the Waste-Not Blog

White, all-purpose flour.  It's inexpensive, readily available, and foundational to a whole host of delicious foods. It's far from deeply nourishing, even with the trace amounts of nutrition the factory adds, but can a case be made for using more of it? I believe so, and I intend to make it. Think of the foods that you buy most frequently. Not raw ingredients, mind, but finished foods. What comes to mind? For many, item one on that list would have to be bread. This includes sliced bread, hotdog and hamburger rolls, and Italian bread for spaghetti nights. Speaking of spaghetti nights, pasta is easily a close second to bread as far as regularly purchased staples of Americans. Including macaroni and cheese, egg noodles for soup, and of course spaghetti, pasta is a crucial part of even the most frugal of American diets (not to mention special occasion stuffed pastas like ravioli, pierogies and tortellini). We can't forget biscuits or their close relatives, scones and American...

In "The Waste-Not Plan: level 1" I outlined concepts like the grocery snowball and other ways to spend less on food and necessities, in order to be able to build a higher level of financial independence and resilience. Important concepts included budgeting, taking advantage of economy of scale, and reducing debt, in addition to helpful tips about reducing impulse spending. Titled "Spend Less," level 1 is all about reducing how much money you need to spend each week and turning more of your income into disposable income. Level 1 consists almost exclusively of steps that anyone can take, right where they are, even if they live in an apartment without an inch of ground to call their own. Level 2: Depend Less. It's all about finding gaps in your self-reliance and closing them any way you can. While Level 1 works wherever you are, even a studio apartment in the Bronx, level 2 may require a move or at least a creative solution like using a community garden or lan...

For us, the Waste-Not Plan is a blueprint to arrive at our ultimate goal of total independence in terms of food (for us and our animals), energy (at least in terms of heat and cooking, and using the grid only for luxuries that can easily be dispensed with) and money (we want to be able to have both me and Ben at home or at least working very minimally, so what land we have needs to at least pay for its own taxes and hopefully a bit extra). For others it might just be a matter of becoming progressively more self reliant: having enough food to know that a couple weeks without buying groceries won't reduce you to eating expired spaghetti-Os from the back of the cupboard, being able to pay down debt and add to a nest egg, reducing your carbon footprint and plugging your particular holes in the waste stream. That's why I call these "levels" instead of "steps," because even if you never get past "level one" or "level two," you're here. You...

When Ben and I got married, we registered for and received some truly lovely gifts. Bath towels, plastic storage drawers, hot plate and slow cooker-- these have all been used and appreciated very much in the years since our wedding. There are a few gifts, however, whose function have become absolutely indispensable to the way our family functions. One was my marble rolling pin, whose weight makes it much easier to roll out dough for cookies, cinnamon rolls and homemade pasta; the other is the Lehman's Own Hand Cranked Grain Mill. With it we turn wheat (which we buy inexpensively at the feed mill, less than $15 for a fifty pound bag) into delicious whole wheat flour, and also turn our home grown Mandan Bride flour corn into incredibly tasty corn meal. With these great ingredients we can make all manner of wholesome, delicious food. The wheat flour gets soaked overnight (often with a splash of whey to help it along) and added to my doughs for various breads, like sourdough loaves, ...

Hey, all! Today I'd like to examine the frugal breakfast enjoyed (tolerated?) by millions of Americans every day: oatmeal.  It's packed with vitamins and minerals, loaded with fiber, and relatively easy to prepare; it's filling and warming; and it's easy to amend with such pleasant additions as walnuts, shredded coconut, or even (my guilty pleasure) chocolate chips, to help keep the boredom at bay. There are dozens of "recipes" online now for overnight oatmeal that you don't have to cook, mix-ins to make your oatmeal resemble your favorite dessert (oatmeal brulee is a thing, y'all, I wish I was kidding), and oatmeal baked in a muffin tin. So with all these recipes to make the morning gruel more interesting, what could possibly possess me to think yet another oatmeal recipe is necessary? The answer lies where, you will find, it usually does: there's a less wasteful way. More specifically, there are three main ways in which oats could be used with ...