Frugal tips:
Make your own soymilk, baked goods, pasta sauce, breads…
Use a local farmer’s market.
Buy largest package when possible. Why? ‘cos you get more for your money for one, & two, less waste goes into the smaller packagings.
Bring a coffee mug or water bottle & reuse them.
Use reusable coffee filters.
Apple slices
Put in apple juice to prevent browning instead of lemon juice which can affect the taste
Artificial sweeteners are a no-no.
Nutrasweet/ Aspartame- Routine consumption may create a buildup of methanol in the body, leading to neurological & other problems.
www.naturalnews.com/028151_aspartame_sweeteners.html Aspartame has been renamed and is now being marketed as a natural sweetener
My notes: This is wrong! Along the lines of telling people the lie that HFCS is ‘natural’.
Ashwagandha
Helps stress, anxiety, blocks seasonal weight gain, stops insomnia, lowers bad cholesterol, reduces inflammation, boosts anti-aging levels of DHEA, banishes winter blahs. 200mg day for one week increase slowly to max 600mg/day. Choose standardized to contain at least 2% of withanolides, the active ingredient. Take before meals w/ a full glass of water.
Baking soda
1T BS to ¼ c vinegar, if fizzes, still good
Beeswax, Honey, Royal jelly
Heals, protects, antibacterial.
To add stiffness to creams & waxes & emulsifier, protects skin by sealing in moisture, preservative, creams, lotions, polishes.
Honey- thickener, antibacterial, humectant.
Royal jelly- one of most nutritious substances, face masks, moisturizers.
www.honey.com/consumers/kids/beefacts.asp all about bees and honey.
Honey contains lactobacillus & bitidobacterium.
Rehydrate w/ honey- drinking after exercise restores energy, helps muscles heal & stabilizes blood sugar. Make your own sports beverage: Mix ½ c honey, ½ t salt, ¼ c lemon juice, & 7 ½ c water. Store in refrigerator for up to a week. Makes 8 – 8oz. servings.
Beets
Cut off greens leaving 1” to stem, plastic bag, fridge 2 weeks. Keep skins on when cooking. Bake w/ olive oil, S&P, 375 degrees for 45min
Butter- almond or peanut
www.rwood.com/Recipes/Homemade_Almond_Butter.htm
Makes about ¾ cup.
While almond butter can be made from raw nuts, roasting the nuts just prior to making the butter considerably enhances both flavor and aroma. To roast the almonds, spread them in a thin layer on a baking sheet at 300°F for about 20 minutes. Stir a couple of times to assure even roasting.
1 cup roasted almonds (or any nut incl peanut)
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon unrefined vegetable oil
Combine the almonds and salt in a food processor, blender, meat grinder or nut butter machine and process until the nuts are finely ground. Add the oil and continue processing until the almond butter reaches your desired degree of smoothness, adding more oil if necessary. For chunky butter, stir in ¼ cup chopped almonds. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.
Variations: Substitute Brazil nuts, cashews, hazelnuts or macadamia nuts for the almonds. Or combine two or more of these nuts in any proportion.
My notes: I have tried this finally in my little blender. It’s quite good actually! Chunky as it doesn’t blend it as well but I like chunky PB. It works better tho if you use a coffee grinder to chop the nuts (don’t add the oil or salt till after). I also used 2T not the 1T of olive oil.
Butter sprays
Those ‘no cal’ butter sprays, if you consume the entire bottle, it will be 900 cals & 90 grams of fat! -The Doctors TV show. It’s ok for a few sprays use but some people DO go overboard & figure Hey, no cal butter & use the whole bottle & wonder why they are GAINING.
Can opener
Manual & electric- to run smoother, run piece of waxed paper thru
Chocolate
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2005/11/17/why-you-must-stay-away-from-processed-chocolate.aspx “A new study indicates that chocolate can be contaminated with extremely high quantities of lead.”
Coffee
Use a reusable coffee filter instead of buying disposables.
Maker, to clean- use ¼ c WV, 8-10c water, let run thru cycle.
Cutting board
To not slide- place wet paper towel under or use a non-skid rubber pad (also useful for jars tip)
Fats
www.womentowomen.com/nutritionandweightloss/differencebetweenomega369.aspx
Omega 3 most important
6 increases inflammation
9 don't need really & is in Olive Oil
Fridge
Temp should be 40 degrees.
Vanilla extract to remove odors from fridge. Put some on a cotton ball on dish, replace when dried.
Fruits & veggies
www.thefruitpages.com/contents.shtml
Has vits, minerals, cals, fiber, etc of fruits.
Keep vegs & fruits longer by taking out of plastic bags before refrigerating them. Plastic traps gases & moisture aging them prematurely
Garlic
To remove garlic smells from hands, don’t use soap but rather wet your hands & rub them on a stainless steel spoon. It instantly oxidizes the odors.
Glutamine
For fatigue & depression, 500mg 1-2x day
Hummus
1 can (19 oz) juice drained (too salty otherwise), 2t minced garlic, 2t onion powder, 2 oz lemon juice, w/ sauted red peppers, celery, onions.
The red peppers compliment it quite well. I also cut up tomatoes & mix that in. I either use chips or use it as a sandwich spread. I have also used it as dressing for my salad. Same thing as a sandwich, just w/o the bread!
Ice
To make ice cubes last longer, boil a pot of water for 5 minutes, carefully pour into ice-cube trays & freeze. Normally, ice cubes contain trapped air that causes them to melt in minutes, but boiling the water first releases the air, resulting in dense crystal-clear cubes that stay cold for up to 40 min. longer.
Place warm drinks in ice filled cooler & shake on some salt. Sodium lowers melting point making cubes even colder.
Jars
To open- use a non-skid rubber pad (also useful for cutting board tip)
Ketchup
This is our recipe:
29 oz tomato sauce
12 oz tomato paste
1 ½ T onion powder
1/8 t stevia extract (Now foods brand)
1 oz ACV
Just heat to meld flavors. We have also tried not heating & that works too.
Maple syrup
Real, contains zinc & manganese for healthy immune system & lowers cholesterol
Milks
I have the Soyabella soymilk maker. It’s around $140 but it pays for itself. Soybeans are roughly $2/# for organic. Tho I have tried almond milk & that was DELISH! But it’s $6/#. Rice milk was okay but didn’t like the little chunks. Peanut milk had a weird taste but some have liked it.
Humans are the only creatures who drink another creature’s milk. & we are the only creatures who CONTINUE to drink milk later in life. Cow’s milk is not good for you. All the antibiotics, pesticides, HGH’s in them. WE ingest those too. Look around at all the antibiotic-resistant strains of viruses out there.
If you must have cow’s milk, buy organic & preferably from a local farmer.
www.thedailygreen.com/milk-without-hormones-44013008 How what’s banned in other parts i.e.
Okara
1 oz = 22 cals Lasts 3 days in fridge. Makes 2 oz okara from soymilk
www.motherearthnews.com/Whole-Foods-and-Cooking/1983-09-01/Okara-A-Meal-for-the-Asking.aspx good info
Portion sizes
I had copied these & use for myself. Helps give an idea. I like esp. the t. & T. using your thumbs-
1 t = top of joint of thumb or 1 die
1T = thumb
1 c = fistful
BREADS
½ cup cooked rice, pasta or cereal = 1 tennis ball
1c cereal/popcorn = 2 cupped hands
1 small muffin = 2 peeps
1 pancake or waffle = 4” DVD
1 serving of pasta/rice = baseball
1 small bagel or med. baked potato = computer mouse
DAIRY
1 oz cheese = size of 4 dice, or thumb
1 ½ oz cheese = 9V battery
1 cup milk or yogurt = 1 baseball
Ice cream scoop is ¼ cup
FRUITS/VEGGIES
¼ cup dried fruit = 1 golf ball
½ cup cooked or raw cut up fruits or vegetables = 2 peeps
average piece of fruit = size of average fist or baseball
1 cup leafy vegetables = 2 tennis balls
1 cup grapes, cherries, or berries = 1 baseball
1 med banana = cell phone
MEAT
1 ounce lean meat or fish = 1 egg
3 oz meat, fish, poultry = palm of hand, deck of cards, or palm pilot
OILS, NUTS
½ t butter or oil = 1 fingertip
2t peanut butter = one peep
½ ounce nuts or seeds = 4 jelly beans
¼ c mixed nuts 1/4 cup = 1 layer on palm
Pot
Place metal spoon in so pot doesn’t boil over
Restaurant shockers
www.shape.com/eatright/7855 “A culinary insider reveals 7 ways chefs sabotage your diet when you go out to eat.”
money.aol.com/bw/general/canvas3/_a/whats-in-my-food/20060808141909990001
Salt uses
That salt shaker you have in the kitchen cupboard offers you more uses than you could have ever imagined, well beyond the singular one we all know about of adding flavor to food. Learn how to kill poison ivy, stop grease fires, make an anti-bacterial exfoliant and a tired foot soak, and 19 other fun ideas!
Famously, salt provides an inhospitable chemical environment for most bacteria, including Salmonella, E. Coli, and it serves double duty against bacteria in that it also removes water from food and cells, making it harder for bacteria to grow without moisture. Hence the old-fashioned use of “salt curing” for the preservation of meats. A brine of 10 percent salt will normally prevent the growth of all pathogenic bacteria, which is the reason why meat-preserving brines were popular before refrigerators, and why a saltwater gargle is to this day recommended if you have a sore throat.
Salt is formed when acidic and alkaline materials combine and are neutralized. The resulting neutral pH is unique and offers many uses.
Because of its neutral pH, salt is also used purposely to kill off vegetation, and does a better or worse job at this depending on how sensitive the vegetation is to shifts in pH.
Salt also is a good non-abrasive scrubber and provides many uses in the home and for the body for this reason. – Care2.com
My notes: Please refer to other areas on how salt can be used around the home.
Steel wool
Sharpen scissors by cutting a pad into pieces, freeze in plastic bag between uses, can’t become rusty if frozen
Sun Tea
From Blessed Earth newsletter- “Try making some old-fashioned Sun Tea!
Children are fascinated by the sun's power to change things and love to get involved in this process.
Simply place 1 teabag (black, green, or herbal) per pint of water in a glass container, and leave outside in the sun to steep for an hour. Add sweetener and fresh mint, if you like.
Not only will you have saved energy by not boiling your water on the stove, but your whole family can get involved and get outdoors!”
Tofu
Firm or regular- good for cooking
Soft- scrambled egg substitute & dips
Extra firm- for crumbles
Silken- liken to yogurt (Shelf life is 2-3 days in cold water in fridge)
From ‘This can’t be tofu book’ by Deborah Madison
Trans Fat
www.naturalnews.com/027445_fats_trans_fat.html “How partially-hydrogenated oils and trans fats destroy your health”
Links:
www.eatingwell.com guide to eating healthy, newsletter
www.foodsafety.gov for latest info on preventing food poisoning
money.aol.com/bw/general/canvas3/_a/whats-in-my-food/20060808141909990001
www.nowfoods.com Stevia. It’s an acquired taste but it’s natural. This is where I get mine from.
www.stevia.com & www.stevia.net stevia info
www.vegfamily.com vegan link
Trivia from Focus Earth:
How much of
45%!
My notes: That is WAYY too much. There is absolutely NO reason whatsoever for anybody in
bravenet.com