Organic vs. Affordable - could shopping get more complicated?

Shopping has become way more complicated for me and so I'm always looking for ways to simplify - like send my husband shopping instead :) I guess what I know and what I can afford and have time to research always stop me dead in my tracks. There is local, organic, local organic, imported organic, natural, whole, processed, low-fat, sugar free... oh, and then there are coupons, on sale, cheaper in bulk... ok, you get the picture. How can I shop and not feel completely frozen by my choices.

To top it off, we are now making food for our 6 month old and the topic of what to feed her has been on our minds. This month we wanted to try pears or apples and the question was where to get them, what type, organic or not, etc. I remembered something I learned about in a Northwest Environmental Institute (NWEI) discussion series titled menu for the future that I did with some friends last year (I highly recommend their courses but that could be a whole post in itself). There is a list out there distributed by the Environmental Working Group called the "dirty dozen" 12 top foods tested by the USDA and FDA for pesticides after washing Then today I came across this article on the dirty dozen at thedailygreen which covers more than just fruits and veggies and also has a link to the clean 15. These are great shopping resources.

I still think the easiest shopping trip is the one straight to the farm or farmers market. Organic or not I get to talk with supplier directly about their farming products and practices. This is exactly why we buy meat directly from "farmer Scott" at Abundant Life Farms through his buyers club right here in Portland. We visited his farm and we know how he cares for his animals. He isn't certified organic but the choice is easy for me. We are even investing in bulk purchase of a half a hog from his farm because it is cheaper and I feel much better about eating meat when I get this out of my freezer (there could have been a good pun about "freezing up" at the market in there somewhere).

After direct from the supplier, I use my pocket guide linked here and I try to stay in season first, even if I'm at the store. Organic frozen might be cheaper for some items then organic fresh, especially off season and then finally we of course try to grow some of our own. I have recently tried to get in to coupons, but find that most of them are not for fresh produce. Still, there are plenty for other eco-friendly products, toiletries, even gardening equipment, so I try to just watch for what we might actually buy - I still have a lot to learn about coupons and deal hunting though.

So now I want to know, what helps you make your food choices at the store and how do you prioritize? I would love your tips.

It’s not all about food :)

Ok, by the looks of my posts lately you would think all my posts are about food. We do focus our attention around what we eat in our house a lot because I think it can make a huge impact. But we also eat out and do other things too. So I guess I wanted to blog this week about some other stuff. I know, gardening … oh wait, that’s food too. The half a hog we are ordering – uh, I guess not… Ok you get the picture.

So what about the stuff we do and not the stuff we buy. Here are some of the free or very inexpensive things we have been up to lately:

• Making Cards and Crafts - The weekends have been filled with birthday parties as of late and so we have been making a lot of cards and gifts. I like to have my older hand make cards with her own twist and we added in a few Mother’s day cards as well. Sometimes we color, use markers, cut and paste pictures from old magazines, add in a recipe, use water colors, or decorate with stickers… I really leave it totally up to her.
  


• Get outside – While not always nice weather we take advantage of every moment, we have been gardening (more on that later), walking to the library and park and even got out the stomp rockets hidden away since last October and made all sorts of new friends at the park when we busted them out.
  


• Dancing/Pretending – We love to dress up and put on music and dance as a whole family, I think I burn a ton of calories too! My older also loves to pretend she is fishing or flying too far away places with her friends, or getting caught in daddy’s traps.
  


• Playing games – I already talked about crazy eights but we do a lot of memory and candy land and I think with the crazy eights success we might have to try Uno – but I would love to hear what others are playing.
  


• Reading books – We have now officially read the Lorax I think 100 times! Apparently reading never gets old.
  


• Hide and seek – Not with each other but with household objects. This started with Easter eggs but has progressed to other toys and we take turns hiding and seeking

Here are some things I really want to try again soon that we haven’t done in a while:

• Indoor tent - Make a fort around tables and chairs with blankets and sheets, etc.
  


• Play dough – we went through a HUGE play dough phase and I’m not sure what happened but I think I need to resurrect this one.
  


• Biking, hiking, and running – as the weather warms up we’ll be getting out more and I can’t wait for more long walks and bike rides.
  


• Swimming – I won 2 free passes to the parks and recs pool on a facebook and I’m now looking forward to more time at the pool (though this one isn’t free but relatively inexpensive I suppose)
  


• Movies in the Park – We LOVED this last year, with the baby it might be difficult but I’m hoping we can still get in a few this summer.



• Volunteering - Here is one that I would really like for us to do as a family now that my husband is not working and our weekends seem to be less about chores and errands and more about family time. I would love some tips on volunteering as a family if anyone has any.
  


• Last but not least - Help around the house – We all have chores and even if it means coming down to the basement to help move laundry, cleaning dishes, or sorting recycling, we need to get everyone, especially our older, more involved in housework - but make it fun too.

Of course then there are the adult things like working on my photos, blogs, and catching up with friends. Reading (ok, maybe just magazines and web articles these days), crocheting (I really need to find time for this again), and just relaxing (does this translate as too much TV time?). What do you do for more fun that costs less these days?

Meatless Monday - Egg Alternatives

I’m the baker, I love to bake. My husband is the cook, so I let him cook – it is a good combo. But with all of our talk about attempting to go meatless I realize that baking vegan or without eggs is not my forte. Don’t get me wrong there are 100’s of blog out there with recipes so please excuse my ignorance on this post, but if you are like me and haven’t done this before maybe my research will spark an interest for you. For Meatless Monday this week I set off to learn more about egg substitute and here is what I have learned so far:

• Fruit - I have tried replacing some recipes like muffins or pancakes with applesauce or bananas and that has works on most of the time- but was a disaster in my last brownie attempt
• Tofu - I have seen silken tofu used in some recipes such as cake or even a quiche (about ¼ cup blended smooth per egg) – I even saw a frittata recipe out there - Oh and don’t forget the BLENDED SMOOTH part here!
• Egg replacers - This is where I start to lose touch. I don’t know anything about these so I had to do some research and sure enough – my beloved Bob’s Red Mill right here in OR has an all natural eggg replacer - you basically mix with water and one bag will go a long way. So I’m going to try this next as I think for cookies and brownies this might be my best bet. The most popular though seems to be Ener-G egg replacer which is a site with a TON of recipes as well (oh, can’t wait to try zucchini bread this summer with the zuc’s I just planted last week).
• Flaxseed Meal – basically as far as I can tell you mix with water just like the egg replacers mentioned above.
• Soy Yogurt – don’t know why I didn’t think of this one and can’t wait to try it actually, it will probably taste awesome in some banana bread…mmmm

So from my own experience I would say that one egg is easy to replace (fruit or tofu is an easy one with just one egg) but three or more is more difficult and you really need to match the egg consistency better (so egg replacer may be the way to go). Also, this list isn’t exhaustive, I saw several posts about potato starches and baking sodas, etc… so I’m sure there is more to it than just this but I think this will get me started!

FYI some cakes and breads like banana bread also call for milk, that’s easy – just opt for soy or rice milk and with butter you could opt for vegi or canola oil (but reduce the amount a little - it isn't a straight conversion from butter), shortening (think Crisco but this probably isn't the healthiest option), Earth’s Best, or something like apple or pear butter… but then maybe that is a whole other post.

Decrease your trash can size

Every year or so we visit family in Hawaii (I know what a shame and on our new budget it might not be happening any time soon). When we go I'm always reminded that in most areas of the island (the big island at least) there is no garbage collection, in other words, you have to take your own garbage to the dump. Think about this. If you had to collect up your own trash, hold it at your house until the next time you could make it to the dump, wouldn't you think twice about what you threw away?

So there is recycling and composting and worm bins and many ways to deal with our garbage. If you had to keep it around longer you might choose to use more rags and less paper towels, and compost more to reduce food waste in your garbage (I mean, you have to put this stuff in your car). Even if you have pickup you can get really good at all this then you won't fill your can every week.

Here is a simple way to save a few dollars every month - which adds up over the year. Resize your garbage can. Get a smaller can and pay less or if you are really careful with what you throw out you might be able to opt for every-other-week garbage pickup. Think carefully about each item you throw away and where it might go other than the trash. Think hard about what you are putting in the trash and if there is an alternative product you can use that creates less waste. Think to yourself, if I had to carry this to the dump myself, when I had the time, would I be throwing this out?

Meatless Monday - Asparagus

Asparagus will be one of our first local foods in farmers markets around here and despite the fact that it constantly gets caught in my braces I still love this food. So I went in search of a great recipe to try and came across everything about asparagus at http://www.asparagus.org/ - who knew!

Not sure what I'll be pairing my asparagus with just yet, but my favorite way to eat it is just roasted. In the oven with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice (the lemon juice is a must). About 10 mins at a high temp like 400 degrees and I could eat just this for dinner but maybe we'll try some couscous or quinoa on the side. If you're not an asparagus fan, I bet you would still love a creamy asparagus soup and pureed up creamy and smooth you or the kids will never know what it started out as.

I'm so tempted to grow my own this year and after spending Sunday in the garden I just might have to give it a try if I can find some ready to plant at a garden near us. Cheers to gardening and fresh market season I can't wait to try more fruit and veggies as they grow right here in my own backyard!

Hours of nearly free fun

A few weeks back I ran to the craft store to get outdoor paint to paint rocks. We plan to paint garden rocks as a part of our birthday party festivities. The rocks were free, the paint was cheap, and the art will stay in our garden forever! This in and of itself was a nice fun project and about all I had expected to find. But of course I had to hit up the Clarence bins sitting right out the front door.

What did I find to my surprise but a deck of Crazy Eights (the card game). Listed as $0.50 I thought I had a deal but they rang up as $0.01 (yes 1 cent). Crazy Eights is like Uno for kids, you match colors and numbers and eights are wild cards. After a few rounds and the occasional reminder about how the game works we haven't turned on the TV in 4 nights in a row. We can't get enough of the game and we all delight in seeing how many cards pile up or squeal when someone finally wins a really long game. We have long enjoyed game night with Candyland and memory - looks like we have found yet another fun game to add to the list.

What is your favorite family fun night game? We are always looking for new ones to keep our eyes out for at Goodwill or to add to the gift wish list.

FREE eBook: 42 Recycled Crafts

I just had to share this with others - I have been looking for new crafts to do with my older daughter and I came accross this today in a post from Frugal Living...

FREE eBook: 42 Recycled Crafts

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