Monday, September 3, 2018

Bulk Living

This was dinner last night. Roasted garlic cashew Alfredo with smoked tofu. I made the Alfredo sauce for a little over one dollar thanks to one of my favorite sections of the grocery store- the BULK BINS! If you are on a budget finding a store with a bulk section is a must! Nuts are much cheaper in the bulk bins, and raw cashew pieces are usually around two dollars cheaper per pound then whole raw cashews, and if you're using them for a sauce it doesn't matter if they're pieces.
These are two pictures of bulk buns at Sprouts that I took awhile ago. Packaged quinoa is almost double that price no matter what brand. It's also nice to be able to buy as much or as little as you'd like. If you need a small amount of something for a recipe, you don't have to spend a huge chunk of your grocery budget.
I also buy my spices in the bulk section. I just save all my little jars and refill them. You would gag when you see what stores charge for the jars. This way saves money and produces less waste!
These are some of the amazing bulk offerings at Winco which has the best bulk section I've ever seen. It's like a wonderland to me.
I know that some smaller grocery stores have small bulk sections too. They're usually somewhere near the organic or natural foods section of the store. You can also usually find great deals on oatmeal and granola as well.
Remember the scoby I was trying to grow? Well look what I grew?! I was getting ready to dump out my failure when I noticed this little buddy sitting right on top! For anyone new here, I attempted to grow my own scoby by brewing a batch of tea, adding one cup of sugar and one cup of GT'S plain kombucha. According to the interwebz the scoby should have grown in seven to ten days, but mine took more like three weeks. I couldn't be happier, and today I'm going to brew my first batch of homemade booch!!!









8 comments:

  1. Yey! Kombucha! I recently just started a new culture and it took 3 weeks to get something that was big enough to use. But the kombucha turned to vinegar. now it is super healthy and can't be stopped. Heck a new scoby grew when I bottled kombucha and let it sit out for two days to get bubbly.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess I freaked out because the website I checked said the scoby should grow in seven to ten days. But I'm just so excited and amazed that it actually worked!

      Delete
  2. Yay! Congratulations on your scoby success!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hooray, glad that the scoby has arrived at last! It's good to know you can grow your own like this. I might have another go at it. Just having a look at the Mofo themes and found this blog that I think you would really like. Cindy is doing a zero waste theme https://ffcindy.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm so excited! I just started my first batch of homemade booch yesterday, so fingers crossed!
      It's so funny you mentioned the zero waste. Next week that's what I'm challenging myself to! I'll be eating lots of bulk bin foods!

      Delete
  4. Yay for scoby success!! And yes, bulk bins for the budget win!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Congratulations on your kombucha!!! And thank you for the nifty grocery tips.

    ReplyDelete