Organic & Thrifty

Yeah, I finally figured out how to upload images. Next time I’ll be a little more prepared!

Secondly, a big thank you to all of you who have commented and e-mailed your support; it’s an honor to be a stop on your web reading list!

So begins a multi-part series on my favorite things to do with milk.

I get mine fresh from the farm (by the way, you won’t find anything about the ‘rm’-word on their website but know that you can call and inquire if you are interested. It’s all legal, it’s just not something they want to go advertising about) and it’s not cheap ($5.00 per half gallon) BUT

I seek, through these next several posts to show you why it’s money well spent and worth every penny because you will NEVER need to buy many filler-laden products again when you know how to properly culture your milk!

Here are just a few of the delicious, natural, grass-fed, hormone free, organic treats I regularly enjoy with my $5.00 half gallon of milk:

• Kefir
• Kefir cheese (very similar to feta)
• Cream top Yogurt (with assorted flavors added)
• Ice Cream (additive free)
• Cream Cheese
• Whey (for culturing vegetables)
• Butter
• Buttermilk

One of my goals is to add other cheeses to that list, such as raw cheddar and cottage cheese, but that’s for another time! For now, I will take you through my tips on making each of the above (with colored photos included!).

Please stay tuned for my humble thoughts and tips on making the aforementioned cultured dairy products!

Happy Friday my Frugal Friends!

Forgive me for delaying to post; I am finishing up some graduate courses online so my blogging time is scarce these days. Lent is also upon us Orthodox folks, and I hope you all had a very clean week!

More thoughts on meal planning:

Thriftiness is all about using what you have, as mentioned in a previous post. As I was thinking about this concept, I realized how obsessed Americans tend to be with “variety”. It’s kind of like choosing what you’re going to wear; you can’t have chicken two nights in a row, now can you? Maybe it’s just me…..

But I had an epiphany. Plan “theme weeks”: Mexian week, Indian week, breakfast-for-dinner week, etc. This makes perfect sense when it comes to ingredients. For example, if I’m planning to make Mexican food on Monday, I probably need cilantro, black beans, rice, spourted corn tortillas (I mean, what am I going to do with all 50 corn tortillas I get for $1.99?), tomatoes, avocados, peppers, and mexican (cotija) cheese. Why not extend the theme and get the most out of my ingredients for the whole week, rather than have half-used cilantro rotting in my produce bin? (Please tell me I’m not the only one!)

Let’s see how many potential meals I could make out of the above ingredients:

Day 1: Black beans and rice with salsa, cilantro, and mexican cheese on top
Notes: Beans and rice can be purchased dry for pennies. Be sure to soak the beans overnight in a water with a TBS of vinegar or whey to deactivate enzyme inhibitors in the beans.

Day 2: Refried black beans (from last night) & Cheese taquitos
Notes: Heat lard or coconut oil in a skillet. Soften corn tortillas in oil, add beans and mexican cheese, roll or fold over and fry in oil. Flip carefully and enjoy your crispy, tasty treat.

Day 3: Mexican black bean salad
Notes: Toss romaine lettuce with mexican cheese, avocado chunks, cilantro, tomatoes, black beans, etc.

Day 4: Mexican tortilla soup (or black bean chili)
Notes: “Gather up the fragments” from the week, rice, tortillas, beans, tomatoes, etc and simmer them in vegetable or chicken broth that you should have in your freezer (more on broth to come!)

Day 5: Mexcian Pizza
Notes: Soften tortillas in oil as in Day 2, spread refried beans and spices of your choice between two tortillas. Top with cheese and tomatoes and anything else you want and bake in the oven until cheese is bubbly.

I’m willing to bet that all 5 of the above meal ideas can be made for a total ingredients list of $20.00. It will be more if you have a large family, but still!

A Challenge for Yourself: Plan your own “theme week” with ingredients that overlap. Use the leftovers in creative ways to make new meals. If you come up with anything worth sharing, by all means, please do!!!

Coming soon: I’ll continue with my “series” on principles of oreganic thriftiness, and we’ll soon be talking about the economies of milk and all the products you’ll never have to buy again because you make them yourself!

1 Deo Volente Chicken = 4 Meals and then some!

Meal 1: Roasted in Crockpot and enjoyed with steamed veggies on the side.

Meal 2: Breasts diced and used in Chicken Enchilada casserole.

Meal 3: Carcass made into broth, used for Pea Soup (15 min. to make this!)

Meal 4: Broth used to make homemade tomato sauce with brown rice noodles.

Meal 5: Leftover diced chicken, brown noodles, and broth plus assorted veggies used to make Chicken Noodle Soup.

Meal 6: TBD! I still have plenty of meat left over for a chicken salad or quesadillas. What would you do?

Approximate total cost for all meals: < $30.00

Satisfaction knowing I’m feeding my family whole foods?

Priceless!

Hello! Welcome to a blog about organic living on a budget in Portland, Oregon (no, I didn’t misspell “organic”….get it? Oreg-anic? I still can’t believe no one took that name! ). I am a stay-at-home mom who is passionate about eating REAL, Local, well-raised foods. I am here to show you that it can be done on a budget, and that living in a way that’s SUSTAINABLE and RESPONSIBLE can be done no matter who you vote for or what kind of car you drive!