Our workshop on Internet marketing for Saturday has been postponed, cancelled, what-have-you. We're a little sad because we were looking forward to having a success in our 'business" column. But since the expected throngs of participants did not materialize, I think we're doing the right thing to not continue to invest time and energy in something that clearly was not that interesting to the people it was marketed to.
Instead, we're going to offer it as a series of video training. THAT should be interesting.
And, yesterday I bought a copy of the classic, What Color Is Your Parachute, and am looking forward to reading through it again, meaning for the first time in 20+ years.
When we had to decide yesterday whether or not to cancel the workshop, I asked Husband what he felt God was saying to him about it. "I feel like God is telling me to get moving," he immediately blurted out. In the sense of get the business moving, he explained.
I found that interesting as a deciding factor -- would having the workshop for the limited participants move this business forward? It seemed like the answer was, Probably not.
We watched a cute movie, Miss Pettigrew, last night. I hadn't been interested because I thought it was going to be a Mary-Poppins-meets-Mrs-Doubtfire type of thing, but it was actually about one out-of-luck woman's day that turns her life, and how she views herself, entirely around. Perfect!
We also ate the collard greens last night; apparently not just cooking them for hours but also letting them steep in the fridge for several days does soften them to the extent they are edible. That tidbit will be helpful to all home cooks when the next Depression hits, I'm sure. That and having a bottle of Soy Vey teriyaki sauce on hand.
Showing posts with label veggies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label veggies. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
'Cause Nothing Says Summer Like Collard Greens
Can anyone 'splain to me why we are getting collard greens in our CSA box? I thought they were a cold-weather vegetable. These leaves are GIGANTIC! Of course I thought to take a pic of them after I cut them up.
Anyway right now they are simmering in the slow cooker thanks to several internet recipes I cobbled together. Lots of slow-cooker collard recipes, but all called for salt pork or ham hocks -- and I'm not going out for that when I've got perfectly good bacon at home. It should be fine.
I just hope the heat and humidity back off a little by nightfall so I'm in the mood to eat them!
Anyway right now they are simmering in the slow cooker thanks to several internet recipes I cobbled together. Lots of slow-cooker collard recipes, but all called for salt pork or ham hocks -- and I'm not going out for that when I've got perfectly good bacon at home. It should be fine.
I just hope the heat and humidity back off a little by nightfall so I'm in the mood to eat them!
Monday, October 13, 2008
How I Save Money on Food
This post is my entry for a BlogHer contest sponsored by Prego Italian Sauce. The winner will be randomly chosen, but as I thought about what I'd say in a quickly posted comment, my ideas sounded so off-the-wall that I decided to pretend it’s an essay contest and try to craft something thoughtful.
I have always been a coupon clipper and rebate/sale circular scanner. However, in the past months we have made the decision to try to start our own business, which means making our current savings last as long as possible. We are also trying to improve our health by eating a low-carb diet, and my son has a casein allergy. These factors mean inexpensive products full of carbs or whey/milk/cheese are off-limits.
If it’s Tuesday, we must be having veggies
We joined a CSA this year – a vegetable coop. It arrives (well, we go and get it) once a week, and since it’s already paid for we’re kinda forced to cook and eat it! It didn’t feel like we were saving money writing the check, but it averages out to $10/week to split a share – with only 2 of us eating these foods, it’s more than enough. We joined because the veggies taste so good – our neighbor gave us some of her extras last year. But it’s been a money-saver too, as I hate to waste food, especially good food, so I make an effort to cook the veggies.
Woo hoo, cheap meat!
There is an episode of The Simpsons where Homer goes into the convenience store and excitedly stuffs himself with on-sale hot dogs and the like that are outdated, have been on the floor, etc. While my choices are nowhere near that, talking about saving money on meat always reminds me of that. I do 2 things here: 1. Sale meat. Really, pork tenderloin isn’t exactly roughing it. And we happen to prefer chicken thighs and wings to breast meat anyway. But how old am I that $2 a pound for the cheap cuts sounds like a lot?
2. Store-brand cold cuts. I love Boar’s Head, but at half the price, it turns out the Stop & Shop brand isn’t so bad. I have 2 supertasters in the house, so that switch wasn’t as much of a no-brainer as it may seem. Mouthfeel is king around here when it comes to meat products. But I took a chance and found an acceptable alternative to $10/lb Virginia ham.
Sufficient unto the week are the groceries thereof
I’ve stopped buying in advance, and am trying to be more mindful of what I already have, and how long it will last, rather than automatically tossing in something I see and know we’ll use (eventually).
This is a big shift for me, born of Depression-era parents who believed in stocking up. There are still a few things I always make sure to have a spare of in the house, but less important things I'm trying to cut back on. This is especially true of snack foods, which are so much fun to get for DB, when I see something new.
Benefits in addition to cost savings include:
#1 – I cook late at night sometimes now. In the past I’d think, “I’m too tired, let’s order in.” But in our neighborhood it actually takes less time to cut up veggies and roast 2 pork tenderloins than it does to order Chinese food.
#2 – I take DB with me to pick out the foods that only he will be eating (such as bread). He eats it faster and better than when I take a guess, or always buy the same thing over and over.
#3 – When I do save enough in a week to have grocery money left over, I save it up for the next trip to the pricey health food store for the convenience foods that are hard to live without right now – like enriched, single-serve almond milk and dairy-free breakfast bars that DB takes to school.
I have always been a coupon clipper and rebate/sale circular scanner. However, in the past months we have made the decision to try to start our own business, which means making our current savings last as long as possible. We are also trying to improve our health by eating a low-carb diet, and my son has a casein allergy. These factors mean inexpensive products full of carbs or whey/milk/cheese are off-limits.
If it’s Tuesday, we must be having veggies
We joined a CSA this year – a vegetable coop. It arrives (well, we go and get it) once a week, and since it’s already paid for we’re kinda forced to cook and eat it! It didn’t feel like we were saving money writing the check, but it averages out to $10/week to split a share – with only 2 of us eating these foods, it’s more than enough. We joined because the veggies taste so good – our neighbor gave us some of her extras last year. But it’s been a money-saver too, as I hate to waste food, especially good food, so I make an effort to cook the veggies.
Woo hoo, cheap meat!
There is an episode of The Simpsons where Homer goes into the convenience store and excitedly stuffs himself with on-sale hot dogs and the like that are outdated, have been on the floor, etc. While my choices are nowhere near that, talking about saving money on meat always reminds me of that. I do 2 things here: 1. Sale meat. Really, pork tenderloin isn’t exactly roughing it. And we happen to prefer chicken thighs and wings to breast meat anyway. But how old am I that $2 a pound for the cheap cuts sounds like a lot?
2. Store-brand cold cuts. I love Boar’s Head, but at half the price, it turns out the Stop & Shop brand isn’t so bad. I have 2 supertasters in the house, so that switch wasn’t as much of a no-brainer as it may seem. Mouthfeel is king around here when it comes to meat products. But I took a chance and found an acceptable alternative to $10/lb Virginia ham.
Sufficient unto the week are the groceries thereof
I’ve stopped buying in advance, and am trying to be more mindful of what I already have, and how long it will last, rather than automatically tossing in something I see and know we’ll use (eventually).
This is a big shift for me, born of Depression-era parents who believed in stocking up. There are still a few things I always make sure to have a spare of in the house, but less important things I'm trying to cut back on. This is especially true of snack foods, which are so much fun to get for DB, when I see something new.
Benefits in addition to cost savings include:
- Making more of an effort to wean DB off prepared foods and onto “real food” (like, a grilled-chicken sandwich instead of nuggets). In the past it would have been stressful for him if I were to run out of one of his staples, but now he’ll deal.
- Having less go stale/ become outdated.
- Fewer desserts in the house – none of us really needs them anyway!
#1 – I cook late at night sometimes now. In the past I’d think, “I’m too tired, let’s order in.” But in our neighborhood it actually takes less time to cut up veggies and roast 2 pork tenderloins than it does to order Chinese food.
#2 – I take DB with me to pick out the foods that only he will be eating (such as bread). He eats it faster and better than when I take a guess, or always buy the same thing over and over.
#3 – When I do save enough in a week to have grocery money left over, I save it up for the next trip to the pricey health food store for the convenience foods that are hard to live without right now – like enriched, single-serve almond milk and dairy-free breakfast bars that DB takes to school.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Too Many Little Purple Potatoes
Last week's veggie co-op included 2 lbs of potatoes (actually 4 but our half was 2), most of which were tiny and purple.
Now, I love me my purple potato chips as much as the next urban woman with too much disposable income, but this was the real deal. Now I know why that bag of chips costs so much -- these suckers were about as big as big cherry tomatoes, and EACH one of them had to have bad spots cut out (OK, that's where the organic part of the farm shows itself).
I felt like I was carving pebbles.
As I was scraping some, peeling some, and digging at each little purple stone, I questioned the sanity of putting in that amount of effort for an unknown payoff. Are they really going to be 5 to 10 times better tasting than the small red potatoes from last week, that were easy to clean and delicious?
So since I am big on metaphors, I looked for one here. Where's my Staples button because THAT was easy... I have waaaay to many little purple organic potatoes cluttering up my life.
Little tiny things that I didn't ask for, that take up too much time, for questionable payoff.
And the trouble is, I don't always recognize them. Until I've wasted a lot of time on them, anyway.
Meanwhile, I let 5 beautiful, organic, crunchy carrots from the week before go soft in the fridge. I am sick to my core for that -- no excuse to let such good produce go to waste. Now, I am not going to continue to beat myself up for it (as I would have in the past), but it does upset me. I thought I'd get to them, I just never did.
*Sigh.*
Now, I love me my purple potato chips as much as the next urban woman with too much disposable income, but this was the real deal. Now I know why that bag of chips costs so much -- these suckers were about as big as big cherry tomatoes, and EACH one of them had to have bad spots cut out (OK, that's where the organic part of the farm shows itself).
I felt like I was carving pebbles.
As I was scraping some, peeling some, and digging at each little purple stone, I questioned the sanity of putting in that amount of effort for an unknown payoff. Are they really going to be 5 to 10 times better tasting than the small red potatoes from last week, that were easy to clean and delicious?
So since I am big on metaphors, I looked for one here. Where's my Staples button because THAT was easy... I have waaaay to many little purple organic potatoes cluttering up my life.
Little tiny things that I didn't ask for, that take up too much time, for questionable payoff.
And the trouble is, I don't always recognize them. Until I've wasted a lot of time on them, anyway.
Meanwhile, I let 5 beautiful, organic, crunchy carrots from the week before go soft in the fridge. I am sick to my core for that -- no excuse to let such good produce go to waste. Now, I am not going to continue to beat myself up for it (as I would have in the past), but it does upset me. I thought I'd get to them, I just never did.
*Sigh.*
