Fruggle Fooding

Gigi’s simple and cheap eating:

Try to buy as many organic products as you can afford. It’s important we support organic farmers; they use no pesticides, hormones, antibiotics or genetically altered crops. This is extremely important to our children’s health in the future. There is an alarming growth in childhood cancers and obesity.

Since I can’t afford to purchase everything organically grown, foods my family consumes the most, are always purchased with the organic label (milk, eggs, yogurt, macaroni and cheese, some fruits and vegetables, cereals on sale, and cream cheese). My local supermarket also carries naturally made generic products, such as: natural peanut butter made with only peanuts and salt, natural jams and jellies with no added sugar or preservatives, natural juices, breads, and an array of snacks and drinks.

My daughter is the meat lover in the family and although I tend to limit her intake of flesh, I make sure any meat she consumes come from organic farmers.

Look for sale ads on organic products or even buy one get one free offfers. I have to be careful though, because once I walk down that organic isle, the temptation to purchase non-food items (lotions and potions, fragrance oils and body and hair care products)begins. Try and limit these purchases to a minimum.

-Oh, there’s also a variety of organic canned chili made with soy protein that my daughter just can’t get enough of. She never even realized it was meat-less until I told her and even then she couldn’t stop eating it. Nutrition can be a simple process…buy cheap, natural and organic whenever possible. Limit your intake of refined sugar, white flour, candy, chips and soda pops. Try baking your own bread, pastries and cookies and look for ways to make more foods from scratch in bulk amounts. Drink plenty of water, take a daily vitamin and don’t forget that apple a day. Simplicity in food shopping can save you plenty of money, not to mention helping to avoid visits to the doctor.

Eat to live
Don’t live to eat

Anonymous

Some advice from some older folks on living a long life:
drink plenty of water
eat whole foods
cook with lots of olive oil
don’t eat red meat
butter is better than margarine
don’t over eat
no junk food
if you can’t read the label, don’t eat it
keep active
and always look at life in a positive way

Gigi’s frugal food ideas:

Your favorite beans on whole grain toast with melted soy or regular cheese. You can mash and re-fry the beans from the night before.

Your favorite beans and rice dish. We love black beans over steamed white rice topped off with chopped green onions and a strong drizzle of extra virgin olive oil!

Natural peanut butter and jelly with sliced banana. Makes a good sweet treat.

Boiled potatoes and hard-boiled eggs over your choice of steamed rice…top this with sardines and olive oil, sliced onions and your favorite spices. Tastes even better the next day!

Cream cheese sandwiches or cream cheese on toast. Cream cheese is cheaper than regular cheese and goes with a variety of toppings…also very useful in home-made desserts.

Potato and onion sandwiches. This one came from my ex-husband, Jeff…something he ate lots of while traveling as a hippie.

Mayonnaise, miracle whip or butter sandwiches. Something I ate quite a bit of as a kid when hard times hit. Oh, and let me not forget, when I got real creative and mixed the butter with the sugar!

Peanut Butter and sliced banana sandwiches. I think it was Elvis’s favorite – except the bananas were fried.

Peanut Butter and mayonnaise sandwich. One of my husband’s favorite.

Ramen noodles with chopped celery and green onion. From my husband’s bachelor days.

Onion sandwich. Another one of my ex-husband’s.

And who could forget the famous ketchup and pasta or on bread combination.!

Fried bologne and eggs or fried bologne sandwiches. A country favorite. You could even try some fried canned spam.

Chopped celery, green onion, mushroom and tomato on cuban bread with some homemade salad dressing on top. I make my homemade dressing with olive oil, apple cider vinegar and water. I then add garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper(black and red), and add mustard and honey when I feel like adding some sweetness. This combination of vegetables and dressing make a great side dish on hot summer days and celery and green onions are about the cheapest vegetables around. Green vegetables are the healthiest.

Try having breakfast for dinner like: Jiffy blueberry pancakes with a side of turkey bacon or even some fried hot dogs with sliced onion. Jiffy is the cheapest baking mix.

I buy good quality hot dogs without preservatives or fillers and fry them up. I add them to pasta dishes, rice, potatoes, salads, toast, and have even stuffed them in my oven baked green peppers. My mom used to stuff fried hotdogs in her home-made potato balls.

When I’m really pressed for time, we’ve been known to have cold cereal and milk for dinner.

Trash salad: I often make this one as a main dish with my home-made dressing as the end of the month approaches and funds are running low. Just like my garbage soup which incorporates bits and pieces here and there that are not enough for one serving, I do the same with this salad. I get some lettuce and whatever vegetable and fruit that’s laying around, chop these up, add peanuts, grated cheese, left over turkey bacon bits, sliced cheese, crunched up saltine crackers or triscuits (even old bread that I baked in the oven with garlic), hard-boiled eggs, raisins, and if you really want to be bad some crunched up potato chips. Chop, slice or crunch your ingredients all up and mix with your lettuce in a big bowl. Top with my home-made dressing and it’s more than a complete meal! It tastes even better the next day for lunch on some toasted cuban bread.

A bowl of warm oatmeal with raisins, honey, brown sugar, molasses and cinnamon. My favorite anytime as a meal or sweet snack. A healthy snack when you’re pre-menstraul and craving sugar!

The kids favorite is our family night buffet. I make small portions of the following: pasta and sauce, fried hot dogs or bologne, trash salad and garbage soup, hard boiled eggs, fried potatoes, cream cheese on crackers, peanut butter and jelly squares, home-made rice krispies, popcorn and your choice of drinks. It’s cheaper and more fun than going out to a sit down buffet.

Well, I could go on and on but will leave more food ideas for the near future. My whole point is food doesn’t have to be expensive and complicated to be good or good for you. Make simple dishes that are both healthy and cheap. I know lots of the foods I mentioned are not the healthiest but eat them on a moderate basis or as a special treat. Omit the meat if you’re a vegetarian(meat is expensive and unhealthy). Simple cooking allows you more time with family and friends and in the end you won’t break the bank and feel healthier.

***don’t forget to take a walk after dinner***

***it takes lots more land to raise the animal for slaughter than to grow fruits, vegetables, nuts and whole grains…less meat consumption means more food to go around…don’t forget your vitamin B-12 supplement if you’re going meat-less – and that includes fish***

I don’t preach vegetarianism more because
we haven’t learned not to kill each other yet. I
realize we’re probably far from a step like this.

Peace Pilgrim

Here are some of my favorite cookbooks:

More – with – Less Cookbook by: Doris J. Longacre (simply one of the best)
The Vegetarian Epicure by: Anna Thomas
The Encyclopedia of Country Living by: Carla Emery (my favorite author and book of all times…although Carla is no longer with us, she will forever remain in my heart…it was because of her and her book that I fell in love with simple living and self sufficiency; thanks Carla, your book was a constant friend and companion through both happy and sad times. There’ll never be another one quite like you)!
An Amish Table by: Phyllis Pellman Good

For more great cookbooks go to:

www.mennonitemaidens.com
goodbks.com
Lehman’s.com
Alibris.com

Order the GVS Catalog: PO Box 310 Versailles, MO 65084

There are many periodicals that contain book order information or simply some great recipes and tips on simple living:

www.countrylivingmagazine.com
www.backhomemagazine.com
Wisdom’s Gate PO Box 374 Covert, MI 49043
Keepers at Home Magazine
Country Woman Magazine
www.motherearthnews.com

you can also find free recipes, brochures, books and magazines at: www.freenclearstuff.com

Till next time – Peace Always, Gigi