Gardeing Philosophy

Many don't think that those living on a tight budget get to have a "philosophy".  Seems awfully fancy for someone that is just getting by. But one really needs one to actually get by and make gardening work.

For me it boils down to What can I easily grow and what has value to grow?

For me I love squash varieties and love to make squash blossom fritters, but the squash bugs are so bad around here that it take too much effort for me to keep the plants healthy.  But tomatoes, pepper, herbs and green beans are super easy and take very little time for me.

Beans I can get cheap too.  My bush beans are just the same pinto beans I bought at the grocery store.  No need to buy fancy seeds.  And wow they produce a lot!  My pole beans are a Blue Lake that cost me $1.79 at the local feed store and I have enough for my home plot, my community garden plot and to share with my fellow community gardeners.

Tomato and pepper plants cost a bit more as growing from seeds is not economical on time for me.  But I am lucky that I can get most of my tomato plants for $2 each from another community garden that grows them as a fund raiser.  They ran out of paste ones, so I got a roma this year for $4.  Peppers I spent $4 each on, but I get a lot of peppers for that, especially the jalapeno plant.  And the great thing about the peppers and tomatoes, is I can make salsa for Christmas gifts as well as home use.

The beans are a super cheap protein and very easy to grow.  Harvest is harder for the bush beans as you spend the time hunting for them and bending over.  So I am only planting a few of those this year.

Herbs are super easy and pack a nutritional punch.  The best part is that they add such a wonderful flavor to food. They also are usually great companion plants for the veggies and the scent can confuse the bugs.  Basil I love and if I am feeling particularly energetic near the end of the season, I will harvest my sees from my basil.

I also have perennials going that produce food.  Those are investments that take a bit to pay off.  I have a fig tree, a pomegranate, a plum and a peach.   I used to have thornless blackberries and they are coming back after an ex decided they were a weed.  I still hate her for that.

Last year was my first decent fig and plum harvest.  There were only two pomegranates, and they were stolen.

During the winter I will grow lettuce because it's cheap and I can grow enough for me and anyone that will take it.  It is practically free at the amount it will grow for the cost of the seeds.  And it keeps the weeds at bay where I plant it.

Basically for those of us that are struggling to survive having a garden that is easy on time and money and still gives us edible results is the key.

Food Clean Out Challenge Week 2

Okay so keeping a daily log is next to impossible when life is as busy as mine trying to hustle to survive.  I mostly stuck with the plan.
Since my last update I made what I call dump soup.  It involves dumping semi-random selection of caned veggies into a pot for soup along with a few other things.  I also made a peanut butter oatmeal bake that was Eh, but it made several breakfasts. But it did finish off a jar of peanut butter that just had a little bit in it.  So I used up like 6 cans from the pantry and a jar of peanut butter.  Although the week started to get a bit spotty when I ran out of my almond milk creamer.  I went a couple days on Vanilla almond milk, but that ran out too.  Fortunately I still have plain cashew milk for my cooking.

Today I did do my grocery shopping.  I spent a total of $28.49 at Kroger, but $7.60 of that was on pepper plants and doesn't count.

I got
Red grapes (yummy on their own or in a chicken salad) 88 cents a pound
10 oz of baby spinach that was on sale
Brussel Sprouts (3.99 and the most expensive food purchased today)
Sweet potatoes
Malt-O-Meal Cinnamon cereal as a treat for the teen
Plain Gelatin because the  teen wants to make her own marshmallows
Almond creamer was on sale and I had a digital coupon!!!
Spinach artichoke hummus on sale and I had a digital coupon
A bag of lemons off the 99 cent produce bin
2 pepper plants

So as part of my hustle this past week, I did end up pet sitting for 2 night and that meant that I was driving an hour after work to get to my pet sitting gig and grabbed burger that night.  The girl child ate left overs or cooked from what was on hand.

I did make my lunches of jar salads with leftover chicken from Wednesday night with the teen made dinner of raspberry chipotle chicken and boxed mashed potatoes.  Used up the boxed potatoes, that are usually just kept around to thicken my potato soup when I make it too thin.


So everything out of the pantry and freezer?  6 cans of veggies, a box of potatoes, a jar of peanut butter several frozen chicken breasts.

Tonight I am cooking a whole chicken, the brussle sprouts and baked sweet potatoes.    I am also making another batch of good Southern sweet tea.

This morning was another omlette very similar to last weeks, more cherry tomatoes as I harvested 5 from the indoor plant this morning.

Food Clear Out Challenge Day 2: Spinach Omelette, Mushroom Piroshki and Rice Pudding

     So Today I decided to start my morning right with an Omelette.  Yes, I made egg bites yesterday, but those are for the work days.  Besides I had some work to do.  I promised a friend that I would help clean out her master bedroom closet for her upcoming move.

Omelette Served 2

3 eggs

Salt Pepper

Penzey's Tuscan Sunset herb mix

Fresh Spinach chopped

green onion chopped

tiny bit of white onion chopped

fresh herbs shopped (basil, parsley and oregano)

Avocado

2 slices of turkey lunch meat cut into strips.

In a small bowl I wisked the eggs, salt, pepper and Tuscan Sunset together.   I sprayed a small omelette pan with oil and once it was warm, I poured the egg mixture in.  Then I layered the fillings in holding back the avocado and green onion chives.  After it cooked a bit, I folded it and let it sit a bit more, then flipped it and let it continue cooking.  I then cut it in half and served on small plates and topped with avocado and chives.  

We also had some blueberries and biscuits that my daughter made last night.

Lunch was provided by my friend who I was working with today.  I had a lovely curry with chicken and veggies.  Dinner on the other hand was provided by my beautiful daughter.  I am so going to miss her when she goes off to college.  She decided to make Mushroom Piroshki and Rice Pudding with Mango Topping

Mushroom Piroshki.  She got the recipe from The Dumpling Cookbook by Maria Polushkin.  The only adaption my daughter made was to use plain goat yogurt instead of sour cream as we both are allergic to cow milk products.  (Please don't try to school me on this.  It is different from lactose intolerance, I was diagnosed as an infant and my daughter at the age of 8.  Bloodwork was involved as one of my best friend is a doctor, I have an innate trust in the education that doctors receive.)

Dessert was a rice pudding using some of the rice leftover from a meal earlier in the week.  

Rice Pudding

1 1/2 c cooked rice

2 c almond milk

1/4t salt

1 egg beaten

1/3 c sugar

1T margarine

1/2 t vanilla

Combine rice, 1 1/2 c milk and salt in a sauce pan and cook over meadium heat, stirring until thickened.  Stir in the rest of the milk, the beaten egg and sugar and continue to stir and cook until the egg is set.  Remove from eat and add margarine and vanilla.

Each serving was then topped with diced mango.

Food Clear Out Challenge Day 1 Rosemary baked Chicken, Jar Salad and Egg Bites

So my current situation is that I am inadequately employed and a single mom.  I work temp jobs and drive for ride share companies and walk dogs in between.  I have truly had to put by skills of frugality to use in the last year to survive.  I don't care what the current government propaganda is saying about the employment situation.  As someone that had been a stay at home mom for 20 years, getting back into the work force has been a bitch.  Before the idiot I married talked me into quitting, I was an executive assistant to a vice president of an internet company.  But the skills I learn to budget and manage were used to manage a home and family and even my own part time business for 20 years.

Now that I have gotten the bitching out of the way Let's talk about the good and the bad of the current situation and how to fix it.

I have a tendency to stock pile food when times are difficult.  This time has been no different.  Except now I have taken on a room mate to help make sure the bills are getting paid.  Somehow she wants to have space in the pantry and fridge for herself.   I need to learn to share it seems. So I am challenging myself to economically reduce without waste.

The rules that I have given myself for the challenge is to try to limit my grocery spending to $25 a month, plants and seeds purchased a the grocery store do not count.  I have a garden at home and in a community garden that can not be neglected. I am also needing to eat healthier, as people with inadequate funds can not afford to be ill.  I will allow myself one meal out a week.

So there are 3 goals in this challenge: Reduce, Budget and Health.

Today was grocery day this week.  I spent $31.48 at Trader Joes.  $6 of that was on herb plants for the garden: Thyme, Mint and Dill.  So I am 48 cents over budget.

The food that was purchased is:
Dill (the girl child wanted it for a recipe to use right away)
Broccoli Slaw
2 bags of avocados (one ripe now, one that will be ripe in a few days)
Baby Lettuce Mix
Mayonaise
Mango
Blueberries
Strawberries

So today was a strange day and we worked at a church event and lunch was provided, breakfast was skipped by me as I got up early to harvest for the community garden.

Dinner was baked rosemary chicken with potatoes and carrots and a minted sweet tea.  This fed 3 people with leftovers for lunch.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

3 chicken breast
most of a 1 lb bag of carrots
half of a 3lb bag of yellow potatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
3 springs of rosemary from the garden

I peeled and cut the carrots into sticks and tossed with olive oil and salt and pepper in a small bowl and then put on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.  (I really hate clean up and since I spend so much time trying to survive, I have less time).  I then cut the potatoes in quarters and tossed the in olive oil and salt and pepper. and laid them out next to the carrots.  Then I laid out the 3 chicken breasts and used the extra oil in the bowl and brushed it on the chicken.  Hey! I am not about to waste some good olive oil!

I popped the whole thing in the oven for 40 minutes.

While that cooked I went to work on 2 jarred salads for my lunches this week.

I shredded 2 of the carrots, chopped a little bit of onion, chopped some sun dried tomato
Each jar was slightly different, but you all probably know the basic concept of the jar salad, right?

1T of olive oil
1T of rasperry vinegar in one 1T of balsamic vinegar in the other.
a bit of onion
a bit of shredded carrot
a bit of broccoli slaw
one had a cherry tomato from the plant I am growing in my Aerogarden, the other  sun dried tomatoes
1/4 of a chicken breast chopped (that was cooked for dinner)
some of the baby salad mix I purchased
slivered almonds

After dinner I made some egg bites for lunches for me and girl child.  I made 6, because my muffin tin only makes 6 muffins.
Preheat over to 350 degrees
5 eggs
cashew milk unsweetened
Spinach

fresh herbs (basil, oregano and parsley that I am growing)

sun dried tomatoes chopped
bit of onion finely chopped
fresh herbs (parlsey, oregano, and basil)
shredded carrot
salt and pepper
spray oil

So with this I just sprayed the muffin tin then added the veggies and herbs everything finely chopped.  Then in a small bowl I added the eggs, a bit of cashew milk and salt and pepper and whisked with a spoon then evenly divided between the tins.  I baked for 25 min.

Although as I type this my daughter is making biscuits.  Seems she thinks the egg bites would make good breakfast sandwiches.  I plan on having mine with some slices of avocado and a side of fruit.  But then teens can eat a little more than a middle age mom.


So I got one dinner for 3, two lunches for 1 and 3 breakfasts for 2 taken care of.  Not too bad for a single mom with limited resources.