I've been thinking a lot lately about the idea of "lifestyle inflation". This is the phenomenon which makes wealthy people feel like they're poor, or that they're "hardly getting by" on massive sums of money. It's also a part of that oft-repeated phrase, "keeping up with the Joneses", and it's what a lot of people are blaming the current private levels of debt on. (I'd blame that more on advertising, but whatever.) I admit it: I'm a victim of lifestyle inflation. They say that "everyone does it", and the trick (according to money advice columnists) is to try to resist the temptation. "Spend less than you earn" and "try to figure out the least amount that you can live on, and bank the rest" are frequently heard pieces of sage advice. And it is wise: if you want to make money, build wealth, save up for your dreams, etc., you need to spend less than you earn. And a helpful way to do that is to avoid lifestyle inflation. But I admit it: I've given in to lifestyle inflation. And it's not always as bad as it sounds.
When Shane and I lived in our cabin, we were scraping by on about $1400-1500 per month. Why that amount? Because that's how much we were earning (combined) from our student jobs (post-tax). Now, I would never want to go back to those days. Our "treat" dinner was what we dubbed "moosey-mac"--boxed macaroni and cheese with some browned, ground moose meat mixed in. If we needed fruits and veggies to go with it, those were usually either a carrot split between us or some canned orange slices. Because it was all cheap. I admit that the moosey-mac was delicious, but healthy those meals were not. I wouldn't take seconds if I was hungry because, well, we just couldn't really afford it. I distinctly remember eating some chicken soup that I was pretty sure had gone off (it smelled bad, though it tasted fine) because I was more willing to risk food poisoning than I was to see all of that food (and money) get thrown out. We kept the heat down to 60 when we were both home and awake, and 55 at night because we were terrified that we'd run out of heating oil and have to buy more--which we couldn't afford. (My half of the 250 gallons, if I remember correctly, was $600.) Most nights at home were spent huddled near the heater, Shane on his computer and me reading a book, with only one light on so that we could keep our electric bill low. It was dark and cold, and we spent a lot of time away from the cabin to the detriment of the dog (home by herself). Whenever there was free food we'd load up so that we could save that one meal's worth of money. Of course, this is not to say that we didn't have outside resources. I'd spent the summer working two jobs so that I could save a little bit of money. (A grand total of $2000 was all I had in savings to start the school year.) "Extra" things, like the heating oil and getting the dog groomed, had to come out of savings. We made every penny squeak and did without a lot of the time. Both of us were too proud to ask our parents for help, determined to make it on our own. I played it all down when I spoke to my family, or made a joke of it, but there really were some times when we were both wondering if there'd be some unexpected bill we'd have to pay that would be impossible to cover, or if our savings would run out.
We never went to the doctor, or the dentist. We bought the cheapest of whatever we needed, and made do without most of the time. If nothing else, that time in our lives taught us serious thrift and resourcefulness. It was a big deal to purchase a 15 gallon water tank to hold excess water. We talked about this $25 purchase for three weeks before finally going ahead with it. Would the benefits outweigh the *enormous* cost?
So when I think now about our "lifestyle inflation", and the fact that I can't save practically any money now even though I'm making a fortune compared to what I was then, I have to remind myself that it's really not much of an inflation. We've moved up from being desperately poor to being somewhat comfortable in our current circumstances. I know that I could be spending less, but I would also be compromising my values to a great extent. I buy organic products not because it's the cheapest or easiest thing to do, but because I believe it's better for myself and the planet. I believe the same thing about the local meat we buy. It's far more expensive in some cases, but it tastes better and I feel good about it. I don't have to worry about how far away the meat came from, or how the animal was treated, or what crazy additives might be in it. And when I'm honest in my memories, I remind myself that I don't ever want to go back to the days when I was squirreling away free food for later. Would anyone? Those certainly were not halcyon days. And they weren't sustainable.
Shane *sort of* has a job. For now. He signed up for some classes so that he could take a student job working with/for a friend of ours. Unfortunately, he found out after going to the first day of one of his classes that he doesn't have the prerequisites for the class. By that point, it was too late to sign up for any other classes, and withdrawing from this class will drop him below the required number of credits to hold a student job. So he's waiting until the very last day to withdraw so that he can work as much as allowed between now and then. Even after the job ends, though, he'll still have his other two classes so at least he'll be getting out of the house. I think the worst part of unemployment is the lack of any structure to your day. There's no reason to go to bed, no reason to get up. It's more tiring than any other factor. And when you realize that your big accomplishment for the week is getting out of bed before noon, you know things have to change.
One of our goals for the future--when we're (hopefully) making more money--is not to let it go to our heads. We'll fight the good fight against lifestyle inflation and try to keep spending below our means. At the very least, it's our insurance against going back to a time when we really weren't sure if we could afford to feed ourselves.
Mr. Romney can say he "doesn't care about the poor", but I do. I know what it's like to be on that edge.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
A narrow view
Bea, of the Zero Waste Home blog fame, has sometimes been criticized for having such a narrow range in her environmentalism. Yes, she focuses on waste reduction in her home, critics say, but what about all the other streams of waste in her life? What about her family's driving, their plane trips to France to visit her family, their electricity, what about local food? To some extent, I can understand this criticism. (Although, unless you're Colin Beavan, I really don't think that you have room to criticize another person's efforts to go green.) It is a really narrow view of what it means to be an environmentalist. But at the same time, her efforts to reduce waste have led her and her family into other avenues of environmentalism. She shops at the farmer's market because the farmers (unlike the big producers) don't put stickers on their fruit and veggies, so it's led her to shop more locally. She buys mostly second-hand clothing because it doesn't come with the ridiculous plastic price tags that are ubiquitous on new clothing. She and her husband bought solar panels so that their electricity is cleaner. They switched from being a two car family to only having one--a used Prius. She takes her kids out to go pick up trash and cleans her neighborhood. And through her blogging, she's been spreading the message of zero waste to others who might not have thought about it otherwise.
She's not the only environmentalist who could be accused of having a narrow focus. One could attempt to only buy used things, like Katy-Wolk Stanley, the Non-Consumer Advocate. You could focus on toxics like Deana Duke of Crunchy Chicken (and her new book, which I read, "The Non-Toxic Avenger").
My point is really this: what is the purpose behind complaining that someone else isn't "green" enough? Why would you try to shame someone else for trying to make a difference, and to better the world? I guess I just don't understand.
What I do find sad, and frustrating, and what just pisses me off, is that there are so many things for environmentalists to focus on. It's absolutely ridiculous that we have to be such activists to simply live in a way that doesn't harm the world, or which harms less. Why do we have to be such tireless advocates for our own health and safety? Why don't people reserve their anger for that? Why don't they take a stand against the companies and the governments responsible for these issues? For every person who writes an anonymous negative comment on the web, think of how much would get done if they'd instead direct their energies to writing their members of congress. Think of how much would get done if they'd direct their attention to what they could be doing better. Even if those people just spent five minutes to stop junk mail entering their homes, what a difference that would make in the streams of waste, in energy used to create and send the paper, and in how many trees are cut down annually! It might not seem like much, just a few pieces of junk mail, but it would be massive if even one entire city's worth of people made a change such as this. And to think, it's something that costs you nothing more than a few minutes of your time to start, and saves way more time in the long run. (Less recycling, less mail sorting, etc.)
I realize that in making my environmental focus so wide ("wide" meaning "I want to do it all") I can also be criticized because I haven't gone all the way with my goals. Have I gotten down to zero waste? Nope. Have I switched to a completely local food system? Nope. Have I ditched our gas guzzling truck entirely, stopped making plane trips, or cut off our electricity? Nope. The honest truth is that I probably could meet one or two of these goals, but not all of them. At least, not all at once. Not even over a period of a few years. This is a project for an entire life that I've taken on. But I think that it's all important, so I don't want to focus on just one or two things. Because of this I just don't have time for all of the things on my list. The best I can do is make a little time here, a little time there, and streamline some processes to make it easier on myself in the future. I know that I'm improving and that's what matters to me. The important thing, really, is that I've found something I'm passionate about. I've found something I believe in, that's worth making changes for. So I'll keep working away at my goals, trying to make a difference a little bit at a time.
I've also struggled with doubts and worries about my efforts, especially when it comes to flying. I mean, we flew to Europe in the fall! Talk about a huge carbon disaster! But would I have given up that trip, the things we experienced, and the lessons we learned? Not for the world. And I know I will go on other plane trips. This year alone, I have friends getting married in Hawaii and a family reunion in Maine. Neither of those is a short plane trip. But the alternative is to give up my family and friends. Flying has become such an integral part of life in Alaska that it's hard to understand what it was like for the pioneers. And easy to see why so few women chose this life. (And still don't--we have an almost 2-1 men to women ratio.) Before flying was so common, people moving to Alaska pretty much cut themselves off from everyone they'd known before, except through letter writing. It makes you wonder, was it worth it? I probably never would have considered moving here if it wasn't for the fact that I could fly home to see my family and friends fairly often. And that would have been a shame, because I would have been with the ones I love in a place I couldn't stand living in.
This is one of those situations where it's hard to know what the right thing to do is. I can't afford to buy carbon offsets. In fact, the only reason I can even contemplate these trips is because we have free or reduced tickets waiting for us. I suppose the "right" choice for me in the matter of flying is just to pick and choose what's worth it, and to make my visits longer rather than more frequent. Hopefully someday they'll come up with a solar-powered airplane. Or a zero-emissions transporter, a la "Star Trek".
She's not the only environmentalist who could be accused of having a narrow focus. One could attempt to only buy used things, like Katy-Wolk Stanley, the Non-Consumer Advocate. You could focus on toxics like Deana Duke of Crunchy Chicken (and her new book, which I read, "The Non-Toxic Avenger").
My point is really this: what is the purpose behind complaining that someone else isn't "green" enough? Why would you try to shame someone else for trying to make a difference, and to better the world? I guess I just don't understand.
What I do find sad, and frustrating, and what just pisses me off, is that there are so many things for environmentalists to focus on. It's absolutely ridiculous that we have to be such activists to simply live in a way that doesn't harm the world, or which harms less. Why do we have to be such tireless advocates for our own health and safety? Why don't people reserve their anger for that? Why don't they take a stand against the companies and the governments responsible for these issues? For every person who writes an anonymous negative comment on the web, think of how much would get done if they'd instead direct their energies to writing their members of congress. Think of how much would get done if they'd direct their attention to what they could be doing better. Even if those people just spent five minutes to stop junk mail entering their homes, what a difference that would make in the streams of waste, in energy used to create and send the paper, and in how many trees are cut down annually! It might not seem like much, just a few pieces of junk mail, but it would be massive if even one entire city's worth of people made a change such as this. And to think, it's something that costs you nothing more than a few minutes of your time to start, and saves way more time in the long run. (Less recycling, less mail sorting, etc.)
I realize that in making my environmental focus so wide ("wide" meaning "I want to do it all") I can also be criticized because I haven't gone all the way with my goals. Have I gotten down to zero waste? Nope. Have I switched to a completely local food system? Nope. Have I ditched our gas guzzling truck entirely, stopped making plane trips, or cut off our electricity? Nope. The honest truth is that I probably could meet one or two of these goals, but not all of them. At least, not all at once. Not even over a period of a few years. This is a project for an entire life that I've taken on. But I think that it's all important, so I don't want to focus on just one or two things. Because of this I just don't have time for all of the things on my list. The best I can do is make a little time here, a little time there, and streamline some processes to make it easier on myself in the future. I know that I'm improving and that's what matters to me. The important thing, really, is that I've found something I'm passionate about. I've found something I believe in, that's worth making changes for. So I'll keep working away at my goals, trying to make a difference a little bit at a time.
I've also struggled with doubts and worries about my efforts, especially when it comes to flying. I mean, we flew to Europe in the fall! Talk about a huge carbon disaster! But would I have given up that trip, the things we experienced, and the lessons we learned? Not for the world. And I know I will go on other plane trips. This year alone, I have friends getting married in Hawaii and a family reunion in Maine. Neither of those is a short plane trip. But the alternative is to give up my family and friends. Flying has become such an integral part of life in Alaska that it's hard to understand what it was like for the pioneers. And easy to see why so few women chose this life. (And still don't--we have an almost 2-1 men to women ratio.) Before flying was so common, people moving to Alaska pretty much cut themselves off from everyone they'd known before, except through letter writing. It makes you wonder, was it worth it? I probably never would have considered moving here if it wasn't for the fact that I could fly home to see my family and friends fairly often. And that would have been a shame, because I would have been with the ones I love in a place I couldn't stand living in.
This is one of those situations where it's hard to know what the right thing to do is. I can't afford to buy carbon offsets. In fact, the only reason I can even contemplate these trips is because we have free or reduced tickets waiting for us. I suppose the "right" choice for me in the matter of flying is just to pick and choose what's worth it, and to make my visits longer rather than more frequent. Hopefully someday they'll come up with a solar-powered airplane. Or a zero-emissions transporter, a la "Star Trek".
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Super Bowl weekend total--Ouch
It started off as a fairly uneventful weekend. Actually, I thought that the most excitement we'd have was when we realized how much money we spent. (!!) We stayed in Friday night and watched movies. Saturday, however, was roller derby night and we had two friends skating in competition. Against each other. And they're a couple. So we had to watch this, right? Well, it was a blast. We made signs with some friends and had a grand time cheering them on. And the names, of course. Our friends are "Mugshot" (I can never remember her real name because everyone just calls her Mugs!) and "Gitter a Bodybag". I think my favorite name of the evening, though, came from the junior derby that went before. There was one scrawny little girl (she looked like she was maybe 11?) and her name was "Toxic Tater Tot". Awesome. Shane was pleasantly surprised by how much fun he had, especially considering that he didn't know any of the rules before we went there. There was one really sad part of the evening, though. "Magically Delicious" got an accidental headshot and was taken to the hospital with a concussion. I didn't hear if she had any other injuries, so I hope she's all right. The game went on, though, and came down to a tie. Mugs's team finally won it by four points in overtime.
And of course, we had Super Bowl parties to attend today. We went to two of them, leaving the first one at halftime for the second one. Both were fun and even though I'm not a football fan, even I got sucked into the game. I was secretly rooting for the Giants, just because most of the people around me were rooting for the Patriots. :)
So. I mentioned earlier that we spent a lot of money. Boy, did we. First, I ordered my seeds. Hurray! I got so many that Shane asked, "Umm, is our garden big enough for all of that?" I'll make it big enough. And as soon as I get the seeds, I can start some of the plants at work. There's enough light now, and the temperature doesn't matter because they'll be inside. So I'm very excited. The total was only $55 with shipping, which I'm considering as being quite nice for organic, heirloom seeds.
The real money spent comes in with everything else. You know how sometimes it feels like you run out of everything all at once? This was one of those times. Besides our regular foodstuffs, we also ran out of both wet and dry dog food, wet cat food, and flour. I buy flour in 50lb sacks and we ran out. So not only did I have to buy all of this at once, but the price of each has gone up a bit too. Not too much for any one item (a case of canned dog food went from $27 to $30, dry food from $55 to $60) but taken all together it was a lot more expensive. So I spent $205 at the feed store alone. That was painful.
Then at the regular grocery store, almost everything I bought was produce. But we've been out of a lot of it for a while so I figured I'd stock up. I bought 17 apples, 9 large sweet potatoes, 3 bags of frozen fruit, a bunch of dried cherries, a cabbage, a red pepper, some celery, broccoli...and spent $100 there.
Finally, I've been out of tea at home for weeks now. I mean, I've got some tea, but it's the kind of tea I keep in case guests don't want caffeinated tea, or if they just don't care for black tea. White tea is not my favorite, and I'll drink green or herbal tea once in a while, but they're also not as good as black tea. A nice strong cup of black tea makes everything seem better. So I went to Sipping Streams to refill my jars and spent $30 there. And then I nearly had a panic attack when I added it all up in my head. $335 for foodstuffs. Holy. Crap.
The truck is almost out of gas, but I didn't bother to gas it up. We don't drive enough that I think we can put it off until next week. Or at least until I recover a little bit from the glut of money spent this weekend. When I came home and put all the groceries and such away I found out...we're also out of toilet paper. We have enough of a roll to put it off until next week, too, so that's what I'm doing.
And really, most of this stuff will last us a long time. We're not totally out of the last of the bags of dog food or flour, so I could have put it off until next week. But I wanted to get eggs and milk from the feed store anyway so I figured, why push it off? It's a little out of my way, so if I can make only one trip instead of two it's worth it. We have about two weeks' worth of food, I think, so hopefully this week we won't have to go shopping at all. Or next week, for that matter. I don't think I could face it.
And of course, we had Super Bowl parties to attend today. We went to two of them, leaving the first one at halftime for the second one. Both were fun and even though I'm not a football fan, even I got sucked into the game. I was secretly rooting for the Giants, just because most of the people around me were rooting for the Patriots. :)
So. I mentioned earlier that we spent a lot of money. Boy, did we. First, I ordered my seeds. Hurray! I got so many that Shane asked, "Umm, is our garden big enough for all of that?" I'll make it big enough. And as soon as I get the seeds, I can start some of the plants at work. There's enough light now, and the temperature doesn't matter because they'll be inside. So I'm very excited. The total was only $55 with shipping, which I'm considering as being quite nice for organic, heirloom seeds.
The real money spent comes in with everything else. You know how sometimes it feels like you run out of everything all at once? This was one of those times. Besides our regular foodstuffs, we also ran out of both wet and dry dog food, wet cat food, and flour. I buy flour in 50lb sacks and we ran out. So not only did I have to buy all of this at once, but the price of each has gone up a bit too. Not too much for any one item (a case of canned dog food went from $27 to $30, dry food from $55 to $60) but taken all together it was a lot more expensive. So I spent $205 at the feed store alone. That was painful.
Then at the regular grocery store, almost everything I bought was produce. But we've been out of a lot of it for a while so I figured I'd stock up. I bought 17 apples, 9 large sweet potatoes, 3 bags of frozen fruit, a bunch of dried cherries, a cabbage, a red pepper, some celery, broccoli...and spent $100 there.
Finally, I've been out of tea at home for weeks now. I mean, I've got some tea, but it's the kind of tea I keep in case guests don't want caffeinated tea, or if they just don't care for black tea. White tea is not my favorite, and I'll drink green or herbal tea once in a while, but they're also not as good as black tea. A nice strong cup of black tea makes everything seem better. So I went to Sipping Streams to refill my jars and spent $30 there. And then I nearly had a panic attack when I added it all up in my head. $335 for foodstuffs. Holy. Crap.
The truck is almost out of gas, but I didn't bother to gas it up. We don't drive enough that I think we can put it off until next week. Or at least until I recover a little bit from the glut of money spent this weekend. When I came home and put all the groceries and such away I found out...we're also out of toilet paper. We have enough of a roll to put it off until next week, too, so that's what I'm doing.
And really, most of this stuff will last us a long time. We're not totally out of the last of the bags of dog food or flour, so I could have put it off until next week. But I wanted to get eggs and milk from the feed store anyway so I figured, why push it off? It's a little out of my way, so if I can make only one trip instead of two it's worth it. We have about two weeks' worth of food, I think, so hopefully this week we won't have to go shopping at all. Or next week, for that matter. I don't think I could face it.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Independence Days
Sharon Astyk has a challenge she calls "Independence Days" that's all about taking note each day and week of what you've done to make yourself more self-sustaining, sustainable, and independent. I was a little dismayed as I read the first categories because they didn't seem applicable to me here, right now (harvest what? preserve what?) but when I got lower down on the list I thought, yes! I can definitely take a few moments to remind myself how I'm making progress on some of my goals. As you can tell from my posts the past couple of days about eating our stored food, we're definitely making progress on the "eat the food" category.
For the "want not" category, I'm continuing with my efforts to reduce waste and to compost pretty much everything. Here's an odd list of things you can compost, and here's another. No more toilet paper tubes in the trash! (Compost actually needs a certain amount of "woody" material, so you're doing yourself a favor by throwing those things in the compost. I do not, however, know about vermicompost so you'll need to look into that first if that's your preferred method of composting.) Our cat's been shedding horrendously lately, and that too can go into the compost. I'm not sure if I'll have compost ready for this summer, but by next there should be a decent amount of it to feed my veggies.
I haven't planted anything, but I am going to order my seeds this weekend. (Didn't I say that a couple of weeks ago?) I started two more jade plants at work, which are in water trying to grow roots. I pulled out my old cherry tomato plants since they're finally done producing, and I'm going to try to get the soil ready for new starts to grow. I also started planning out how I want to lay out my garden this year--started because after I wrote it all out I realized that I'd forgotten my rhubarb plants! They overwinter, so really I'll just need to rearrange things to show where they are. I'm quite certain that things won't turn out the way I plan them, either, but it's a start. I tried to take into account the plants that love shade (mostly lettuces) and put them near where I'm going to put my beans and peas. I also counted up the planter boxes and other resources I stored in the garage for the winter so that I can figure out what else I want to add to it this year and what I'll need to do to get them ready. (At the very least, the soil in the boxes seriously needs to be amended. They all had so many squash plants in them, and squashes take so many nutrients, that it's sort of sad to see the dirt. It's not soil anymore, just dirt.) This is probably going to end up being a big money spending weekend (gulp) but it will be worth it.
It might not seem like much, but every day I'm doing a little bit more to make myself free from a system I don't like. I'm doing a little bit more to live my values and to create the life I want. Also, it's nice to see that I'm not the only crazy person out there who washes out and reuses plastic bags.
For the "want not" category, I'm continuing with my efforts to reduce waste and to compost pretty much everything. Here's an odd list of things you can compost, and here's another. No more toilet paper tubes in the trash! (Compost actually needs a certain amount of "woody" material, so you're doing yourself a favor by throwing those things in the compost. I do not, however, know about vermicompost so you'll need to look into that first if that's your preferred method of composting.) Our cat's been shedding horrendously lately, and that too can go into the compost. I'm not sure if I'll have compost ready for this summer, but by next there should be a decent amount of it to feed my veggies.
I haven't planted anything, but I am going to order my seeds this weekend. (Didn't I say that a couple of weeks ago?) I started two more jade plants at work, which are in water trying to grow roots. I pulled out my old cherry tomato plants since they're finally done producing, and I'm going to try to get the soil ready for new starts to grow. I also started planning out how I want to lay out my garden this year--started because after I wrote it all out I realized that I'd forgotten my rhubarb plants! They overwinter, so really I'll just need to rearrange things to show where they are. I'm quite certain that things won't turn out the way I plan them, either, but it's a start. I tried to take into account the plants that love shade (mostly lettuces) and put them near where I'm going to put my beans and peas. I also counted up the planter boxes and other resources I stored in the garage for the winter so that I can figure out what else I want to add to it this year and what I'll need to do to get them ready. (At the very least, the soil in the boxes seriously needs to be amended. They all had so many squash plants in them, and squashes take so many nutrients, that it's sort of sad to see the dirt. It's not soil anymore, just dirt.) This is probably going to end up being a big money spending weekend (gulp) but it will be worth it.
It might not seem like much, but every day I'm doing a little bit more to make myself free from a system I don't like. I'm doing a little bit more to live my values and to create the life I want. Also, it's nice to see that I'm not the only crazy person out there who washes out and reuses plastic bags.
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Is it over yet?
A quick Google search of what the temperature is here in Fairbanks (never truly accurate because of all the crazy microclimates, but a good enough estimation) says that it's only -9 today. -9! It's giving me hope that perhaps this long deep freeze is over, at least for now. I've even heard a rumor that it's supposed to warm up to positive temperatures this weekend!
The reason I'm so happy, oddly, has the most to do with our vehicle. The truck wouldn't start again yesterday so we haven't been able to go to the grocery store all week. This isn't a disaster, but we are out of some key food items. Like fresh fruit. Heck, even canned and dried and frozen fruit! (Except for my blueberries--I still have a little under half a gallon of frozen local blueberries.) Our vegetable situation is looking similar. We're out of wheat flour and getting tenuously low on white flour. We're almost out of dry dog food, completely out of canned dog food (we've been giving her a little bit of leftover halibut--which Shane burned--in her dinners), and nearly out of canned cat food. We're out of cheese, out of frozen peas. Out of sweet potatoes.
It's times like now when I amaze myself with my forethought. I've pulled out some frozen butternut squash soup that I put away in the fall, the last time I made it. But that's gone now too and I was sort of freaking out about what to do for dinner last night. Shane suggested moose steaks and I said, "Alright. With what vegetables? You want just steak and bread?" He would have been fine with it, but I wasn't. So another delve into the freezers revealed...more frozen soup. Chicken noodle, to be specific. I don't know when I did this (maybe last spring? or summer?) but I remember the meal. I'd made a giant pot of chicken noodle soup and before it was done we both got sick of eating it. Well, freezing it for a time we wouldn't be sick of it was a brilliant maneuver! I found it buried under a few things and pulled it out excitedly. Because it was in one of our Pyrex storage containers it was easy enough to pull off the lid and pop it in the oven to heat up. I added the very last of our frozen peas toward the end of the heating (it already had carrots in it), and we paired it with yummy toast to make it a little more filling. Dinner with only a few minutes of searching and maybe 5 minutes of actual effort. Whew!
I also realized that I still have my acorn squash from last summer that I need to use up. Shane's on the hook for coming up with dinner tonight (probably noodles and marinara sauce) since I have to work late, but I get to go home early tomorrow so I know exactly what I'll make. We'll have those moose steaks and some acorn squash dumplings on the side. (Yes, I'll have to rework the recipe a bit to accommodate a lack of eggs.)
I guess the point of me saying all of this is that you really never know what life is going to bring you. Having some stored food on hand so that you don't have to resort to fast food (there's both a McDonald's and a Pizza Hut within walking distance of us, but I refuse to eat what is essentially garbage food) and so that something like not being able to get to the store isn't a disaster is so helpful. Plan in advance and you'll save yourself many headaches later. Food storage isn't so much about the major future disasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, and such) as it is about the minor, day-to-day disasters in life. There's always something unexpected waiting around the corner. Being prepared for at least some of these things is the least we can do for ourselves.
The reason I'm so happy, oddly, has the most to do with our vehicle. The truck wouldn't start again yesterday so we haven't been able to go to the grocery store all week. This isn't a disaster, but we are out of some key food items. Like fresh fruit. Heck, even canned and dried and frozen fruit! (Except for my blueberries--I still have a little under half a gallon of frozen local blueberries.) Our vegetable situation is looking similar. We're out of wheat flour and getting tenuously low on white flour. We're almost out of dry dog food, completely out of canned dog food (we've been giving her a little bit of leftover halibut--which Shane burned--in her dinners), and nearly out of canned cat food. We're out of cheese, out of frozen peas. Out of sweet potatoes.
It's times like now when I amaze myself with my forethought. I've pulled out some frozen butternut squash soup that I put away in the fall, the last time I made it. But that's gone now too and I was sort of freaking out about what to do for dinner last night. Shane suggested moose steaks and I said, "Alright. With what vegetables? You want just steak and bread?" He would have been fine with it, but I wasn't. So another delve into the freezers revealed...more frozen soup. Chicken noodle, to be specific. I don't know when I did this (maybe last spring? or summer?) but I remember the meal. I'd made a giant pot of chicken noodle soup and before it was done we both got sick of eating it. Well, freezing it for a time we wouldn't be sick of it was a brilliant maneuver! I found it buried under a few things and pulled it out excitedly. Because it was in one of our Pyrex storage containers it was easy enough to pull off the lid and pop it in the oven to heat up. I added the very last of our frozen peas toward the end of the heating (it already had carrots in it), and we paired it with yummy toast to make it a little more filling. Dinner with only a few minutes of searching and maybe 5 minutes of actual effort. Whew!
I also realized that I still have my acorn squash from last summer that I need to use up. Shane's on the hook for coming up with dinner tonight (probably noodles and marinara sauce) since I have to work late, but I get to go home early tomorrow so I know exactly what I'll make. We'll have those moose steaks and some acorn squash dumplings on the side. (Yes, I'll have to rework the recipe a bit to accommodate a lack of eggs.)
I guess the point of me saying all of this is that you really never know what life is going to bring you. Having some stored food on hand so that you don't have to resort to fast food (there's both a McDonald's and a Pizza Hut within walking distance of us, but I refuse to eat what is essentially garbage food) and so that something like not being able to get to the store isn't a disaster is so helpful. Plan in advance and you'll save yourself many headaches later. Food storage isn't so much about the major future disasters (floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, and such) as it is about the minor, day-to-day disasters in life. There's always something unexpected waiting around the corner. Being prepared for at least some of these things is the least we can do for ourselves.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Ugh
Someone posted this disturbing article to Facebook. I won't go into all of the details, since it's too long and the author goes into far better detail than I can here, but it's about brands that used to be small, niche brands for sustainable and ethical companies and how they're being swallowed by corporate giants (like Coca-Cola and Hershey's). You think Burt's Bees is small and ethical? They're owned by Clorox.
Once again I'm reminded that if I'm seeing it in a big store like Safeway or Fred Meyer's, it's almost certainly not a small brand. It's not profitable enough for the big stores to deal with small brands. It's yet another reason for me to "shop lower on the money chain" and choose local stores over national ones.
Once again I'm reminded that if I'm seeing it in a big store like Safeway or Fred Meyer's, it's almost certainly not a small brand. It's not profitable enough for the big stores to deal with small brands. It's yet another reason for me to "shop lower on the money chain" and choose local stores over national ones.
Bread Tutorial II--The Tools
This will be a much shorter post since this time I'll be focusing on the types of tools which make bread makingeasier. Oh, not the measuring cups and such. I assume you already have ones you like on hand, yes? Use those.
The first thing you'll need are quality bread pans. If you're going to be making a lot of bread, this is no place to be cheap. I'm sorry to say that I did go cheap and now I'm paying for it. I bought metal pans, and I regret that too. If I'd been smarter I would have laid out the money for quality glass or Pyrex pans. (Especially since it was really only a few dollars more.) Mostly this is because of quality issues unrelated to the actual baking process. For one, they're hard to clean. They're "non-stick" in name only. Sometimes even when I oil them really well, the bread still sticks and by the time I pry it out I have half a loaf, with the rest still being in the pan. And there's always a layer of crusted on bread that we can never seem to fully clean off. At times I've had to use a knife to pry out the bread, which leaves scratches in the sides and makes the bread harder to get out next time. *Sigh* After a long time of use metal bread pans will rust, too. No one likes that aftertaste of rust when eating bread. (And I know this happens because when I was making bread growing up, I'd sometimes end up using my mom's old metal ones and then wonder what that odd metallic taste was.) I've also been told that glass actually ends up with a more even heat transfer which helps bread to bake best.
I certainly enjoy using my Pyrex pans for rolls (I use the 9x13) and my glass pie pans for when I make more dome-shaped loaves. They do very well as far as evenly heating the bottom of the bread. They're also very easy to clean and I've never had a problem with bread sticking. (Well, alright, once, but that was user error since I burned the bread.)
A good stand mixer is unnecessary, but helpful. I made our bread by hand for years until Shane's parents gave us our mixer last year and all you need for that is a nice big bowl and a wooden spoon. (Why wood? Because I prefer it over plastic, but you could go either way. I don't see metal working out too well, though.) At the very worst, making bread by hand is a good arm workout and I never noticed a quality difference. The mixer does make things much easier, though, and I enjoy having it. There are quite a few mixing tools for KitchenAids, but the one you want is actually called a dough hook and it looks like this:
I've never tried using anything else for mixing dough in the mixer, and there's a reason for that. The whipping tool and the regular paddle-type mixer would do an awful job of mixing dough to the consistency it needs to be. Save those for more delicate things like cookies, cakes, and frosting.
A lot of people swear by using a dough scraper, which looks like this. I've never actually used one, nor have I seen a need to. But I hear they can make cleanup a breeze. I've also seen how you can "make" one out of an old credit card. Dough scrapers are meant to cut through bread dough. I just pull mine apart when I'm ready to separate it for loaves, and (as my mother before me) simply weigh the two halves in my hands (switching it once or twice to make sure there's no bias from my stronger, dominant hand/arm) to make sure they'll come out somewhat even in size. No need for scales, no need for a special tool to cut the dough. The reason it can be helpful in the cleanup is that you can literally scrape your counter or tabletop and any dough which might have been left sticking to it. But since I flour my surface decently, there's never anything more than a tiny bit of flour leftover and that's easily taken care of with a damp cloth.
When dough is rising the first time, it's also important to have a dish towel to spread over it. I use a lightweight one which can be easily wetted and then wrung out to be only slightly damp. (Though I don't always dampen it.) This helps keep stuff off your dough (like bugs and dust) and helps to keep the moisture in so that the dough doesn't form a nasty crust over the top while it's sitting out and vulnerable. It doesn't matter so much for the second rise, though, because then you want it to start forming crust. I've also seen bread not rise as well as it should the second time because I put a towel over it and that was just enough weight to keep it slightly deflated.
This last isn't a tool, or at least not one you'd buy specifically for bread making. But it's important: get to know your oven. You'll need to know things like, does it cook evenly? (Ours burns in the back.) Will it hold a temperature? (Not in the winter, it cycles on every few minutes when it's super cold outside, so I try not to bake much when it's very cold even though it could help heat the house. It's just too inefficient.) Which rack works best for bread?
Bread will still rise a bit in the oven so it's best to give it some head room. Also, if it's too close to the heat source you'll likely burn the top (or bottom, through the pan). (Don't worry...I've done that.) If I'm really ambitious and try to do more than two loaves of bread at a time it involves some fancy maneuvering. I can just barely get two normal loaves of bread on one rack and something shorter, like rolls, on the other. But because they block each other off from some of the heat they won't cook evenly. I have to set the timer for only half the time and then go switch them top to bottom halfway through or I end up with burnt tops on one set of bread, burnt bottoms on the other. I could conceivably push the bread pans to the back and squeeze a small Pyrex pan of rolls or another type of bred in front, but whatever's in the back would still burn. So unless I'm in a hurry, I stagger my bread. This helps me to keep efficiency by only heating up the oven once, but not overloading it and not needing to open it a whole bunch to switch things around. If I'm only making one set or type of bread, I set them squarely in the middle. But your oven might be different! In my mom's it's best to put the rack as low as possible. I've never used convection heat for bread, which can be incredibly efficient and so you might need to only bake for half the time. Getting to know how your oven bakes is more important than any of these other tools.
The first thing you'll need are quality bread pans. If you're going to be making a lot of bread, this is no place to be cheap. I'm sorry to say that I did go cheap and now I'm paying for it. I bought metal pans, and I regret that too. If I'd been smarter I would have laid out the money for quality glass or Pyrex pans. (Especially since it was really only a few dollars more.) Mostly this is because of quality issues unrelated to the actual baking process. For one, they're hard to clean. They're "non-stick" in name only. Sometimes even when I oil them really well, the bread still sticks and by the time I pry it out I have half a loaf, with the rest still being in the pan. And there's always a layer of crusted on bread that we can never seem to fully clean off. At times I've had to use a knife to pry out the bread, which leaves scratches in the sides and makes the bread harder to get out next time. *Sigh* After a long time of use metal bread pans will rust, too. No one likes that aftertaste of rust when eating bread. (And I know this happens because when I was making bread growing up, I'd sometimes end up using my mom's old metal ones and then wonder what that odd metallic taste was.) I've also been told that glass actually ends up with a more even heat transfer which helps bread to bake best.
I certainly enjoy using my Pyrex pans for rolls (I use the 9x13) and my glass pie pans for when I make more dome-shaped loaves. They do very well as far as evenly heating the bottom of the bread. They're also very easy to clean and I've never had a problem with bread sticking. (Well, alright, once, but that was user error since I burned the bread.)
A good stand mixer is unnecessary, but helpful. I made our bread by hand for years until Shane's parents gave us our mixer last year and all you need for that is a nice big bowl and a wooden spoon. (Why wood? Because I prefer it over plastic, but you could go either way. I don't see metal working out too well, though.) At the very worst, making bread by hand is a good arm workout and I never noticed a quality difference. The mixer does make things much easier, though, and I enjoy having it. There are quite a few mixing tools for KitchenAids, but the one you want is actually called a dough hook and it looks like this:
I've never tried using anything else for mixing dough in the mixer, and there's a reason for that. The whipping tool and the regular paddle-type mixer would do an awful job of mixing dough to the consistency it needs to be. Save those for more delicate things like cookies, cakes, and frosting.
A lot of people swear by using a dough scraper, which looks like this. I've never actually used one, nor have I seen a need to. But I hear they can make cleanup a breeze. I've also seen how you can "make" one out of an old credit card. Dough scrapers are meant to cut through bread dough. I just pull mine apart when I'm ready to separate it for loaves, and (as my mother before me) simply weigh the two halves in my hands (switching it once or twice to make sure there's no bias from my stronger, dominant hand/arm) to make sure they'll come out somewhat even in size. No need for scales, no need for a special tool to cut the dough. The reason it can be helpful in the cleanup is that you can literally scrape your counter or tabletop and any dough which might have been left sticking to it. But since I flour my surface decently, there's never anything more than a tiny bit of flour leftover and that's easily taken care of with a damp cloth.
When dough is rising the first time, it's also important to have a dish towel to spread over it. I use a lightweight one which can be easily wetted and then wrung out to be only slightly damp. (Though I don't always dampen it.) This helps keep stuff off your dough (like bugs and dust) and helps to keep the moisture in so that the dough doesn't form a nasty crust over the top while it's sitting out and vulnerable. It doesn't matter so much for the second rise, though, because then you want it to start forming crust. I've also seen bread not rise as well as it should the second time because I put a towel over it and that was just enough weight to keep it slightly deflated.
This last isn't a tool, or at least not one you'd buy specifically for bread making. But it's important: get to know your oven. You'll need to know things like, does it cook evenly? (Ours burns in the back.) Will it hold a temperature? (Not in the winter, it cycles on every few minutes when it's super cold outside, so I try not to bake much when it's very cold even though it could help heat the house. It's just too inefficient.) Which rack works best for bread?
Bread will still rise a bit in the oven so it's best to give it some head room. Also, if it's too close to the heat source you'll likely burn the top (or bottom, through the pan). (Don't worry...I've done that.) If I'm really ambitious and try to do more than two loaves of bread at a time it involves some fancy maneuvering. I can just barely get two normal loaves of bread on one rack and something shorter, like rolls, on the other. But because they block each other off from some of the heat they won't cook evenly. I have to set the timer for only half the time and then go switch them top to bottom halfway through or I end up with burnt tops on one set of bread, burnt bottoms on the other. I could conceivably push the bread pans to the back and squeeze a small Pyrex pan of rolls or another type of bred in front, but whatever's in the back would still burn. So unless I'm in a hurry, I stagger my bread. This helps me to keep efficiency by only heating up the oven once, but not overloading it and not needing to open it a whole bunch to switch things around. If I'm only making one set or type of bread, I set them squarely in the middle. But your oven might be different! In my mom's it's best to put the rack as low as possible. I've never used convection heat for bread, which can be incredibly efficient and so you might need to only bake for half the time. Getting to know how your oven bakes is more important than any of these other tools.
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