With the price of food so high these days, we've found a couple of cheaper alternatives to some staples:
1. Using skim milk powder when you are cooking with milk. ( ie for pancakes, cream soups) It virtually tastes the same as liquid milk after it's cooked. Though it does taste kind of funny when you are just drinking it.
2. Popping your own corn...a $2 bag of kernels and a >$20 air popper can produce a LOT of popcorn!!! We can make probably the equivalent of 10 bags of microwaveable popcorn. It's no-low fat as you control the amount of REAL butter you put in it...along with any other flavor powders.
3. Growing your own herbs can save you truckloads of money!!! We bought our basil plant for $5 three years ago and it has faithfully been producing fresh basil for us ever since! Better yet, you can propagate it easily by pinching the tops and putting it in water until it roots...You can also save green onion tips (the white, rooty end) and grow it hydroponically (how's that for a big word?) and harvest green onions for 2-3 times.
What else have you found?
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Simple toys are better for kids' imaginations
Our philosophy when we buy toys is that the toy must be as simple as possible so that the child's imagination can be maximally flexed.
Have you ever noticed this? When you buy a toy that has a small number of degrees of freedom to imagine or play the child seems to lose interest in that toy after a week. It's the toys that encourage imagination that keeps the kids coming back for more.
In our family, we have building blocks, ice cream buckets, yogurt containers, and other items. These toys need not be very complex. We often wait for people to give us toys and often we request that the toys be very simple so that the kids can grow their brains.
Why do I mention this? It's because simple toys are much cheaper than complex and commercialized toys. they also don't need batteries so this is better for the environment in the long run.
Have you ever noticed this? When you buy a toy that has a small number of degrees of freedom to imagine or play the child seems to lose interest in that toy after a week. It's the toys that encourage imagination that keeps the kids coming back for more.
In our family, we have building blocks, ice cream buckets, yogurt containers, and other items. These toys need not be very complex. We often wait for people to give us toys and often we request that the toys be very simple so that the kids can grow their brains.
Why do I mention this? It's because simple toys are much cheaper than complex and commercialized toys. they also don't need batteries so this is better for the environment in the long run.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
An interesting way to spend 2-3 quality hours
My wife had her cookie exchange today and it was a girls only event. So, my older son and I had defined something to do during the 2-3 hour stretch of time.
I was thinking about what to do todayfor the last week and especially last night. Should I go to the museum? Should I walk to the park with him? Or should we just chill out somewhere? Perhaps go shopping? This morning I realized one thing after I glanced over at my bus schedule. I realize that my son hasn't taken a bus in Halifax before, though he had taken some overseas when he was too young to remember.
What a great idea! We ended up taking the bus all the way to the terminal, which coincidentally was a shopping center, and we tried to find a pet store there. Unfortunately, I guess my memory didn't serve me that well this weekend and we couldn't find the pet store. Anyhow, we ended up buying some fruit at a local grocery store and then riding the bus back. My son had a wonderful time as I showed him the bridges, buses, people walking around, battleships, power stations, and other sites while he sat on my lap for about an hour and a half. He even saw someone in a wheelchair and also an act of respect as someone got up to let someone elderly sit down.
This really simple lesson has taught me that it is very important to spend time with your kids, that most importantly quality time arises as a result of quantity of time, and that the best things in life are truly free. Such a simple act of writing a bus together and taking the scenic route was completely free, due to my bus pass, but for my son represented several hours of hang out time with his father and a lot of learning by appreciating the world around him. I couldn't have done this otherwise with a car or by walking around.
I was thinking about what to do todayfor the last week and especially last night. Should I go to the museum? Should I walk to the park with him? Or should we just chill out somewhere? Perhaps go shopping? This morning I realized one thing after I glanced over at my bus schedule. I realize that my son hasn't taken a bus in Halifax before, though he had taken some overseas when he was too young to remember.
What a great idea! We ended up taking the bus all the way to the terminal, which coincidentally was a shopping center, and we tried to find a pet store there. Unfortunately, I guess my memory didn't serve me that well this weekend and we couldn't find the pet store. Anyhow, we ended up buying some fruit at a local grocery store and then riding the bus back. My son had a wonderful time as I showed him the bridges, buses, people walking around, battleships, power stations, and other sites while he sat on my lap for about an hour and a half. He even saw someone in a wheelchair and also an act of respect as someone got up to let someone elderly sit down.
This really simple lesson has taught me that it is very important to spend time with your kids, that most importantly quality time arises as a result of quantity of time, and that the best things in life are truly free. Such a simple act of writing a bus together and taking the scenic route was completely free, due to my bus pass, but for my son represented several hours of hang out time with his father and a lot of learning by appreciating the world around him. I couldn't have done this otherwise with a car or by walking around.
Lost art
Cooking and Baking seems to be a lost art these days. Here are some pros to adding some love to you what you feed your body:
1. You know exactly what you are putting into your food.
2. You can tweak your recipes to the way you like it to taste (ie. less/more salty or sweet).
3. It promotes team work and conversation in your family.
4. It's fun to experiment!
5. You can make goodies at all hours of the day/night and have it fresh! (mmm...cinnamon buns...)
6. It stretches your creativity.
7. Encourages your young ones to develop hand dexterity and life skills.
So find a recipe and try it today! If you don't know what certain words mean (ie folding the batter, al dente), you can look it up on Youtube or google it!
1. You know exactly what you are putting into your food.
2. You can tweak your recipes to the way you like it to taste (ie. less/more salty or sweet).
3. It promotes team work and conversation in your family.
4. It's fun to experiment!
5. You can make goodies at all hours of the day/night and have it fresh! (mmm...cinnamon buns...)
6. It stretches your creativity.
7. Encourages your young ones to develop hand dexterity and life skills.
So find a recipe and try it today! If you don't know what certain words mean (ie folding the batter, al dente), you can look it up on Youtube or google it!
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