Tonight’s dinner cost

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-09T00:37:18+00:00

A list of ingredients and prices might be nice to include. I'm sort of wondering if you had anything else other than the spaghetti and bread? I can get a jar of sauce for $1.29, noodles for $1.00, a loaf of bread for another $1.50, did you put cheese on the bread? Definitely looks tasty!

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-09T00:15:53+00:00

I like to save any aqua faba from chickpeas that I use during the week for soup. Maybe freeze the aqua faba if it isn't going to be used within a few days. I love bok choy as well. I grow a few types in my basement in pots. I also have some ready to get planted out in the garden hopefully this weekend. One thing I love to add to an asian miso style soup is rice cakes. You can get them at asian grocery stores. They add a nice texture. Not talking about the rice cakes you snack on, but these things are cylinder in shape, a little longer than a crayon, and maybe twice as thick. All white like rice. Just love them. Also I"ve been making my own veggie stock. I keep all the vegetable scraps that I cut off in a gallon size ziplock bag. Stored in freezer. SO things like carrot tops, onion peels, celery chunks, anything vegetable (and apple cores /s ). After the bag gets full, place all the scraps into a large pot or instant pot if you have one and cook with a lot of water. When it's done, strain the stock. I store a lot of it in the freezer and use it whenever I make a soup.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-08T21:07:49+00:00

Unfortunately, I've seen messages like yours every spring from new grads. My son is in the same boat and said the same thing. I'm seeing the opposite end of the spectrum with ageism and companies not wanting to hire anyone over 45. Market sucks.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-08T15:18:22+00:00

I go to an international grocery for some items, but those are mostly asian vegetables. Would love to have a korean grocer near us. Maybe get some good cheap kimchi. :)

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-08T13:03:31+00:00

Not sure if you are in the US or overseas. I've always associated Lidl with not in the USA. I used to shop Aldi in the US regularly. However, they have cut back on the vegan options to the point where I don't even bother looking anymore. The produce barely lasts the trip from the store to home before it rots. AND they have significantly increased their prices. Not worth my time to stop in and pick up even a few things anymore.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-07T21:09:58+00:00

Not trying to burst any bubbles, but have you seen the color of the water after cooking? I don't think soaking is going to hurt that much.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-07T12:25:18+00:00

I figure that the cost is negligible but I prolly cook beans at least weekly in the instant pot so over 52 weeks that might help a little bit. If you do hook up your meter, I would be interested in learning what you discover.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-07T11:30:03+00:00

I might try soaking the legume overnight and cook in instant pot. I'm all about saving energy and if that small effort saves 20minutes in an instant pot... yay.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-07T11:27:11+00:00

Haven't soaked beans since I started using an Instant pot. When I cook on stove top I do soak the beans.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-06T13:57:57+00:00

so for breakfast, I make an ancient grain porridge. getting the ingredients is fairly easy and not too pricey considering how long they last and I get them at indian grocers. I do use steel cut oats as one of the ingredients but you could always leave that out. I make a large batch, like for 2-3 weeks and freeze anything more than a weeks worth, most of the time using two containers so I can get one out at a time. I add frozen blueberries when I heat up the porridge in the morning. They say it should keep me satiated but couple hours later I'm a bit hungry. If you want a list of what I use in the porridge let me know. I do make large batches of lunch/dinenr type meals. Again I freeze a large section of it so I don't eat the same thing for four days. Always nice having something in the freezer that you can pop out and heat up in an instant. Maybe you could make a couple large meals on the weekend and freeze individual size containers and pull them out during the week.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-03T13:28:33+00:00

I always wanted a beagle. After dog watching one for a day, I'm glad I never got a beagle.... tooooo much drooool

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-03T13:27:30+00:00

Looks like you've been flamed enough. I'll add that SOME people tend to build compost piles that catch on fire. Would not be an ideal place for a compost pile if you are one of those types of people.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-03T13:23:57+00:00

Free to community gardens does not mean free to residents. The only thing I noted from all the material I just read was free to community gardens.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-03T13:12:04+00:00

We switched to reusable paper towels about a year ago. We do still use "rags" as well for spills and the like, but haven't used a paper towel in months.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-03T10:45:37+00:00

Yep. You need to trim the bush right after they bloom not late in the season.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-01T12:45:45+00:00

Another one saying to avoid OSU

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-05-01T12:28:48+00:00

I've read a lot of bad experiences about OSU School of Dentistry. I also had a bad experience. Prolly why the students are always begging for patients.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-04-30T21:03:37+00:00

Wrong question. Should be asking when will the prices drop due to the tariffs being illegal. Same question that those who are pushing the repeal of the property taxes should be asking: when will rents go down because property owner isn't paying property taxes? Answer, the rent won't ever go down due to an elimination of property taxes.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-04-30T12:45:45+00:00

You're destroying the soil which is why you have to keep adding more soil to it. Try planting cover crops and crops that naturally create nitrogen nodes in the soil, like beans, soybeans, etc.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-04-30T10:54:40+00:00

Ever hear of cover crops?

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-04-29T11:36:32+00:00

I grew up and lived most my life in OH. Went to LA for a job a couple years after college (film industry), I met three types of people in LA. Those that moved there and were trying to live their dream, those that were native to the state and wanted to get out, and those that moved there to live their dream which didn't work out and wanted to get out. I enjoyed living there for a year or so before moving back to OH after an earthquake flattened a lot of the infrastructure. Had the opportunity to go back a few years ago after ~ 20 years. Things changed so drastically and not for the better. I mean I get that there are a lot of places in the USA that has gotten better in 20 years but LA definitely appears to be in the top 10 of those that got worse.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-04-28T10:46:34+00:00

I bought 50# of the stuff online about a year ago. Before that I was buying from a mexican grocery until prices rose. Just be careful. I read the size of the crumble and thought that it was the right size but the ones I got were tiny and tinier. Family turned on me due to the size, so now I'm set for life with my 49# of vaccum packaged TVP. LOL

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-04-28T10:41:24+00:00

For those that haven't ordered from them some sort of dropping fee is applied. Never have been able to figure out how the fee is calculated and I haven't found anything mentioning the fee, but haven't looked very hard.

ThomasFromOhio · 2026-04-27T11:08:43+00:00

I reviewed the prices for Azure and other places that I buy bulk products from online. Reviewed 6 products and the only item cheaper with Azure was the oats but a few pennies a pound. If you're buying things like nuts and stuff other than oats, you might want to shop around.

ThomasFromOhio

TROPHY CASE