Homemade soap and organic shopping

[dancerjodi]

The dishwasher soap worked great! Save for a couple of things that probably should have been washed by hand instead or rinsed better (had stuck on food to begin with) everything was clean. This was the 1 part borax, 1 part cleaning soda mixture. I also used the vinegar + water solution for cleaning the upstairs mirrors last night - worked great!

Speaking of (Brian), why is everything called Soda? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soda

I read a bit more of the product recipes last night. The laundry solution is the same as the dishwasher solution (save for some adjustment if you want a fabric softener - I'm kind of intimidated by catching the thing during a particular cycle because I've been a dryer sheet kind of gal for a very long time). The tub and tile cleaners are either borax + water or vinegar + water (with baking soda for more abrasive cleaning - like inside the toilet). I need to get a couple more spray bottles so that I can have fun with chemistry again and keep a set on each floor.

The grocery shopping was done yesterday, and I picked up some liquid castile soap (Whole Foods Brand was cheaper than the Dr. Bonner's stuff by a couple of bucks - $7 to $10 . . . now compare that $7 for a large bottle to whatever Bath and Body works charges for their pumps of hand antibacterial soap - not bad at all because the castile is also a multitasker, Alton Brown would be proud). Its lavender scented which makes me smile whenever I use it now. Its in the soap pump at our kitchen sink to use on hand washing (ourselves or our dishes) and I imagine I'll use the excess for mixing up some other things.

An interesting thing to note is that Hannaford had much more in the way of ingredients (Borax, Cleaning Soda, Castile Bars) than Stop and Shop did. I couldn't find any of that stuff there (though, they carry a lot of the Method brand things at Stop and Shop which Hannaford doesn't - I bought some of the cleaning wipes for Brian's cleaning of our bunny litter box - not too much more expensive than the uber chemical lysol ones we've been using and I'll feel better having my bunnies' bums on that than the icky chemicals).

Generally we like Hannaford better, but they don't sell these frozen veggie burgers that Brian's been bringing to work for lunch so we've been hitting Stop and Shop for groceries instead. We had some awesome homemade bean burgers at DW's birthday cookout last week though, and we're going to try making a ton and freezing some (we spend $15 a week on the frozen premade ones, so that's a cost savings there for not a lot of time investment, mix shit in a bowl and make patties - and they were SO good). But I digress. Stop and Shop's meat and their produce is terrible (though, the latter has been getting better). We're going to try instead to hit Whole Foods for the meat/produce (until the farmer's market is up or we find another better local source, from the source) and Stop and Shop for the other things for a bit. Brian hates the multiple trips, but if I can go after work I'm done by the time he gets home. Though I spent a lot at Whole Foods (it is more expensive) our food budget still came in under and I got everything we needed - OK, I forgot to get a carton of milk, but I think we're OK for a bit with what we have anyway. If its not on my list I forget it. I'm curious to see where this goes. I took the plunge and used some cloth tote bags too (instead of the plastic). Somebody stop me! I can see the appeal of the cloth bags they sell at the supermarkets now - they are much more paper bag shaped, and you could fit way more stuff with much less effort. Whole Foods takes money off your order for every bag you bring, not bad. I had forgotten about that. :)

Getting used to the differences between stores will be a challenge. The staff at Whole Foods were friendlier (I was in an aisle looking at soaps and someone actually asked me if I wanted help!) but the customers make me kind of uncomfortable. Its almost like their poop doesn't stink and they have very important things to do, and I need to get out of their way fast so that they can do it. Of course everyone's not like that, but without fail I always encounter at least one on a trip to Whole Foods. At this point I'm trying to turn it into a game - kind of like "count the mullets" at a Journey concert. Its all worth it for pork that hasn't been fed tainted pet food (or other scary things like that). :)

Mmm, meat. I'm so excited that its grill season again!

Comments

[tiamatlady]

i hate the multiple trips. I'm way more of a BJ's girl myself. (HA! that sounds nasty!) I was, when alone in the house, making one trip a month, buying the family size chicken and beef, and splitting them into indiviual sized portions, then freezing them. But I'm also not really willing to try variants, because I didn't have time, so that got boring fast. And let's not mention how that doesn't happen from mid Februay through Mid April. (If I didn't have a bottomless stomach in the house now I still could do that. We actually have a freezer full of food that needs cooking, but "there's nothing to eat in the house" *grumbles*)

I'm hoping what we can do is the BJ's trip once a month, plus weekly runs to Lamberts or something like that. It might also be worth it to me to get a meat selection from a butcher, wrap and freeze individual pieces. If i schedule something like that once a month, it's so much easier than trying to do that weekly, then we can pop to one place or another for fresh produce.

I'm terrified of what actually happened this past season, that I "plan" on doing something on, say, Sunday (like a coworker who shops on Saturday, then cooks for the week on Sunday. Great idea in theory) and then I lose the day to someone else calling for help. It's not pretty.

There's a Trader Joe's closer to me than Cambridge, I need to start going there. I hate the local Hannaford though, it's too little space for the location and it feels crammed.

*sighs* I need a houseboy to do all these things.....

[rubicat.livejournal.com]

I am so glad Bronner's (and whole foods) makes lavender - I've been buying Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day (low-end Caldrea) for a couple years now for their lemon verbena and lavender-scented cleaning products. They even have clary sage pet products. :)

For produce, if you haven't already: I heartily suggest you drive down River Street and check out Russo's. You will be AMAZED at the selection, and they are quite reasonably-priced. Plus, you know that you are supporting farms and not companies!

You are very inspiring. I love to hear about these improvements! It motivates me to keep focus on my own better-living improvements. :)

[tiamatlady]

Oh - p.s.

I bought cute new shoes, wedge strappy sandals, that I'm hoping to wear to the wedding in england. But they NEED a pedicure. Does your schedule/wallet allow for a trip in the next two weeks or so?

Russos

[dancer.livejournal.com]

Yep, I've been there many times. I was hoping that when they expanded it would be easy to maneuver around the store, but more people just came! :) I tend to stay away because they don't have a ton of meat, I'm trying to not take a ton of different trips (2 is a stretch, 3 isn't going to happen). And I don't want to kill anyone by ramming into them with my tiny cart out of frustration. :)

Re: Russos

[rubicat.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right... the navigation sucks. I'm generally able to go at times where most people at are work, so I only get rammed by old ladies driving carts once or twice during each trip. LOL.

I find the trip is a bit of a pain, too, so I can understand the multiple-trip issues.

Their parma proscuitto, though. MMM. like buttah.

[bluemetalpig.livejournal.com]

That Meyer's stuff is really nice. :)

Produce

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

Have you tried Russo's?
http://www.russos.com/home/specials.pdf

[rubicat.livejournal.com]

I'm seriously considering the honeysuckle!

And method just came out with "naked." I bought wipes and all-purpose cleaner yesterday.

But seriously, I should start making my own....

[bluemetalpig.livejournal.com]

You could probably sew up some very cheap bags even using cloth grain bags or a patchwork of old clothes you might have thrown out for a funky look. I'm sure that recycling cloth this way is about as thrifty as you can get.

Re: Produce

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

Or Wilson's Farms
(It is right of RT2)
http://www.wilsonfarm.com/contact.html

[bluemetalpig.livejournal.com]

I would love to make bar soap some day...

What's the recipe for the veg burgers? I could use some more ideas for homemade lunch fare myself.

bean burgers

[dancer.livejournal.com]

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/654

Re: Produce

[dancer.livejournal.com]

I've been to both Wilson's and Russos. The problem with them, is there meat is limited (I'm trying to limit the # of trips I'm taking for food shopping) :)

[rojagato.livejournal.com]

Since I make my cleaning solutions in small batches, one thing I do is to add a couple-few drops of an essential oil (lemon verbena, clove, rosemary, peppermint, lavendar, or whatever) to the solution. This works especially well with my woodwork cleaner, which contains a bit of olive oil.

At any rate, that saves me from having to store (and buy) several "flavors" of castile soap or whatever.

[roaming.livejournal.com]

What about having stuff delivered? Stop and Shop does Peapod, maybe some green clean company delivers? And if they insist on delivering more than you can use. . . maybe have a clean green party and your friends will take the excess off your hands!?