once upon a time i dreamed of a semi self sufficient life. and then i realised that i, in fact we, were confined to a standard suburban life. it wasnt a bad realisation, who wants to work a veggie garden and slaughter chooks, anyway? who wants to work that hard when a trip to the supermarket will fulfill the needs of the family with regards to food and cleaning products, toiletries and innumerable trivial but urgently "necessary" consumer goods?
then i stopped working (ie for money) and i browsed the web way too much, which led to the no-poo (no shampoo) experiment, which for what it's worth, i was having some success with. then i wanted to try a hair "straightening" system and it has a matching shampoo so the no-poo experiment was ditched for the time being, in favour of the hope that compliance with the system would bring newly smooth and manageable tresses. it worked for a while. i will be working my way through the shampoo for a while.
the next stage of my stroll back in time was when i suddenly got to be excessively irritated about paying over $5 for a fairly average loaf of bread. i bought a bread maker for $70 and i use bread mixes which take no effort except for dumping the flour from a pre-measured bag into the tin with some water and a spoon of yeast. they cost $2 a loaf. the bread is as good as or better than the $5 supermarket loaf. i have yet to perfect the slicing process but i estimate i have an extra $15 a week in my pocket. for that i can deal with crooked slices.
after a brief teething period with the bread maker i was feeling pretty darn pleased with myself. making bread at home is easy, could yoghurt be just as good i wondered? enter the $20 yoghurt maker that makes a lovely smooth, thick product. i doubt that i'm saving anything on that because at around half the price of shop bought stuff, i've stopped rationing it as i once did and i reckon they are eating at least twice as much!
not only am i saving some cash but i dont have to go to the shops as often and you have to be happy with that! there is less plastic in the recycling bin and most of us are still enjoying the novelty. the kids come home from school and ask what my latest weird project is, they roll their eyes and give me a hard time so dont tell them i'm going to try my hand at yogurt cheese sometime soon, will you?
I would love to have hair curly like yours. I love your hair!
ReplyDeleteMy bread maker cost me $4 at a yard sale. It was new in the box, never taken out. I am ambivalent on making bread, but I can. I go to the Bread Thrift Store. The bread is three or four days from "use by" date and costs $.99 and has no hfcs, no preservatives and double fiber. So, no bread making here.
My yogurt maker was free from Freecycle. THEN, I bought an Excalibur Dehydrator and discovered I can make yogurt in it. I guess if your family gets to eat more of something nutritious, that is your reward, very good reward.
I never heard of yogurt cheese, but I will be watching for the post.
I make yogurt the traditional way at home everyday and don't have a machine to do it. Instead of shop bought bread, we have rotis made out of either whole wheat flour or multi grain flour which are much healthier I am told. I also make cottage cheese at home which too I am told is healthier than the shop bought ones though I do buy the latter too as I cannot get the variety otherwise.
ReplyDeleteThe Indian diaspora will almost all be doing these things wherever they are.
I love my vegie garden and firmly believe that home grown/home made tastes better.
ReplyDeleteI have made bread (no bread maker) but have got lazy.
And will have to think about yoghurt. We both like it, so it deserves more than just thought.
We don't make anything ourselves but we try to buy local whenever we can. We have an excellent greengrocer and a health food shop just down the road. Five dollars for a loaf is mind-boggling. Our (delicious) supermarket multi-seeded loaves cost £1.40 (A$2.37).
ReplyDeleteOh by the way, I love your hair too!
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