakes, it's one of our go-to breakfasts, especially when I need to use up something that would otherwise spoil (like whey, oatmeal pulp, or buttermilk). I used half white flour and half healthier grains (whole wheat and oatmeal). I tried a lot, and usually they came out either too dense, too dry or too fluffy. While eating more whole grains is our goal, by using only whole grains for this pancakes it just didn't come out with the right texture. So that's why I used half/half, that way at least it's somewhat healthier than when made completely with white flour. 

For a big batch of pancakes, you'll need:  

2 cups of white flour

1 cup of ground oatmeal 

1 cup of whole wheat flour

4 teaspoon of baking powder 

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda 

To taste: A dash of cinnamon, vanilla, some sugar

4 cups of buttermilk (since it was so sour I used 3 cups of buttermilk and one cup of potato boiling water that I kept in the fridge)

4 heaped spoons margarine or butter, melted 

4 eggs, or 3 if they're large

Mix the dry ingredients with a whisk and set aside. Melt your butter/margarine and let it cool. In a big bowl, mix the buttermilk, eggs, and butter until the eggs are lightly beaten. Now add the dry ingredients to the liquid ingredients. Stirr well using a whisk; make sure not to mix it, I just use the whisk to make the stirring easier but you can also use a large wooden spoon. A few lumps in the batter should be fine. Now let it sit a few minutes in order to get the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda started and meanwhile heat up a griddle. It should be very hot or the pancake batter will spread out too much. If it's really hot, grease the pan using a bit of butter or oil and pour in some batter, 1/3 to 1/2 cup at a time. When bubbles appear it's time to flip the pancake. This is a large batch and was enough for the four of us, with some leftovers that will be eaten tomorrow. 

When water becomes a luxury

Living in a dry climate, and coming originally from a country where rain is described as "bad weather", you really get to appreciate rainfall. I'm kind of ashamed now that in the past, I used to call rainy weather "bad weather" too. Now I really do know better! Dry climates can be challenging in and of itself, but what if the rainfall ceases even more? And what if that happens already five years in a row? Well, that's when you've got a problem. 

This is what happens here now and it affects people in so many ways. The most noticeable, of course, is that the prices of produce have gone up tremendously. Not only produce though- also the prices of meat, eggs, and all animal products. Which is understandable, but the thing is that the majority of people living in this country aren't particularly well of financially so it's defenitely a challenge for a lot of people to get some simple groceries these days. Another way how it affects people is the water supply inside: in most areas, the tap water is off from 9 PM to 4 AM (or something like that). Fortunately for us, in our area we nearly always can use our tap water without any problems, although the water stream at times might be weak. But, at least we have water and don't have to worry about collecting enough buckets of water etc. So we're very grateful for that. The government has set a few rules for people for being frugal with the water, like not washing cars for the time being (which I find a bit silly, to be honest- usually people don't wash their car everyday, so it would be much more effective to advise not to take long showers, not washing up the dishes with running water, etc. But that's just my opinion.) I really don't understand how a government should even warn people to be careful not to use too much water. To me, it's just something logical. Even more so when there's such a scarcity of this precious resource. But apparently this doesnt work like that with other people I guess, so the government has laid out guidelines for what to do (and what not to) with water. 

Most people don't realise this, but even though it's a necessity, water can really become a luxury. Despite the current situation, I think it's a good thing to be reminded of the luxury of a tap with running water. 

For the past few weeks, however, it has started to rain! How wonderful is that! It's amazing how after all these months it's raining almost daily. My new "problem" is to squish all the laundry on our limited line drying space on the days that it isn't raining. But that's a problem I do want to take for granted in such a situation. Despite the rain, we still try to conserve as much water as we can. Even if it does rain now, the problem with drought isn't solved overnight, so it's still very important to be grateful for what we have and as a consequence, being very frugal with water. 

My annual most dreaded task

Spring is most people's favourite time of the year. It's my favourite season too; especially since my seasonal allergies haven't been as bad for the past few years. Spring is the time of birds chirping, beautiful (and edible) flowers such as dandelions and jasmine, the cat enjoying more time outdoors than indoors (which I don't necessarily enjoy more but he certainly does!) and above all the weather becomes so nice. We have relatively cold winters and very hot summers so spring is defenitely something we do enjoy. 

But there is this one task in spring that I really, really dread. 

And no, it's not spring cleaning. For years now already, every year I make a year's supply of garlic paste. Garlic is something I use in nearly every dish we eat, so throughout the year we go through a lot of garlic. I always hated it so much to have smelly cutting boards, knives, hands and garlic presses are such a hassle to clean. I once read that someone did the same with ginger and I was like 'I could try that too with garlic instead'. And so I did, and it was such a life safer! (At that time I didnt make a years supply, so it wasn't a mammoth task to tackle.) At the time we bought imported dried garlic, which wasn't the best tasting garlic ever. Currently we live in a place where there's always an abundance of fresh garlic during spring. Fresh garlic is much easier to peel. Above all, fresh garlic is much more gentle for one's hands- peeling a huge amount of dried garlic results in the same kind of burn as chopping hot peppers with your bare hands. Aside from the benefits of fresh garlic, it's still quite a chore that I don't particularly look forward to doing, yet at the same time I'd rather do this once a year kind of smelly and tiring thing than to chop and endlessly wash off all the garlic smells throughout the year. 

So here is my garlic supply waiting and staring at me :), and I'm ready to go, i'm telling myself no more procrastinating. After all the work is done I'll keep my garlic in the fridge (because after all the peeling I'm honestly just too tired!), blend it in the food processor and then transfer it to small containers. I reuse yogurt containers for this, since yogurt here comes in small portion sized containers, which I cover tightly with aluminium foil. Every few days I take out one container of garlic paste and let it defrost in the fridge. It's so convenient to have this on hand, and it's well worth a day or two of endlessly peeling garlic. 

Unusual things to reuse

At our house, we refuse and reuse (and unfortunately we can't recycle... But that's for another post I guess). Reusing is a broad aspect and we reuse a lot of objects that would be a bit unusual to reuse for other people. I'm sure a lot of people are familiar with reusing glass jars, or other food containers, and toothbrushes, but there's a lot of items here that are a bit less usual when reusing comes to mind. 

So, here's some things we do: 

•Old tape rolls: these are a great organising tool. I use them to keep my silicone baking paper. 

•Detergent containers: we usually buy bulk containers, for example a 5 litre jug of washing up liquid. The brand we buy has a difficult cap- once it's opened, it won't close properly anymore. So I usually pour that 5 L in a more stable bottle, cut off the top part of the jug, and use the remaining part of the jug as storage containers. We use these "containers" to store various things, like other smaller bottles of cleaners and reusable wipes in the bathroom, freezer bags in the kitchen, etc. 

•Laundry basket: this is probably one of the most unusual things to reuse/upcycle. We used our laundry basket make a grocery stroller out of it! As a consequence, I now procrastinate a bit less with my laundry. Laundry baskets are contributors to procrastinating a lot of the time, because it just sits in that basket and no one notices it anyway. 

•T shirts: I use them as a "tea towel" when making bread or cut in two as a mop. I reuse a lot of clothes anyway to cut out squares of reusable cloths. 

•Lids of old cooking pans: I use them to cover plates of food, so I dont have to transfer them to a food container, and thus save myself a few extra dishes. 

•Food tins: these are used in so many ways, to keep cutlery and tools, to craft materials and even as a measuring cup. 

•Bottles: we dont buy a lot of bottles, mainly oil and vinegar. I have a few bottles of vinegar that I reuse to store ground nuts and sesame seeds. I also freeze homemade broth in bottles. 

•Milk cartons: these are reused to freeze leftover foods. 

•We even reuse components of an old coffee machine! The dipping tray happens to be an excellent way to store our bar of soap, in the kitchen. My husband (the only coffee drinker here) says he doesn't need a coffee machine now anymore, so now he's just brewing coffee the old fashioned way. 

Legumes

We eat a lot of legume based dishes. Not only are legumes quite nutritious, legumes -regardless of where one lives- are very affordable, too. Prices going up and up, and unfortunately, legumes are no exception. Still, in most cases, they're a more economical option than the average animal protein. Actually, the cheapest fish here is half the price of an kilo of lentils... Most fish, meat, and even eggs these days, are a lot more expensive. Also, one kilogram of dry lentils ends up being about double the weight cooked lentils. The fish, not so much, especially if you take into account that there's bones that won't be consumed. Anyway, long story short: no matter how expensive food is these days, legumes are relatively cheap. 

I hear a lot of people saying that they don't like the "bean taste". While there really is not one bean taste, I really, really can not relate to this! I passionately love all kinds of legumes. I don't think there is one kind I dislike. In fact, there's some legumes that aren't available where I live which I quite miss, like black beans and split peas. I always wonder how people can dislike an entire food group even if they haven't tasted all of them. But apparently, there are just people who dislike "beans". Then there's another thing I hear a lot: that they don't necessarily dislike legumes, they just don't know how to prepare them. Well, that's something I get. Because a lot of people (at least from the west) are brought up with a meat dense diet, if they're not completely raised on convenience foods, that is. In a lot of regions in the world, legumes are part of everyday diet, and they have countless of recipes using them. The variety of ways to prepare legumes is probably one of the reasons why people in those countries actually like, or at best aren't bothered with, legumes. 

So what are the dishes I regularly make when opting for a legume based dish? It's a bit hard to remember everything I ever made, because sometimes I really just throw various leftovers together, including chickpeas or lentils. Which, believe me or not, always turns out delicious! Anyway, there's some go to meals that we repeatedly have at our house. 

•Green/brown lentils: as mentioned, I add them to whatever leftover foods I have, to add more nutrition and taste. During summer, I also love making salads with whatever I have lying around in the fridge and make a lentil salad. Since it's very filling  I usually don't add any starchy ingredients. I also love all kinds of lentil-and-rice varieties, such as Egyptian Koshary or Levantine mudjadara. I kind of made our own north African mock version of mudjadara by using couscous and adding some leftover pepper/tomato stew. Green lentils make a decent replacement for mince meat in many dishes, like pastas, casseroles, etc. Or you can even make your own "meatballs" with brown lentils. And then there's of course the famous north African lentil stew using brown lentils that we absolutely love.

•Chickpeas: probably the most used legumes in north African cuisine, and it's used a lot in our cooking! Chickpeas are added to soups, stews, pasta dishes. And here chickpea flour is used a lot too, even in biscuits and other sweets. As far as non-north African cuisine (because I do love international cooking), we love hummus and falafel, and pakora/bhaji. Chickpea flour can even be made into a kind of tofu, albeit with a slightly chickpea-y flavour. But it's a good alternative if tofu isn't available where you live (which is the case for me), or if you're trying to avoid soy (which is also kind of the case for me). Sometimes I just make some "scrambled chickpea flour", which resembles eggs in texture, and is used as a quick addition of protein in many dishes. I also love making savoury chickpea flour muffins in my air fryer - recipe yet to be posted. Probably there's hundreds of other things one can make with chickpea flour, but these are just some of the things we do.  

•White beans: white beans make a scrumptious stew called loubia, which is like the north African equivalent of chilli! This we have quite regularly. Perfect comfort food, if you ask me. White beans can also be added to many other hearty soups and stews, as well as light summer salads. And since black, navy/pinto beans and kidney beans aren't available here I also use white beans for making refried beans. 

•Yellow/red lentils: while these would be considered a soup base for most of us, there's a lot more to use them for. Don't get me wrong, I love lentil soups, in all varieties, but it's just that they're quite versatile. I'm not that familiar with south Asian cuisine, knowing it a few different dishes, but I do make red lentil dhaal quite often. It's one of the children's favourite meals. I also quite regularly make Turkish lentil "meatballs", mercimek köfte. Which is a relatively unknown side dish I guess (if you don't live in Turkey or a Levantine country, that is), but we really love it. We love most or Turkish cuisine actually. 

•Split peas: I grew up on split pea soup, we had it quite regularly during the winter. Maybe it's just nostalgia but in my opinion there's no better winter comfort food than split pea soup! I also love bissara, a Moroccan dish. It's between a dip and a soup made out of split peas. Unfortunately, here they don't sell split peas so I can't make bissara. Although I've read that it can be substituted by broad beans (which is available here), so I might give it a try. Speaking of broad beans, that's something we usually have as a side, sprinkled with salt, cumin, and olive oil. And it's also added to couscous. 

Some kinds of legumes aren't available here, like navy beans, black and kidney beans, which is why I haven't listed them. And there's still a lot of legume based foods I'm yet to try, like porridges. Yes, orange split lentils could even be made into a porridge! And apparently, it's quite good. It may sound a bit strange, but, if like us you're familiar with 'bsisa', it's not that weird to eat a sweet legume based foods. Bsisa is a traditional sweet dish (either eaten for breakfast or as a snack) made of ground barley and/or wheat and ground legumes, mostly chickpeas but also lentils. It's then mixed with olive oil until it reaches the desired texture and a sweetener of some sort. Usually it's decorated with some seeds and nuts on top. Bsisa can also be made with water or milk instead of oil, o make it a bit lighter, because the olive oil based bsisa is quite rich. Apparently you can also make brownies with beans, so legumes and sweet dishes might not be that of a strange combo, after all. 

This is getting a bit long. I hope the point I'm trying to make is clear: that legumes are so versatile, and that you just should give it a try to experiment more with this food group! 

Making foods from scratch, vs eliminating food waste

Like most frugal cooks, I make a lot of things from scratch. Like a lot. I do this for a variety of reasons; first of all, because it's just something I really enjoy. Then there's also the financial/health aspect. And because I live in a country other than where I grew up and where I lived until my 30th age, and can't find certain foods I was familiar with and which I love, I make some of those foods from scratch. So there's defenitely a lot that I make at home. Which, I assume, most people would obviously label as a very frugal and green thing to do. After all, you're avoiding a lot of package materials, you're not buying the ready made stuff which can be a lot more expensive etc. 

The very reason why I do make a lot of foods from scratch, though, simultaneously is the very thing that can make this practice a bit less frugal. Because, to be honest, we ALL waste food. Even as a family that's very conscious about food waste, it still happens in our house. No, it doesn't happen that often but still, unfortunately it does happen. And I don't know of anyone who never ever throws away any food. And I assume that most of us know that non-extremely processed food (without preservatives and other chemicals), those foods tend to spoil a lot faster than the store bought equivalents. So that part of made from scratch cooking is a very tricky one, which CAN lead to wasting food, and thus money.                         Fortunately, I have figured out what works for us when it comes to keeping homemade items fresh for long enough until it spoils.  

•First of all: don't (always) make too large batches. I know, most of us have bigger eyes than stomachs and we tend to do batch cooking in order to make it easier for ourselves. While I'm not against batch cooking at all (we usually eat the same dish every other day, so I'm very familiar with cooking bigger batches), I don't think it's for every dish. Some things we don't feel like eating over and over again and even to eat something just to finish it sounds a bit wasteful to me. And while freezing leftovers is a great option for a lot of foods, it's not for every kind of food, in my opinion. Freezing can change the textures, and while most foods come out perfect once defrosted, that's not the case for all foods. Some examples of foods that we really don't like after being frozen are potatoes, pasta, rice, eggs, carrots, pancakes. Apparently a lot of tarches just don't freeze that well, though I don't have that problem with freezing bread. As for other foods that I don't cook in larger batches, those are mainly plainly boiled legumes such as lentils and chick peas. In the past, I found it useful to have some of those on hand but I found that no matter how well I rinsed them and how well I kept them in an container, they start to change in taste so quickly. So I now make single batches of legumes, unless I freeze them right away, especially chickpeas. Lentils, again, I don't really like frozen. 

•Also, know how to store your foods properly! I usually keep one fridge shelf solely for keeping leftovers and foods that need to be used up quicker than other foods lying around in the fridge. That way it's easier to be reminded of how everything needs to be eaten ASAP. Using transparent food containers or reused glass jars is also a great way to be reminded of what's actually in the fridge. When you see it, you tend to actually use it, instead of tossing it after it begins to smell funny. Make sure that your leftover shelf is not the highest or lowest shelf, the middle shelf is best for this. 

•When it comes to freezing foods, I love using silicone cups. It's just about the size I usually need for cooking for certain foods. Things like pesto, aquafaba, harissa, pasta sauce, bone broth, or soy sauce (which are all homemade- yes, I even make my own soy sauce substitute). After those things are frozen you can transfer them in whatever you find easiest, either a container or a bag, I even reuse milk cartons for this purpose. Some people use ice cubes, but I find those a bit too small. I also reuse small yogurt containers, which are really quite small here, as they contain only half a cup of yogurt. It's also important that if you're  not consuming your homemade food right away, or planning on doing so within a few days, to consider freezing it. That defenitely makes a huge difference when it comes to wasting food. I love reusing all kinds of small food containers really. Like my homemade soy sauce substitute, I keep in small 250 ML bottles in the freezer that once contained rose water and orange blossom water. The homemade "soy" sauce isn't as concentrated as store bought, so I usually use half a 250 ML bottle, or even an entire bottle. I even heard of people freezing milk, as some people only use milk for their coffee and a litre of milk wouldn't last before spoiling. I never tried this myself though since milk doesn't last that long in our house. So educate yourself on how to store your favourites and do research on that. It'll defenitely rescue a lot of foods. 

•While meal planning is great, it's not for everyone.  It certainly doesn't work well for our family, and that's fine. But for some people it's a great way to reduce food waste so it's still something I'd like to mention. 

•Be creative. Think outside the box. Maybe that bit of leftover pasta sauce would make a great toasted cheese sandwich, that half a cup of lentils could be mashed to thicken up your stew or added to a soup. That spoonful of soy sauce can be added to your salad dressing.  Leftovers can be eaten the next day as lunch too, which we really love, especially in colder seasons. We also like to share food with family members, neighbours etc. Which, fortunately, happens to be culturally acceptable where we live. In fact, a lot of people here actually cook bigger batches on purpose so they can share food with whomever needs it. I really love that.

The most versatile fruit

I must admit that I'm not a fruit lover. There's only a few fruits that I really like, and most other (but certainly not all!) fruits, I will tolerate. On top of that, I have some allergies with certain kinds of fruit. 

If we had a lot of veg sitting around in the fridge that would need to be used isn't really an issue for me, as I believe vegetables can be used in a variety of ways anyway, plus I prefer them over fruit. But with fruit, that's another issue. Especially fruits that you cannot buy a small quantity of, and if there's a risk that it's not a "good" one... Well, that's an additional thing. 

My husband and children LOVE watermelon.  I don't; I dont even really like them but I'll eat some if it's a good one. Only if its a good one! Unfortunately, that's not always the case. Some just thate terrible. And I was so fed up with throwing out watermelons (that even hubby and kids wouldn't eat), BUT fortunately I found quite a few solutions to that problem. Ironically, despite watermelon isn't really appealing to me to eat as is, the "alternative ways" to use them up are usually scrumptious. So, what do I do with watermelons? 

- Jam making. Jam making is something I do a lot, especially during the summer months, and I found that most fruits are suitable for jam making, even the fruits you wouldn't expect to be good jam bases! So last year I tried to make watermelon jam and it was absolutely scrumptious. Whenever we had a "bad" watermelon, this was one of the things I did with the fruit. I made jam a few weeks ago, using a very big watermelon. It was so big that it didnt fit in my 8L pot at once, and we gifted some of the jam to family members. Jam always makes such a nice gift, in my opinion! As for the taste, it doesn't really taste that watermelon-y anymore, it's a bit like a cross between strawberry and fig jam. 

- Dehydrating fruits. My kids love dried watermelon as a snack. Its very sweet, even if using a "bad" watermelon that isn't too sweet. Dehydrating especially comes in handy when you have a LOT of watermelon because it shrinks a lot. 

- Juice/smoothies. I don't have a juicer so I just use half watermelon, half water and some additional sugar. I don't really like this but my kids do. Since we only drink water and tea, juice or a smoothie every now and then is really a treat for them. You could also make syrup, just like the jam but thinner, and then dilute it with water. Syrup should stay good for a long time in the fridge. 

- Cold soup. Also known as gazpacho. Usually this is made with tomatoes, but mine is watermelon based. Adding a bit of onions and herbs, this is really a refreshing drink. I do add some tomato paste just for the colour but that isnt really necessary. 

- Fry them up! Yes, even that is possible... Apparently, it's a vegan alternative to fish that's used in sushi. I'm not a vegan but I do like these kind of tricks if that means I can save produce from going to waste. Again, this is something you can't really taste that it's watermelon. 

I'm not done yet! All of the above was only about the flesh. The rinds are totally edible too; although I wouldn't recommend to eat it plainly,  I've successfully used the rind in various ways. I love fermenting so that's what I'd regularly do with watermelon rinds. I also just boil them and use that as additional "vegetables" to any meal. Yes, technically it's fruit and not a vegetable, but since they resemble vegetables in taste, I treat those rinds as a vegetable. Not very different from how I'd treat a tomato, which, in the end, is fruit as well. 

I think I haven't heard of a fruit that is that versatile in terms of using them other than eating plainly, hence the title of this post! Now I certainly don't really mind if there's a sub par watermelon in our fridge. 

Cheaper French toast!

French toast is something a lot of people enjoy for breakfast, and growing up, my mum even made it for lunch! 

Originally, before freezers and Tupperware were invented, people would have stale bread often. Unlike these days, most people back then were very big on not wasting anything. And in some cultures, especially bread is almost regarded something sacred. Something you just.dont.throw.away! So naturally, they came up with ideas to revive stale bread. These days there isn't really an excuse to throw away bread, in my humble opinion- or even to actually have stale bread. But unfortunately, bread is still on top of the list of foods that are discarded most often.

So I guess making French toast more often will solve the problem partially. 

French toast isn't the only way to use up stale bread, but it's one of the yummiest ways to do so, in my opinion. Back to this post's title, because isn't french toast cheap already? Of course, that depends on one's resources, location and other circumstances. Where we live, fortunately, bread is insanely cheap, since it's subsidized by the government, so that everyone can afford bread. But milk and eggs? Not so much. Fortunately, I found a way to substitute the eggs so that it lowers the cost at least a bit. Instead of using eggs, I use cornstarch, which turns out much cheaper than using eggs. Not only is it cheaper, your carbon footprint will also be lower than when using eggs-- win win. From a nutritional perspective it is probably a bit less healthy. But hey, we're not eating this daily. And besides, as with most western people, our intake of protein is more than we need anyway. 

To make these French toast, we use about 1.5 big baguette, which is the bread that is eaten where we live, for our family of 4. I use about 2.5 cups of milk, and use a tablespoon of cornstarch for each half cup, so that makes 5 tablespoon. I also add either some vanilla sugar or ground cinnamon. Just slice the baguette, then dip each slice in the milk and starch mixture, then take it out (using a fork, preferably), and fry the slices on both sides.  We prefer these with either honey or powdered sugar, but I'm sure other topping will be delicious too. 

Other kinds of bread can be used interchangeably-- we just use baguette because it's easily available and most affordable. And of course, remnants of the milk can be used for other things, like porridges, pancakes/waffles etc. Make sure you don't throw the milk away because you wanted to avoid throwing out the bread. 😉