There were four little eggs in my fridge, today, four little eggs…
Two got scrambled with cubes of feta cheese and sliced olives, then stuffed into pitta halves. The Little One took them to school.
One got poached and set atop toasted leftover challah, and with a tomato, that was breakfast for me.
The last one – that last one – should I save it for the new batch of challah come Thursday night? My challah only takes one egg. Or should I just add eggs to this week’s (very) short shopping list? I had decided that eggs were an honorable exemption to the no-shopping challenge….how seriously do I want to take this, anyway?
I’m reminded of my grandfather‘s autobiography, We Made It Through the Winter (out of print but still available at more than one online bookstore). Grandpa tells of his tenth year in the Minnesota of 1906. In late winter, he and his sister would go down to the cellar where the apple barrel stood, turning over each withered apple and choosing the best ones for that night’s treat. I’m starting to realize that if shopping became difficult for any reason – lack of cash, long distance to travel, supplies in shortage – we would all revert to that pioneer way of life in a flash.
I certainly feel more conscious of not wasting my resources. Although I have plenty of starches stored, I didn’t throw away yesterday’s bowtie noodles – they’ll be added, with the roasted oyster mushrooms, to a potful of kasha for today’s lunch. Frozen ground turkey will be made into hamburgers. There’s a bag of frozen cauliflower that lost its appeal to me a while ago and has been sitting there reproachfully…cauliflower soup to start the meal.
That soup, now, will use up an onion, one of the four potatoes I’ve had from the start of this challenge, and possible a dried tomato or two. Spices and herbs I always have – a couple of leaves from my windowsill sage, some chives from the same place. Looks like today’s menu is taking shape.
An Israeli reader commented that she couldn’t take on this challenge, as she needs to supplement her bulk purchase every so often through the week. So do I. It seems to me that eating and shopping in a different way from Americans, we have to adapt the idea to local conditions.
Myself, I was astonished at the quantities of prepared foods shown in the photos sent to eGullet. FatGuy, who opened the challenge, plans to eke out his supply of fresh milk with powdered. Jeepers – you can’t even get powdered milk here. Kosher, that is. I’ve seen cans of the non-kosher imported stuff in the Carmel Market. But why anyone would want to keep expensive powdered milk around here, when fresh is abundant, affordable, and safe to drink, is beyond me. See…there are differences.
Baroness Tapuzina, in another comment, says she’s cut down her food expenses by 1/3. I’m not sure if I can shave that much off, but I’m willing to see how much I can do.
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Because I also make bread once a week and like to mix flours, I always make sure that I have at least 2 kilos of white flour, 1 kilo of whole wheat, and one kilo of rye flour on hand at all times. I only replace them when I use them up.
Every week I buy what I call the family’s weekly staples: eggs, some herbs (i.e. parsley), green onion, yeast cake, a few fresh fruits and vegetables. The rest I buy on an as needed basis.
Americans use a lot of pre-prepared foods that most Israelis wouldn’t touch and they also buy flour in 5lb lots. They also have SAM’s and Costcos nearby where you can easily buy things in bulk.
I loathe powdered milk. One of my friend’s mother only used powdered milk. I couldn’t understand why. I think it tastes terrible. The only thing it is good for is if you are on a camping trip or for baking bread.
Your flour supply sounds like mine. I had used up most of mine before undertaking the week without shopping, though. BUT I discovered several kilos of semolina, and am now printing out 1 zillion recipes to use it up.
Yes, we had to change the way we shop when we immigrated. By now we’re used to the small, familly-run neighborhood makolet (grocery store) and the shuk. I haven’t been inside an American supermarket in decades, but I imagine that our supermarkets look pretty dinky in comparison. Buying in bulk requires a car trip to the big supermarkets and I think only big families do it regularly. With my diminished family circle, what would I do with a 2-kg. can of pickles, or a 5-kg. bag of rice? They’d go bad before I could use them up. But if I could get Shtybel flour in 5-kg bags, I’d go for it.
Powdered milk…we used to drink that exclusively when we lived in Brazil. Years ago, fresh milk wasn’t safe to drink; this may have changed, of course.