Instacart Review

I tried Instacart last night and it was great.  Delivery to my zip code in San Jose only became available in the last few weeks.  I wish they had this service available when I was pregnant.

Instacart prices are not the same as the store prices.  I would like to run a comparison myself one day - I will update this post if I ever do - but from reading others reviews it seems they charge about 22% more than the store price. Also delivery costs $3.99.  In my case I used a referral code, so I automatically got $10 off my first order and free delivery. If anyone wants to give it a try here is the referral link: http://inst.cr/t/S8AtVx. 

I figure the $10 off would defray the surcharge costs. Not to mention the fact that going to the store costs gas or bus fare.  In my case Whole Foods is 9 miles away and gas right now is around $4.00 a gallon, so going to Whole Foods is going to cost me about $2.75, and my time, 40 minutes driving there and back, plus however long I am in the store, but I say the store time is cancelled out by the time I spend ordering online and on the phone with my personal shopper. As an added benefit, I don't have to carry groceries up three flights of stairs.  Although I don't think there is anything to force you to, you are encouraged to tip your shopper. I am not quite sure what the standard tip etiquette is supposed to be in this case, but the website drop down offers a minimum choice of $2. Other choices are $5 or $10. I only ordered 15 items, so I tipped $2. You do have to order a minimum of $10 worth of groceries too; not that that's a tough thing to do. If you plan on using the service often, they have a Instacart Express, a program where all of your deliveries over $35 are free; the program costs $99 for the year, but if you use it weekly that's under $2 per order for delivery. As a side note, I didn't get any cool reusable Instacart bags like I've seen online.  My groceries were delivered in normal Whole Foods paper bags.  I would think that they would give you a bag for your first delivery. 

I received all of my items, although three items had to be substituted: my mushrooms, my beer, and my potatos. I ordered at 4:28 and received my order by 5:32. I was supposed to receive my order between 5:30 and 6:30, so I was impressed (1 hour delivery was not available for me from Whole Foods, probably because it's a 20 minute drive away).  

All in all, I think this is a great service if you don't mind paying a little more for the convenience. It's especially worth it, if you are sick or are pregnant or have a baby. Assuming you are using Instacart Express, ordering an average of $50 of groceries weekly, and that the prices are indeed marked up 22%, it's costing you maybe $12 for delivery in an hour. I guess it all depends how much your time is worth.

Citypickers - Experiments in Urban Gardening

I've long been curious about Earth boxes and their less expensive cousin, such as Citypickers.

Using intensive gardening techniques, you need 200 square feet of garden per person to eat during the growing season. My entire outdoor growing space right now is 20 ft by 7 ft, which is 140 square feet. So even if I used every inch of our balcony for gardening (something which no doubt would displease Lord Rat), I still would not be able to grow enough produce for one of us.  Ah, the banes of apartment living (or condo or town home for that matter).

Well, I probably won't be growing all of our own food anytime soon, but today I started with almost 4 square feet of garden, by planting a Citypickers raised bed, the dimensions of which are 20 in by 24 in.  I like that the CityPickers is square and it's not that bad looking.

I'd like to see how much produce I can produce on our balcony without uglifying it too much, and whether it would result in any decrease in our grocery expenses.  Although, I suspect that the ROI on this may be in the form of fresher, higher quality produce and the convenience of being able to grab the ingredients for dinner off your balcony.

I'm not sure how long you would have to use one of these in order to see a reduction in your grocery bill.  There is the initial cost for the CityPickers planter, the potting mix to fill it, the lime, and the fertilizer, not to mention any seeds you may buy.

My initial set up costs were $50.98, not including tax.  You are supposed to add fertilizer and lime every time you replant the Citypickers, and I guesstimate the lime and fertilizer will last me a total of 4 plantings, so in four plantings I need to grow about $50 worth of produce. After the initial startup, each planting will cost about $4.25

CityPicker: $29.99
Potting Mix: $9.97
Lime: $4.98 (use 2 cups per planting)
Fertilizer: $5.98 (use 3 cups per planting)

Total:$50.98

I am hoping to get:

6 golden beets

10 cherry bell radishes

1 bunch of kale

3 bunches of Swiss chard

2 bunches of winter spinach

I am guestimating that that is approximately $20 of organic produce.  Although, Swiss chard, spinach, and kale are all cut and come again, so they may actually produce quite a bit of salad.  I will also have the beet greens and radish greens to eat. Assuming each planting produces $20 of produce, I will be in the green by the third planting.

I plan on posting on the gleanings from my little garden.  If nothing else, it will be fun to grow little treats that you can't find easily in stores, green zebra tomatos and sorrel - you can't put a price on that.

Crockpot Caramel

Did you know that you can just fill your crockpot with water, submerge a can of sweetened condensed milk in the water, and set the crockpot on low for 8 hours and BAM! Caramel! Or for those of you who are picky, "dulce de leche" technically, or über-technically "manjar". Whatever it is, it's yummy to dip your apples in.

I removed mine from the can and put it in a mason jar, since I read that there is a slight chance the can could burst (I do not need another incident like the cherry kefir incident earlier this week). Some recommended putting a slight puncture in the can to avoid this risk, but I was also leery that heating the can might cause extra BPA to seep into the milk. 

This project combined two of my loves, the crock pot and Mason jars, and it turned out quite nicely, especially for the minimal amount of effort required. It was a beautiful caramel color, the texture was more gelatinous than caramel, more like a pudding. I dipped some Annie's pretzel bunnies in it, and the combination of sweet and salty was delicious, I had to stop myself before I ate the whole bag. I am looking forward to enjoying the rest as a snack with apple chips this week.

I can imagine this being a nice and easy hostess gift: take a basket and fill it with apples and place a jar of homemade caramel in the center, maybe tie a little red bow around it.

Salad Shooter - A Review

In a previous life I owned a food processor. It was not the food processor that I would have chosen for myself. In fact, it was supposed to be for my mother-in-law, but when Rat was packing his bags, he couldn't fit it in his luggage, and so I inherited it.

It was nice when I had large shredding or slicing jobs to do, but it was so bulky and difficult to wash that I hardly ever wanted to use it. A lot of things I would rather hand grate than have to pull down that monstrosity of a machine and have it take up one level of the dish washer afterwards. After a couple years of use, one of the plastic pieces cracked and the lid would no longer click in place, so that you had to hold the lid on with one hand when using it. I used it less and less, and hated the space it took up in my cupboard. It got sloughed off in the next move, and I was happy to be rid of it.

However, every time I would make Gajar Halwa (which requires a lot of grated carrot), I would long for some gadget that would make the grating go quicker and less painful. I knew I didn't want another bulky food processor, but all of the mini food processors seemed to only be capable of chopping and grinding; I wanted something that could shred and slice. Finally, I came across the salad shooter. I liked it's small size and that it had multiple discs available that could slice, shred, and even ripple slice.  I got the regular model with the slice and shred cones. I use it mostly for shredding and it has been awesome for making my own hash browns, shredding my own cheese, and shredding carrots for Gajar Halwa. I would like to get the ripple slice cone someday and make my own rippled beet and potato chips. Best of all, the parts take up hardly any room in the dishwasher, and the whole contraption fits in a small kitchen drawer.

Last night, I made Maamidikaaya Annam (raw mango rice) for dinner and fell in love with my Salad Shooter all over again; it quickly shredded the two mangos and a whole coconut.

Save Money on Spices

When I first started cooking for myself in college, nothing burned a hole in my wallet faster than picking a recipe that required me to buy a new spice. And when you are just beginning cooking in life, just about every recipe requires that you acquire a new spice. 

One trick I wish I had known about at the beginning of my culinary endeavors, is buying spices from the Indian store. Indian grocers sell spices in large quantities and for a fraction of the price that you will pay at your local grocery chain store. Spices in Western grocers are generally sold in 1-2 oz bottles, whereas in Indian grocers, they are generally sold in sizes vearying from 1/4 lb to 1 lb, often for the same price that you paid for that measly 1 oz at Star Market or Kroger. I swear Indians must be laughing themselves silly when they see American spices. The downside is not all spices will be available at the Indian grocer, but you can count on Turmeric, Cinnamon, Cardamom, Nutmeg, Mace, Cumin, Mustard Seed, Red Chilis, Fennel, and Fenugreek, among others. Side note: Indians also use a lot of nuts, so this can be a great source for pistachios (pista), almonds (badam), cashews (Caju) and Peanuts (groundnut). 

Another trick is to buy fresh herbs or herb plants from the market and dehydrate them yourself. If you are like me, you find yourself constantly throwing out some slimey parsley or cilantro. Next time throw half of the bunch in the dehydrator right away (you know you aren't actually going to finish it all, don't kid yourself). Often times you can find a potted herb at the store for $2 or $3, so don't spend $4 on that 1.2 oz bottle of McCormick Rosemary, buy the plant and dehydrate your own. As a bonus with perrenial plants, such as rosemary and sage, if you can manage to keep the plant alive you will have a nearly indefinite supply and realize the savings many times over.

Besides the cost savings, there are many other benefits to making your own spices. It allows you to be creative: Buy a chocolate mint plant or pineapple sage plant, dehydrate it, and add it to your arsenal of spices. These spices won't be available from the grocery store and can add a new twist and personal touch to your recipes. Making your own spices also allows you to have fresher and more potent spices. To maintain optimal potency, spices should be replenished every six months. You have no idea how long that ground cardamom has been sitting on the store shelf, make your own and enjoy the freshness. Also organic spices can be difficult to find and expensive to procur. Making your own can save money and keep pesticides off your table.

Sloppy Jill's

I would spend much less time cooking if food manufacturers would quit stuffing everything full of HFC and hydrogenated oils (also artificial flavors and colors, what the hell is Yellow 5 Lake?!).

Lately, I've been doing a lot of back to basics cooking: spaghetti, tacos, stroganoff, etc. One of my favorite dinners is Sloppy Joes. I have fond childhood memories of Sloppy Joes. One of the great things about Sloppy Joes (which I didn't appreciate as a kid) are they are so simple to make. Get your can of Manwhich, some ground beef (which there was almost always some in the freezer), and some buns and you were in business. Some cheese to go on top was also awesome, but not necessary.

Then I became vegetarian, and I had to relearn how and what to eat. The hamburger in Sloppy Joes was replaced with the slightly costlier, but still tasty and convenient Veggie Crumbles (Morning Star being my brand of choice). ***Side note: Light Life Smart Ground does bad things to my digestive tract, I highly advise staying away from that stuff, especially if you are just trying on the vegetarian lifestyle.

Then I decided to try and eat healthier, avoiding HFC and hydrogenated oils. So Manwhich was out the window. I am sure that there is a healthier Sloppy Joe mix out there, but if there is it is not widely and easily available. I did not eat Sloppy Joes for a long time, I just gave the cans of Manwhich the same wistful glances that I had been giving the Smuckers Uncrustables.

Well, after tinkering with various recipes, I have come up with my own version of Sloppy Joes. It's not quite as convenient as using a can of Manwhich, but it's made in a crockpot so it requires little hands on attention. It also freezes well, so you can still enjoy those lazy dinner days.

Ingredients

    8 hamburger buns 

•     8 oz cheddar cheese (optional), shredded 
•     pickles (optional) 
•     1 Onion 
•     1 Bell Pepper 
•     1 cup TVP 
•     1 1/2 cup Vegetable Broth 
•     8 0z Tomato Sauce 
•     3 oz tomato paste 
•     1 T Brown Sugar 
•     1 T Onion Powder 
•     1 tsp Salt 
•     1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes 
•     1/2 tsp Garlic 
•     1/4 tsp Celery Seed 
•     1/4 tsp Chilli Powder 
•     1/4 tsp Mustard 

 

Directions

 

Finely chop onion and bell pepper.

Sauté onion and bell pepper in oil over medium heat for about five minutes.

Add all ingredients to crock pot, stir and cook on high 3-4 hrs.

Scoop filling on toasted buns and top with shredded cheddar and pickles if desired.