Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

What to Do About Crystallized Honey

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When I shared that I buy a year’s supply of honey at one time, many of you wondered if it crystallized and if so, what I did to solve that. Yes, my honey does crystallize, but it’s very easy to fix that issue.

By the way, have you ever read the words “do not microwave” on the side of your Honey Bear? That really means, “DO NOT MICROWAVE”. Many a Honey Bear has quickly become a sticky, melted mess within just a few seconds of being in the microwave. In fact, I believe you’d even be able to hear your Honey Bear moan, “I’m mellllttttiiiiiinnnggg….” as he turns into a plastic honey pool. Bless his little heart.

So, don’t microwave your honey to solve your crystallized honey issues. (I don’t recommend using a microwave for anything actually, but that’s another post for another day.)

Instead, I put my container of crystallized honey into with a few inches of water and heat it on the stove. If your honey is raw and you’d like to keep it that way, you want to heat the water very slowly and at low heat. It will eventually dissolve the honey.

The following picture is a little bit blurry – that would be because my Honey Bear is in a steamy sauna, and the steam fogged up my camera lens.

If you have a larger jug of honey, simply use a larger pot of water. Then, I find it helpful to pour the runny honey into smaller containers, preferably jars – go figure! :)

A little post update – myhnymybb makes a great point in her comment about not heating anything in plastic. I totally know that – and yet I did it anyway, then took a picture of it. Perhaps this is one of those “Duh Moments” I was talking about. I don’t want plastic leaching chemicals into my honey, which is why I usually store and heat my honey in glass jars. I just so happened to have a honey bear with crystallized honey, so I grabbed it and took a picture for this post. But yeah, plastic isn’t great, especially when it’s heated. So don’t follow my example. Put your honey into glass if possible.

But I still say don’t use a microwave to melt down the honey, no matter if it’s in glass or in a honey bear.

“I’m mellllttttiiiiiinnnggg….”

 

How do you store your honey? Do you buy bulk amounts of honey? Have you ever melted a Honey Bear in the microwave?

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How We Afford Buying in Bulk

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I’m working through a series on buying whole foods in bulk!
If you haven’t read them yet, you may be interested in :
Why I Buy in Bulk, Buying in Bulk:  Do You Have the Space? and
Buying in Bulk:  A Year’s Supply. And now:  How To Afford Buying in Bulk:

Guess what? Last Thursday was Maple Syrup Day! We now have five gallons of maple syrup to last us the year:

The total price tag wasn’t small, and yet, we got an excellent price per ounce on high quality maple syrup for our family. This means that even though we had to pay quite a bit upfront, we just saved quite a bit of money!

I’m sure many of you are wondering how we afford to purchase our year’s supply of maple syrup all at once, or three months worth of meat at one time, etc. Hopefully you took the time to read the following posts:  How I Grocery Shop and Our 2011 Grocery Budget which will answer some of your questions.

But overall, I would say that we can’t afford NOT to buy in bulk. We are a family of six big eaters, plus we feed a lot of extra people each month. Buying large quantities of many different foods saves us hundreds (maybe thousands?) of dollars each year. I can pay $1.60 for a small 21 ounce bag of organic rolled oats – or I can pay almost half that amount per ounce and buy 50 pounds of organic rolled oats for $35.55. It may feel like I’m spending less if I only pay $1.60 for a bag of oats, but since I’d have to buy so many bags of it, overall, I’d actually be spending more.

If it’s food that will keep well without spoiling and I know it’s food that we’ll eat – buying in bulk is usually the better option for our family.

And now, a little bit more about our budget and how bulk purchasing is possible for us:

We have $550 in our monthly grocery budget, which equals $6600 for the year. Some months I only spend $200, some months I spend $800. It all balances out. I don’t need a bulk quantity of every single food, every single month. Some months I buy a huge amount of wheat and a few months worth of organic brown rice. Some months I buy a case of butter and order several big bags of organic nuts. Some months I hardly buy anything at all, except for milk, eggs and produce. And by the end of the year, all the purchases have averaged out to $550/month.

If you’re just getting started with bulk purchasing, it may feel like your budget is taking a big hit. Here are some suggestions for buying in bulk while staying within your budget:

  • Try to hold back part of your grocery budget from one month in order to apply it to bulk purchasing the following month. For instance, if your grocery budget is $300/month, eat a few less expensive meals this month. Anything under $300 that you spend can be applied toward bulk purchasing next month.
  • If there are other areas of your overall family budget that you can cut back on or skip for a while so that you can save up, be intentional about saving that money for bulk purchases. Can you eat out less? Skip the movie? Pass by the coffee shop? Avoid paying the electric bill? Just kidding. Please pay your electric bill. ;)
  • Begin with very basic staple foods that you know your family will eat. I recommend starting with foods such as oats, rice, wheat or flour, sucanat, honey – any foods that you know won’t go to waste if bought in a large quantity and kept in storage for 3-12 months.
  • Don’t buy everything at once. Maybe pick just one or two items each month to get started. If you buy rice in bulk this month, you’ll be able to check that off your grocery list for the next few months, freeing up a little bit of your budget for other bulk purchases.
  • Buy in bulk according to your family’s needs. I tend to buy 50 pound bags of food because we go through a lot of groceries at our house. Ten pound or 25 pound bags may be better for your family.
  • If you find a good deal and buy a bulk quantity of an item, ration it if necessary. It won’t save much money when you find a great deal and stock up on chocolate chips, if your family begins to eat way more chocolate chips than normal. Not that this is easy when there are bulk amounts of chocolate chips in the house. Why did I have to use chocolate as an example? I should have brought up baking powder or salt or something less tempting. Yes, don’t overindulge in baking powder. There, that’s better. :)

Next time, I’ll talk more about what food items work well for bulk purchasing, what keeps well in the pantry and what freezes well.

How do you budget for bulk purchases?

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Feel Like Making Peanut Butter?

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Recently, one of my readers asked where to buy peanuts in bulk. I’ve shared about how we love Braga Organic Farms and purchase bulk almonds, cashews and pistachios from them, but they don’t have peanuts. :(

I usually get my peanuts from Azure Standard, but looked it up on Amazon for those of you who aren’t on an Azure Standard route. Sure enough, there’s a great source for organic peanuts that are perfect for making delicious peanut butter. This price is about what I pay through Azure Standard, so I know it’s a great deal for organic peanuts!!

I can’t tell you how delicious homemade peanut butter is. It’s incredibly easy to make, takes very little time and tastes incredible when it’s freshly made like this!!! If you spread Homemade Peanut Butter on these Simple Soaked Pancakes with bananas and Real Maple Syrup? Mmm….awesome.

Homemade Peanut Butter

If you love peanuts in trail mix, as a snack, or so that you can make Homemade Peanut Butter, you may want to check out Amazon as a source for Organic Peanuts in bulk. I found that I could get 10 pounds for just over $40, shipped. Great price for organic peanuts!

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How to Soak Corn Meal for Better Digestion

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Taco Corn Fritters

I’ve shared how to soak wheat flour or oats to aid in digestion. (I’ve also shared that I’m not a die-hard grain soaker, I just do the best I can.)

I’ve been asked several times recently to share how to soak corn meal for easier digestion. Soaking corn is different from soaking wheat flour or oats. For some reason I’d never looked into it much. What, did I think it would be difficult? FYI – it’s not difficult. I figured it out after about ten minutes of reading my Nourishing Traditions book on the subject of soaking corn. I took a few pictures of the process, but really? They turned out silly. You do not need a full picture tutorial to show you how to pour pickling lime into water. Your five year old could do it.

I said all of that to say, “Sorry I didn’t share this four years ago. It’s not that hard.” 

How to Make Lime Water to Soak Cornmeal:

  1. Pour 1 inch of pickling lime into a half gallon jar.
  2. Fill the jar with water. Put the lid on the jar because next you need to…
  3. Shake the jar.
  4. Let the jar stand overnight until the lime settles. 
  5. The clear liquid at the top is your Lime Water.
  6. Store in a cool place (but not necessarily the fridge). 

To soak your cornmeal using Lime Water, it seems to me that most of the recipes in the Nourishing Traditions book recommend that you stir together 1 cup of cornmeal with 3/4-1 cup of Lime Water and allow it to sit for 7 hours before stirring in the wheat flour and cultured dairy and then continuing to soak for another 12 hours or so.

Now, just so you know, I shared this because I had some requests, and I’m always happy to learn new things in the kitchen. Will I be practicing this soaking of cornmeal thing much?  I’m not sure.  I wanted to share the idea with you in case you’d like to look into it more, but I don’t see the huge, incredible benefits to make this worth my efforts. If YOU see the huge, incredible benefits of soaking the cornmeal each time I make Cornbread or Taco Corn Fritters, please do pass them on. I’d really love to learn!

What all do you make with cornmeal?

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Buying in Bulk – Do You Have the Space?

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Before I can talk about the foods I like having on hand and the foods I purchase or preserve in large quantities, I think it’s best to let you know a little bit more about our family’s storage capabilities. God has blessed us with a large house that has a large storage room. We have (through the years) invested in not one, but three large freezers. We have a large pantry and a large kitchen and after you’ve typed the word large this many times in the same paragraph, it begins to sound funny in your head. Large. Large. Is it just me, or does the word large sound funny now? (It’s largely possible that it’s just me.)

I say all of that (in large part) to let you know that I’ll be sharing what works for our family – then you can take that information and do whatever will work for yours. Even if your house and storage abilities aren’t as large as mine, you still may be able to swipe some of my ideas (or learn something from all the brilliant minds who leave comments and share what works for them!). But make adaptions based on what God has blessed you with. If you have a small home with minimal storage, you’ll have to get more creative. For instance, you could sell your couch and build your own living room furniture from your bulk purchases. Fifty pound bags of wheat and oats would make very cushy chairs. Five gallon buckets full of rice and beans could serve as your end tables and you could use jars of coconut oil and canned peaches as book ends. Bags of pasta would be fine accents on your “wheat and oat couches” – you know, like pillows? Adorable. 

Or not.

Don’t ever ask me to come help you decorate your home. It’s clearly not my strong suit. Moving on…

Why do we have three large freezers? Well, we’ve found that it’s an investment that has saved us hundreds of dollars each year. We bought them used, and if you recall, they are as ugly as can be – one of the reasons we got them for such a low price. Having them has enabled us to purchase high quality meat in bulk quantities. Even more exciting, when we’ve been blessed to get our hands on free strawberries or peaches – when our garden has been producing bumper crops of green beans – when we are able to get a great deal on a year’s supply of corn to put up for the winter – we’ve got the freezer space to handle the quantity. By the end of summer, our freezers are crammed full of produce, much of which we’ve grown ourselves or purchased for a very reasonable price from local farmers and gardeners.

So, what if you don’t have large freezers or a large pantry or storage space? I was kidding earlier (mostly) about building furniture with your bags of oats, but there really are some great and creative ways for you to make good use of the space you do have. Take a look at how beautifully Jodi has decorated her home with her canned produce. 

I think this is gorgeous:

A colorful close-up:

Think about the usable areas of your home. Can you slide some food containers under your beds? Are there some closet floors that could house some buckets of dry goods? Can you think of a cute way to stack a few containers in a corner of your kitchen? Any chance you have an open wall somewhere that you could purchase an inexpensive shelf that you can decorate with food like Jodi did?

While you may not have the space to store 500 pounds of wheat (our year’s supply!) like I can, I bet you do have a few (or more) bulk storage possibilities in your home.

I’d love for you all to share your tricks and strategies for food storage in your homes. Share what type of home you live in and how you make good uses of your storage spaces.

And really, can’t you just picture the coconut oil jar book ends?  Adorable.

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My “Bulk” Natracare Order (And Possibly Too Much Information?)

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Well, speaking of buying in bulk and having everything you need on hand so you don’t have to panic and run to the store…let’s just say that this concept isn’t limited to food, my friends. There just so happens to be a bulk order I needed to make today and for some strange reason, I decided you should know about it. You’re welcome, or I’m sorry – depending on how much information you really want to find here at Heavenly Homemakers. ;)

I’ve talked in the past about “healthy punctuation products” and the importance I feel that it is to avoid regular feminine products at the store. Read this post to know more about what I’m talking about. 

I’ve come to LOVE all Natracare Products, finding that they make a world of difference in my “punctuation life“. Many of you have recomended the Diva Cup or Cloth Pads – call me lazy – I just haven’t gone there yet. (Silly, I know.)

Here are my Natracare Products of choice:

  • Natracare Ultra Long Pads with Wings (for heavy days)
  • Natracare Natural Ultra Pads with Wings (for lightish, but not yet panty liner days)
  • Natracare Organic Cotton Panty Liners (for oh good, I’m almost done days)  :)

The biggest reason I order cases of these products (beyond the fact that it saves money) is because I don’t ever, ever want to run out and have to get the regular kind from the store. I could break out into a rash just thinking about it.  {shudder} Regular products practically made me sick. I don’t ever want to use them again ever, ever, ever.

So there you go. In a few days, I’ll be receiving my bulk order of Natracare Products.

This makes me happy, although not nearly as happy as big bulky bags of oats. And I promise not to stand and stare at my box of Natracare Products like I stare at my bulk groceries. ;)

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Why I Buy in Bulk

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Hello my name is Laura and am obsessed with buying food in bulk. I love purchasing large quantities of food at one time – and then staring at it. Staring at bulk groceries makes me happy. Dreaming about all the delicious food I can make with my large food stores gives me a thrill. 

I’m pretty sure (pretty sure?) I am a little weird (only a little weird?) when it comes to my love of food. I know there are people who only give food a thought at the moment they become hungry and they think I’m strange for caring so much about my coconut flakes. They see my pantry and storage room and think I must have some weird phobia about losing our food supply, which must be why I buy up to 500 pounds of wheat at one time. They hear how many tomato plants we have in our garden and wonder if we know that we’ll have tomatoes coming out of our ears.

Yes, we’re aware. We did this last year too. And the year before that. We happen to like having tomatoes coming out of our ears. We think it tickles.

So why do we buy food (or preserve food) in such large quantities?

We do it because it’s practical for our family and saves us a good deal of money. Buying in bulk has made our real, whole food eating choices much more practical and affordable. We are blessed with a good amount of storage space, making the idea possible in the first place. Overall, I have found that purchasing food in bulk makes my kitchen duties much, much easier. Instead of buying a package of pasta every time we need a package of pasta (which is at least once each week), I buy a case of pasta once every two months and forget about it in between. When I need pasta, I go to my storage room and get pasta. 

Maybe I like bulk food so much because I don’t have to think so hard. Yes, that’s why I like it. I may like staring at my food and dreaming about our meals, but I’m not a big fan of thinking so hard every time I need to make a meal. I like buying ahead, buying in bulk, then having the capability to grab whatever food I need out of my storage and getting right to work in my kitchen. It’s all rather lovely.

I also really love that by having a large store of food, I can make bigger quantities of food if we have spur of the moment guests. It’s so nice to be able to say, “Stay for dinner – we have plenty!”

Buying in bulk (and preserving large quantities of food) just works for me. I love it.

During the next few weeks, I’ll share more about how buying in bulk works for our family, more about how we store our bulk, and most importantly, how we afford making bigger bulk purchases. I’m also working hard to put together a reference page sharing what food I always like to have on hand and what my favorite sources are for these items.

I know bulk purchasing doesn’t work for everyone. My intent with these posts isn’t to encourage everyone to buy in bulk. There may be just one of you in your household, making bulk purchasing impractical. Or you may have a small living space and then where are you supposed to store your bulk – on the roof?

So do share. If you buy in bulk, what are your reasons? And if you don’t buy in bulk, what are your reasons?  For all of you who have no interest in bulk food purchases, thank you for putting up with my obsession and embracing my “I smile at big bags of oats” insanity. 

bagofoats6sm.JPG

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Menu Plan for the Week

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These were our breakfast muffins this morning, Blueberry Streusel and Chocolate Chocolate Chip
I’ll share the Blueberry Streusel muffin recipe this week!

You know what I just can’t get enough of this time of year? Watermelon. This is the time of year you can typically find me standing at the sink, eating a wedge of watermelon, letting watermelon juice run down my chin. And my neck. And down to my elbow. 

It’s cute. You should try it sometime.

Here is our menu plan for the week, which (surprise, surprise) does include some watermelon:

Sunday, June 12
Chocolate chocolate chip muffins, blueberry streusel muffins, pears
Italian pasta bake, tossed salad, green beans
Grilled cheese sandwiches, watermelon

Monday, June 13
Sourdough English muffins (from Sourdough A to Z eBook), scrambled eggs, pears
Corn dog muffins, peas, cantaloupe
Lasagna casserole, tossed salad, corn

Tuesday, June 14
Whole wheat waffles, blueberries
Chicken veggie quesadillas, fruit salad
Popcorn chicken, ranch potato wedges, steamed carrots and broccoli

Wednesday, June 15
Coconut flour muffins, applesauce
Meat and cheese burritos, strawberry orange smoothies, carrot sticks
Chicken fried steak strips, mashed potatoes, gravy, peas, watermelon

Thursday, June 16
Creamy orange coolers, hashbrowns, fried eggs on toast
Salmon patties, strawberry peach slushie, carrot sticks
Cheesy salsa enchiladas, tossed salad, watermelon

Friday, June 17
Applesauce bread, bananas
Chef salad with homemade dressings, apples
Shepherds pie, peaches with cottage cheese

Saturday, June 18
Whole wheat donuts
Leftovers
Lamb steak, baked potatoes, asparagus

What’s your favorite summer fruit?

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Healthy, Homemade Baby Food

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(No, this post is not a hint toward what our boys’ surprise was. Oh my. I simply get a lot of reader questions regarding what to feed baby. That’s it. Our surprise was much less exciting than a baby announcement – I’ll post about it tonight!)  :)

Pureed Bananas:  Ripe bananas run through my food processor until smooth – great for baby!

Ah, the memories. I used to always make food for my babies, back when my babies were babies. I still make food for my babies, but my oldest baby is 14 now. He prefers steak to pureed veggies. He’d also like to know when I’ll stop calling him my baby. (The answer is never, but I do try to avoid saying it in front of “the guys”. I’m not that uncool.)

Before I talk about making baby food, first I’ll quickly share what I don’t recommend feeding babies (but keep in mind I’m just a mom, not a doctor):

  • Any kind of sugar before age one and really, do they need much after that?
  • Salt, unless it’s a very pure form of sea salt and then, very little
  • Grains, even the baby cereal that’s usually recommended. It fills ’em up, but their little tummies have a hard time digesting rice, oats and other grains, which can cause digestive issues now or later. I say wait on the grains if you can.

Making baby food is super simple, very inexpensive and takes very little time. One of the easiest foods to make for baby is Pureed Squash. You can read how to make pureed squash here. Making sweet potatoes is just as simple:

To Make Sweet Potatoes: Scrub them, stab them, bake them in a covered dish for about an hour, then peel them and puree them. So easy!

Pureeing green beans or peas are a little trickier as the “skin” kinda hangs around and keeps the food from being smooth. After failed attempts at making pureed green beans and peas, I found it easier to wait a little while before offering these to my babes. They made the perfect “finger food”. Frozen peas, by the way, are yummy and great if Baby is teething!

The one way I found to get green beans and peas into my little guys before they were old enough for “finger food” was to use a Kidco Baby Food Grinder. Man, I loved that thing. Whatever I had cooked or fixed for the rest of us to eat – green beans, peas, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, apples, pears, bananas, peaches, nectarines (do I need to keep listing them?) – I’d stick it in my Kidco Baby Food Grinder and have instant baby food that my boys would eat faster than I could make! The “skin” or any difficult to eat part of the food would be “ground out” and the soft baby food would rise to the top. If you have a baby and you don’t have a Kidco Baby Food Grinder, I really, really recommend getting one!

Also, one of my very smart cousins told me about the BabyCook, which appears to have been invented after my babies needed pureed food, hmph. I’ve seen the BabyCook in action and it’s about as cool as they come. With the BabyCook, you can very quickly steam veggies, reheat food – even defrost food to make a healthy, quick meal for baby. Once the food is steamed, you can use the BabyCook to puree it to any desired consistency. Babies nothin’. I’m thinking I need one of these for me!

I used to always freeze pre-made baby food in ice cube trays, pop them out and re-warm them for a quick meal. It worked pretty well, but I’d love to hear if anyone else has a more efficient method of making baby food ahead of time?!

And, while we’re on the subject of baby food, I wanted to mention what another smart cousin showed me last week. Homemade baby food is great, but sometimes a little convenience on the go is a good thing. Have you seen these cool little Baby Food Pouches from Ella’s Kitchen? (Or here are some other ones I found from HappyBaby). Really, where were these things when my babies were babies?

Share your favorite baby food making, freezing, storing and serving tricks!

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Be Intentional about Eating (and Serving) Fruits and Vegetables

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While we’re in the middle of talking about Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating, I just want to offer a little bit of encouragement and motivation once again in the area of eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. I think this is one of the most well known and understood aspects of healthy eating and still one of the most difficult for many people.

If only corn chips or french fries counted as a serving of vegetables. I’m not saying, “don’t ever eat corn chips or french fries”. I’m just saying they don’t offer much in the way of vitamins and other nutrients our bodies need.

We really need a lot of fruits and vegetables. I know this. You know this. (Right? You know this?)

I’ve talked about this here quite a bit, and I tend to bring it up during the times I feel like I myself am in a fruit and veggie rut. Writing this is my little way of kicking myself in the pants (which takes an incredible amount of talent; please feel free to picture me attempting this). I’m also hoping to kick you in the pants (which of course is easier, but not nearly as nice, so please be aware that I am only using that term figuratively, and also you don’t have to worry because I’m not very strong and don’t kick very hard).

All kicking aside, we all need to veggie up. Yes? Do you agree?

farmers_market

So how do we do this? How do we make fruits and vegetables more of a priority? How do we ensure that we are eating enough and feeding our family enough fruits and vegetables?

I’ve thought long and hard and come up with a detailed checklist for us to live by as we focus on eating more fruits and veggies. Are you ready?

  1. Buy fruits and vegetables.
  2. Eat them.
  3. Repeat.

Did you catch all of that? Go back and re-read the list as many times as you need to. Take your time. Let it all soak in.

I think that list sums it up quite well. If we don’t actually purchase fruits and vegetables, they are very hard to eat. Ever noticed that? But don’t just buy them and think they look pretty in your fridge or freezer. You’re going to need to actually eat them if you want them to benefit you the way that they should.

And don’t just serve them to your kids. You need to eat them too. Eating them in front of your kids is highly recommended. Saying lots of things like, “mmm this tastes really good” while you eat them in front of your kids is also a very good idea.

If you don’t really like many fruits or vegetables I’m going to go out on a little limb here and kindly and gently say, “Get over it and eat them anyway”. You’ve got to eat fruits and veggies whether you like them or not. Start with the ones you do like, then keep trying and adding new ones to your diet. I’ve learned to like all kinds of new foods as I’ve gotten older and as I’ve actually given good foods a fair chance. Sure, maybe I like chocolate better than artichokes. I can have chocolate too…I just need to focus on the veggies. I think not eating vegetables because we “don’t like them” is kind of silly, because we are grown-ups, are we not? I’d say “don’t get me started” but I guess I already got myself started. See what happens when I start trying to kick myself in the pants?

Here’s an older post I wrote, the first in the Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating series I’ve been writing, encouraging you to eat more fruits and veggies. You’ll find several ideas to encourage you to eat more of these colorful foods, so I very much encourage you to go read that post. I also want to remind you that eating fruits and vegetables does not have to be expensive and is very worth the money.

Now, let’s chat together and motivate each other to eat lots and lots of fruits and vegetables.

My favorites are broccoli, green beans, fresh spinach and other leafy greens, carrots, frozen peas, asparagus, tomatoes, apples, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe and probably some others I’m forgetting at the moment.

What are your favorites? Do you ever find yourself in a veggie rut? What will help you out of that rut? 

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