August Challenge Wraps Up

The first month of the Discretionary Eating Challenge is almost over. Success has been mixed for myself and for many others. Some categories, such as Seconds Only When Hungry, proved easier than others such as cutting out Sweets or Caffeine. September gives us a chance to try again, or perhaps take it even further.

First, though, report how this last week went for you and whether the challenge led to positive changes in your eating habits for the past month. Will you keep up these changes? Increase them in September? Or be happy to be rid of them?

If you would like to participate in this challenge again, or for the first time, in September, please sign up on this post.

Thank you for spending some time thinking about what you feed yourself for the past month!

Discretionary Eating Challenge: September

The first month of the Discretionary Eating Challenge is drawing to a close. Over 50 participants tackled their eating habits, choosing from six categories, in order to begin eating the food they needed rather than the food they wanted. This is not to say they suffered through bland meals, not even close. A quick perusal of their blogs will show mouth-watering recipes and pictures of the tasty and nutritious food they consumed.

August participants
On Sunday, I will give you a chance to report how August went for you. Starting September 1, the slate will be wiped clean. New choices will be made and new levels will be selected based on current eating habits. You are welcome to leave the sidebar up, whether you continue into September or not.

September participants - new & renewing
This post tells you everything you need to know about the discretionary eating challenge. It includes information from my original post on the subject. Listed below are the categories to choose from and the levels of commitment for you to select. At the end, I give you the code for a banner to put on your blog. Some people have also listed their choices below the banner on their own sidebars, which is a great way to remind yourself what you've signed up for!

Sign up in the comments of this post. Please remember to indicate the categories and the level of effort (%) for each category you select. Also include a link to your blog if you want it included in my sidebar list. You do not have to have a blog to sign up.


So, what is "discretionary eating"?

A while back, someone mentioned "discretionary spending" in a comment here. Most of us are familiar with the concept, and concerned that the amount on income we have available for discretionary spending seems to be shrinking these days. For a definition of discretionary income, we go to Investopedia:

The amount of an individual's income that is left for spending, investing or saving after taxes and personal necessities (such as food, shelter, and clothing) have been paid. Discretionary income includes money spent on luxury items, vacations and non-essential goods and services.

Since I've been thinking and talking about food security, and a number of us are cutting out non-necessities from our eating for the Quit Now Challenge, something clicked in my head connecting these two concepts. I came up with the following definition of Discretionary Eating:

Discretionary eating is the amount of an individual's food consumption that is eaten after basic caloric and nutritional needs have been met.

Have you ever thought about what you eat and how much of your diet is discretionary? In my Quit Now Challenge, I encouraged folks to give up some addiction, some habit, some non-necessity in their lives. This was framed in the context of peak oil and the likelihood that changes in the world will mean we need to look after needs before wants.

For the Discretionary Eating Challenge, I turn the focus to dietary choices to give you a challenge you can really sink your teeth into. For an entire month, I encourage you to curb your discretionary eating. There are a variety of categories to choose from and a choice in level of commitment. It is up to you to select what changes you want to make. You may disagree with my categories and whether those foods should be curbed. You may also be very busy so only select the options you can really tackle at this time.


Level of Commitment:

• 25% - nice entry level to get your feet wet.


• 50% - a good approach for slow and steady change. Not to be confused with a half-assed effort.


• 75% - strive for perfection but give yourself some wiggle room.


• 100% - no ifs, ands, or buts. Either do it or don't.

Don't get too hung up on exact percentages. These are really to give yourself guidelines as to how much effort and time you can devote to this. If it really resonates with you and you want the motivation of a challenge to keep you on track, choose the higher levels. If you like the idea but are tentative about making big changes and are unsure how you'll do, go for the lower levels.

Determine what your current eating patterns are for each category you want to work on and then change to the degree you are able. If you choose 50% restaurants, for example, then you will eat out half as many times as you usually do per month. If you are eating out twice a week now, cut back to once a week. If you are eating out once a week, cut back to every other week. If you are eating every workday lunch at a restaurant, start packing your own lunch every other day.


Categories (abbreviations will be used in sidebar)

RESTAURANTS (CAFE)

Face it, eating out is a luxury. You can rationalize it any way you want, but it is not a necessity in life. You can prepare food at home, maybe not as good, but probably with more nutrition per calorie. A lot of the calories in restaurants come from the liberal use of oil or butter, and high fat dairy products. Fats are pretty empty calories compared to carbohydrates and proteins, and you need less protein (and fat) than is widely believed.

Defined as any meal prepared by professional staff: restaurants, take-out, prepared deli foods, and frozen meals.

Choose healthy home-cooked meals.

100% commitment = eat only home-cooked meals for the month. Food prepared by family and friends is fine.


REFINED FOOD (other than sweets) (LITE)

Processing and refining uses considerable resources to produce products that are generally far less healthy than the original foods. It also creates more packaging waste. While it would be great if you bought whole wheat berries, ground them yourself (manually, of course) and baked your own bread from the flour, I realize this is being too extreme. Many people do not have their own grain grinder or the time to do this. You may buy whole-grain flour or whole-grain bread and pasta, but white is right out.

Defined as any food product processed stripped of its original nutrients.

Choose whole foods that are not highly processed.

100% commitment = totally eliminate the refined foods.


SUGAR/SWEETS (SUGAR)

People in modern society can now eat like royalty. We can have coffee cake for breakfast, candy for snacks, and ice cream for dessert almost every day. Rich foods are better saved for special occasions than sneaking in as a daily indulgence. Simple carbohydrates, especially from highly processed foods are not the best source of your calories.

Defined as sugary foods and drinks, made from any kind of sweetener, including corn syrup, sugar, honey, agave nectar, etc.

Choose unsweetened foods; whole and unprocessed fruit.

100% commitment = no added sugars or sweeteners at all. (This is very hard, but it is possible. If you still want a little sugar in your tea and jam on your toast, choose 75%.)


SECONDS ONLY WHEN HUNGRY (SOW)

Eating is required to fuel our bodies and keep living. However, we often eat far more food and calories than we really need. If a recipe comes out really good or a restaurant meal is outstanding, we may eat seconds just to continue enjoying the flavors. If you're no longer hungry, this is a waste of food and an excellent way to pack on the pounds.

I'm not so naive as to think I can get away with telling you, "no seconds." You're clever enough to just buy bigger plates or pile them really high with your first serving. So, instead, eat a reasonable amount for your first serving and then wait 20 minutes to assess whether you are still hungry and in need of additional calories before loading up again. Slow down at the dinner table and spend some quality time with others, or plan to have a snack later if still hungry.

Defined as any food eaten after physical hunger is satisfied.

Choose to eat only as much as you need.

100% commitment = eat only when hungry and needing "fuel". Consider eating smaller, more frequent meals.


STIMULANTS (BUZZ)

Theobromine, caffeine and alcohol meet no nutritional requirements. They taste lovely and give a nice buzz, but they are entirely discretionary. While alcohol is technically a depressant, it is grouped in with the stimulants here.

Defined as any chocolate, coffee, black tea, yerba mate, other caffeine sources, and alcohol.

Choose herbal teas, coffee substitutes, and water. Extracts in an alcohol base are acceptable for cooking and baking.

100% commitment = cut these substances out completely. (Get professional help if necessary, especially with alcohol.)


VEGAN (VEG)

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you know that I believe a vegan diet is best for me and the planet. My belief that animal products are not necessary for a healthy diet is based on the opinion of medical experts, but I'm not going to try to beat you into converting. This option is presented for those who really want to stretch themselves.

Defined as any animal products, including eggs, milk, butter, dairy products (cheese, sour cream, ice cream, etc.), and meat. Meat means any animal flesh so that includes fish and chicken. Insects, too.

Choose plants (grains, beans, vegetables, fruits).

100% commitment = consume no animal products.


New Banner for September

Once you've signed up, you can put the banner in your sidebar by copying the following code:

<a href="http://chilechews.blogspot.com/2008/08/discretionary-eating-challenge.html"><img src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2H3G4C5T6s0/SIv6dd85DHI/AAAAAAAAA7o/Cv2njsdLzso/s200/Discretionary+eating+logo.jpg" /></a>

- In Blogger, go to your layout options, and click on Add a Gadget.
- Select Text.
- Type whatever you want for the title or leave it blank.
- Click Edit Html
- Paste the code you copied in the body.
- Then click Rich Text to confirm the image shows up.
- Save.



When you view your blog, the sidebar image should now appear and have a hyperlink back to this blog.

Limiting your discretionary eating is a positive step for your pocketbook, your health, the environment, and social justice. Won't you join us today?

If you are working to improve your community and lower your environmental impact, you likely already know that eating local foods is an important choice. However, as this interesting article about a recent study points out, what you eat and don't eat is also very important. This challenge adds that dimension.

Nature's Blood 'n Guts

Sometimes the chores just have to wait. While straightening up outside one morning, my sweetie and I heard a loud squeal and then the scream of a Red-tailed Hawk. We looked up to see two Red-tails flying off the hill right behind our house.

The first landed on the power pole in front of the house and the other returned to a large rock near the top of the hill. Incidentally, the previous week we had spotted our compost-thieving Rock Squirrel sunning on that very rock. A close look at the hawk on the pole 25 yards away revealed the squirrel was history.

Photo courtesy of Cape Cod Cyclist at flickr.
We spent the next 45 minutes watching the hawk eat the squirrel. My sweetie watched through a spotting scope and I through my binoculars. It was a gory but fascinating experience. When it got to the entrails, it slurped up the small intestine like a strand of spaghetti. The large intestines that it spat out dripped onto the side of the pole. When the neighborhood noise occasionally quieted down, we could hear the meat ripping and bones snapping in the hawk's powerful beak. While it paused to watch the garbage truck below, we could see the sun reflecting off the blood on its beak. We didn't realize there was so much meat on a squirrel. By the time the hawk flew off with the meager remains, its crop was visible swollen.

The morning turned out to be a bountiful birding experience. The Cactus Wren was very upset having this hawk hanging about and called loudly for the first 15 minutes. An Inca Dove quickly took cover. A couple of immature Curve-billed Thrashers whispered quietly at the back of the yard. The Anna's Hummingbirds were totally non-plussed and continued singing, feeding, and fighting as normal. Rock Wrens called occasionally from the hill and for a few minutes we heard the very muted call of another squirrel. One young Turkey Vulture cruised by for a couple of minutes but didn't stick around. We kept an eye out to see if any scavengers eat the large intestine still hanging on the side of the pole.

Sound links courtesy of JungleWalk.

Comparing Coffee Substitutes

EXPERIMENT

This morning, I set up a taste test with six coffee substitutes here in the Chile Chews testing kitchen. For a control, I also brewed some decaffeinated coffee. Each sample was made according to the package directions and contained a carefully measured equal quantity of sugar and soymilk. Below, I share my impressions of the flavor, as well as the cost per serving (standardized to 8 fl. oz.), packaging, source if known, and additional notes as needed.

Most of these products can only be purchased in natural food stores or ordered online. I could find no coffee substitutes in the regular grocery stores. I also could not find the last three on the list - Roastaroma tea, Soyfee, and Raja's Cup - but included information found online, and taste impressions for the ones I've tried in the past. I have provided links for the companies that make or distribute these products if possible. Many additional online retailers carry these products as well.


BACKGROUND

Coffee substitutes fall into three categories: instant, brewable, or tea bag.

The instant options are usually chunky crystals made from roasted grains, and sometimes include chicory and beet roots which have been dried and roasted. Like instant coffee, they are very convenient. You could easily take some to work or on the road since hot water is easy to get. (A portable immersion water heater is really handy and uses minimal energy. Be careful, though, to only plug it in when immersed in water and unplug it before removing from the hot water. They burn out almost instantly if not in liquid.)

The brewable options can be made in your coffee maker, whether it is a drip, French press, or even an espresso machine. I have used all three with equal success. Most recommend using a permanent gold or stainless steel filter instead of a paper filter because these products take longer to drip through. With paper, you may experience some overflow problems from the basket due to the slower drip time.

Two brands offer their coffee substitute in tea bags. This option would be very convenient for work, travel, or restaurants. Most restaurants are willing to bring hot water to the table if you wish to bring your own tea bag. This would allow you to share "coffee" with friends in a social setting.


RESULTS

Cafix

Instant: roasted barley, rye, chicory, beet roots. Non-GMO

6.5¢/serving

Glass jar

Product of Poland

Taste: Coffee-ish flavor but weak.


Inka

Instant: (finely ground) roasted barley, rye, chicory and beet roots.

3¢/serving

Cardboard canister

Product of Poland

Taste: Smooth but less coffee-ish flavor.


Pero Extra Dark Roast

Instant: malted barley, barley, chicory.

7¢/serving

Glass jar

Product of Switzerland

Taste: Smooth with stronger coffee flavor than the other instant grain beverages.


Roma

Instant: roasted malt barley, roasted barley, roasted chicory.

9¢/serving

Glass jar

Product of Switzerland. Was distributed by Kellogg's but links on its site are dead or missing.

Taste: Smooth. Coffee-ish flavor.


Rocamojo

Brewable: roasted organic soybeans.
Can also be made as instant.

30¢/serving (when brewed; twice as much when made instant)

Foil bag

Source: soybeans from Minnesota. Product of California

Taste: Nice smooth drink with good coffee flavor.

Additional note: gluten-free


Teecino Herbal Coffee (Mocha flavor)

Brewable: organic carob, organic barley, chicory, organic chicory, organic dates, almonds, natural mocha flavor, organic figs, organic cocoa powder.

26¢/serving

Foil bag

Sourced fair-trade from India, Guatemala, Europe, US. Product of California

Taste: Good mocha flavor with fruity undertones.

Additional notes: Teecino Original (without cocoa) is also good, but has strong fruity undertones. The Java flavor is less fruity and has a stronger coffee taste. The Maya Caffe has a richer coffee flavor with less of the fruit taste. These are naturally sweeter than the other coffee substitutes and therefore require less sugar. If you are allergic to tree nuts, choose from the Maya line (3 flavors) or the Chocolate Mint. All other flavors contain almonds.


Roastaroma (Celestial Seasonings)

Tea bag: roasted barley, roasted chicory, roasted carob, cinnamon, allspice and Chinese star anise.

Price unknown - could not find in stores (but didn't look really hard)

Box & tea bags

Taste (based on old memory): too weak to be satisfying. Try it for yourself though.


Soyfee

Brewable: organic roasted soybeans

22¢/serving (online price) - could not find in stores

Foil bag

Source: US farmers

Taste (from past memory): slightly better than Rocamojo.

Additional note: gluten-free


Raja's Cup

Ayurvedic herbs: clearing nut, kasmard, licorice, and winter cherry

Brewable: 14¢/serving (online price) - could not find in stores

Tea bags: 29¢/serving (online price)

Unknown source

Taste (from old memory): pretty good flavor with bitter notes


ANALYSIS/IMPRESSIONS

Ingredients
Anyone with food allergies or sensitivities will need to choose their coffee substitute carefully. For gluten intolerance, choose the roasted soybean coffee substitutes and Raja's Cup. For nut allergies, avoid the Teecino Mediterranean Herbal Coffee (Maya ok). If you prefer to avoid soy, obviously the roasted soybeans would not be a good choice.

Availability
It may not be easy to find these products. Grocery stores do not carry them and natural food stores may have a limited selection. If you don't mind ordering online, you will find the best selection there. Shop for best price and shipping, and order only from websites you trust.

Ease of use
The instant beverages and tea bags are simple to make, requiring nothing more than a mug, spoon, and access to hot water. The brewable alternatives allow you to put your coffee equipment to good non-caffeinated use, but may require the additional purchase of a permanent filter if you don't already own one. With these products, there's no reason to give up your favorite espresso drinks.

Cost
The instant grain beverages win hands-down. The brewable substitutes cost more than the instant grain beverages, but not that much more than coffee when you compare the amounts required to brew each cup. (You use less of these than coffee grounds.) If you like the ritual of preparing coffee, you may be happier with these.

Packaging
The glass jars are recyclable but their plastic lids are not. They can, however, be re-used. The cardboard canister can be reused for dry products as long as they don't need to be thoroughly washed out. It is recyclable but takes a little more effort to cut the metal bottom off the cardboard, and the plastic lid is not recyclable. The foil bags are not particularly reusable nor are they recyclable.

While the glass jars seem the best choice, another consideration is the overall weight of the product. Heavier weight means more fuel is used in shipping these from the manufacturer to the retail outlets.

Source
I was quite surprised, and somewhat distressed, to discover, once I got home, that I'd bought a number of products from Europe. I didn't even think to look when I was buying these. If you are trying to source your food locally, all of the instant grain beverages must be excluded from your choices.

Flavor
While all had a coffee-like flavor, none (other than my vague memories of Raja's Cup) had that bitter edge that the tongue expects from coffee. Even good coffee has that slight bitterness to it. However, these products do have that full-bodied flavor that herbal teas lack for reformed caffeine addicts. The Extra Dark Roast Pero had the best coffee flavor among the instants. For a morning "coffee" drink, the soycoffees perform well. For a sweeter dessert "coffee" drink, the Teecino is an excellent choice.


CONCLUSION

Giving up coffee does not mean having to give up the taste and ritual associated with a cup of coffee. There are plenty of alternatives available depending on your preferences and priorities. From an environmental standpoint, avoiding the products shipped from halfway across the world is likely to be a large factor for US residents. The roasted soybean products are the only confirmed options sourced entirely within the US.

When initially quitting caffeine and coffee, using a commercial product will remove some of the stress of the process. It will also help the palate adjust to the different taste as compared to coffee, a process that can be aided by blending the substitute with coffee while quitting. Ultimately, though, I suspect making your own coffee substitutes would be the best alternative. It would allow one to grow the ingredients needed or purchase them locally in bulk, reducing the problems of distant sources and packaging issues.

These homemade recipes are available for your experimentation. (Note: if link does not go to recipe page, search on "coffee" and go to the article on "Two Coffee Substitutes from Plants Around Us".) Also, see this page for instructions on malting barley and drying it.

If you wish to try making your own soy coffee, this article indicates that soybeans are roasted in the same manner as coffee beans. If you have a popcorn maker - stovetop, fireplace, or air - you can roast green coffee beans, and presumably soybeans, yourself. There are warnings about how much smoke results from roasting coffee beans, so try this one outside with your soybeans, just in case.

I am personally now overloaded with coffee substitutes so I doubt that I will be trying the homemade recipes anytime soon. Please share your experiences with them if you do.

Buzz Off: Breaking Free of Caffeine

The Buzz portion of the Discretionary Eating Challenge asks you to recognize that caffeine is not a necessary nutrient in your daily diet.

Health news about coffee comes out frequently, with one study showing the negative effects of drinking it and the next showing the positive benefits of it. While tea is touted for its health benefits, it may still contain caffeine which does have negative effects on the body. It is not my goal to persuade you that you should or should not drink coffee or tea for your health. You can read the research yourself, observe how it affects your body and mind, and make your own decision in that regard. (Note, however, that for a valid comparison, you would also need to be caffeine-free for some time to see how that affects your body and mind.)

Despite research that has shown positive benefits of coffee or tea, it is pretty clear that caffeine is not a nutrient required by the human body. People don’t die from caffeine deficiency. Coffee and tea were both rationed during WW II. You may have to ration it yourself, voluntarily or not, if economic times get bad enough. If you are a locavore and do not live close to coffee or tea-producing regions, then it is probably on your hit list as well, although you may be able to grow your own tea plant.

If you decided to reduce or eliminate your caffeine consumption, you may be having a tough time of it. Your body, accustomed to its daily jolt of caffeine to wake you up in the morning and perk you up in the afternoon, is probably rebelling to this change. Whether you get your caffeine through coffee, tea, soda, or chocolate, it perks you up by inhibiting the hormone adenosine. Unfortunately, blocking this hormone can also result in a lack of deep restful sleep. During such sleep, the hormone allows a greater flow of blood, delivering oxygen and nutrients to the brain. When you give up the caffeine, this increased blood flow can cause vascular headaches as the adenosine is no longer inhibited.

Caffeine also activates the dopamine hormone, responsible for stimulating the pleasure center in the brain. Addictive drugs such as amphetamines and cocaine do the same thing to a much higher degree. Without your usual hit of caffeine, dopamine levels may drop below normal for a short time. This may bring on some depression and urges to overeat since fatty and sugary foods also stimulate dopamine production.

Coffee can be quite addictive due to the caffeine and alkaloids it contains. Tea usually has about half as much caffeine as coffee. Chocolate contains caffeine and theobromine, an alkaloid with similar but lesser effects as caffeine as well as other possibly addictive components. Soda has added caffeine and may also contain a host of other added chemicals in a high fructose corn syrup base.


QUIT COLD TURKEY OR REDUCE GRADUALLY?

As you might guess and may have already experienced, giving up caffeine is likely to be a rocky ride. If you consume caffeine regularly, your body and mind are accustomed to the effects. It will take some time for it to recover when the caffeine is removed. Although some may advocate the cold turkey approach to quitting, I think this is actually more difficult. You are likely to be in for at least two days and up to a week or more of withdrawal symptoms. These vary from person to person, but most people experience tiredness and headaches. If you want to grit your way through these, and think you can resist the temptation to have just a sip of something caffeinated to help you make it through the day (especially at work where your boss may not be particularly understanding) go for it.

I personally think that a gradual reduction is easier on all levels. It gives you a chance to emotionally accept the removal of something enjoyable from your daily routine. It also lets you mentally and physically adjust to reduced stimulants in your bloodstream. When you take the final step to eliminate the last bit of caffeine, there will still be a withdrawal period, but it will not be as rough as the cold turkey method. I’ve done both and much prefer the gradual approach.


EASING WITHDRAWALS

Drink water
Regardless of which method you choose, be sure to drink more water. If you are a caffeine addict, there's a possibility you are chronically dehydrated due to its diuretic effects.

Eat healthy
Eating healthy foods, too, will improve your overall well-being during the transition. Despite the temptation, do your best to avoid eating more fatty and sugary foods.

Exercise
Exercise is a good way to get your blood pumping during the day and pick up some energy. Because you may be less alert and attentive, however, choose your form of exercise carefully. This may not be the best time to take up learning to ride a unicycle or walk the balance beam!

Breathe
Deep breathing pumps more oxygen through your system which can help clear your mind throughout the day.

Rest
To combat the tiredness, make sure to schedule plenty of rest time.


THE GRADUAL APPROACH

Gradually reducing the amount of caffeine you consume can be done several ways.

Reduce the number of drinks
If you are drinking a large quantity of coffee, tea, soda, or chocolate each day, then simply reducing the amount gradually is one approach. Since you need to drink more water as you quit anyway, replace some drinks with water. Add some lemon for flavor, if desired. You can even drink hot lemon water if you prefer warm drinks.

Switch to decaf
Another approach is to switch to decaffeinated varieties. To minimize difficult withdrawals, do this on a gradual schedule. For instance, if coffee is your demon, mix your regular coffee grounds with decaffeinated coffee grounds. For the first week, use 75% regular and 25% decaf. For the second week, go to 50-50. In the third week, switch to 25% regular and 75% decaf.

You can use this same approach with tea, soda, and chocolate. See the next section down for suggested alternatives to drink.

During this transition, be careful that you don’t start drinking more than you used to, resulting in the same total quantity of caffeinated coffee as you are accustomed to drinking!

Tapering off completely
After the third week, consider how you will continue. Are you still consuming multiple drinks during the day? If so, reducing the number gradually will help reduce your total caffeine intake. Using the coffee example again, once you are down to a cup of mostly decaf per day, you can keep increasing the ratio of decaf in your cup a few days at a time until you are drinking strictly decaf.

I’ve known of a couple people with such severe withdrawals that they were down to a tablespoon per day before quitting. The main thing to remember is to never just blow your commitment off for a day. You will set a precedent in your mind to do it again, and if you have a particularly addictive personality, this will set you up for a far more difficult journey. An alcoholic cannot have just one drink and a serious caffeine addict may find it difficult to have just one caffeinated drink, socially or not. Take it from me. I’ve gone from just one cup to a full pot daily more times than I’m willing to admit.

Find a substitute
An alternative to decaf, either in the initial transition off caffeine or after you've gone to decaf only, is a substitute. Coffee addicts should be aware that decaf coffee still contains some caffeine, so if your goal is to completely eliminate caffeine, you will need to cut out the decaf brew as well.


SUBSTITUTES

If, like me, you really enjoy the taste of your daily caffeinated beverage, you will probably find eliminating it challenging simply because you’ll miss it. In that case, finding an acceptable substitute may be your best approach. These can be used in the gradual reduction phase as well, to help you get off the hard stuff.


Coffee Substitutes

There are quite a few coffee substitutes, ranging from instant to brewable. I’ve tried some of them but not all of them. In the interest of presenting you, my dear readers, the best information, I blew my beverage budget today by buying a wide range to sample. I will be posting the results of my taste testing later.

In the meantime, you could try making your own coffee substitute. I have not tried this yet and probably won’t include homemade options in my review. Here are two links to a number of recipes you can try: Confederate coffee and substitutes from other plants. If you make any of these, please let me know how easy or hard it was to make, and whether the taste was satisfactory. Thanks!


Caffeinated Tea Substitutes

Reduced caffeine
If you are just reducing, but not eliminating, your caffeine intake, this cocoa spice tea is very tasty. It contains just 5 mg caffeine per cup as opposed to the usual 80 mg per cup o’ joe.

Decaf
As with coffee, decaffeinated tea is one way to minimize the amount of caffeine you are ingesting. There are so many varieties of teas available, it is impractical for me to review all of the options. Anyway, as you may remember, I’m much more into drinking coffee and cooca than I am into actually drinking tea.

I am partial to decaf chai blends because sugar and soymilk are natural additions, and those ingredients are part of what I miss when I quit coffee. After all, black coffee sucks; it is simply the carrier for the sweet and creamy stuff.

Herbal
There are many varieties of herbal tea available or you can grow your own.


Cocoa Substitutes

Wonder Cocoa
Check your natural food stores for Wonder Cocoa, made by WonderSlim. This is the only cocoa powder I’ve seen that is virtually caffeine-free. Those who are super-sensitive to caffeine should note that no process can remove all of the naturally-occurring caffeine in cocoa (or coffee beans). Wonder Cocoa claims it is 99.7% caffeine free. If your store doesn’t carry it and can’t order it, you can order it online. A Different Daisy has it, but cautions that the new packaging is prone to coming open during shipping.

See the results of my cocoa powder taste test here.

Carob
Carob is reputed to be a chocolate substitute, but it really doesn’t taste much like chocolate at all. It tastes fine on its own but if you are really craving chocolate, carob is not going to do the trick. Perhaps if you go chocolate free for a year, like Daharja, you would learn to love carob. For me, though, I’d rather just do without chocolate altogether (if I really had to).


Soda Substitutes

Decaf
A number of mainstream colas have decaffeinated versions. However, they are still filled with chemical ingredients.

Non-caffeinated
Many mainstream sodas are free of caffeine, but a better choice would be the natural sodas available in natural food stores. These are still filled with empty sugar calories but not chemicals.
Sparkling water
When I quit a long-running Diet Dr. Pepper addiction years ago, sparkling water was what got me through the worst of it. I started out with a no-sugar-added very berry flavor and eventually went to plain sparkling water. Over time, I dropped that as well in favor of plain ol’ water without the bubbles. Of course, the bottle waste associated with sparkling water is a definite drawback to consuming them at all.


YOUR EXPERIENCES

So, what are your past or current experiences with giving up, or reducing, your caffeine dependence? Share what has worked for you, as well as what has been the most difficult.

Checkin' In for Discretionary Eating Challenge

Supposedly, a new habit is formed after 21 days of repetition. We're more than halfway through the challenge, with over three weeks under our belts. Is it getting any easier?

I've had great success in some areas and not so much in others. I committed to decreasing my coffee intake by 50%. That's ended up being closer to 95%, albeit rather involuntarily. We've limited our meals out, opting for quick and easy options instead. I've made a partial switch over to more whole grain products, somewhere between 50 and 75%. I've avoided seconds when I'm no longer hungry, and, of course, I'm sticking to eating vegan foods.

Sugar, however, has proved to be much harder than I anticipated. I suspect it's because I've hurt so much lately so I have felt entitled to give myself more treats than I was supposed to this month. Lousy excuse, but it is what it is. I've always had the bad habit of eating crap when I feel like crap. Some part of me figures if I don't feel well anyway, then it's as good a time as any to eat foods that usually don't make me feel well. Interesting logic, isn't it? Or, perhaps I should say illogic. Dealing with sugar will be high on my list of priorities for next month's round of this challenge.

How are you doing? Do you have any silly rationalizations for what you eat?

I'm Sorry, But You Make Me Sick...

Dear Friends and Bloggers,

I know you're wondering why I don't come to visit much anymore. To be honest, the reason is that you make me sick.

Oh, wait, I suppose that didn't come out quite right.

You see, reading your blogs gives me a pounding headache and makes me want to throw up.

Hm, that still sounds pretty bad.

Let me try again. Remember back when I complained about being dizzy? Well, I've been to my doctor, my chiropractor, and have started seeing a TMJ specialist. Some days I feel pretty decent and other days I'm almost incapacitated by intermittent bouts of vertigo or painful headaches.

I've checked into the suggestions left in comments on that post and done research on my own. I have conclusively found that coffee aggravates and/or brings on the dizziness so I've almost entirely quit drinking coffee. And I love coffee.

My sinuses hurt, but there are no signs of sinusitis. I haven't had this much pain since I figured out that dairy has inflammatory properties. When I quit all dairy products, my chronic sinusitis (and plantar fasciitis) disappeared, never to return unless I accidentally ate something containing dairy. I've been informally tracking what I'm eating to see if I've developed a new food allergy but no consistent pattern has emerged.

Staring at the computer screen seems to increase the headache so I can't last more than the time it takes to write my posts, respond to comments, and deal with my e-mail. My head starts pounding worse and I'm likely to get queasy as well.

So, literally, being on the computer makes me sick. Whether it is due to visual strain or posture or something else entirely is still a mystery. In the meantime, though, I am seriously limiting my time on the computer.

Please do not take it personally that I rarely visit your blog these days. If you link to me, and Google picks up the link (which happens only about 50% of the time), I will come read that post. I do appreciate that you're thinking of me. I'm thinking of you, too, while determining whether I need to run to the toilet to throw up.

Thanks for understanding. Your friend in cyberspace,

Chile

Eating on the Road

The quick and easy meals can go on the road very easily. We have travelled with our own food many times, whether for an overnight trip or a two week (car) camping trip. I thought I'd share the supplies I pack for these trips - not the food, but everything else.

All cold food goes into a large sturdy ice chest. To avoid the cost and waste of buying ice, I make my own. For a while, I tried using empty soymilk cartons but found they had a tendency to crack along the edges when they froze, leading to leaking when they defrosted. I now use any empty plastic bottle that we end up with - from the occasional soda or juice to vinegar jugs. The advantage is the water can be re-frozen over and over. The containers also fill up empty space in the freezer, helping it run more efficiently.

All non-perishable food goes into an 18 gallon tote. The Rubbermaid ones seem to hold up quite well to the abuse we put them through. See the previous post for ideas on the kind of foods we pack for trips.

A second tote holds all of the food equipment. What we take, both in equipment and food, depends on two things - the length of the trip and where we will be staying.

If we are staying in hotels in the evening, we make reservations at places that include a microwave and mini-fridge in the room. This makes it fairly easy to prepare quite a few different foods, or reheat already cooked food. The in-room coffee maker can be used to heat water in a pinch.

If we are camping, we use a propane camping stove to prepare our meals and heat water for washing up dishes. On one cross country trip, scouting for a new place to live, we car-camped all the way to and from our destination and then stayed in a hotel once we were there. We got away with using our camp stove on the balcony of our room but it probably wasn't something the management would have wanted their guests doing due to the fire risk.

In both situations, if the day is spent driving, we plan cold, easy meals for lunch. Sandwiches are always convenient and can be put together quickly at a rest area. Cold baked potatoes, carrot and celery sticks, and fruit make great snacks we can eat without stopping. And, if we are driving on rural roads, we, of course, stop at produce stands along the road for fresh local goodies. (A trip through Yakima Valley in the NW in 1996 was the last time I had golden plums, found at a roadside produce barn.)

Here is my checklist for packing. Asterisks indicate items needed for camping but not needed for hotels with microwaves.

• Ice chest with ice bottles


• Two 18 gallon totes


• Food (Shop for fresh food,as needed, while travelling.)


• Flexible cutting board


• Large sharp knife, wrapped in hand towel for safety


• 1 place setting per person: lightweight plates, bowls, mugs, water bottles, forks, and spoons (Pocket knives are used as needed.)


• 1 medium bowl and 1 large spoon for mixing


• Measuring cup and spoons


• Can opener


• *Medium cast iron skillet with lid


• *Cooking spatula


• *Stainless steel saucepan with steamer top and lid (Steamer pan can cook vegetables over cooking pasta and then be used to drain cooked pasta right over the veggies.)


• *Camp stove, propane, matches


• Hot pad, dish towel, dish rag, and small bottle of dish soap


• Small tub for washing up


• Several extra food storage containers and ziploc bags


• Bags for taking out our own smelly garbage

If you are flying to your destination, consider renting a cabin or room with a kitchenette. A trip to the local store will supply you with food and you can make your own tasty, cheap, and healthy meals with local ingredients.

Be sure to enjoy a few regional meals in local restaurants when you travel but use these ideas to stick to your budget and diet plans the rest of the time.

Quick and Easy Meals

On Monday, I discussed ways to shift from eating out frequently to eating at home. I touched briefly on the idea of having quick and easy meal options available when time and energy are limited. I want to expand on that today. My bias, of course, will be towards vegan meals. Use these ideas, suggestions, and recipes as a jumping off point in coming up with your own quick and easy meals.

I should also note that many list store bought foods, but you can make and store your own versions when you have time available. You can dry homemade pasta to have on hand. When you have garden excess, can your own sauces, vegetables, and cooked beans. Keep a stash of homemade jelly on hand. Grow your own peanuts for peanut butter. If you have room in your freezer, freeze vegetables, cooked beans, and cooked rice or grains. For any of the bread products, you can make these yourself, too. Keep some fresh or frozen on hand if you will need frequent quick meal options during the week.


FOODS TO HAVE ON HAND FOR FAST EATING


Grains/Starches - interchangeable in recipes

• Rolled oats - presoaking will speed up regular rolled oat cooking. Quick oats are also ... quick.


• Hot cereals - cream of wheat, cream of rice, and oat bran cereals can be purchased in bulk.


• Cold cereal - you can even make your own. See here and here for recipes and ideas for homemade cold cereals.


• Brown rice - precooked and frozen, or instant


• Quinoa - the fastest cooking whole grain (How to cook it.)


• Amaranth - another fast cooking grain. (Guide to cooking whole grains)


• Potato flakes - Barbara's brand has no added mono- and di-glycerides if you prefer to avoid those.


• Potatoes and sweet potatoes - both microwave quickly


• Couscous - whole wheat cooks in the same amount of time as regular


• Thin noodles - aim for quick-cooking varieties such as rice noodles, somen, and soba. Angel hair pasta cooks faster than linguine.


• Crackers - look for whole-grain


• Rice cakes - they've come a long way in flavor and texture since the old dry Styrofoam disks of the past.


• Pretzels


• Pita pocket bread - make your own or buy them in grocery stores or Middle Eastern markets.


• Bread - bagels, ciabatta, whole wheat or rye bread, cornbread, etc. Easy to make in quantity and freeze.


• Tortillas - flour or corn. These both freeze well. Corn tortillas can be quickly crisped in a toaster oven for homemade tortilla chips.

Chile's Fat-Free Whole Wheat Flour Tortillas

3 c whole 'white wheat' flour (can substitute whole wheat pastry flour)
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 c warm water

Mix dry ingredients.
Stir in water.
Knead for a couple of minutes on a floured surface until dough is smooth.
Place in a greased bowl and cover. Let rest at least half an hour.
Cut dough into a dozen pieces and roll into balls.
Start heating a large cast iron skillet or griddle over high heat.
Roll one ball at a time out on a floured surface into a thin round tortilla.
When the skillet is very hot, carefully lay the first tortilla on it. Cook until the edges start to dry.
Flip it over and cook on the other side briefly. There should be brown flecks on both sides, but it should not be brown all over.
Remove, place on a plate, and cover with a clean dish towel.
Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Note: I have found that if you leave too much flour on the tortilla, it ends up burning in the skillet and smoking up the kitchen pretty bad. I use a mushroom brush (very soft bristles) to gently brush all the flour off the surfaces of the raw tortilla before placing in the skillet. It takes an extra bit of time but it’s worth it.

Please Note: Because these are fat free, they won't be as flexible as traditional tortillas. Warming them up will help increase their flexibility. If you really dislike the fatfree version, you can add a small amount of oil to the recipe.


Legumes

• Canned beans - any variety, such as garbanzo, kidney, navy, small white, black, or pinto


• Frozen cooked beans - cook a large batch and freeze in small portions


• Dehydrated beans - "instant" pinto and black beans can be found in natural food stores. Other dehydrated beans can be ordered.


• Lentils - fastest cooking of the legumes. Red lentils cook the most quickly.


• Pressure-cooked beans - lima and pinto beans cook in the least amount of time. Use the speed-soaking technique to do this faster. I have often skipped the 1 hour soak time recommended after the brief initial cooking.

Vegetables

• Fresh - raw carrots, sugar snap pea pods, red bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, cauliflower, celery, jicama, etc.


• Cooked - baked or boiled small potatoes, and steamed green beans are tasty cold


• Frozen - handy for fast meals


• Canned tomatoes - fresh diced, fire-roasted, or flavored


• Canned - anything you like, such as peas, green beans, carrots


• Pickled - pickling is an easy way to preserve vegetables and usually keep well


• Fermented - low-energy flavorful way to preserve your veggies


• Dehydrated - convenient for emergencies as well as quick meals

Fruits

• Fresh - anything. Some are easier and less messy to eat when travelling: grapes, bananas, apples, plums, cherries, oranges


• Canned - preserve your excess harvest


• Frozen - handy for breakfasts


• Pickled


• Dehydrated - tasty snacks

Prepared Foods

• Fresh - leftovers!


• Frozen - freeze leftovers or cook specifically to freeze for later


• Dried - soups, food cups, convenience foods


• Dips such as hummus, salsa, bean dip, or low fat salad dressing.

Pinto Bean Dip
Cooked pinto beans
Chile powder, garlic powder, and salt to taste

Mash beans and stir in seasonings.

White Bean Dip
Cooked white beans
Roasted red pepper
Nutritional yeast
Lemon juice
Mustard
Onion powder
Garlic powder

In a food processor, process ingredients (to taste) until smooth.

Salsa-Bean Dip
Cooked pinto beans
Salsa

Mash beans.
Stir in salsa to desired consistency for dipping.
Great with toasted corn tortillas.

*******

FAST & EASY MEALS TO MAKE WITH BASIC INGREDIENTS

Here are some meal ideas and recipes. Keep in mind that many of these are great for travelling. You can eat many while driving and prepare most of them in a campsite or hotel room.


Quick Breakfasts

• Quick oats with sugar, chopped fruit, and rice or soy milk. Apples and pears make a nice change from the traditional bananas, strawberries, peaches, or blueberries.


• Overnight Oats: per large serving, soak 1/3 cup steel cut oats and 1/3 cup regular rolled oats in 2 cups of water overnight. In the morning, bring to a boil on the stove and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and let sit 10 minutes (good time to shower and dress). Serve with brown sugar, fruit, and rice or soy milk.


• Mixture of cold leftover brown rice, regular rolled oats, and Grape-nuts type cereal with sugar, and rice or soy milk


• Cold cereal with chopped fruit, and rice or soy milk


• Toast with applesauce or homemade jam, jelly, or preserves

Quick Lunches

• Veggie sandwiches - spread whole wheat bread with vegan mayonnaise, mustard, or smashed avocado, and pile on the vegetables. Cold roasted vegetables (red bell peppers, eggplants, mushrooms) are tasty as are fresh vegetables such as lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber slices, and sprouts.


• Baked potato - plain or with toppings. Cold whole baked potatoes are great road food because you can eat them with your fingers. Try hot baked potatoes with a wide variety of toppings.


• Baked yam or sweet potato - plain or not. Tasty tossed with a little curry powder and served with mango chutney.


• Soup cups - rehydrate and eat! Add shredded or minced fresh vegetables if desired.


• Leftovers - the ultimate easy lunch.


• Pita pockets stuffed with hummus, sprouts, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onion


• PBJ sandwich - for lower fat, make with Better 'n Peanut Butter


• Mock Tuna sandwich – mash drained chickpeas to replace tuna and mix with your favorite tuna salad ingredients such as minced onion, sweet pickles, vegan mayo, mustard, celery, and dill.


• Leftover rice, grains, or noodles topped with pickled or fermented vegetables. Dress up with Sriracha sauce, if desired.


• Bean burritos - fill a tortilla with mashed beans. Optional additions include cooked brown rice, roasted green chiles, and nutritional yeast or cheese. Roll up and heat in microwave or fold over to toast in George Foreman grill. Top with tossed salad and salsa.

Quick Snacks

• Whole wheat bread with jam


• Raw vegetables - try eating a red bell pepper like an apple


• Cold cooked vegetables


• Fruit


• Crackers, pretzels, chips, rice cakes, breads - alone or with dip


• Bread & 'naner - Lay whole banana down the center of a slice of whole wheat bread and fold the bread over like a taco. Very easy snack to eat on the road.


• Graham crackers dipped in applesauce


• Baked mini-doughnuts

Quick Dinners

Easy Spaghetti
12-16 oz spaghetti
Frozen vegetables (your choice - peas, peppers, green beans are good)
Jar of spaghetti sauce

Cook spaghetti and frozen vegetables. Drain.
Heat sauce in pan. Toss with pasta and vegetables.


Pasta with Peas
8 oz package of pasta
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1 can chopped tomatoes, with juice (Use Italian-seasoned tomatoes for more flavor.)

Cook pasta and peas together. Drain.
Return to pan. Add tomatoes and heat through.
Season to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic.


Simple Soup
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 small can mushrooms, with juice
1 small can peas and carrots, drained
2 cups cooked brown rice
1 envelope Lipton Onion Soup Mix (Vegans will need to substitute a vegan version.)

Heat together in pan with enough water to moisten.


Rice and Lettuce Salad
2 cups cooked brown rice, hot or cold
Clean lettuce
1 can garbanzo beans, drained
Fat-free Italian salad dressing, salsa, or BBQ sauce.

Layer on plate for dinner.
Top with dressing or sauce.


Veggie burgers
Boca or veggie burgers
Whole wheat bread or buns
Vegetables: sliced tomatoes, red onion, lettuce
Condiments: pickles, mustard, ketchup, vegan mayo

Microwave or grill burger.
Assemble.


Instant Mexican Rice
Instant brown rice
Water
Green or yellow onion, chopped
Bell pepper, chopped
Salsa

Boil water. Add vegetables and rice. Bring to boil, cover and cook on low 5 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir, cover and let sit 5 minutes.
Stir in salsa. Serve in fat-free tortillas if desired.


Almost Instant Mexican Rice
Cooked brown rice
Green or yellow onion, chopped
Bell pepper, chopped
Salsa

Saute vegetables in skillet.
Add rice and salsa. Heat through.
Serve in fat-free tortillas if desired.


BBQ potatoes
Potatoes, microwaved
BBQ sauce
Clean lettuce

Toss potatoes and BBQ sauce together.
Top with lettuce.


Curried Chickpeas
1 can chickpeas, drained
Frozen spinach
1 can diced tomatoes
Cumin & curry to taste
Cooked rice or toast

Heat together. Serve over toast or rice.


Chickpea-Sweet Potato Stew
1 large can sweet potatoes, drained
OR 1 large sweet potato, microwaved and peeled
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
Garlic powder to taste
Salt & pepper

Combine in pan. Heat.
Season to taste.

********

Bon appetit...in a hurry!

Eating In (instead of Out)

A number of people chose restricting the amount of meals they eat out at restaurants as part of their personal Discretionary Eating Challenge. It's a goal that can help with the budget, calorie count, and switching to a more local diet. However, if you are in the habit of eating out, it can be hard to just eliminate that habit without forming some new ones.

It's helpful to know what may be driving you to eat out in the first place. Then it's possible to start looking for solutions.


SPECIAL OCCASIONS

A special occasion is often used as a reason for going out to eat. I happen to think it's a valid reason, provided it truly is a special occasion such as an anniversary or significant birthday. The danger lies in deeming everything a special occasion in order to justify a restaurant meal. Got the paycheck? Let's go out to eat! The horrible boss went on vacation for a month? Let's celebrate at our favorite restaurant. Lost 10 pounds? That definitely deserves a high-calorie treat out somewhere.

Eating In Alternative: Put the special back into special occasion. Sit down with a calendar and your family. Select the truly special occasions you'd like to celebrate by eating out. For other occasions that are memorable, consider starting a family tradition of preparing a special meal at home with everyone's participation.


COMPANY

When company comes to visit, this often results in a lot of eating out. It pays to examine why. If you are out and about for the day, touring the sights, restaurants are appealing for their convenience. You may want to show off your region's specialties. Or you may feel that sitting in a restaurant allows you more and better time to visit.

Eating In Alternative: Select one restaurant meal out that will be representative of your area or that features their favorite dishes. For the rest of the meals, show off your region's food in home-cooked meals. There is no reason you can't put your company to work in the kitchen with you. It will give you visiting time and can be a lot of fun, although it there are young children, make sure they are well-supervised or set up with some games outside the kitchen. If you have a long day of sightseeing planned, pack a picnic and find a nice park or historic site to enjoy your lunch.


BETTER FOOD

Do you eat out because you can't cook worth beans? Do you burn water? Or do you simply not want to make the effort to prepare your own food when there are so many good restaurants available?

Eating In Alternative: It is well worth your effort to learn to cook. If you are a total novice in the kitchen, look for cooking classes offered in your community through the community colleges, programs at the 'Y', or community centers. Cooking classes offered through businesses tend to be more expensive but are fun when you want to develop more specific skills. For instance, we saved considerable money on restaurant sushi after I went to a couple of 2 hour classes on making many different kinds.

Or ask a friend or family member to help teach you to cook. Perhaps someone from your church always brings the best dishes to the potlucks. They would probably be flattered to be asked to help you improve your kitchen skills. I've even asked complete strangers in the grocery store how they like to prepare something if we're both picking up the same item. This has been particularly handy in ethnic markets where there may be unfamiliar produce. (Many of these items, or something similar, can be grown locally.)

Once you are more comfortable with basic cooking techniques, start really honing in on flavors. Learn to identify seasonings and spices by smell and taste. Branch out from your cookbooks and create your own dishes. When you come across a restaurant meal that blows your socks off, try to make a version at home. There are millions of recipes on the Internet and you are sure to find something similar to get you started on the process. Once you're able to make a homemade version that's satisfying, you have the option to eat this dish whenever you want, not just when you can afford to eat out. You also have the ability to adjust the recipe to make it a healthier and more local version.


NO FOOD IN THE HOUSE

It's very difficult to put together a meal at home if there is no food in the house. This may be a result of lack of time, budget, or simply hating to go shopping. Keep in mind, however, that you pay for labor when you buy prepared food from restaurants. And if you're not, if you're buying cheap fast food, you will pay for it with your health.

Eating In Alternative: Schedule a regular time to go shopping, whether you really want to or not. You may have to force yourself at first and resent the time it takes, but eventually having food in the home will create more time for you. It takes time, and gas, to go out to eat on a regular basis. For ideas on eating when money is tight, check out my food security series. Stock up on some staples first, such as rice, pasta, and flour, and then join a CSA or frequent the Farmer's Market for your produce and other needs.


CONVENIENCE

For many people, and definitely for myself, I know that convenience is a big draw. It is so much easier to let someone else take care of the shopping, meal planning, food prep, and the clean-up, especially if I've had a long day or am under stress. What I find particularly ironic is when I've spent the entire day canning food to preserve it and then end up so exhausted I can't face making dinner, too. There's just something wrong about running out to pick up a veggie burrito after working hard to make sure I can eat locally-grown, organic food for months to come.

&

TIME

Limited time also may lead to picking up food someone else has taken the time to prepare. With our fast-paced lives and busy schedules, it can be challenging to carve out the time to make a suitable breakfast, lunches for work, and dinner at the end of the day. Working parents not only have to contend with feeding themselves, but also the children as well.

Eating In Alternative: Convenience and time are so interrelated, the strategies for dealing with each apply to the other.

Meal Planning - Sitting down once or twice a week to figure out a basic meal plan takes some time but will take a lot of pressure off the daily struggle to figure out what to make for each meal. Center your meal plan around foods that your family likes, what you have on hand, and the fresh foods you have from your own garden, CSA share, or Farmer's Market. Substitute as much as possible in your recipes to use what you have rather than going to the store for one or two special ingredients. Plan one day to use up all the leftovers, or send them with family members for lunches throughout the week.

You can even put together all of your favorite meals on one sheet and just pick which ones you want to make each week. Sandie found this works great for her family and shares her menu and recipes here.

Prep ahead of time - Now that you know your basic meal plan, you can do some of the prep work ahead of time to make putting together each meal faster and easier. When you get home from the Farmer's Market or CSA, sort through your produce to see what prep work you can do immediately. Will you be using shredded carrots in salads and stirfy? Go ahead and wash them up and get them shredded now. How about the kale? Whether you toss it into a stirfry, soup, or braised greens, you will probably be using it chopped up. It's hardy and will keep fine for the week if you clean and chop it now. Lettuce can be cleaned and spun dry, and then stored in the salad spinner or wrapped in a linen towel in a bag. Many vegetables can be roasted ahead of time and then used in a variety of recipes. Try this with your carrots, beets, onions, potatoes, yams, eggplants, and peppers. Steam your corn and green beans, too. They can be reheated and eaten alone or in mixed dishes, or added to cold grain, pasta, or tossed salads.

You can even cook the week's meals all at once over the weekend. Use your freezer to store the ones for the end of the week and have easy dinners at the end of long days. There are a number of websites that give recipes and menu plans for OAMC - once a month cooking - as well. If much of your food comes from local sources each week, you can use these as inspiration and create your own 'once a week cooking' plan.

Simpler Meals - Another way to help deal with time constraints is to simply plan simpler meals. You do not have to have a main dish, soup, salad, two side dishes, and a dessert with every meal. When my schedule is tight, I opt for one-pot meals as much as possible. Stews in the winter have the starches (grain, rice, pasta, or potatoes), proteins (legumes), and vegetables all together. Many dishes can be served over a bed of rice, noodles, or cracked wheat including soups, stirfries, curries, and pretty much any combination of vegetables in a tasty sauce or gravy. If you want fresh vegetables, too, throw the salad right on top of the cooked food. This is surprisingly good.

Help - If you are doing all the cooking for the whole family, it's time to enlist some help. Involve the kids as soon as they are old enough to understand safety rules in the kitchen. While this will initially slow things down, because you will be teaching them how to prepare and cook food, it will be incredibly helpful in the long run. Helpful to you because they will eventually be able to handle expanded kitchen duties and very helpful to them when they go out into the world on their own. Part of your job as a parent is teaching life skills. Putting restaurants that deliver on speed dial is not nearly as good a life skill as knowing how to throw together a good meal in less time than delivery takes.

Quick Meal Options - And, finally, make sure that you keep some quick meal options on hand for those times when you've worked late and are way too exhausted to deal with cooking. These are frequently the times when restaurant convenience exerts the most pull, but if you can come up with quickie home meals, you will be able to resist. Obviously, frozen dinners are one option. And I don't mean those from the store. When you've made a large meal with lots of leftovers, pack some up for the freezer. Keep a list of these meals somewhere handy so you know what you can pull out at a moment's notice.

Quick-cooking foods are also helpful. Our favorite is whole wheat couscous. It takes only the time to bring the water or stock to a boil and then 5 additional minutes to be ready. Frozen or home-canned vegetables can be added to the water initially, along with a generic mixed seasoning such as Mrs. Dash Table Blend, and you'll have a complete meal in under 10 minutes. Quinoa is the fastest cooking of the whole grains, taking only about 20 minutes. Bulgur, a pre-cooked cracked wheat, is ready after 15 minutes of soaking in boiling water. Lentils, especially the red ones, cook very quickly. Beans can be purchased canned or dehydrated. With a pressure cooker, dry pinto beans can be ready in less than an hour. (Speed soak by cooking at pressure for 1 minute and then let pressure drop naturally. Drain and add new water. Cook at pressure for 5 minutes and let pressure drop naturally.)

If you've been putting up food, then you will have many choices for meal combinations. One of my favorite lunches when I've forgotten to eat until 2 pm is my sweetie's leftover rice with a big heaping serving of whatever pickled vegetables I have on hand in the refrigerator. Many times, I spice this up with some Sriracha sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds.


I hope these ideas will help you stay in to eat without sacrificing your sanity, wallet, or taste.

Challenge Progress Report

It's Sunday so you know what that means when there's a challenge running. It's time to check in with your successes and mishaps for the past week. Share what you've learned and what you're struggling with.

I promise I will get some posts done this coming week directly related to the challenge. Sorry to have left you hanging half the month waiting for them. They are coming. If I don't follow through on this promise, you are welcome to track me down and make me eat every cricket in my house - raw or deep-fried.

Canning Pressure *UPDATED*

How to learn to use a pressure canner:

1. Decide what size you want. The size you choose will determine what size jars you can use.


2. Buy a pressure canner. My 12 Qt. canner can only do pint size and smaller jars.


3. Leave pressure canner in box for a week or so.


4. Unpack pressure canner and read through instruction manual.


5. Get overwhelmed and pack it back up in the box.


6. Leave pressure canner in box for several months. Use the lack of enough vegetables to pressure can as an excuse to avoid using it.


7. Attempt to use pressure canner and ruin perfectly good lemon zucchini relish.


8. Pack canner in box and set aside for another month.


9. Make spaghetti sauce and find no room in freezer for it.


10. Reluctantly unpack pressure canner and read instructions again.


11. Process sauce as directed.


12. As pressure is dropping, say to yourself, "Mmmm, that smells good!" and then realize you should not be able to smell the spaghetti sauce.


13. Spend the next 20 minutes waiting for the pressure to drop enough to see if all the jars broke in the pressure canner.


14. Open up the canner. Carefully now, the steam can burn!



15. Be grateful that only one jar had sauce boil out from it.


16. Review what to do about boil-overs and wonder how you messed up one jar but not the others. Too little headspace seems most likely.


17. Change menu plan to use one jar of spaghetti sauce for tomorrow's dinner.


18. Clean pressure canner.


19. Pack canner back in box.


20. Wonder when you'll get it back out again.


21. ***UPDATE*** Curse the next morning when every single jar shows signs that sauce leaked out from under the lid. Was it the wine that caused it? Inadequate head space? Total screw-up? Damn.


22. Plan to eat a whole lot of pasta with sauce in the next week.

Just Another Storm in the Desert

We sat relaxing after dinner last night, when a storm blew up. And I mean blew up. This was the most intense thunderstorm we've had this season, with very heavy downpours, high winds, 400 lightning strikes every 10 minutes , and microbursts. Over a dozen power poles were knocked down around the city, and a number of transformers struck by lightning. A friend just told me about seeing a transformer hit several times outside her home, turning her view of the sky green and blue.

That may have been the one that knocked our power out. No problem for us. The charged flashlight is in the same location all the time so we can find it even in the dark. We fetched the matches from the kitchen and lit the candles and oil lamps. The candle holders with the handles are great for trips to other rooms. With the hand-cranked radio from the emergency bags, we listened to the weather forecast and then switched to some nice music for the rest of the evening.

The house began to get stuffy without the evaporative cooler running, but opening a few windows let the cool moist air flow through the house. Due to the wind, we had to keep checking for rain blowing in through the screens but the cool temperature was wonderful. We could hear rain pounding down and thunder cracking all around us still as we headed to bed. I was a bit concerned about our perishable food with the power out, but we'd been careful to avoid opening the refrigerator or freezer.

The storm calmed down after a while. Another round lashed us sometime in the middle of the night, waking us all with the thunderous light show. Some time after it settled down, the light in the living room came on, indicating power was restored.

Our walk in the morning indicated it had indeed been a fierce storm. The debris line (from overnight flooding) was above the sidewalks along the roads. Branches were broken, cacti had fallen over, and our neighbor's small palo verde tree was leaning over at 45 degrees. We ducked around huge clouds of flying ants*, watching the males fly up and up in a spiral before dropping to the ground. Somewhere in that cloud was the prize - a new queen. The morning news report was filled with road closures due to flooding and news that 24,000 people were still without power.

I have canning to do today but had, once again, run out of lemons. (Note to self: buy a bunch of lemon trees for all this canning!) During my errands, I saw the electric workers on cranes replacing power poles, workers turning a huge downed pine tree into shreddings, palo verde trees split down the trunk, numerous trees leaning precariously, and big sandbars of gravel that had washed into the roads with the heavy rain. All just the result of another intense monsoon storm in the desert.


*These are served as snacks in Africa so keep them in mind as a local food source.

Solar Oven with a Twist

In the US, solar cooking has often been relegated to sunny regions such as the desert Southwest and balmy Florida. Residents of other areas may assume that they couldn't possibly use a solar oven because it's not sunny often enough, it's too windy or too cold, or they only have morning or afternoon sun on their apartment balcony.

A unique solar cooker, designed in India, expands solar cooking possibilities. I first caught sight of the Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven on Peak Oil Hausfrau's blog last month. To be honest, my initial reaction was that a hybrid solar cooker with an electric back-up sounded pretty silly.

Then I started thinking about the times when I haven't used my Sun Oven. In the winter, I lose the sun by 3:15 pm due to my neighbor's tall eucalyptus trees. In the summer, the sun is often dimmed by high thin clouds all morning and thick thundercloud build-up in the afternoons. Maybe that electric back-up wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

Don't get me wrong; I've been happy with my Global Sun Oven. As much as I like it, though, there are a couple of drawbacks. Peak Oil Hausfrau touched on them in her comparison between the Tulsi Hybrid and the Sun Oven. The Sun Oven's interior is nice and deep, which is great for cooking a big pot of stew, baking a whole mess of potatoes, or heating water for washing dishes. However, the base is too small to fit a baking sheet or pizza pan.

Over the past year of growing awareness of peak oil issues, coupled with climate change and economic downturns, I've been thinking that another solar oven would be helpful so that I could do more solar cooking. It would be nice to be able to cook multiple dishes at the same time, and heat water, too. Eventually my sweetie will find the time to build me this super hot solar oven. After all, I pestered David Omick, the guy who designed it, to post enough details about the design and construction on his website so that anyone handy could build this.

In the meantime, though, a second solar oven would really expand my cooking options, although I don't want my sweetie to think he's off the hook on building me the very hot one. After all, a solar oven will be a hot commodity with increasing energy prices for cooking (and cooling the home in the summer). Offering to bake your neighbor's homemade bread while cooking your own dinner would be a great way to strengthen community.

After seeing the hybrid solar oven on another blog, I did more research into its features. The Tulsi is wide at the base but short in height, definitely big enough to fit my pizza pan although not tall enough to boil a large pot of water. With its electric heating elements as a back-up for overcast or short winter days, it seemed like it would be a logical companion to my tried and true Sun Oven. Why turn the oven on in the house to finish baking the casserole when the solar oven is already hot? If the sun goes behind a cloud or a tree, I could just flip a switch to finish the cooking with less energy.

I compared prices and shipping costs for the Tulsi online and ordered from the company with the best offer. See this post for more about them plus a coupon offer from them if you're interested in getting your own solar oven!

My hybrid solar cooker arrived this past week during my mother-in-law's visit. I decided to give it a test run while we went out Sunday morning. After washing the four stainless steel pans that came with it, I picked different foods to cook in three of them: cracked wheat, brown rice, and lentils. After loading the oven, we headed out.

When we got home several hours later, I brought in my stack of dishes. It was a little tough to get the lids off two of the containers - the instructions advise oiling the rim to help with this and I may have been a bit too skimpy with the oil. Once they were open though, I was thrilled to have three different dishes all ready to eat. The ability to cook multiple dishes at the same time is one of the Tulsi's advantages over the Sun Oven. To be fair, though, I have to point out that the monster sweet potato I cooked in my Sun Oven last week would not have fit in the Tulsi - it was that thick.

Before writing this post, I also wanted to try cooking a pizza in the solar oven. After all, the bigger floor space was one of the reasons for selecting this particular design. When I put the Tulsi in the sun to preheat, I noticed some high thin clouds above. Uh oh; perhaps this wasn't going to be the best day for trying to bake something needing high temperatures. I was right. If I had been thinking, I would have attached the two temperature booster panels to the sides. From what I can tell though, this really needs to be done before the oven is preheated as they attach to the metal frame of the glass lid. I opted not to risk burning myself and filed this observation away for future reference.

As luck would have it, the clouds grew thicker right about the time I popped the crust in the oven to parbake for a few minutes. I flipped on the electric back-up power, hoping it might boost the temperature. Without doing more testing, I can't say whether it worked or not. With a lightly overcast sky, the oven temperature hovered around 325 degrees. After adding sauce and toppings, I put the pizza back in to bake, which took about 40 minutes. Next time, skipping the parbake step would probably be wise as a lot of heat escapes from the oven every time the lid is opened.

In any case, I had my first solar-baked pizza for lunch yesterday afternoon, topped with a variety of CSA produce.

My conclusion is that I've made a wise investment towards our efforts to live more sustainably. With two solar ovens with different features and strengths, my ability to move my cooking off the grid has definitely increased. The electric back-up on the Tulsi hybrid gives me a low energy way to use solar cooking in conditions that in the past would have kept me cooking inside.

Don't forget to read the next post to find out how to get a coupon for 10% off!

Coupon for Solar Oven (& more)

In my previous post, I introduced you to my new Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven, a solar cooker with electric back-up for extended cooking. This is a nice complement to the Sun Oven I already had and use regularly. In this post, I'm going to tell you about the company that I purchased it from and offer you a coupon to get 10% off on a solar oven (and other goodies) for yourself.

Once I decided that I was definitely going to buy the Tulsi, the next step was to decide where to buy it. There is a surprisingly wide range of prices online, with some hefty shipping and handling charges on some sites. EarthEasy turned up the best price + shipping in my search. They list the Tulsi Hybrid Solar Oven at $245 (sale price) plus $20 shipping in the continental U.S.

I ran into a question with the ordering process and contacted them before placing my order. The gentleman that I spoke with was very helpful and resolved my problem with ease. In this day of dwindling customer service, it was a real pleasure to find someone that went out of his way to be helpful. I mentioned that I'd originally found out about this solar oven through a blog and that I'd likely post about it on my blog after trying it out. He was interested so I shared my blog address with him.

In the meantime, I explored their website further. A good portion of it is dedicated to sharing tips and articles on sustainable living, much of it learned from personal experience living on a small rural island in British Columbia for more than 25 years. Greg Seaman founded the company. His son, Ben, became a partner in 2007 after realizing that he would be happier combining his business experience with respect for the earth and resources. Ben now runs the sales and product development side of EarthEasy while his father continues to write the articles for the educational side.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive an email from Ben a few days after placing my order. He enjoyed my blog and wondered if I might like to offer my readers a coupon for the solar oven. That sounded like a great idea to me and a nice reward for you.

The coupon offer is good for everything on the site, which includes both of the solar ovens that I discussed, as well as a variety of other products for sustainable living -ranging from rain barrels and indoor composters to gardening and natural pest control. He even customized the coupon just for my blog. It is good for one year, so you have time to check out what they carry and decide what might further your efforts to live sustainably. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that oil prices are causing increases in shipping costs, and this is unlikely to change anytime soon. My advice would be to place your order sooner than later.

Please note: Coupon valid August 2008 to August 2009 ONLY.

For a 10% discount on your whole EarthEasy order, type CHILECHEWS into the 'Coupon or Discount Number' box on the bottom of the Customer Details page when checking out. This offer is good for one year.
Thank you, Ben!

Update on August 12, 2009: The coupon has now expired.