Many people are afraid to make eggs benedict at home because it is perceived as a highly technical dish. You must cook the eggs in a way to not break them, and the Hollandaise sauce is especially revered.
But I’m here to tell you, if I can make it in a 1-bedroom apartment kitchen, so can you!
I can share with you two tricks to make this breakfast a snap. It still does take more than a few minutes, but honestly is so simply you could make this on a typical weekday morning. This is a recipe for one, but can easily be scaled up.
You will need:
A sauce pot to boil water
A coffee cup or two
2 eggs
2 slices of bread
1/2 stick of butter
2 tbsp lemon juice
Garlic salt
Chives or green onion, about 1 tbsp
Paprika, optional garnish
Trick number one: to make a perfect egg, use a coffee cup. Just place the cup inside a pot, and fill with water. Obviously you should make sure you are using a ceramic cup, or one which otherwise can withstand boiling.
Then, once the water is at a rolling boil, crack the egg into the cup. Gravity pulls it down, but since it is safe inside the container it can’t get rolled about by the boiling bubbles, and stays together to cook into a perfect little package. Boil it for 5 minutes for a still-runny interior, or longer if you want it cooked through.
Trick number two: use a blender to make the easiest Hollandaise sauce ever!
Melt 1/2 stick of butter, not to boiling just enough to become liquid. Add to the blender, along with one whole egg, lemon juice, and a dash of salt or cayenne if you like. Blitz, and you’re done!
Schmear some toast with some butter, sprinkle on garlic salt and chives, top with your egg and drizzle liberally with sauce! Sprinkle with some paprika if you fancy like that. Enjoy!
Egg nog is a classic holiday beverage, with many possible origins for its name and recipe. Whether you love it or hate it, spike it or drink it virgin, pasteurize or leave out the eggs completely, it is irrevocably linked to the winter holidays and Christmas.
The thought of drinking raw egg throws off most people, unless you’re already a body builder or someone who drinks them daily already. But not all eggnog includes egg. Some are basically just a thinned down pudding or a boozy milkshake.
This recipe does call for actual eggs, and is for adults only. You can definitely make alcohol free eggnog, but since the base ingredient here is wine, clearly, this is not the recipe for you!
This is super simple to scale up as needed, you can make yourself just one glass or a whole pitcher for a party. And if you don’t happen to have Crema Fina (so sorry) you can easily create a similar flavor with milk, creamer, and rum or even brandy.
Ingredients (per serving):
1 cup crema fina hazelnut wine (or, 1/4 c hazelnut creamer, 1/2 c milk, and 1/4 cup dark rum)
1 raw egg, room temperature
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp powdered sugar
Simply combine all the ingredients in a blender, and whip it up for at least a minute or two. The longer you blend, the frothier it becomes. You can also use a hand mixer or a whisk.
This cold salad lends itself perfectly to meal prepping, or a quick weeknight dinner. Pulled together in under 20 minutes, you can have this light, fresh, tasty salad anytime.
With the hearty ingredients and a little babying of the fresh greens, these salads can also hold for 3-4 days in the refrigerator.
Step 1: Dice your potatoes into 1/2 – 1 inch chunks. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Step 2: Cut the ends off your green beans (you can also use canned, drained green beans).
Step 3: Boil potatoes for ~5 minutes. Then add the fresh green beans and boil another 3 minutes.
Step 4: Add the quail eggs, and boil a final 3 minutes. IF using chicken eggs, add at the same time as the green beans. Drain all.
Step 5: Fill 2 large salad containers with 2 cups of whatever greens you like. Cut the tomato into eights, put half into each salad container. Add half the potato and green beans and olives and eggs.
Step 6: Keep the tuna and the dressing separate until the day you serve the salads.
To keep the greens from getting slimy, add a paper towel or cotton towel to the bottom of the container to absorb excess moisture.
Enjoy within 4-5 days!
Vegetarian: Omit the tuna; add chickpeas or white beans if desired
Vegan: Omit tuna and eggs. Add chickpeas, and/or tofu
No red potatoes: Use whatever kind you have; or use roasted or boiled pumpkin, squash, or sweet potato
No olives: For salty flavor add capers, anchovies, or feta. For fat add avocado, olive oil heavy dressing, or cheese
Price Breakdown: $4.73 – $2.95
For the cost per salad, there is of course a range based on the ingredients you choose. For the “Highest Quality” I checked out the prices of individual ingredients from the Produce Box, which is all local NC produce, and similar to what you would find at a farmer’s market. For the “Lowest Price” I checked current ads for Harris Teeter and ALDI to see what the lowest price on items is. You choose the range that makes sense for you.
Highest Quality
Lowest Price
1 lb green beans: need 1/5
$0.50
$0.20
1 lb red potatoes: need 1/2
$0.98
$0.67
tomato 3: need 1
$0.75
$0.50
lettuce: about 2/3
$3.00
$1.99
tuna pouches: need 2
$3.00
$2.00
olives: 1/6 the jar
$0.39
$0.39
eggs: (free) 2 from store
$0.83
$0.15
Cost for 2 salads
$9.45
$5.89
This is a powerful example of how cooking for yourself at home saves you money over time. A similar salad out at a cafe or restaurant would cost you $12 – $20. By making it at home, even with the highest quality ingredients, you save $7 each time.
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
Happy Spring Forward! Yes indeed it is time to change the clocks yet again, if you haven’t yet. I won’t get on my soap box about the pointlessness of Daylight Savings in today’s day and age… I don’t make the rules, I just follow them.
Well, we didn’t get to build the coop yet, but the greenhouse did get put together last weekend. So I’m pretty excited about it. Now I just need to actually start some seeds and get them inside.
And I led a really fun Durham Food Tour, everyone was talkative and just there for a good time. The food was great as always, and now our last stop started giving us wine! We were all ok with that.
Then I candied a bunch of orange peels and pickled several dozen quail eggs for next week’s coming food swap, and moved the eggs from the turner to the hatcher level of the incubator! CHICK TIME.
Monday:
Breakfast – hashbrown and eggs cooked together into a patty with lunch meat and avocado between; actually pretty darn delicious
Lunch – leftover food from the Food Tour, an apple, and tea
Dinner – mishmash of leftovers
Tuesday:
Breakfast – breakfast scramble with potato, peppers, zucchini, and onion, then poured scrambled eggs on top and mixed it all up.
Snack – a baklava leftover from the food tour
Lunch – leftover colcannon, I made a huge batch over the weekend
Snack – apple with almond butter and raisins
Dinner – sweet potato and squash noodles with meat sauce and ribs
ANNNNNDDDD I came home to 3 little chickies already hatched!
I set up the brooder in the spare room, and stared at them in amazement until bedtime.
Wednesday:
At least 2 more are a-hatching this morning!
Breakfast – apple with almond butter and raisins. I’m starting to crave this particular combo daily
Lunch – leftover ribs & veggie spaghetti, hummus with raw veg
Snack – a monster cookie from work
Dinner – boiled potato, celery, carrot, and onion until soft and then blended it until smooth. Added some cashew cream, nutritional yeast, and chimmichurri from a previous steak dinner, and threw in some cooked ground turkey. Kind of a kitchen sink soup, it was tasty.
SEVEN MORE CHICKS! Up to 10 Total out of 14 eggs now. Literally popped some popcorn and sat and stared at them all night again. #FreeEntertainment #FrugalHobbies
Thursday:
Breakfast – apple with almond butter and raisins
Lunch – veggie stir fry and a krispy kreme donut at work
Dinner – pork chops with a massive veggie stir fry & cauliflower rice
Snack – made a Whole30 compliant sort-of apple crisp with my instapot applesauce, almonds, coconut, and spices. Don’t even @ me about SWYPO because I already think the whole thing is bunk.
Friday:
One of the remaining 4 eggs is hatching!!! I’m glad I didn’t give up, and let them go one more day.
Breakfast – apple with almond butter and raisins, surprise! When I find a thing I like, I tend to play it on repeat. Saves time and money.
Lunch – egg salad with flax crackers, hummus and veggies
Snack – someone brought Panera pastries and I had a cranberry one
Dinner – sheet pan ginger salmon with broccoli, and potato and yellow squash fries
The Weekend
Okay for real this time, we will build the coop. Quail grow fast, and these lil guys will be not so little and ready to move outside in 4-5 weeks, so I want to be ready.
Can you EVEN with this face?? He’s SNUGGLING MY FINGER WITH HIS TEENY BABY WINGS. My heart is a puddle on the floor.
Food Total: $29.58 + 68.32
Weekly Produce Box = the Keto Box, since it was the best value for the most Whole30 compliant items. We got white sweet potatoes (some of which I’ll try to sprout and grow!), yellow squash, kale, lettuce, spinach, cucumber, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes. All the plastic packaging will be returned for them to reuse!
And at the store I stocked up on more eggs, a few different types of meats that were on sale, some spiralized veggies to try out (no I do not have a spiralizer yet, and yes I will get one maybe someday).
Meats
$28.60
Dairy
$5.00
Staples
$2.28
Fruit/Veg
$31.10
3lb ground turkey
9.97
2 dozen eggs cage free
5
whole wheat pasta x4
2.28
carrots 2lb
0.99
chicken sausages
5
spinach 9oz
2.99
London broil steak
6.36
clementines 3lb
2.99
org chicken breast 2
3.28
spiral veg squash/zucchini
7
pork chops 2
3.99
spiral veg fresh sw pot zucchini
7.98
russet potato 8lb
2.79
celery
2.79
parsley
1.59
The Produce Box 3/4/19
29.58
iceberg
0.99
blackberries
0.99
Lessons Learned
Y’all, raising quail is a delight! I had thought I would like it, but now that they are here, I could not be happier. The adults are everything I dreamed and more, and hatching my own is a g#$ d*&$ miracle.
Seriously. I am meant to be a farmer, I believe it with my whole heart. Taking care of critters and plants makes me so unbelievably happy, and to make an omelet or sandwich from eggs I collected myself that morning? Total bliss.
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
So, last weekend was a delight. Friday night I went to Legends in Raleigh for my first drag show in a long time. It was very entertaining, with a huge crowd and many talented ‘ladies’. There were some people there promo-ing a new drink, and we got free really soft tshirts. It was a suuuper late night though.
Therefore I was glad that our brunch with Steve wasn’t too early. We went to True Flavors diner in Durham. The wait was insane, I guess I underestimated how serious a thing brunch is in the South. We walked around and checked out the plaza while we waited, and picked up a few yeasts to try in our next winemaking adventure.
And the food was worth the wait. Everyone swooned over theirs, regardless of whether it was chicken and waffles or a skillet meal. There were also plenty of leftovers, so the portion sizes were quite generous. And the coffee milkshake is far more filling than you may give it credit for.
ALSO of note, the boy sprung it on me Saturday night that he wanted to do an elimination diet. We had discussed it before, to try to see if any of his ongoing allergies is food related. So we are doing a Whole30, sort of.
The goal is not so much to just make it through 30 days without sugar and grains (sidenote, WTF cutting out whole grains and legumes, two of the healthiest food groups on the planet?!?) but to eat as few typical allergen producing foods as possible for 3 weeks, then to slowly reintroduce one at a time.
Grains, dairy, alcohol, soy, corn, legumes, and sugar are gone.
Meats, all vegetables, any fruit, nuts, seeds, are totally fine.
I spent all of Sunday grocery shopping and meal prepping and creating Whole30 compliant condiments (ketchup, mayo, Ranch, Italian, cashew cream) and snacks.
And to kick it off, our first dinner was filet mignon with garlic rosemary potatoes and asparagus. Not feeling deprived yet!
Monday:
Breakfast – fruit smoothie
Snack – apricot almond energy balls
Lunch – was a crazzzzzzy day and I ended up stuck away from my desk so I didn’t have my lunch on me. But the cafeteria surprisingly provided. A plain baked potato w hot sauce, relish, salt & pepper, and a side salad with plain vinegar s+p.
Dinner – pumpkin chili: literally just thawed some pumpkin puree from the fall, mixed with a can of whole tomatoes I smushed up and 1lb ground turkey. Added some chili powder and dash of garlic salt, and it was really tasty. I had mine over another plain baked potato.
Snack – whole apple sliced thin with 2 tbsp almond butter drizzled over it and raisins on top. This is an AMAZING snack FYI.
The boy demolished 90% of a 3lb bag of clementines. By himself.
Tuesday:
Noticing at this point that I am constantly hungry. Like, my stomach can be stretch-out-full and I’m still hungry.
Breakfast – scrambled quail eggs with potatoes, radishes, peppers, onions, cabbage, yellow squash, and spinach
Lunch – leftover brunch; duck with eggs and roasted veggies and potatoes
Snack – dried apricots and pistachios
Dinner – Lemon pepper salmon with mashed potatoes and green beans almondine. Can you tell the difference in portions between myself and the boy haha
Wednesday:
Breakfast – fruit smoothie
Snack – apple
Lunch – 3 oz leftover salmon mixed with Whole30 mayo, avocado, and cucumber in lettuce wraps; roasted cauliflower; grapes, almonds
Snack – energy balls
Dinner – Slow cooker beef roast with rainbow carrots and potatoes.
The boy decided to make ghetto gyros (get-yos is what he’s calling them) and I put my beef over a huge salad with romaine, avocado, cucumber, cabbage, carrots, and raisins with Whole30 Ranch.
Feel pretty full. For about 30 minutes. Then starving again.
Snack – pineapple cubes
Also got a stack of ALL the Whole30 books from a friend who has done it 3 times. Gonna binge read all week now.
Thursday:
Wake up starving.
Breakfast – Giant 5 egg omelet with peppers, onions, and mushrooms that I split w the boy and black coffee
Lunch – leftover pot roast and carrots/potatoes, pineapple
Snack – matcha energy ball, clementine, pistachios
Dinner – Chicken breasts and baked potato/sweet potato with avocado, cashew cream, salsa, frozen mixed vegetables, homemade purple sauerkraut
Read almost all of “It Starts With Food” already. NOT convinced at all on their reasoning or ‘science’ for omitting grains/legumes and there are no citations… Same for their pseudoscience claims about soy and phytoestrogens.
Friday:
Woke up with terrible allergies, itchy nose/face, congestion. Pretty sure it’s just spring time and not the diet, though it does claim to help decrease inflammation
Breakfast – egg and lunchmeat sandwich with potato “toast” = slice potatoes thinly, then cook in toaster by popping them down 4-5 times until cooked
Lunch – Enormous salad of romaine, spinch, purple cabbage, rainbow carrots, cucumber, avocado, walnuts, and dried apricots with plain vinegar
Had to put my fork down and come back to it a few times, because I got nauseated at the thought of another bite of lettuce or cucumber…
Snack – Sliced apple with 2 tbsp almond butter and raisins, a banana, dried green beans
Dinner – ground turkey fajitas; mine was over a salad while the boys was wrapped in steamed cabbage leaves
The Weekend
Big plans this weekend! I’ve got a new greenhouse to assemble, a brooder to prep for this coming week’s chicks (hopefully!) and a new coop to build. Pleeeeeeease let the weather cooperate.
Food Total: $32.13 + $67.83
Weekly Produce Box = Eat the Uglies again, plus a blemished apple stock up box. This is the biggest head of cabbage I’ve ever seen! And I’m gonna make some Instant Pot applesauce for next week snacks.
We also took a trip to ALDI to stock up on some things to get us through Week 1 of Whole30. I will be eating a million percent more meat than usual, since they took away my grains and legumes, and am a little nervous about it, but willing to give it a try.
I made a meal plan using plenty of produce and frozen items we had at home, with a few additions for the boy’s convenience. He has very busy workdays which means very little time for food, and I’d prefer he eat lunchmeat rolls or drumsticks than skip lunch.
Meats
$16.21
Dairy
$3.18
Staples
$17.22
Fruit/Veg
$29.89
chicken drumsticks
3.34
dozen eggs x2
3.18
tomato paste 3
1.17
riced cauliflower
1.89
salmon 1lb
6.39
fresh hot salsa
4.89
steam cali mix veg
0.99
roast beef lunchmeat
3.99
garlic 3 heads
0.79
romaine 3
1.99
turkey lunchmeat
2.49
grapeseed oil
3.99
hashbrowns
1.65
100% juice x2
6.38
3pk bolored peppers
1.99
green grapes 1.5lb
2.69
Mandarins 3lb
2.69
Gala apples 3lb
1.69
avocados 15
10.47
baby bellas
0.99
radishes
0.59
bananas 2 bunches
2.26
Lessons Learned
Whole30 is an AMAZING idea if your diet is shit right now.
If you are eating the “SAD” (Standard American Diet) containing oodles of refined grains and sugars, and minimal produce, you should probably do a Whole30. It will make your health better. Anything that causes you to drop sugar, junk food, and eat more produce will.
However.
For someone who already has a great relationship with and respect for food, especially where it comes from and how high quality it is, eats a wide variety of vegetables and fruits and nuts and seeds, and also knows the actual scientific evidence of the effect of high levels of animal product consumption on human health?
Not so great.
So, I don’t think I will complete this Whole30 journey after all.
I have no suspicions about food allergies, and I have no underlying psychological issues with my relationship with any food or food group, save popcorn. And I may legitimately follow through on 30 days without that.
Also for health reasons I’m going to stay on the no sugar and no alcohol bandwagon. No dairy is easy too, since I use it minimally in my usual life. I will keep cooking Whole30 for the boy, since he is doing this for the elimination and figure-out-allergies reason.
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
The weekend was very relaxing. Saturday we took a reeeally long, like almost 3 hour walk to a park, then found a new way home. Turns out there’s actually a paved walking trail through some woods for part of the way.
On Sunday we went out to lunch with some friends to one of my favorite spots. We thought it was still Restaurant Week… but sadly that ended Saturday. We made the best of it and had a delicious brunch though.
Oh, and also I cut off a donated 12 inches of hair! 😲 Yes, you read that right, a full foot. I’ve been wanting to for years, and finally just said enough is enough. I sent it to Hair We Share, to give a free wig to a child who lost their hair due to chemo or other medical issues. Its been quite and adjustment so far, but I’m getting used to it.
Monday:
Breakfast – scrambled quail egg breakfast burritos with mixed potatoes, vegan cheese, and hummus
Lunch – Carrot dogs! A fun thing I’ve noticed on vegan blogs, where you marinate cooked carrots to taste like hot dogs. So I gave it a try, and they are actually quite delicious
Dinner – Rice bowl loaded with Brussels sprouts, broccoli, sweet potato, carrot, some shredded chicken breast & hummus
Tuesday:
Breakfast –smoothie
Lunch – leftover white bean soup & a big salad
Snack – nuts & berries
Dinner – Butternut squash stuffed with black rice, lentils, carrot & onion. This is something I just kinda threw together with what I had and felt like eating, and bless the boy, he tried it. And actually liked it! Success.
Wednesday:
Breakfast – smoothie
Snack – green tea & a KIND bar
Lunch – out to lunch with a friend! We go out 2-3 times per month and I really love it because we don’t see each other much outside of work. So it is worth the $6-$9 per lunch.
Dinner –family was visiting overnight, so we took them out to Neomonde Durham! I got the half falafel pita platter with grape leaves and quinoa tabbouleh and it was amazing. Their garlic paste is to diiiiiiiiie for! And we ended up with oodles of leftovers.
Thursday:
Breakfast – smoothie
Snack – peanut butter
Lunch – leftover Neomonde & a salad
Dinner – roasted veggies with rice & black beans
Snack – zombie corn! This is popcorn with nutritional yeast and chlorella to make it green. Looks crazy, tastes awesome, tons of health benefits.
Friday:
Breakfast – raisin bagel with almond butter and coffee
Lunch – the rest of the leftover roasted veggies with black beans and rice
Snack –2 Thin Mint cookies! Just kidding, I ate the whole sleeve
Dinner – Since Veganuary was over, when the boy said he wanted pepperoni pizza, I said sure why not! So we had frozen pepperoni pizzas haha
The Weekend
Well the food tour on Saturday got cancelled, so the day is mine. And thank goodness because we planned a big, ridiculous, outrageous stockup trip to Costco. Let’s just say some travel hacking is in the works, and to hit the minimum spends, we are front loading our food expenses, along with many other things.
And of course Sunday is the Super Bowl. Not that I care all the much about the game (still don’t know who is playing…) but we got invited over by our neighbors and I’m pretty stoked. It’s taken over 2 years, but we are finally making friends that live by us!
Food Total: Not even telling
The Costco trip… was crazy. Let’s just say we gave our über frugal friend serious heart palpitations!
Speaking of heart palpitations, February is Heart Health month! I’ll just say it again, straight from my Instagram:
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
So, in case you haven’t picked up on my oh so subtle social media and blog posts, we are the recent, proud owners of a covey of quail!
Covey = group of quail. You can also call them a flock or a bevy.
For a little background, I’ve been dreaming of chickens for years. I love animals, and I love the idea of homesteading. I’m a very curious, DIY kinda gal, and if I use it or like it or eat it, I probably want to at least know how it is made if not try to make it myself.
So the idea of having some birds in my backyard that I basically just water and occasionally feed and in return I get super fresh, healthy, delicious eggs for almost free? Too good to be true! You can actually do this in real life?! Why doesn’t everyone??
Not that many years ago, this actually was quite common. Just like most families during and after WWII had a Victory Garden, most families also had a laying hen or a few for their family food source. But as people became more and more enamored of convenience and concentrated into cities, and less interested in the husbandry and killing and processing of their own food, backyard flocks declined.
Until today, where very few people keep any type of animals other than a cat or dog, or the occasional weirdo with a gecko or snake, and almost never as a food source. But, enough of that soapbox. I don’t really care what y’all do with your backyards. All I knew was I wanted a chicken or seven in mine.
Well, the thing is, I still live in city limits. And there are rules.
The coop must be 50 yards from any property line.
Must be a shade, heat, and water source.
Must drain properly.
Large minimum square footage per bird.
Must send certified letter to each adjoining property line neighbor informing them of your intent to keep birds and get positive response.
City inspector to inspect before building the coop.
No more than 6 hens.
No roosters.
City inspector to inspect after coop is built.
Need a license ($).
Whew, and this is all before you even get to daydream about the cute little chicks. The boy was also concerned about noise (legit) and smell (also legit) and pissing off the neighbors and attracting predators and what if they escape and bird flu and…
Basically, it seemed like my dream would never come true.
But I didn’t give up. I kept reading, and asking what other options there were. And turns out, quail kept popping up.
Turns out, quail are just like chickens… but better!
They are smaller = need less space & less food
They are quiet
They still lay eggs, even sooner and more often than chickens
And so it was decided!
It took some time, but I wouldn’t shut up about it and begged and nagged him to death until he gave in asked the boy nicely, and he agreed to let me keep quail! And so that was how, the week after Thanksgiving, that a boxful of birds came to live with us on our micro-homestead in Durham NC.
Specifically, Japanese Cotournix quail.
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for! All your quail questions, answered. From food to poo, here’s the whole story. If you have more questions that aren’t on the list, please feel free to pop it down in the comments, and I’ll add it!
What do quail eggs taste like?
This is inevitably the first question that anyone asks when I tell them I have quail.
The answer?
They taste like eggs.
Yup, just like chicken eggs.
How big are quail eggs compared to chicken eggs?
They are about 2-4 times smaller. Even with just 3 girls laying so far I’ve seen quite a bit of variation in the egg size, from maybe the size of my thumb to nearly a full Grade A Medium chicken egg. But the yolk is a larger percentage of the total volume than a chicken egg, meaning much less egg white per egg.
Banana for scale
Can you bake with quail eggs?
Sure can. You will have to adjust for volume of course, but quail eggs can do whatever chicken eggs can do. I’ve baked them into hash brown nests, fried them on sandwiches, and scrambled them.
I have not tried baking anything with them yet, because I am over sweets for now, since the holidays.
But next on my list: quail egg mayo!
What does quail meat taste like?
Is this getting repetitive yet?
It tastes like chicken.
Seriously, roasted quail tastes like chicken. Not even a hint of gaminess, at least the two times I’ve tried it so far. I had to convince the boy that these were worth keeping until the end of their usefulness, so I bought quail meat to try before we committed to the flock. It was super tasty.
There is not much meat though. So I would say you probably need at least 2 birds per person, or to have it with something else quite filling or as a side/part of a larger dish.
Did you name them?
Nope.
Well, that’s a lie.
I named one.
Are you going to eat them?
Yup, eventually…
How do you tell the boys from the girls?
Mostly from the feather colors. The boys will have an all solid color, rusty to brown chest. The girls will have a brown or white chest spotted with darker brown or black feathers. If that isn’t a clear enough indicator, you can flip them over to look at the ‘vent’ (where the poo and eggs come out). The boys have a pointy thing there, the girls do not. (all guys are the same…)
Do you need a boy for the girls to lay eggs?
Nope.
The girls will lay an egg a day regardless of males being present. But they will not be fertilized unless there’s a boy around. Which is not important unless you care whether you eat fertilized or unfertilized eggs, or if you want to hatch chicks from the eggs.
We want to expand and hatch our own chicks eventually, so we want to keep some boys around.
How soon do quail lay eggs? How many eggs do quail lay?
Quail start laying as soon as 4-6 weeks old! That’s a lot sooner than the typical chicken 4-6 months old. And they generally lay an egg a day, approximately 300 per year.
What is the expected laying time and lifespan of quail?
They will lay about 2 years. Their full life expectancy is also only about 2 to 2 1/2 years. They are small, so they mature fast, but they also die fast. So I will need to refresh my flock in at least 2 years.
Do quail make noise?
They do, but it is very quiet. If you are not within 100 feet or so of the coop you wouldn’t know they are there. They make soft clucking and cooing noises, and little chirps. And I swear on my 50 pound bag of popcorn that sometimes they ribbit, like a frog.
Do quail smell?
The birds themselves do not smell. Not that I stuck my nose in one, but from holding them several times, there is no noticeable smell.
Their poop though, of course that ain’t roses! But it is not super strong, like I’ve experienced with chickens or ducks. You have to be right up in the coop to smell it. And once I shovel it onto the compost piles, I haven’t smelled it at all.
What do you do with the quail poop?
I have compost piles! This manure addition will make the compost super-charged, such that I probably won’t have to add any additional fertilizers to my garden from now on.
Where do you keep the quail? How much space do they need?
The quail live in a hardwood coop that a friend gave to me. I was exceedingly lucky in that regard, as we did not have to purchase or build a new coop.
The coop is about 6 feet by 2 feet, and they generally need 1/2-1 square foot of floor space per bird. That means up to a dozen could live here, right now we have 11 and they seem pretty happy.
The sides are solid wood, with the front being chicken wire and hardware cloth. The holes are small enough that animals can’t get in to hurt or kill the birds. The base is 1/2 cm hardware cloth that is small enough the birds can walk on it ok, but big enough the poop can fall through. It is elevated off the ground with bricks so that I can get underneath it with a shovel.
Can the quail free range?
Ummm no. Unlike chickens, quail can fly, like for real fly. And in fact are often used to train hunting dogs, or hunters… so, no, if I let them free-range, they would fly away forever.
Someday, in an ideal world, I would have the space and money and time and build them a nice, big, safe aviary. That way they could almost free range. But until then, a coop is home. This spring and summer I have plans to build a second, larger coop, and possibly a quail tractor. We will see if that happens.
Do you clip the quail’s wings?
Yes, I did. This is in case they do get away from me and outside the coop somehow, they won’t fly away. They are apparently really fast and great at camouflaging though, so catching it would be a challenge regardless. It does not hurt the quail at all, it is similar to clipping your finger or toe nails.
What do quail eat? Is it similar diet to chicken?
Quail need slightly higher protein than chicken. They can get by on chicken feed, but they do better on turkey or “game bird” feed, which has 20+ % protein. You can get a big ol 50 pound bag for like $12-25 at a Tractor Supply or other hardware store.
They also will eat many types of fruits and vegetables, and particularly love greens. They didn’t seem interested in lettuce when I put it in a bowl. But then I tied a twist tie to the ends and wrapped the other end on the cage, so it hangs. The LOVE to nibble and peck at the hanging lettuces.
They are also particularly fond of sprouts. They love broccoli and alfalfa sprouts, those disappear fastest of all the treats I’ve given. They also enjoyed the apple slices. Whenever we have bits of produce that we won’t eat, I put it in there to see how they like it.
Eventually I also want to get some bug treats, like mealworms, because they love insects. Extra protein and fat, which will help in spring when they are all laying regularly.
How much time does it take to care for quail? How often do you have to feed or water the quail?
With 11 of them, they go through about one quart mason jar of feed and water every day. I check on them every morning, to see how much food and water they have, and check if there are any eggs. If the water or food is low, I refill it. I check again at night when I get home from work.
This whole process only takes about 10 minutes a day total. I’ve now taken to bringing a new full jar of feed and water out with me. That way if they need one or both, I just unscrew the empty one and pop the new one in, without having to go back to the house to fill it up.
How much does it cost to buy quail?
Prices will vary based on whether you want to buy fertilized eggs to hatch yourself, baby chicks to raise, or older or full grown quail. The most common way to get into it is to buy baby chicks for about $1 each (but you take a 50/50 chance on boy or girl) or to buy a “mating pair” i.e. one boy and one girl, for about $25-$35.
I scooped up a great deal on mine. When I decided quail were happening, I put an alert on Craigslist. Sooner than expected, a post came in where someone was looking to sell 10 fully adult quail for only $25! Of course I dibs-ed it right away. Though one sadly died in transit to my house. Then, I accidentally ended up with 2 more for free, hence our current flock of 11.
How much does it cost to get started raising quail?
Well, you need the quail, which as mentioned will cost you a few bucks to $40 or so. The coop can have a huge range of prices based on materials and size you want. I’d advise checking Craigslist, Freecycle, and Facebook first. But you can even just put 2-3 in a rabbit cage, and that will run you $20-$40 from a pet store.
Then you will need feed, chick or adult depending on how old they were when you bought them. A tiny bag would cost just a few bucks, but your best cost per pound would be to get the big 50 pounders, which are about $12-$30 depending on brand. Let’s average and say $15, and your three quail will only go through maybe one bag/yr.
The cost of water will be negligible, just use tap. If you get babies, you need to worry about them maybe drowning in it. And you want a type of container not large enough to become a toilet… These can be done for free, or you can pick up a $3 one online or in pet stores.
That’s really the only requirements, so you’re looking at about $60 or so, to start with 3 adults (1 boy and 2 girls for more chicks, or 2-3 girls just for eggs). From there of course you can expand and spend as much or as little as you want, on coops, laying boxes, toys, treats, sand baths, bedding, and what-have-you.
Is it worth it?
At our grocery store, you can get 18 quail eggs for $5.99, which is about 33 cents per egg. Sometimes they go on sale. Chicken eggs can be had as low as 0.50 a dozen at ALDI, but more often to the tune of $1.50 – $2.50 / dozen at the store.
The thing is, I don’t know how those birds were raised. I don’t know if they ever saw the sun, got to walk around, or lived in a box that’s smaller than my pillow. I don’t know what they were fed. If they were given medications. If they were exposed to any diseases.
For my standards of food, I can obtain local, pastured, omnivore fed chickens (the way they should live) for $5 per dozen. I had no local source of quail eggs.
So to me, yeah, even if it doesn’t break down cost-wise, it is worth it.
But also, let’s run some numbers.
We use, on average, about 4 – 8 chicken eggs per week (sometimes more, sometimes none). For the equivalent of that we need about 8 – 30 quail eggs per week. I want to totally supply our egg needs. This is totally do-able with 9 girls. I should get 45 – 63 eggs per week, in the spring, if they all lay well.
It cost us a total so far of about: $25 + $18 + $6 + $12 = $61
Assuming I get the average 300 eggs/year, times 9 girls, that is 2700 eggs, y’all! That’s 150 containers from the store that I am not buying the packaging for, and a total savings of $900, at $6 per pack.
Not bad, I’d say.
Can quail live in extreme temperatures/climate?
Oh yes. One of the wonderful things about quail is that they are descended recently from wild birds. Therefore they are extremely hardy. They rarely get sick, and tolerate heat and cold very well, better or worse depending on breed. I have Japanese Cotournix, and they laughed at the snow and cold snaps we have had so far.
How do quail do with winter and summer?
Well, they have handled winter with flying colors so far. We have a heat lamp for them, which I turn on when overnight temps will be below 30, to keep their water from freezing. But often when I go to check on them, they aren’t even near the lamp, like they’re trying to get away from the heat.
We will see how well they handle the humid summers here soon.
Do you need to give quail any supplements or medicines?
Not absolutely necessary. As long as you’re giving them a quail or game bird feed, they should be fine. I supplement with some random greens, other veggies, and fruits now and then, about 1-2 times per week. I also add crushed shells back into the feed, which helps keep their calcium up so they lay more eggs. I just wash and let dry the eggs they already have laid. Then smush them up well.
I also got a supplement online called Rooster Booster, which is a poultry multivitamin basically. I add a tsp of this about 2-3 times per week into their mason jar of feed. And 1-2 times per week I add a tbsp of raw apple cider vinegar into their water. Apparently it is supposed to help keep them healthy and keep mites away.
What do you do with quail when you go on vacation?
I am lucky to have 2 friends now who own farms/microhomesteads near me. One currently has her own small flock of quail, the other has raised quail for years but stopped because chickens were more profitable (the farm is his livelihood). They are willing to take the flock if we are gone for long periods of time.
However, I would be perfectly comfortable leaving them with just a double supply of food and water for a 2-3 day trip. I would also ensure that they had plenty of treat options, and at least 2 different sources of feed/water, in case one got knocked over or pooped in.
How do you transport quail?
Well, they came to me packed in a cardboard box. I felt bad for the little guys, but they didn’t seem to mind it too much. But now, I have a better way: dog carriers.
These we got when our pups were younger and smaller and could fit under the airplane seat in front of you. They no longer fit in there so they have been re-purposed as bird carriers. They have mesh on the sides and top so that air can get in, zip tops for easy in and out access, and handles and a long strap to carry. Super light, totally perfect.
There you have it, everything you never knew you wanted to know about quail keeping! Hopefully it was entertaining, and maybe inspiring. Anything else you want to know?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
Oh man, the weekend at the cabin was glorious! Since it was later in the fall than when we went last year, the colors were absolutely breathtaking.
It is just the best feeling to know there is nothing you have to do right now, just relax and enjoy. It was a great group of people too, which helps. Everyone just kind of comes and goes and does what they want to do. Sometimes you play games, sometimes you read, we went for a lot of walks, kayak and canoe trips.
We also went apple picking in a town nearby! I thought apples didn’t grow in NC very well, but I guess by being up in the mountains the weather and terrain make it possible. So we had a really fun day, and picked over 30 pounds of apples. They will go home with each of us to become snacks, pies, and sauce.
And of course there was no shortage of food. Everyone brought at least one meal to share, and everyone also brought snacks. I think a few spoonfuls of broccoli and a pinch of lettuce were the only vegetables consumed all weekend haha
But that’s ok, life is all about balance. When you’re hanging out with friends, on a once a year trip, if your diet is 90% meat, beans, and cheese, I think we will survive.
The dogs were definitely interested in the pumpkin chili…
I miss it already. Can I go back yet?
Monday:
Breakfast – Pumpkin bread with cream cheese icing! Spoilers, this was breakfast all week 🙂
Lunch – Pumpkin Risotto! Exactly the same as the Butternut Squash Risotto, I just used pumpkin puree I’d done in the instant pot.
Dinner –Loaded nachos with sweet potato and black bean southwest bowl. Just put a can black beans, 1 can pinto, 2 large diced sweet potatoes, 1/2 lb beef, and 1 can tomatoes in the instant pot. Cook for 15 minutes, done. Topped w plain Greek yogurt, 1/2 avocado, and cheddar.
Tuesday:
Breakfast – attempted to make oatmeal stuffed apples in the instant pot. They ended up way overcooked, and turned to mush… so no new recipe for you guys sorry.
Lunch – Leftover buffet! Leftover buffets are an amazing way to clear out the fridge, and keep from wasting food. We usually do so once a week or so, on the weekends. Just pull everything out, and let everyone pick and choose what to put on their plate.
I had eggplant and okra curry with brown rice.
Snack – tea time! I found the Stroopwaffels I bought a while ago, and decided now was the time to try persimmons for the first time. I had a cup of green tea with a Fuyu persimmon & Stroopwaffel and it was awesome. If you’ve never had a persimmon, do yourself a favor and get one now!
Dinner – Quinoa, free range organic chicken breast, local green beans and cherry tomatoes, peppers, and corn cut off the cob.
Dinner – more leftovers! I had the remaining tuna puffs and some lentil loaf.
Then I was watching Fat Salt Acid Heat on Netflix, and the salt episode gave me intense cravings, so I ate a literal plate of rice doused in soy sauce and sprinkled with salt. Mmmmm. Don’t worry, I really do have chronic hypotension.
Thursday:
Breakfast – I’ll give you one guess.
Lunch – Leftover steak tips stroganoff with frozen peas
Snack – an apple and a pear
Dinner – Lasagna! Possibly my best lasagna ever. With Nature’s Root Farm pastured mozzarella and ground beef, it was so crazy flavorful, and I added a few handfuls of spinach and parsley to the sauce so I can claim it even had some veggies.
I also learned my lesson, do not pressure can marmalade. It set up perfectly and was gorgeous, but canning means it will last longer in the pantry rather than fridge. But, it re-liquefied the marmalade, and turned it an icky brown. I’m a little heartbroken.
Friday:
Breakfast – hmmm… sensing a trend? Trust me it’s worth it. This bread is the bomb.com and I have no problem eating it daily. In fact I won’t know what to do with myself once it’s gone.
Lunch – Leftover lasagna and a salad
Snack – someone at work brought these and left them in the break room. Freeze dried bananas, the only ingredient is banana. They were weird, like astronaut food you convince your parents to buy you from the science center as a kid. And the packaging, for like .2 ounces of fruit, ugh. But they would otherwise be trashed, so.
So… you may or may not know that I want to have a farm someday, or a homestead. Not a secret to those who know me, I love gardening, and animals, and DIY, and eating things local, especially from my own hands. But the thing is, I live in a city. On about 1/3 of an acre, with lots of trees.
Not ideal for farming.
But I have dreams.
Been trying to convince the boy for 2 years now that we should get chickens. Yes, they are allowed. But only 6, and no roosters. Which is reasonable, as I don’t want a rooster anyways. But he is insistent that they smell and are loud and we don’t have enough space and the dogs will eat them, etc.
So… what about quail? Turns out quail are way underrated. They are tinier and quieter than chickens, you can fit way more in the same amount of space. And they also lay eggs almost daily. Yes, it will take about 4 quail eggs to equal one chicken egg. But if I can have 20 quail rather than 2 chicken… I’m ok with that.
First things first, we need to try quail eggs and see if we even like them. So I procured some quail eggs, and in my search for recipes found this one from Jo Cooks.
IT WAS AMAZING GUYS.
The eggs are the teeny tiniest most adorable things. And they look really cool in the tiny hashbrowns. And then for dinner, quail just happened to be on sale at HT!
So we are going to get to try both the eggs and the meat, and hopefully this will be the clincher in letting me get some.
Food Total: $way too much
I think the produce box this week was $28? I tried the build-your-own, with lots of fall goodies like brussels sprouts, cabbage, and cauliflower. Hooray for cruciferous veggies!
But then I went to HT, and got a lil carried away… I spent $102 there. I stocked up on several small things that all added up; EVOO cold pressed olive oil, sunflower oil, lime and lemon juice, Bob’s Red Mill spelt, pasta, the quail, biscuits, shredded cheese…
Plus, we tried Butcher Box for the first time. It was $129, for about 12 pounds of all free-range, organic, non-GMO, no-added-anything meat. We got the mixed box, so there was chicken, beef, and pork in there. I think we had a beef roast, a pork loin, 3 chicken breasts, a pound of bacon, and some sirloin steak tips. And it is delivered right to your door! I don’t love the copious amount of packaging though…
Everything we have tried so far has been wonderfully delicious. And I love that I can eat meat again! I know that health-wise, plants are king, and they will remain 80% or so of my diet. But boy, was it nice to have chicken salad, ground beef, and sausage soup again.
And I love knowing these animals were raised as they should be. With plenty of grass, sunshine, and love. If you are wanting a more ethical source for your animal protein, I’d recommend looking into them, if you don’t have a more local meat source near you.
If you decide to check them out and sign up, and use my link: http://fbuy.me/kXzkj I will get $43 off my next box order, and you get $20 off your first order plus a pound of FREE BACON!
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
The weekend was a blast! I got to meet and hang out with Steveark and wife, and give them a nice walking tour of Durham, to which they are thinking about moving. And they I led an actual Food Tour of Durham, made new friends, and tried all the foods. I definitely had well over 10K steps!
Sunday was a quiet home day, with lots of reading and kitchen time. I made a big spinach quiche, and some homemade rolls for the week. We also finally got house cleaners to deep clean from Bro Week, and It Is Worth Every Penny.
Monday:
Breakfast – spinach quiche
Lunch – leftover mashup: some lentils from sloppy joes & veggie fried rice mixed together
Lunch – I baked a few sweet potatoes in my pressure cooker and packed them with black beans, spinach and pickled onions & radish. Garlic hummus and veggies for a snack.
Lunch – pressure cooker stuffed red peppers with couscous and lentils. I learned an important lesson: pressure cookers cook FAST. Ten minutes turned the peppers to mush.
Dinner – Date Night! We had red wine braised steak with roasted root veggies and listened to the storm.
Friday:
Breakfast – peppers and onions and egg burrito
Lunch – leftovers and more moon grapes
Dinner – Leftover beef & veg soup with rolls
The Weekend
I GOT SWEET POTATOES!!! If you follow me on Instagram or Twitter, you already know I’m pretty excited about it. There is no cooler feeling than pulling up handfuls of food you grew yourself.
I also found an amazing farm called Nature’s Roots Farm that offers tons of pastured meat and dairy options. Yes, I believe your diet should be mainly plants. Yes I think CAFOs and factory farmed meat and dairy is awful for you, the animals, and the planet. Yes I think you can survive off just plants forever, and thrive.
But I also think these are some happy cows. This is some well managed pasture. They are well-loved pigs, and a healthier forest because of it. I think this kind of meat is good for the planet, the animals, and the people who choose to eat it.
I further voted with my dollars for zero waste, Earth friendly processes by stopping by local business Fillaree for a hand soap refill! They sell soaps in glass bottles, and refill from large bulk tanks in store. It’s all natural and organic ingredients, and naturally smells fantastic (I chose the Lime Lavender scent).
Yes, it’s five dollars, for which I could get five bottles at the Dollar Tree. But I choose to support local Durham based family business, and eco-smart, waste free practices.
I also got the last of the fall garden items in the ground. Since I ripped up the sweet potato vines that were taking up all the garden real estate, I had SO MUCH space to work with. It may be a bit too late in the season for some of these, but I’m hopeful at least some of these cool-loving crops will bring me something edible.
Lovely rows of winter wheat, kale, chard, collards, radish, carrots, spinach, and beets. Let’s see what comes up!
Food Total: 24.46 + 86.15
My usual Produce Box delivery, plus a cooler full of farm fresh pastured milk, cheese, sausage, and brisket.
Lessons Learned
Living holistic values can be overall more expensive, for sure. But it tastes so good! It smells great. IT FEELS AMAZING. It’s worth it.
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.
Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!
As promised, I spent a big part of the weekend planting the fall things and ripping up the summer things. Tomatoes and beans are now composting, and kale/beet/radish/broccoli/cabbage are in the ground. Fingers crossed we get something edible. I’m already planning next spring’s garden.
Monday:
Breakfast – Avocado and egg sandwich, quite filling and tasty
Lunch – Leftover from the weekend roasted vegetables, with a small piece of steak under there (hah, I bet at least one person thought “under where?”)
Snack – homemade creamy hummus and raw veggies (I ended up not being hungry enough to eat the peaches I canned)
Dinner –
Tuesday:
Breakfast – Peach oatmeal
Lunch – out to lunch with a coworker
Dinner – Lentil sloppy joes! My new favorite. With dill pickles and homemade purple sauerkraut
Wednesday:
Breakfast – A friend at work keeps chickens, and she brought me a gift of a dozen free range eggs! I was so thrilled, because happy healthy free range chickens make the best eggs. I had a tasty breakfast burrito with bell peppers and onions and hot sauce and eggs and cheese. Nomnom.
Lunch – Leftover lentil sloppy joes! Not mad about it.
And whipped up a quick teriyaki stir fry to go with it
Oh and I also have a jar of homemade apple cider vinegar that’s finally getting going! It’s a great way to use apple cores and peels and scraps. Just fill a jar 2/3, cover with water. Add about 1 tbsp sugar per cup of water needed, and cover. That’s it. Let it sit in a dark place for 2 weeks, strain, and let it sit again until tart enough.
Thursday:
Breakfast – Another breakfast burrito!
Lunch – Out again! Shocking, I know, twice in one week. The down side of trying so hard to make friends for 2 years is that now I have them haha but at least our work meal card gets us 10% off so this was just over $4
Dinner – Ya’ll! Remember how when I went home for a wedding shower, I ended up coming home with a pressure cooker my mom didn’t want? I finally used it! My first item: baked potatoes.
The good news is, it didn’t blow up! The better news is, it steamed perfect soft potatoes in 15 minutes. These things are pretty legit. And WAY less energy used than an oven at 350 for an hour.
Friday:
Breakfast – At the grocery store, I found an insane sale on smoked rainbow trout (like 75% off). Given my love of smoked salmon, I figured it might be similar. So I got it, because luckily for me someone brought leftover Panera, and I nabbed an everything bagel with cream cheese, the perfect lox canvas. Turns out, definitely not the same as salmon. But pretty good.
Lunch – Leftover tofu teriyaki stir fry
Dinner – My second experience with the pressure cooker. Some tiny acorn squash that came with my Produce Box.
Took 15 minutes yet again, perfectly fork-tender. They got whipped into a creamy cheese sauce for acorn squash mac n cheese.
Dessert – Wooo what a crazy week, out for lunch twice AND dessert on Friday! I had 2 peaches that desperately needed used up, so I cut them into a bowl with an also-near-death banana and some frozen pineapple. Topped it with some butter/brown sugar (crack) and granola, then I microwaved it for about 8 minutes and bam. Instant sweet tooth satisfaction.
The Weekend
Saturday is a busy day! My pal Steveonomics is in town, his company is trying to convince him to move here. And so am I. 🙂 Then I have a downtown Food Tour afterwards. So definitely getting my steps in!
Then Sunday is the opposite, no plans whatsoever. Well, just getting down the Halloween decorations from the attic, because you know I’m having a party! Gotta brainstorm a good costume.
Food Total: $98.19
Uhhh… oops. I swear I went to the store with a list in hand… and then there were just a lot of good sales. At least most of the things I got were staples and fruits & veggies. The canned goods will stay for a long time, and we were down to almost nothing on rice. We had like 3 rice based meals this week, and burritos are a main way the boy stays alive, so running out of rice would be a disaster.
Meats
$23.57
Staples
$40.27
Fruit/Veg
$30.32
smoked rainbow trout 4oz
2.97
wheat bread
3
bag spinach 2
4
frozen whiting fillets 2lb
4.97
tomato sauce
1.18
bananas
2.28
frozen cod fillets 2lb
9.97
tortillas
1.48
avocados 4
3.58
Stew meat 1.5 lb
5.66
long grain white rice 10lb
2.99
cucumber
0.69
basmati rice 5lb
8.99
carrots 10lb
5.99
brown rice 3lb
4.49
sweet onion
1.21
cereals x3
5.89
bell peppers 9
8.91
Pasta – various x4
3.96
Limes
0.99
4pk org garbanzos
3.29
Pears 2
1.88
Pasta sauce x3
5
Lemon 1
0.79
Lessons Learned
Ugh guys. I need to admit that I am not doing as great with Zero Waste as I’d hoped. But this blog is supposed to be safe space though right? How do I get better? My biggest issues continue to be cheese (sliced and shredded) and anything frozen. The boy is the main cheese consumer, and he will definitely not shred or slice his own, I’ve tried buying blocks before and they just get moldy. And I’m not that much of a saint to do it for him weekly.
How about you guys? Did you have a learning week or an awesome week of wins?
The fusion of food, fun, frugality, and curiosity.