How To Shop Once And Eat Well For 30 Days To Save Money

by jessicaherbig | Nov 23, 2022 | Recipes

How I went 30 days without grocery shopping, and saved hundreds of dollars

Want to learn how to turn one dinner into 4, or 5 to help save money? Keep reading.

One of my very favorite food experiments was opting out of grocery shopping for a whole month and only eating what we had on hand. For 30 full days, I planned breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and occasional desserts, and even managed to put up some salsa and preserve some foods, all without going grocery shopping. This fun experiment ended up saving me a lot of money, as we wasted less of our food.

Why did I do this? Well… this was directly after the Vid exploded across the nation, and although I wasn’t afraid to be out in public, doing what I’ve always done, I was extremely put off by the way people were acting and treating each other, so i opted out of being around them. It was a crazy time. Was it Charles Dickens that said “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”? I think so.

So I challenged myself to cook from what we had for 30 days. I had a few parameters… if the kids needed milk, I’d go to the store, or if we ended up eating out a few times during the month like we normally do, then we would. We just wouldn’t go out just because I couldn’t think of what to make. I ended up not needing to ever go to the store that full 30 days, but we did eat out 2-3 times because we were in town for sports things during a meal time.

So HOW did I do this? Well, first of all, I had just done a shopping trip, so we had fresh milk and veggies on hand. It was also garden season, and we have chickens, so we had a few fresh veggies coming in every day, (not a lot, like a handful of cherry tomatoes or similar at a time) and we also had 2-3 chicken eggs every day from our hens who were starting to freshly lay.

I started out by doing a rough inventory of what we had available to us, and putting it down in order of “freshness”. To make sure we were eating up fresh items before the pantry items so we’d minimize food going bad before we could use it. So through the 30 days, we transitioned from fresh produce first, to dried, canned, and frozen. Same with any meats we had in the fridge and freezer. We ate the fresh first, then moved on to the storage foods.

But as I was planning my meals, I found myself naturally taking the leftovers from one meal, and turning them into the next. For example, one night we had elk smokies. I had to make fresh buns for them because we didn’t have any hot dog buns around, and we ate them with sauerkraut, and some sort of vegetable. I think it was broccoli. Then I took the leftover sausage and broccoli, chopped it up really small, added some cheese and rolled it up in tortillas. I put them in a 9×13 pan like enchiladas and poured beaten eggs and seasonings over it, and cooked that the next day for breakfast enchiladas. When that meal was all used up, I moved on to the next meal.

I cooked up a bunch of ground burger, and made chili with beans one night, then we had chili nachos with the leftover chili the next night, then chili dogs a 3rd night, and I finished off a 4th night with chili cornbread pizza cooked in a cast iron. Did we get tired of chili? Maybe, but the kids loved the different ways I was getting creative and giving one meal a completely different taste and feel as I rolled it into the next. I also took that burger and made bibimbap, which is just a mixed rice dish with whatever veggies you have on hand, and seasoned ground or minced meat.

You can call it “Cook once, eat thrice” or just a smart use of leftovers, but at the end of the 30 days, we had saved over $500 we would have spent on grocery shopping, and it only cost me about $200 to restock what we had used for the month. That told me we waste SO MUCH food during the month that gets thrown out or given to our chickens. This was prior to purchasing our freeze dryer, so now we preserve a lot of our leftovers that way, also helping to save on grocery bills. It’s nice to take a leftover, freeze dry it, and set it on the shelf so my kiddos can just add hot water and eat!

So as a recap:

Develop a food plan
Stick to the plan
Adjust as necessary
Get creative
Make allowances for things outside your controL

If you want to get planning on a 30 day no shopping challenge of your own, I’d really recommend grabbing a notebook (any notebook will do) and writing down as many meals as you can think of that you could make from what you have on hand. Then, add meals your family loves that you have MOST of the ingredients on hand for. Don’t forget simple meals like yogurt and granola for breakfast, or base recipe ingredients such as eggs or potatoes. You can do a LOT with eggs and potatoes. Also, never underestimate the power of a good stir fry. You can throw in whatever meat and veggies you have, either already cooked as leftovers, or fresh/frozen, and have an amazing meal.

I will say, having a meal planning notebook dedicated to this helps to keep your lists of food items organized. I love this one, and as a bonus it has an expense tracker in it too, so you can keep track of how much your stock up shopping trip costs, and your re-stock shopping trip to see if this is something you can do long term! The tear-off shopping list is kind of handy also! The idea of only having to go to the grocery store once per month makes me GIDDY. It’s such a time saver, and that’s worth a lot to me.

Written by Jessica

Crushing That Good Life one weekend at a time.

A Review of the All American Pressure Canner

by jessicaherbig | Oct 31, 2022 | Preservation, Recipes

The pressure canner that will be the HUB of your kitchen

If you’re like me, you love the idea of being able to pressure can your own food. There’s something so satisfying about knowing that you grew and preserved the food yourself. And what better way to do that than with the All American Pressure Canner? Read on for my review of this product, and why I’m planning on getting a 2nd version!

Best on the market, in my opinion

The All American Pressure Canner is one of the best on the market. It’s made of heavy-duty cast aluminum, which means it’s built to last. I would consider it a true heirloom piece of kitchen equipment. It has the pressure gauge and the weighted gauge, so you have two ways to make sure your pressure is accurate to safely can all different types of foods. The downside is that it’s a bit pricey. But in my opinion, it’s worth the investment, as the quality of this piece has shown itself over the past year that I’ve owned it.

One thing I love about the All American Pressure Canner is that it’s so easy to use. Pressure canning can be a bit daunting, but this canner makes it so simple. If I’m being honest, I held off on buying a pressure canner because I was always afraid of them blowing up in my face. I quickly learned that those fears were unfounded, as long as you use the canner correctly! Also, with the weighted gauge on the All American Brand, it will release pressure as needed to keep it from getting too much.

Even if you’ve never pressure canned before, you’ll be able to do it with this canner. I bought the biggest version we could afford at the time, so my All American will hold 14 quart jars at one time, which is quite a lot. That does come with some drawbacks though, namely the weight of the canner. Because it’s cast aluminum, and large, it’s too heavy for me to lift when it’s fully loaded down. I get around this by only adding water and loading it once it’s sitting on the stove, and then I don’t move it until it’s unloaded after it’s depressurized.

List of pros:

-The All American Pressure Canner is made in the USA.
-It is constructed of heavy-duty aluminum for even heat distribution.
-It has an exclusive metal on metal seal. That means you don’t have to fuss with gaskets failing.
-The pressure gauge is easy to read.
-It comes with a handy guide with recipes specifically designed for pressure canning, including times and adjustments to pressure based on altitude.
-It has a wide variety of sizes to choose from (quart sizes range from 10 to 41).
– It has an automatic overpressure release (no blowing up!)

List of CONS:

– It’s extremely heavy. (I read this as well-made, so I am ok with it) But it’s something to consider if you can’t move it around by yourself.

– It’s one of the more expensive pressure canners on the market. I like to bargain shop, so it’s possible you can find one used and in good condition for cheaper, but considering I’m using this weekly, year-round, I bought it new because I knew I’d need it to last for a long time, and I looked at it as an investment.

OK so why am I considering getting a 2nd (smaller) version of my favorite canner? Because I bought the bigger version first, I use it primarily during canning season (late fall, early winter) to put up our garden harvest and can the meat that we hunt safely. The bigger version allows me to process more jars in less time. I want a 2nd one to use for the in between times when I’m only needing to do a single layer of something, or somewhere between 5-7 jars at a time.

The smaller model will save on weight and be that much easier for me to manipulate around my kitchen for my everyday use. I’ll be able to make large pots of soups for dinner, and then preserve the leftovers for heat and eat meals in less time than it takes me to do the dishes. That’s worth a lot to me to keep my pantry full of healthy quick grab eating options.

The All American Pressure Canner is a good choice for those who are looking for a high quality, durable pressure canner. It’s made in the USA, has a lifetime warranty, and comes in a wide variety of sizes. However, it is one of the more expensive pressure canners on the market and can be quite heavy. If you’re looking for an affordable pressure canner for sporadic use, this might not be the canner for you. However, if you’re willing to pay a little extra for quality and durability, then the All American Pressure Canner could be just what you’re looking for.

Unfortunately they go out of stock quite often online as people tend to buy them at peak times like early fall and into winter. You can look HERE and see what’s available right now, and capitalize on the fast shipping, OR you can search some of the other Made in USA stores, like HERE and use my code, TAKE20 to receive $20 off your order of $150 or more.

Just for reference, I purchased the 30 QT All American and am extremely happy with it, but I’m going to grab the 15 1/2 qt model to save on weight and still be able to process 7 qts at a time with it.

Written by Jessica

Crushing That Good Life one weekend at a time.

Comments

How To Make Sourdough English Muffins

by jessicaherbig | Aug 5, 2022 | Recipes

How To Make Sourdough English Muffins

how to make sourdough english muffins

DONT! Just kidding. They take a few hours, but most of it is hands off time while the sourdough works it’s magic. I hate going through a whole life story before I get to a recipe, so just look below, and be blessed. We love these and the kids eat them as breakfast sandwiches with eggs fresh from our chickens and cheddar that I make myself.

Foolproof Sourdough English Muffin Recipe
makes 16 English muffins

1 cup active sourdough starter (100% hydration) – I feed mine by weight equal parts water and flour, but over time I’ve learned that approx. 1/2 C. Flour + 1/3 C. Water will give me a good mix to give me bubbly sourdough starter in 2-3 hrs, and I’ve never weighed it since. Measure with your heart. I keep my sourdough start in these amazing Weck Jars. They’re easy to clean and keep your starter nice and neat.
3/4 cup warm water
1 cup whole milk, warmed to 110F (Because I don’t measure anything, I stick my finger in it. if it feels warm after 10 seconds without burning me, it’s good. Also.. I just milked a cow for the first time, and the temp of the milk fresh outta Dixie Queen seemed the perfect temp to me.)
5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup honey
¼ cup vegetable oil (but I always use avocado or olive oil)
2 teaspoons salt
cornmeal

Combine your starter, warm milk and water, and just shy of half the flour. Mix up and let sit for 30 minutes. This helps the sourdough activate. (Holy Spirit activate!)

Add the honey, oil and salt and mix in.

Add in the rest of the flour and knead with a dough hook until it clears the bowl. It will be stiff. That’s ok. Trust the process. My Kitchenaid comes in really handy for this.

Turn into an oiled bowl and let sit for 30 minutes. Then, you’re going to stretch the dough. Lift one side of the dough up and onto the middle of the dough. Do this for all 4 sides of the dough and re-cover it and let rest.

After 30 min, do it again.

After 60 min, do it again.

After 60 min, do it one more time. It should now be light, stretchy, and smelling like yeasty goodness. Turn out onto a clean surface and give it a few kneads. Not a lot, just show it who’s boss. If it’s not yet light and airy, let it sit for another hour or so.

Roll out into a 1/2 inch sheet, and use a 3 inch cookie cutter to cut circles. Re-roll scraps until you’ve used all the dough. Do you see the top right bitty biscuit I have on the pan? That was the last of my scrap dough, and it only made a 1.5 inch round. I used that as my tester for doneness.

Place rounds on an ungreased baking sheet and let sit, covered until poofy (about 60 min. It’s super important to get it to 1/2 inch, because these things poof up so far it’s hard to get them baked on your cast iron if they’re too thick without burning the outsides.)

Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle over medium heat. I use a Lodge Cast Iron Griddle, because I’ve found that the Lodge Brand has a finer, smoother finish than other brands of cast iron, so it keeps a wonderful non stick surface that needs very little maintenance. Dip each round in cornmeal or lightly sprinkle, place in pan, and “bake” on your stovetop for approx 8 minutes per side. TA-DA!

Written by Jessica

Crushing That Good Life one weekend at a time.

Comments

An Intro to Cheesemaking

by jessicaherbig | Aug 5, 2022 | Recipes

An Intro to Cheesemaking

An Intro To CheeseMaking

History of Cheese

If you think about it, people have been making cheese forever…. back when they didn’t even know why their milk turned chunky and delicious when they poured it into animal skin carrying bags. When you look at it that way, it makes modern day cheesemaking a little more accessible.

As you know… my style of cooking in general is “Measure with your heart.” Cheesemaking has come a long way in terms of there now being a standard process to provide consistent results, but there is still room in cheesemaking to measure with your heart!

The first cheeses were discovered because some traveler was carrying his lunch of fresh milk in an animal skin bag. In my head I imagine this traveler with animal skin clothes, riding on a camel, somewhere hot. (Hot because cheddars culture at approximately 90 degrees). When he stopped for lunch, he discovered that his delicious fresh milk was chunky… I’m betting he didn’t drink it. Or maybe he was hungry and rolled the dice. I don’t know. The point is, sometimes there are very delicious accidents. The milk cultured because the inside of that animal skin had rennet in it. When you mix fresh milk, rennet, and either a thermophilic or mesophilic starter culture, you get delicious magic.

Don’t get me wrong, cheesemaking is an art. The subtleties of each variety and the different aging techniques and times, as well as all the various types of milks you can use to make cheese lead to as many varieties as people on this earth. What I’ve found is that I’m an impatient cheesemaker. I tend towards cheeses with short aging times so I can enjoy the fruits of my labors faster. Farmhouse cheddar is my go-to, though I do make fresh cheeses as well. (Ones that don’t require aging like ricotta and cream cheese)

Below I’m going to outline my process for cheesemaking, but please keep in mind that I’m still learning along with everyone else. I like things as simple as possible, so you might not agree with my shortcuts and that’s ok. This is what works for me.

Supplies

The freshest milk you can buy. (I prefer raw from local dairies whenever possible but have been known to buy whole milk from the grocery store as well.) Just don’t buy super-pasteurized or it won’t work out well.
Rennet (I get this delivered from Amazon. Bonus points if you can find a local cheese shop to support.)
Starter Culture. It will differ based on the cheese you want to make, but for a general Cheddar, get a Mesophilic Starter Like This One.
Big metal pot. I use a Pasta Strainer pot like this one. The strainer portion is great for putting the curds in to drain right back into the pot during one of the steps.
A long knife to cut the curds. It needs to be long enough to reach top to bottom in your pan for as much milk as you’re going to put in the pot. (Did that make sense? Just get a long one. Bread or carving knives work great.)
Cheese press – This one is important to get right. If your press is too small you’ll only be able to handle a gallon of milk at a time and end up with a bunch of 1 lb wheels. That’s not exactly a bad thing but it takes awhile to make cheese, but it takes the same amount of time to make 1 lb as it does to make 5… so in this case as big as you can handle is good. I got this press as a starter kit with cheesecloth and I wish I would have gone bigger. I’ll be upgrading my size very soon.
Dairy thermometer (like the one your barista uses at your favorite coffee shop)

OK – so that’s the basic supplies. You need milk, a pan to put it in, a way to take the temperature and cut it, something to press it into to hold it’s shape.

The hands on portion of cheesemaking is very little. It’s a lot of “hurry and wait” steps. You heat up your milk, add the rennet, wait, then add your mesophilic culture and wait. Then cut the curds and wait, Then stir and wait and stir and wait and stir. Then you drain the curds and wait. Then press the curds and wait. See what I mean? A lot of waiting. You can totally fit this in if you’re planning on being in the kitchen during the day doing other things.

I was a little stressed at all the instructions in the book I bought with cheesemaking recipes. But I’ve realized that they’re more like guidelines. If you don’t keep your cheese at exactly 90 degrees, and it falls below… you’ll still end up with cheese, and it’s not even going to suck. So just measure with your heart and keep working through the steps. You’ll end up with cheese, I promise!

Oh, do you want to check out the best cheesemaking recipe book I’ve seen yet? It’s got EVERYTHING in it. Just CLICK HERE. My favorite like I’ve said is the Farmhouse Cheddar.

UPDATE ON THE CHEESE PRESS. My friend lovingly had her husband make me a dutch cheese press out of oak. Never again will I ever use anything else. Though mine is handmade, it’s very similar to THIS ONE on Amazon. And it’s not a bad price.

Written by Jessica

Crushing That Good Life one weekend at a time.

Comments

How To Make Small Batch Sauerkraut

by jessicaherbig | Jul 29, 2022 | Recipes

How To Make Small Batch Sauerkraut

Small Batch Sauerkraut Recipe

My cooking style is and always will be “Measure with your heart”, but there are a few things that I’ve learned over the past years where it’s actually dangerous to try and wing it. Fermentation is one of those times.

I held off on trying to make Sauerkraut because I always thought that I needed to have room for one of those large crocks on my counter for months at a time, and that it was going to smell, and I didn’t want to wait all that time for it to just not turn out. I’m so glad I decided to find a way that worked for me and went for it!

My phone must have been listening to me one day… you know, how phones do these days, because I started seeing ads for tabletop fermentation lids. I didn’t even know they were a thing! And they were way more affordable for an experiment with fermenting than a huge crock was going to be. That way if I didn’t end up liking it, I wasn’t out a lot of money. That’s a win in my book.

I did a little digging and ended up purchasing these fermentation lids, weights, and a bamboo tamper from the brand A Year of Plenty. They fit directly onto my wide mouth mason jars, and took up minimal space. And my thought was that small batch fermentation would take less time than a large batch. As I went through this process, I realized that these lids also made it hands off. I didn’t have to burp the jars to release the gasses, because the lids have a water lock on them that allows gasses to get out and doesn’t let air in.

OK, now because I hate scrolling through a whole life story before I get to the recipe, I’m just going to dive into it.

Small Batch Sauerkraut

Note: You will need approximately 1 gram of fine sea salt for every 44 grams of shredded cabbage. This is the magic ratio. Doing more of less salt will do two things: either give you too salty of a brine and your kraut will suck, OR not give you a salty enough brine and bad bacteria will be able to survive and thrive in your jars. You don’t want either. Stick with the ratio.

1 medium head of cabbage (approx 800 grams when shredded and weighed)
18 grams fine sea salt (himalayan is ok too!)
3 wide mouth quart mason jars (I prefer Ball or Kerr Jars for my canning, so that’s what I have on hand and use, but I LOVE my vintage Magic jars that I got from my Grandmother)
Fermentation lids, glass weights, and bamboo tamper (pick up this kit and have everything you need without needing to piece it together)

If it’s not already, shred your cabbage into fine strips, either using a mandolin, a sharp knife, or a food processor. Weight it out. Whatever the weight is, your golden ratio is 44:1. So divide the weight in grams by 44, and that will give you the amount of salt you’ll need.

Once shredded, add the salt to the kraut. Here’s where it gets fun and where I like to save some time. You need to massage that cabbage until it releases its juices. Mmhmm, massage it. You can either do this by hand if you have super fingers and forearm strength, OR you can use your handy dandy stand mixer to do the work. I use my 13 year old Kitchenaid Artisan Mixer that’s still going strong. (It’s majestic yellow in case you’re wondering but that color is out of stock or discontinued now)

Let’s pretend you’re just going to use the stand mixer and save some time. It should take about 5 minutes to beat up the cabbage and start releasing its juices. Once it does that, you’re ready to pack your jars.

Fill your mason jars to within 1.5 inches of the top, packing the cabbage in there with the bamboo tamper you’re going to get with your fermentation kit. Push it down pretty hard, because you don’t want any air bubbles in there to harbor bad bacteria. If you’ve gotten your salt ratio right, the brine will go to work on any bad bacteria left in there, eating it for breakfast, and in 7-21 days, you’ll have perfectly fermented sauerkraut full of good probiotics for your family to feast on!

OK, back it up a step. After you fill the jars, make sure all of the cabbage is covered by liquid. If it is not, you need to make up a little more brine to pour on top. A good salty brine is 2% salinity, so 100 grams of water to 2 grams of salt. Mix it up, and then pour enough of that brine on top to cover your veggies.

Pop on the lids that come in your fermentation kit, Fill the water reservoir on top like the directions tell you, and plug them into the top of the lid. This lets gas out of the jars (self-burping) without letting any air in. Remember, air is bad for fermentation.

Store the jars either on your counter if it’s not too warm, or in a cool cupboard. After 7 days, you can open the top, and taste the sauerkraut. If it’s not sour enough for you, put the lid back on and let it sit for longer.

Signs that it’s working:

You will start to see air bubbles rising to the top of the jar and releasing their gasses. The top of the brine will start to get foamy. If you’ve overfilled your jars, it could pull liquid up into your water reservoir. If this happens, you need to open the tops, spoon out some liquid, then refill the water reservoir. Your sauerkraut will be done when the bubbles stop, and it tastes delicious.

You might get some white powdery stuff that settles on top of your glass weights. That’s normal and nothing to be concerned about.

Signs that something has gone wrong:

If you get mold on the top of your liquid…. you need to toss the batch. Some old timers say you can scrape it off and keep going, but I don’t mess around. Just toss it. $1 worth of cabbage isn’t worth introducing mold into your body. If it’s just the white powdery stuff that’s settling onto the weights like above, keep going. Mold will float on the top of the liquid.

If it smells rank, and not like normal sauerkraut, your brine ratio might not have been 5-star and you could have bacteria growing in there. Best to toss it and start again.

Written by Jessica

Crushing That Good Life one weekend at a time.

How I went 30 days without grocery shopping, and saved hundreds of dollars

So as a recap:

Develop a food planStick to the planAdjust as necessaryGet creativeMake allowances for things outside your controL

Written by Jessica

Other Posts You Might Like

The pressure canner that will be the HUB of your kitchen

Best on the market, in my opinion

List of pros:

List of CONS:

Written by Jessica

Other Posts You Might Like

Comments

How To Make Sourdough English Muffins

how to make sourdough english muffins

Written by Jessica

Other Posts You Might Like

Comments

An Intro to Cheesemaking

An Intro To CheeseMaking

Written by Jessica

Other Posts You Might Like

Comments

How To Make Small Batch Sauerkraut

Small Batch Sauerkraut Recipe

Signs that it’s working:

Signs that something has gone wrong:

Written by Jessica

Other Posts You Might Like

Comments

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Develop a food plan
Stick to the plan
Adjust as necessary
Get creative
Make allowances for things outside your controL