Nourishing Traditions Support Thread

[myfrugalfunlife]

Originally Posted by swalker97 Hey, could OP maybe copy all the great links to the first post so they are easy to find???

good idea!
And-here's another blog link The blogs I'm linking aren't specifically NT blogs, but many of them have similar philosophies on food, and have some great recipes
http://www.katheats.com/
She has such beautiful pictures of food-it makes breakfast almost an art form
And here's another
http://ohsheglows.com/

[3 ladybugs]

Originally Posted by swalker97 Hey, could OP maybe copy all the great links to the first post so they are easy to find???

Will do when DS takes a nap. I think I might also need to make this either a monthly or a weekly thread. Thoughts??


My report back on my Whole Foods and Trader Joes...
Trader Joes didn't have any Sucanat Sugar of any form.
They did have a good price on organic raw honey though - $5.99 for a pound That is about a dollar less then I can get at the raw milk supplier, however it is from Mexico. So I got some to try and if that is all I can get at Trader Joes then it really isn't worth the $1. I also picked up some pasturized low fat plain kefir. I figured I should at least try some before I get the grains. I will make a smoothie when I am done with this message.
Grade B Maple syrup was about $16 for 32 oz. However I am going to check BJ's near me to see if I can get that cheaper.

Whole Foods had pastured beef (cheapest was about $1 per pound more then raw milk source) and pastured eggs (again about $1 more per dozen). No chickens that were pastured sadly though. The coconut oil (organic extra virgin) was $0.55 per oz and I can get it for $0.44 oz on Amazon. The biggest find I found though (and what I actually purchased) was Sucanat Sugar at $1.69 a pound. It didn't say it was organic though, so I don't know if this one those things that is redundant to say or not. The Sucanat name had a registered trademark sign at the end.

I just got off the phone with DH and he was shocked that I could go to Whole Foods and Trader Joes and only spend roughly $13 total.

[Farm_Mama]

Just wanted to throw this out there... I have both milk and water kefir grains I'm happy to share. I know when I was wanting them they were hard to find at a decent price. It is work to get them ready for shipping and manage to get to the PO so while I was giving them away I think I need something for my time/effort/supplies. That said, I have TONS of water kefir grains right now. For $5ppd I can send about 1/4C to anyone who wants them, just PM me. My milk kefir doesn't multiply nearly as quickly, so I wouldn't be able to send those until next week. They also need to be sent differently(box rather than envelope) so they are $10ppd.
I have tutorials for both on my blog. Water kefir tutorial. Milk kefir tutorial.

ETA: I've been getting tons of kefir PMs and I'm having trouble keeping track of who all to send to so to make it easier for me, I'm just going to ask that if you want some to please buy them through my Etsy shop. I set up a 50% off coupon code, so the price is the same as what I quoted above. Just use code 'DSMAMA50' when you check out. Thanks!!

[myfrugalfunlife]

Originally Posted by Farm_Mama Just wanted to throw this out there... I have both milk and water kefir grains I'm happy to share. I know when I was wanting them they were hard to find at a decent price. It is work to get them ready for shipping and manage to get to the PO so while I was giving them away I think I need something for my time/effort/supplies. That said, I have TONS of water kefir grains right now. For $5ppd I can send about 1/4C to anyone who wants them, just PM me. My milk kefir doesn't multiply nearly as quickly, so I wouldn't be able to send those until next week. They also need to be sent differently(box rather than envelope) so they are $10ppd. I have tutorials for both on my blog. Water kefir tutorial. Milk kefir tutorial.

I'd be interested in some of the water ones-but I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing here I just read your tutorial and it doesn't look too hard to make-can you use the grains more than once? How much kefir would 1/4 cup make? You said this stuff multiplies-can I use the 1/4c from you to start er breeding my own?
Also-is there a big nutritional difference between the water and milk ones?

[lookatreestar]

Originally Posted by Farm_Mama So happy to come across this thread! I'm excited to swap ideas with you all. We've been eating the NT way for a couple years now. Even though I don't do all things perfectly, I can't imagine ever going back. Looks like everyone is sharing what they do now and some goals so I'll follow suit with the things that come to mind at the moment. Currently we.... *Take fermented cod liver oil from Green Pasture *Grow a huge organic garden(hoping to start our own CSA soon!!) *Get pastured eggs from a friend(until I can convince DH to let me have chickens) *Eat lots of yummy organic grass-fed raw dairy *Do all brown, no white(rice, wheat, sweetener, etc) *Use only raw honey, local maple syrup, and sucanat for sweeteners *Grind our own grains *Soak as much as possible *Trying to get the hang of sourdough *Brew and enjoy lots of dairy and water kefir *Just started fermenting veggies last fall *Eat lots of coconut oil Things I want to do better... *Find a consistent(affordable) source of grass-fed beef. There is a local brand that some stores carry around here, but I'd really like to buy a cow. *Be more consistent with soaking and soak longer - so often I don't think of it until a few hours before I need to start cooking *Experiment with cheese making I rarely set foot in a grocery store. That is probably one of my favorite parts of eating the way we do. Our milk comes from a farm right near our own and we order pretty much everything else from Azure Standard. I Azure, I don't know what I'd do without it. Most everything I've learned has come from real food blogs. Some of my favorites are Heavenly Homemakers, Nourished Kitchen, Cooking God's Way, Food Renegade, Nourishing Gourmet, Passionate Homemaking, and Kitchen Stewardship.

i'd love to pick your brain about what you buy from azure. i have a hard time not going crazy and buying a ton

[Farm_Mama]

Originally Posted by myfrugalfunlife I'd be interested in some of the water ones-but I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing here I just read your tutorial and it doesn't look too hard to make-can you use the grains more than once? How much kefir would 1/4 cup make? You said this stuff multiplies-can I use the 1/4c from you to start er breeding my own? Also-is there a big nutritional difference between the water and milk ones?

Your grains will live and multiply forever if you take care of them.
1/4C is enough to make 1/2 gallon every 2 days.
Absolutely, you can breed your own and share the kefir love! What do you think I'm doing?

Originally Posted by lookatreestar i'd love to pick your brain about what you buy from azure. i have a hard time not going crazy and buying a ton

Me too. I was just working on my order that's due this week. Just to give you an idea, here's what's on it.... so far...

Frozen strawberries (for kefir smoothies -- yumm!)
RealSalt
25lbs Oats
Peanut Butter
2lbs Butter
Lemons
Ginger (for homemade water kefir ginger ale -- very excited to try it!)
Baking Soda
5lbs Soft White Wheat Berries
25lbs Hard White Wheat Berries
Celery
10lbs Raw Cheddar

Some other things that we buy regularly are:

Carrots
Potatoes
Apples - They have wonderful apples!
Onions
Garlic
Raw Honey
Bac-Out (they have the best price I've ever seen)
Ketchup-Muir Glen Organic (I know I should make it, but something's gotta give)
Mustard
Safflower Mayo (another thing I have no desire to make myself)
Cornmeal
Buckwheat
Yeast
English Muffins (if anyone has a good no-fail recipe for sourdough english muffins?? I'd love to make them myself!)
Chocolate Chips

[BattleBuddies]

Originally Posted by myfrugalfunlife I recently got a Costco membership and they have LOTS of organic options. I get my jam (organic strawberry in a glass jar), organic ground beef, organic eggs, organic frozen veggies etc from them for very reasonable prices. I get most of my produce at Meijer though-they're organic fresh produce selection is fantastic! Pretty much they have an organic option for everything they carry. They also carry a lot of local produce. I shop one big trip at Costco each month and then I do four produce runs at Meijer throughout the month (I menu plan in four week cycles). Another great resource is Amazon! That's where I get my Celtic sea salt, my organic coconut oil, my raw honey etc. I'm pretty big into Swagbucks so I use my earned gift cards to get it all free-but their prices are good even if you're paying out of pocket. Many of the organic food options have the subscribe and save sign up-where you get an additional 15% off, and you can cancel the subscription at any time with a click of a button For my garden-I'm going to do a container garden starting out, and I'm going to get plants from the farmers market when they open on May 1 (have it written down on my planner ). Since it's my first year I don't want to try seeds-that's too daunting lol! Oh-I also get my organic, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil at Costco And a jam alternative that I do sometimes is make apple butter in my crock pot! It's like an apple jam and VERY good! I need to make some more because we're almost out of my last batch.

Recipe PLEASE!

[myfrugalfunlife]

Originally Posted by Farm_Mama Your grains will live and multiply forever if you take care of them. 1/4C is enough to make 1/2 gallon every 2 days. Absolutely, you can breed your own and share the kefir love! What do you think I'm doing? Me too. I was just working on my order that's due this week. Just to give you an idea, here's what's on it.... so far... Frozen strawberries (for kefir smoothies -- yumm!) RealSalt 25lbs Oats Peanut Butter 2lbs Butter Lemons Ginger (for homemade water kefir ginger ale -- very excited to try it!) Baking Soda 5lbs Soft White Wheat Berries 25lbs Hard White Wheat Berries Celery 10lbs Raw Cheddar Some other things that we buy regularly are: Carrots Potatoes Apples - They have wonderful apples! Onions Garlic Raw Honey Bac-Out (they have the best price I've ever seen) Ketchup-Muir Glen Organic (I know I should make it, but something's gotta give) Mustard Safflower Mayo (another thing I have no desire to make myself) Cornmeal Buckwheat Yeast English Muffins (if anyone has a good no-fail recipe for sourdough english muffins?? I'd love to make them myself!) Chocolate Chips

I've made ketchup before it was really expensive to make-for me it's cheaper just to buy organic at Meijer for a little over $2 for a decent sized container.
And I'm definitely interested in some water kefir grains-but I have to run it by dh first-I'll let you know after I talk to him tonight

[myfrugalfunlife]

Originally Posted by busymama5913 Recipe PLEASE!

http://crockpot365.blogspot.com/2008...er-recipe.html
Definitely cut back on the sugar like she later recommends! And you don't have to use white sugar with it-any kind would work fine I think

[myfrugalfunlife]

OP-thanks so much for consolidating all the links!