Seeing Is Believing

My prescription eye-wear broke this summer presenting us with a sudden, though not entirely unexpected, expense.  Fortunately our budget includes a monthly savings allowance for optometry needs and, since I bought the new eye-wear from a wholesaler, we had the cost covered.  Even so, there was little left for extras.  Lens cleaner was easily dismissed – I haven’t bought that in years. 

The last three cleansers I purchased failed.  Two were opticians’ in-house brands and the other was a commercial brand.  Two left multi-coloured smears, like gasoline-slicks, on the lenses and the other worked but was outrageously expensive.

That’s when I began making my own, though opticians cautioned against using “other” cleaners.  Anything but their brand or specially formulated commercial products “could ruin lenses or their coatings.”  This up-sell worked on me…twice.  But after paying good money for smeared results I realized clean dishwater worked better.

Hubby complains my purse holds “everything but the kitchen sink” so clearly dishwater isn’t always accessible.  ; )  I searched for a more portable formula and found one which used sudsy ammonia.  But, that seemed too harsh a chemical and, ever cautious, I was reluctant to risk the possibility of it pitting the lenses or stripping their coating.  Another recipe used castile soap but I haven’t (yet) found any.  A common recipe uses a high proportion of rubbing alcohol but that makes a toxic solution for a child or pet.  After a little more research, the recipe I created is a simple, mild, and effective one:

• 1 teaspoon of vinegar
• ½ cup filtered water
• 2-3 drops dish soap
• Mix these ingredients together in a well-cleaned spray bottle.

A spritz of this solution on each lens, then a light polish with a clean, soft cloth and eye-wear glistens.  No harsh chemicals, no streaks, no smears, no gasoline-slick rainbows.  Both the vinegar and dish soap have antiseptic qualities, and the solution has little (if any) toxicity.  It’s also proven to be gentle on lenses and coatings.  Total cost (using wholesale-priced vinegar and dish soap):  less than a penny for 4 ounces of cleaner, approximately a 4-month supply for me.

I admit, after spending several hundred dollars on prescription eye-wear, it’s comparatively small relief to avoid buying lens cleaner.  But, I begrudge spending money on products that don’t work well or are excessively expensive.  This simple recipe not only works, it’s far more economical, and that value increases over the long term by maintaining a necessary investment in optimal condition.

Herbalicious

Hippocrates said, “Let food be thy medicine, thy medicine shall be thy food.”  He wasn’t speaking solely of herbs, but they formed a major part of his pharmacological studies.  Herbalism began its culinary career in ancient times as remedy for common food-borne pathogens.  The hotter, more tropical the climate, the stronger the herbs and spices used to counter the higher incidence of food-borne illness.  Herbaceous properties include antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, anti-depressant, and antimicrobial.  Some herbs aid digestion, some ease insomnia, and herbs are used topically for their “drawing” ability, and others for burn-soothing qualities.  Summer, when annual herbs mature and perennials are at their peak, has some of the year’s best cuisine simply due to herbal additions.

Recent culinary trends have brought a wide variety of fresh herbs  into grocery stores.  Depending on where you live in relation to the supplying source, your options may only be those little plastic packages of herbs which, price per ounce, can be very expensive.  Farmers markets offer tremendous savings on herbs – they sell them in greater quantities, at lower prices, without plastic wrapping, and are a very thrifty option.  We live in a desert, though, so many herbs aren’t grown locally.  However, our Farmers Markets does exchange products  with other markets in the region, so there are opportunities to buy fresh herbs when seasonal in neighbouring farm areas.  Some of the annual herbs like parsley, cilantro, and garlic can be found in most stores, in any season, generally in reasonable quantities and at fair prices.  These common herbs add plenty of flavour and food value but, if you’re looking for more variety and peak freshness, you might try growing your own.  Herbs are particularly susceptible to losing phytochemical values once picked, so it’s best to eat them soon after harvesting.

Summer need not be the only season when you have access to a thrifty source of good quality herbs.  Perennials like bay, lavender, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage tarragon, and thyme make attractive and fragrant houseplants, though they’ll need special care and climate control – much like any houseplant would.  Annuals like arugula, basil, chervil, cilantro, dill, garlic and savoury, can also be grown indoors and make a eye-catching additions to any kitchen where they’re handy for quick pruning.  Most herbs require good drainage so you’ll want to choose containers with that in mind.  Some herbs need full sun for long hours and that’s just not possible in northern climes, or in homes with limited or north-facing windows.  Grow-lights can help you sustain both perennial and annual herbs, even through the darkest winter months, and their cost of operation is negligible when you figure in the savings and health benefits you realize with a year-round supply of fresh herbs.

At some point you’ll either have to harvest your annual plants, or prune back the perennials.  It’s good to be prepared, have all the supplies you’ll need at the ready, and a warm, dry, well-ventilated space available.  If you don’t have space for air-drying, you might consider other methods like freezer-, oven- or microwave-drying.  A dehydrator works best for soft-leaf herbs like basil and sage.  I’ve read conflicting opinions on how much, if any, of the essential oils are retained after drying.  However, there’s no argument where taste is concerned:  hands-down, all accounts stated the home-dried herbs had greater flavour than the store-bought counter-part.  Since it’s the essential oils providing the flavour, colour, and odour of dried herbs, those taste-tests tell me essential oils are retained, and the home-dried herbs, lacking the warehouse “aging,” had retained more because they were used sooner.

Summer is definitely an herbal  season.  If you’re planning to grow herbs indoors, now is the time to buy seed, while it’s still available. If you’re using natural foods as beauty products, the summer months offers a wide variety of herbs (and other plants) that work best when seasonally fresh.  If you’re growing herbs in the garden, they’ll not only provide you with healthful additions to summer cuisine, they’ll also help control pests in the vegetable patch.  Summer, known for food-bourne stomach upset, is a good time to take a page from history and dose meals with plenty of herbs and spices to give the stomach some delicious defence...or relief, as the case may be.  To quote Hippocrates again, “Leave your drugs in the chemist's pot if you can heal the patient with food.”  If any food can do that, herbs surely can!  And they’re much tastier.  So tasty its possible to reduce or eliminate the use of high-risk flavourings (e.g. mayonnaise or cream-based dressings)  by substituting herb and heart-healthy oil mixtures, instead.

How about you:  are your summers herbalicious?  Do you grow herbs indoors, outdoors, neither or both?  Which herbs do you use for their healthful properties?  If you had to choose only one herb for the rest of your days, which ONE would you choose?  If you’re a herb-lover like me and Hippocrates, that last one  is just too nasty to ponder!

Long-Distance Gifting

Today is my birthday so I thought I’d take this opportunity to talk about a relevant subject:  long-distance gifting.  I may have mentioned this before, but my family and friends are spread out over several provinces and states, so I rarely spend special occasions with loved ones.  That’s not to say we’re out of touch.   By various means, me and my nearest and dearest always take time to send good wishes, loving thoughts and, sometimes, gifts.  Over the years, though, our gift-giving has evolved and, I think, for the better.  Instead of sending packages across the miles, we now send money or gift cards.  To some, cold cash may seem a cold gift.  For those of us trying to make the best of long-distance relationships, these gifts offer as much love as any other.  Here are the reasons why we’ve chosen this means of giving.

First of all, when we were sending actual presents, shipping was always part of the cost.  The larger the gift, the more that additional charge grew.  Some Christmases, hubby and I spent over 30% of our gift-giving budget on shipping.  In leaner years, that definitely impacted the sizes, weight, and shapes of gifts chosen.  Even buying online or by phone incurs transport and delivery fees.  Shipping seemed to waste funds that could be better spent on the gift.

Other reasons for sending cash are personal aspects.  When people don’t see each other for long periods of time, it’s hard to know which colours they currently wear, or what items they might want.  Sizes and needs change.  Tastes vary.  Choosing the perfect gift may be an engaging activity, but it’s complicated, even when shopping for those you see regularly.  Despite all efforts, there are bound to be times when exchanges are required.  That’s when distance can further complicate matters.  If you wish the recipient to be able to exchange the item, then your shopping is restricted to national or chain stores.  Even then, exchanges or refunds can prove tricky if a gift-receipt isn’t sent along with the gift.  Heaven forbid you should choose that unique sweater from a local artisan’s shop.  If it doesn’t fit or isn’t the right colour, the gift must be shipped back for exchange, and then reshipped.  That sweater’s overall cost sky-rockets and, depending on the distances involved, it can also mean a long delay for the recipient.

The third reason is not a difficulty; it’s an opportunity. When living in the same area, it’s not unusual to treat a friend or family member to some kind of event, favoured entertainment, or out for a special meal.  When you don’t live nearby, those experiences are harder to share.  Sponsoring them, however, is as easy as slipping a cheque or money order inside the card.  No extra shipping costs.  No exchanges necessary.  A perfect fit every time!

As a recipient of cash gifts, I can speak to another benefit.  In managing our budget, I often don’t permit myself to partake in “frivolous” activities, or buy personal items that are more want than need.  It’s hard for me to justify personal spending.  Gifts of cash, however, encourage me to do or buy things I’d normally deny myself.  To my way of thinking, that makes those gifts all the more delightful!

When shipping costs, limited retail options, and exchange issues, narrow gift choices, the giving process becomes the antithesis of happy experience.  And shouldn’t giving be a joyous thing to do? If not, why bother?  So, if you have loved ones living far away and you’re looking to stretch your gift-giving dollars, or simply treat a distant friend or family member to a special event, consider sending cash.  Rather than being cold, it’s actually pretty cool!

 

Now, I’m off to eat cake…oh! and dream up ways to spend my birthday gifts!

If You Can't Stand the Heat...

I’ve said it before, but summer is my least favourite time of year.  It doesn’t help that I have my own internal furnace chugging away furiously, 24-7-365.  So, when the mercury soars, the last thing I want to do is spend time in a tortuously hot kitchen.  If only appetites dwindled along with my desire to cook!  Sadly, they don’t.  I’ve had to devise creative ways to get food on the table, while generating the least amount of indoor heat as possible.

Barbecuing is a great way to avoid heating the house.  Most everything can be cooked on the grill, whether on direct or indirect heat.  All that’s needed are a few good recipes, some heat-resistant cookware, and maybe a little shade.  Metal pans are the best option if cookware is required.  Avoid using pans with Teflon-coatings or with handles made of plastic or wood as most won’t take the high heat or open flame.  Aluminum foil is great for steam-cooking but use it over indirect heat for best results.  To limit our use of aluminum (cookware or foil,) we use parchment pouches on an old cookie sheet to steam vegetables or seafood.  Also glassware, as I discovered when baking our favourite meatloaf on the barbecue, can be dangerous...although, the explosion didn’t actually take place until I removed the loaf pan and placed it on a trivet to cool.  Cast iron and stainless steel are excellent cooking vessels and both clean up well.  Not everyone has access to a barbecue, though.  And, sometimes it’s simply too windy to enable thorough cooking, in a timely manner, on a barbecue.

Our most common way to get meals on the table in summer is to cook certain components in the early morning, when the house is coolest and there are still hours remaining to dissipate the generated heat through open, shaded windows.  Those meal components are foods like carbohydrates and proteins – generally the foods requiring the longest cooking times.

Potatoes, pasta, rice and beans we use most often in cold salads, but they can also be used to create quick, hot meals.  No matter the weather, baked or par-boiled potatoes produce the best oven (and barbecue) fries, in my opinion.  Pasta, cooked "al dente," and refrigerated, keeps for a few days and can be added to (re)heated sauces until warmed through.  Rice is probably our most versatile cook-ahead ingredient.  Aside from the stir-fry option (where pre-cooked rice is optimal,) it can be used as a base for frittatas, cold salad, and a (whole grain) breakfast “pudding.”  One idea I haven’t yet tried is to form a pizza shell by packing cooked rice (1/4-1/2 inch thick) into a pizza pan and then pre-baking it for a few minutes before adding toppings and finishing the cooking process.

Caution is required if you cook enough proteins  to last for two or three days of meals.  They must be cooked thoroughly, stored in air-tight containers, and refrigerated promptly. Instead of making a couple slices of bacon for breakfast, we roast a pan full (in the oven or on the barbecue) and then we have extra to crumble onto salads, baked potatoes, or to add a little protein to a quick veggie wrap.  We cook several chicken breasts or pork chops, or larger cuts like roasts and whole chicken, to use as salad or pizza toppings, or in stir-fries, sandwiches, fajitas and wraps.   Boiled eggs are something we keep on hand, year-round.  One hard-boiled egg, sliced, on toast, is my choice for an easy, high-protein meal before beginning morning exercise.  Those eggs also supplement cold summer salads (like potato, macaroni, and rice,) in tasty ways and, with the addition of a variety of vegetables, make those salads complete meals.

Last but not least, dessert.  The custard or syrups required to make ice cream, sorbet and frozen pops often require some cooking or boiling.  Jellied desserts (and salads) are also cooling, without the excessive calories of most frozen desserts.  With just a few minutes of morning prep, your family can enjoy these chill treats at any time of day.

 
Sweltering over a hot stove can really add sizzle to summer, and not in a good way.  Cooking certain ingredients in advance, in quantity, at the coolest time of day, dramatically lessens the amount of heat generated in the home.  Not only can you save time and heat-exhaustion, you’ll also save on air-conditioning and energy costs for the stove, oven and/or barbecue.  I like the fact that cooler meals don’t raise the body’s core temperature as much (though, this may be more imperative for women like me who “roast” without cooking anything.)  Best of all, you’ll have healthy food, fast – no need to resort to fast-food when heat overwhelms.

Rewards for Traveling

Are you making plans for a summer holiday?  How’s that going for you?  If you’re like many people I’ve heard discussing the matter, budgets are tight and vacations this year will reflect that.  Whether it’s due to scalping fuel prices, increased air fares, higher accommodation rates, or soaring food costs, many families are feeling the pinch this summer.  There are ways to stretch your travel dollars, though, and one of them is through reward program redemptions.

There are many and varied reward programs you can use – through airlines, department stores, gas stations, and hotel chains – which can help facilitate travel.  My experience with a couple of these has been limited and our points never amounted to enough to apply to our vacations, so the following examples will relate only our experience with Air Miles.

We’ve been collectors since Air Miles’ inception in 1992 and have used points to cover certain travel expenses on a few occasions.  We don’t make unnecessary purchases just for the rewards, though.  To collect enough points for one 200-point redemption could cost between $3,000 and $4,000 in retail spending.  Special promotional offers (e.g. 20 air miles for the purchase of 2 packages of xyz product) enable us to earn points faster, with less retail cost, however we still don’t buy products unneeded or which we wouldn’t normally use, so those opportunities are limited.  While we don’t spend money just to collect points, we do view the points earned as bonuses on items we were going to buy anyway.  Even with restricted use, we end up collecting enough Air Miles, each year, to help us cover some sundry travel costs.

Our most common use has been to redeem points for fuel certificates:  175 points for $20 worth of fuel.  This year, that could get us eleven fuel certificates (if we choose to redeem most of our points.)  That may not seem like much but it would add $220 to our vacation resources.

Fuel isn’t the only reward we could choose.  Aside from household products and services, points can be redeemed for accommodations, car rentals, air fare, cruises, travel insurance, golfing passes, amusement parks, or any combination of rewards your points-collection affords you.  We know people who fly frequently for business and, by using specific charge cards and certain air lines, they accumulate points 10-20 times faster than we do.  Their redemption options are obviously much greater and more varied.

So, if you’re crunching the numbers, looking for ways to supplement travel funds, don’t forget your own membership and reward programs.  They just might add enough to the coffers to make your summer vacation more affordable.  Check the redemptions carefully, though – we must order our fuel certificates 6-8 weeks prior to travel if they’re to get here in time.  If redeeming points for flights, you’ll find not all destinations are available, and some regions cost more points depending on your place of departure.  With foresight and planning, these rules and restrictions will have little or no effect on your plans.

Yes, travel is rewarding, but you might also find “rewards” for traveling!

Adaptation & Re-Design

It's no secret I have a "thing" about retail packaging. Whenever and wherever possible, we avoid purchasing items swathed in plastic or excess packaging. Unfortunately, many containers are unavoidable, so we plan re-uses and inevitably wind up with numerous and varied boxes, jars and tins. I've mentioned before that we re-use containers but not that I (sometimes) craft durable household items out of them with a few supplies like contact paper, decals and/or paint.

Contact paper has a number of household uses and comes in a wide variety of colours and designs. Its durability has both positive and negative aspects. Most contact paper is made of plastic and will not decompose in landfills. However, this plastic can significantly increase the life of other, less durable containers. Yes, I confess to plasticizing cardboard and tin, but I bought two rolls of contact paper long before the environmental impact of plastics was known so now, a few decades later, whether I decide to apply it or toss it, that paper's ultimate destiny is still the landfill. At least by applying it to something, it serves a practical purpose in the interim. If you prefer not to buy contact paper, similar re-design can be achieved with remnant cloth and glue.

Cardboard boxes are easily redesigned, and contact paper adds rigidity, durability, moisture-proofing and style to them. Fortified boxes can be used a number of ways – I like to organize drawers with them. A decades-old chocolate box (foreground below,) is still used to organize my cosmetic drawer.

Tin cans make excellent storage containers without any reinforcement but, frankly, they're too ugly to display. If its purpose is only to store shoe polish then it really doesn't matter; it'll be stowed out of sight anyway. But, if you want a canister for the kitchen or a garbage can for the sewing room, a little contact paper or paint can go a long way towards coordinating that tin can with home decor. The toilet plunger holder (background) was a coffee can I covered the same day as the "cosmetic organizer." Lined with a small plastic bag (to aid in cleaning and to keep the bottom from rusting,) this old coffee can still functions and looks decent – as much as a toilet plunger holder is able.

Our most re-used containers are glass jars. The majority don't get redesigned, as they're used mainly for temporary food storage and are rarely in view. Some foods, however, require longer storage in opaque containers. While I tried using contact paper on jars, it doesn't adhere well to glass, and peels when washed. Dark paint (left) works better and lasts a great deal longer. To add just a touch of embellishment to the plain thrift shop cookie jar, (right) bought for my very first home, I added a "sample" (read: free) decal which also ended up lasting for decades. It's begun peeling a little but, after thirty-seven years, that's forgivable.

The thing is, at heart, I'm happily frugal, utilitarian through and through, a hesitant consumer. So, as long as containers remain an inescapable part of shopping, it gratifies me to extend their life. The occasional redesign simply makes them last longer and look better, whatever their re-purpose.