What did we eat past week

So I'm trying to do this "what we ate past week" every Monday from now on. Meal planning beforehand clearly doesn't work for us, at least in the traditional sense (this is something I'll try to elaborate on in a future post). But I'd still like to share what we ate so sharing our "meal plan" in retrospect would work best for me that way.  I'm not completely sure anymore what we ate when, so it's a bit in a random order. 

• Steamed vermicelli with onion and chicken (among other ingredients), 2x 

• Refried beans with homemade mlawi flatbread and fried aubergine

 • Tunisian fricassé (sandwiches) with french fries 

• Couscous, 2x 

• Leftovers (soup, among others) 

By "2x", I mean I batch cooked and we had the same meal twice. Usually we don't eat the same thing two days in a row, but every other day. And of course, we had more than one meal a day- I'm mainly focusing on the main meal here, not necessarily breakfast and lunch. Breakfast, although I try to vary a bit, is still a bit more repetitive and well..  just a bit "breakfasty" I guess. And for lunch we usually have leftovers or sandwiches, if we eat lunch at all (my husband and youngest aren't very big on eating lunch). 

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. 

Some reasons for being frugal

I read a article the other day on why people choose to live a frugal lifestyle and I found the perspective interesting, although I didn't really agree with it- it claimed that being frugal is usually done out of necessity, which is why being frugal is not so sustainable long term, as it might make people feel deprived. 

Feeling deprived is defenitely something that can happen when you're making a lifestyle switch cold turkey, especially when you simply have no other option. So I get that. Where I don't agree is claiming that necessity is the only reason to be frugal. It's almost saying as if being frugal is somewhat pathetic. I am pretty sure that most frugal people are frugal out of choice. It's also interesting that poor people are often the least frugal people out there- despite being frugal would help them a lot to struggle a bit  less. As someone experienced both periods of poverty as well as more comfortable stages financially, I can tell that being frugal absolutely helps when you're in dire need, but it also helps when you don't absolutely need to. It all depends on the reasons why you're being frugal in the first place. 

The environment is not the first reason people think about when it comes to frugality, but for us this is one of the biggest reasons. Not only was I brought up to value green living, but being religious we believe that we need to take good care of the creation. We are not allowed to misuse resources and pollute the earth even more. Especially when we're facing crises like these days, this should be even a bigger argument to be very frugal. Yes, of course money plays a role too. As I mentioned, having experienced relative poverty, I know what's it like to have to pinch pennies. Even though I don't *have* to anymore, I think having gone through a more lean period can change people for good, I'll never take having a good material life for granted anymore. That being said, our income is fluctuating so it's always good to have money to spare for periods when money is more tight. 

Some people will be surprised by this, but I just really, really like being frugal. I probably have the same excitement over having found a way to reuse a certain item or a way to cut down on electricity use that others would have after going on a shopping trip. This is why I never will become "normal" when it comes to spending money, throwing out stuff etc. But what even is normal? 100 years ago, frugality was the norm, whereas unfortunately these days, overconsumption and tossing away perfectly functioning stuff is considered normal. It's sad. I'd rather be the weird one than being wasteful. And I'm convinced that us frugal people will eventually prove the consumerism wrong. It probably has to take a few more crises until that happens. 

I also find it very important to set a good example for the next generation, particularly my own children. It's funny to see them coming with random items they're about to throw away and asking me first if I'd want to keep it. It's also cool to see them making their own decorations for their rooms, rather than buying. Yes, they do have store bought decorations, don't worry- but I guess they just know the value of reusing stuff just too well. Most things they make are real pretty though. My oldest is becoming more into fashion and clothes and she rather buys them second hand. Our second hand market for clothes here is huge and she's always so excited when she found clothes that matches her size and taste perfectly! 

Also, as much as we value frugality, we probably value slow and simple living even more. Even if it might cost a bit more in some cases. Having turned my back to the consumerism culture feels just so liberating. Trying to meet al the standards that most western societies set is like having your mind turned on 24/7, and I'm glad I refuse to take part in that rat race. Slow living and frugality usually go hand in hand though, they seldom contradict each other. You refuse to buy the newest trends just because they're the newest trends, you don't feel the need to buy that "necessary" new kitchen appliances that promise you to make your life even more easy- for busy people, that is. You don't have to upgrade your house a the time. You don't feel like you need to meet all the expectations of keeping up with the Jones's. Here in Tunisia, especially in the more impoverished areas (like where we live), there is no such thing as "keeping up with the Jones's" anyway, because very few people can afford to be like the Jones's. So that's an easy one. That can be one's definition of frugality, but for us, it's not just frugality, but also more simplifying our life.

As I mentioned before, being frugal and "simple" can make you being the weird one often. For a long time that bothered me a bit, because why would people be so judgy? I now know that that's just the way most people are- afraid of the unknown. I now try to do my best to set an example in the hope that I can inspire others to live a (little) bit more sustainable/frugal/simple, because I truly believe that's also in their best interest. Also, when you're trying to set an example, that leads to more accountability. Which is a good thing for my own conscience. 

Saving for a rainy day- without having social security or a pension to look forward to, I think it's defenitely important for us to live frugally right now as we basically have to save up for our own pension (if it's decreed for us to reach that age anyhow). Or just unexpectedly high expenses. This feels different for us than to be frugal out of necessity. Some people might say it's similar, but since we don't actually need it right now to survive, it's still a bit different. 

So- that were our reasons to be frugal. Yours might be different, and that's ok. 

Reheating foods without a microwave

Apparently it's surprising to some people that we don't own a microwave. People have become so accustomed to using appliances for about everything that we kind of forgot how to do things in a more simple/old fashioned way and even think it's impossible unless you have a device doing it for you. We did have a microwave in the past, but haven't owned one in over 14 years. When my sister's oven died, we gave our oven to her, which was a small microwave/oven combo (we had a stove with bigger oven, so never really used the oven part of the microwave). That's when I realized that a microwave wasn't a necessity for us. Apparently, this is quite a controversial topic. Probably because the reason why some people refuse to use a microwave isn't exactly evidence based and people tend to link that to conspiracy theories. I can understand that, which is why I firstly wanted to make clear the reason behind not owning one. And I don't judge people for being into "conspiracy theories" or believe certain things that aren't considered evidence based; I just wanted to make clear our reasons behind this. Which is quite simply just not seeing the need to own one. 

Isn't it interesting that one day you're convinced that you actually need a certain thing, only to find out you can easily do without after it's gone- the opposite way would be a lot easier. What's also interesting is that people here generally don't have microwaves either. They do sell them obviously, although there aren't quite a lot of different types. The combo things like we once had aren't even being sold as far as I know, so it's just individual microwaves. I actually know only one person that owns a microwave and she doesn't really use it a lot. People generally were just brought up reheating foods the old fashioned way and probably don't feel the need to buy something that does it for them. Which also plays a role is that they don't sell foods here that need to be microwaved- there's not a lot of convenience foods, and certainly no "TV dinners" kind of foods. So what do you do with a microwave then, after all. 

Anyway, here are some tips on reheating foods without a microwave. It seems like people would like to live without one, but aren't sure how, so I'll share some practical experience that I've gained throughout the years. 

• Soups, stews and other liquid foods are a no brainer to me, but I'm including them anyway. All you need is a saucepan of some sort. I'll be honest, I sometimes use an old frying pan, to make reheating quicker (the narrower the pan, the longer it takes to heat). 

• Pasta dishes: I reheat this in a frying pan on very low heat, stirring occasionally. I do this too with rice, although with rice I prefer to add a few spoons of liquid. Then just heat until the liquid has evaporated. With mashed potatoes this works as well. 

• Couscous: just the same way as it's being prepared- by steaming. This doesn't necessarily have to be a steaming pan, you can also use a meat sieve or colander. I'm not sure how it will turn out when using instant couscous as I've never used that. This will work for plain rice too. 

• All kids of foods that have been fried up previously, such as baked potatoes, fish, eggs, chicken, vegetables etc. Eggs are probably not the first food you think about when it comes to leftovers but I thought I'd include it anyway, 'cause you never know. These you can all re-fry again, on a low temperature and flipping regularly. 

• Food that's already on a plate is a little bit more complicated to reheat. Just a little bit. I have two methods: either to heat it up with the water bath kind of method, when you have a plate on a hot saucepan and let it simmer for as long as needed, usually not longer than 10 minutes and then letting it sit there for another 10 minutes or so (be careful when you take off the plate!). This works best with soup plates. My other method is to use my cast iron pan which I use to bake bread on the stove. I heat up this pan until it's very hot and then put the plate of food on it. If the plate isn't too big, I put another pan on top of it and cover that with something hot. I nearly always have hot pans on my stove, so when I just made something that needs to rest I'll use that. Sometimes I put a small saucepan on the lid of a bigger pan (they're metal lids, for safety reasons I wouldn't try this with glass lids). Another wat of water Bart heating is to put glass jars in a pot with water and let it reheat slowly. It's important to use cold water and let it heat up slowly as it could break the jars otherwise. This is especially handy when you have multiple small leftovers and you don't want to use so many pans. I use my glass jars a lot to store leftovers anyway, so this way I am saving a lot of extra dishes to wash. 

• Pancakes, breads, waffles etc. can be heated (and thereby, revived) easily in a frying pan, but I use my cast iron pan that is specially designed for making bread. We usually have either homemade flatbreads (north African style, which is kind of similar to pita bread), or baguettes that we buy at the local bakery. Especially the baguettes become stale quite quickly, and by reheating them they taste almost freshly baked again. It's also a way to defrost bread- just make sure the flame is set very low and that the bread is being flipped regularly. 

• Another kind of using residue heat is to use the oven. I have a toaster oven (albeit bigger, but it's an individual oven not attached to the hob), and especially when baking something that has a long baking time it can get quite hot on top. So I might use that every now and then to reheat foods on, by simply putting the plate there. Or just to keep foods warm. I also like to use it to dehydrate certain foods, but that's for another time. Another way to keep foods warm is to put pans on top of each other. This works well when pans can fit on top of each other, which isn't always the case, but when they do it's quite a handy way to keep foods warm until it's time to eat. This was done a lot in the 1950s, and apparently it was even propagated to do by the Dutch government, to encourage people to use less cooking fuel. 

• Steaming can be used not only for couscous but for so many other foods. I know my father in law sometimes steams his bread when it has become stale. And my grandmother reheated poffertjes (tiny Dutch pancakes) this way- she didn't have a "real" steaming pan but just used the metal colander which I mentioned earlier. This, she called "the poor man's microwave". 

• This is where I cheat a bit: I sometimes use my air fryer. I especially do this with small things as ours isn't that big. I reheat my baked oatmeal for example, although it's not limited to that. Other foods I can think about that I use my air fryer for are donuts, muffins (either savory or sweet), etc. To be honest, if it were me I wouldn't have purchased the air fryer, but we were gifted one. I do find them convenient at times though. If I wouldn't have an air fryer, I would probably have reheated the baked oatmeal/donuts by steaming. 

• Of course, you can also use an oven to reheat foods. I don't really do that, as it's very energy inefficient in my opinion. Even though our oven isn't as big as most other ovens, it still takes a lot of energy to heat up. With casseroles, this is probably the best and only solution (although, if using a round oven dish, I'm sure my previously mentioned method of the cast iron pan, will work just as fine). We don't eat a lot of casseroles and if we do, we usually don't have a lot of leftovers. But all in all the oven is the last option for me. This reminds me of when we had blackout of our gas and my mother in law wanted to reheat her tea. She ended up using our oven! She couldn't use hers, as she has a gas oven.i found it a bit weird honestly, but it did work. 

•The sun: since we live in a generally warm country, with plenty of sun, using sun warmth is obviously the most sustainable option of all! I might forget to take out a baguette from the freezer or something and just lay it outside in the sun. This works very good. I can't put everything there because of the cats in our garden, but defrosting bread isn't something that you can't do with the cats. When the heat is very intense during the summer, this should be possible with any food, although I must admit I haven't tried it a lot. 

• Heaters: I grew up in a home with a wood heater. There was a flat surface on top of the heater which was very useful to heat up foods, which my parents sometimes did. It will also work with most radiators. The heater we use right now isn't suitable to put things on, unfortunately, but when we did have radiators we used that to heat up foods. Just make sure you don't put that heater on for the sole purpose of reheating foods- in that case, you can even better use an oven. 😉

• Apparently, you can even use the dishwasher to reheat (or even cook!) foods. Since I don't own a dishwasher (and am not planning on getting one) I'm not sure how, and if, this works. I just read that others do this. If it does work and you're running a load of dishes anyway, why not? Probably most people find it gross, but with all the water inside the machine, I'm assuming that the food is covered properly anyway, so I don't see a problem there. But again, I can't attest to the correctness of this. 

So these were a few of the things I do. Kindly note that I'm not claiming these are the most healthy or safest ways- I'm simply sharing what works for us. What I'm sharing probably goes somewhat against most official guidelines. But then again, I personally don't really care about most rules and I guess I have my own kinds of guidelines. I mean, some things are obviously common sense, but I personally don't agree with the caution against reheating rice, just to give an example. That's going overboard with food safety concerns and I just think it leads to so much wasted foods. But, if it's a concern to you, just know that this is not necessarily meant as an encouragement to go against official guidelines. My intention is simply to share some of the things that works for us. 

Line drying laundry while aiming for a zero waste lifestyle

Ask the average homemaker what his/her least favourite chore is, and the answer is usually somewhat predictable: dishes and laundry. I'm not an exception, when it comes to dishes especially. As for laundry, I don't mind it that much, as far as sorting/"washing"/hanging to dry/taking it off the clothesline (yes, those quotations are there on purpose, as it's the machine that does the washing for me). Folding and putting away, however, is a bit different. I don't know why, but for some reason I just have a hard time with that, and I just keep procrastinating until there's quite a big mountain of laundry waiting on the sofa. Things need to get done anyway, whether it's a small load a time or a very big time consuming one. Rationally thinking, it would be much more easy to put the laundry right away when it comes off the line, but unfortunately for some reason, it doesn't always work like that. It probably also has to do with the fact that it's usually dry by the end of the day, especially during the colder months, and that's when I'm just tired with a hurting back and not willing to do a lot of things around the house. That's probably a big "why" to my procrastinating. I still try to live by the rule "do what's most important first, and do what's most fun last". That mindset really helps a lot honestly, so it already has improved. 

Things get a bit complicated when you try to live zero waste/environmentally conscious and, as a consequence of that, have a lot of reusable items. If you're really struggling to keep up with putting away the laundry, why on earth would you be adding all those extras to that?! I honestly just can't use all those disposables anymore. I cringe by the thought of it alone. My no. 1 reason for the reusables is the environment obviously, although health and money play a big role too. It would be fun to calculate the costs I've saved already by using reusables instead of disposables, I've probably saved already thousands of euros by now (I've been doing this for nearly ten years). Knowing that I'm saving that much money, of course is a big motivation to keep doing this. I mean, as for the environment, you don't quite see a result, except if everyone is doing it, but when it comes to money, you do see results. Still, despite the overconsumption and overly plasticky world we live in, I still keep in doing this for environmental reasons, and perhaps convincing others to do the same. If I look at how the zero waste movement once was non existent and now has a lot of followers/enthusiasts... I think it CAN be possible as individuals to make a difference. 

Ok, back to the laundry now... The annoying thing is that there's different kinds of reusables, so I need to sort them, which can be a tedious task. I do have developed a kind of system to sort them before washing, but after line drying, everything gets piled up in the same basket. I do try a bit to colour coordinate different kind of wipes, to make sorting out easier. I also stopped folding most of the wipes - it's actually ridiculous when I think about how I folded all those wipes! Perhaps it's one of the reasons I actually developed an aversion to this. So now I just dump them into boxes/baskets that I use for storing all these reusable wipes (with the exception of the cloth pads, which are stored a bit more tidy). It probably doesn't look as neat, but it saves me a lot of work- and above all, procastinating. And as I mentioned before: I try to live by the rule to do first what's most necessary and to do the most fun parts last. This means I'll try to put away all the small things first. These things combined really helped me to stay on top of all my reusables somewhat. Yes, somewhat, as there's lot of room for improvement, but still it's better than before.  Fortunately I don't mind hanging all those tiny cloths... It would be an absolute nightmare if I'd have an aversion to having to do that! I've become a pro in hanging them as quickly as possible, but still takes a bit longer than the average load. Oh well, just free exercise! 

I'm the kind of person that wants to do it either perfect or doesn't do it at all. Zero waste living can defenitely be a bit more work, but if you plan and organize it makes a real difference. You just have to give up perfectionism. That can be a challenge in and of itself, but seeing the results can be so rewarding. You're both saving the environment and money AND you're seeing improvement from within yourself. 

Using up applesauce and an easy baked oatmeal recipe

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

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

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

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

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

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

The communal oven

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

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

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

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

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

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

Easy and delicious marinade - 3 ingredients

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

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

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

It's only single use if you use it once

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Vanilla sugar

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

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

Some of my recent failures

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

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

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

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

• Did an unsuccessful attempt to make my own shampoo. 

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

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

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