Five Frugal Things -- Wild Berries & Cornmeal Pancakes
1) I drove over to my secret blackberry spot and got to work picking wild berries. It's still early in the season, so I'd estimate that just 20% of the berries have ripened, but I still picked enough to fill my milk jug.
Here it is about halfway filled:
Portland hit 89 degrees yesterday, so it was hot work. Especially noticeable as I wore thick jeans to protect my legs from bramble thorns. I probably should've worn long sleeves as well, but overheated at the thought.
Not to brag, but I also "foraged" a plastic water bottle to get that schweet 10¢ deposit! So technically . . . I made money.
It's such an idyllic spot.
2) My husband did his foraging at Whole Foods for his weekly $35 Family Meal to assemble his work lunches. (He works ten hour shifts, so only needs to prep four meals.) He chose the London broil, with green beans and orzo salad as his sides.
The London broil would be much more expensive were he to buy it by the pound.
That's a full four pounds of deli food for just $35. He absolutely loves this new routine, as it's lifted both the mental load and decision fatigue of his weekly meal prep. Plus, the food is much more elevated than what he'd normally cook for himself.
Yes, Schmeff Schmezos is an amoral putz, but sometimes you do the thing that protects your precious free time and mental health.
3) We hosted our weekly family dinner, which enjoyably included their partners. I prepared a "breakfast for dinner" meal featuring a frittata that catered to everyone's various palates and dietary restrictions. Hence the sids of bacon and pickled onions; and pepper-free portion.
Click HERE to read my "Hakuna Frittata" blog post from 2009! I had to replace the photo, as the formatting was completely wonky. I realize from reading my own recipe that I forgot to include potatoes!
I also made a double batch of the Joy of Cooking's cornmeal pancakes, although I swapped out the normal flour with gluten-free flour. This made them much fluffier than usual, which was A-Ok with everyone!
I set an enormous bowl of blackberries on the dining room table, which I somehow didn't photograph.
You can see that I've made this recipe a time or two! We added cornmeal pancakes into our meal rotation in 2002 after watching PBS's historical reenactment documentary Frontier House. (So many cornmeal pancakes in that show!) This 10-episode series set about recreating the conditions that Montana homesteaders faced in the 1880s. Three families participated and it was much more intense than any of them anticipated.
I've since rewatched it a time or two.
4) I did snap a quick photo of dessert, which was vanilla ice cream and also very blackberry forward. I added a drizzle of maple syrup, which was sublime. Very frugal dessert for six people.
5) I had a dental cleaning (with X-rays!) in the morning and walked out with a backup toothbrush and a pair of dental floss samples. You'll be happy to learn that I was deemed dentally healthy. Always a relief!
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
You might consider checking out gardening sleeves. Some are hard core (and look hot/heavy) but I have a pair that are pretty utilitarian. They don't cover any part of my hands however.
I suspect black raspberry season is about over in my area. I might pick a few to snack on but the wildlife usually gets most of them.
I received 2,500 points on Fetch for buying from Chewy. I also redeemed Fetch points for $25 to use on Chewy next time.
Made another 2 sales on EBay.
Froze basil using 2 different methods to see which I like better.
Am .20 in nickels wealthier due to a charity sending them in their mailer to try and make me feel obligated to donate. I tend to donate to charities that don’t send me multiple mailings.
Got a free badly needed car wash thanks to a surprise storm when I was in town.
Hospital husband works for is switching over computer systems which of course is a big stressful thing. Thankfully they are providing free snacks during this time, which helps a little.
Cornmeal pancakes sound delicious!
1) Continuing to make iced green tea, iced blueberry green tea and lemonade at home. Lemonade is being made with Trader Joe’s lemon juice. I ran out of frozen concentrate and thought – “This is dumb. I can make it myself!” Family’s general consensus is that we like it better too.
2) Clothes out on the line as much as possible. My max is drying four loads a day, but that period is almost over based on the angle of the sun for our clothes line. Today we are also keeping a nose out for Canadian wildfire smoke making its way to us, but the breeze is blowing hard enough that the clothes will dry fast without smoke smell.
3) Thunderstorms in our rural part of New England often mean we lose power as all lines are above ground and on tree lined roads. I have charged up all our battery powered products – cell chargers, lamps, lanterns etc and have made sure the solar ones are being charged daily. Not having to use a bunch of single use batteries is a win for me.
4) Trying, not always succeeding, at using up the produce from our CSA before it gives up the ghost. Today’s use for elderly mushrooms, scraggly green onions and baby bok choy was fried rice for DS. Veggies used up and consumed by him are a double win.
5) Someone mentioned “shopping at home” earlier this week and I am trying to do that first. I found just the right scoop for our dish washer powder in the laundry room.
6) Also trying to send things out of the house weekly. A bag of aspirational summer clothes went last week to the thrift store and a pile of papers from early adulthood went to recycling. I had this awareness recently that I am basically “renting” all my belongings so it makes sense to return (to the Universe) what I am not using. And the conversations about cleaning out loved ones houses resonated with me. I handled my aunt and uncle’s house and will be first up for my parents as well. I best make it as easy as possible on DS who is an only child.