Mislabeled Chocolate Milk!

Tnuva announced today that a small number of 1 liter chocolate milk bottles are incorrectly labeled.

The bottles in question have an expiration date of 3.7.2017, and, while they contain chocolate milk, have been mislabeled as Banana flavored milk!

No worries - the product is perfectly safe to drink, and everyone can see clearly that the mislabeling occured, as the bottles in question are see-thru plastic.

If you have any questions about this, please call Tnuva customer service at 1-800-666-244

Food Recall - Tara Milk

Tara Dairies announced that a small number of cartons of 3% milk, mehadrin kashrut, 1 liter cartons, with expiration date 24.3 do not contain regular milk. They were filled in error with chocolate milk. (Or was this an Adar prank? I wonder...)

The chocolate milk is safe to drink, but may not be what you expected will come out of the carton!

Consumers who purchased the mis-filled milk can contact customer service at 1-800-777-333 to arrange for a replacement.

Milk Allergen Warning and Recall!

Meshukladis Chocolates & Candies warns the public that the following product MAY CONTAIN Milk, and should not be eaten by anyone with a milk allergy:

message and wrappers may vary

DelConte Pareve Chocolate Pralines (labeled Neopolitans in Hebrew), Bittersweet Chocolate, sold in 500g bags or by weight, with production code L6012, and use by date 31.07.2017
The bags are labeled with barcode 8002429001745

The chocolates are safe to eat, UNLESS one has a milk allergy.

To ensure public safety, the product is being recalled.

If you have purchased this product, you are invited to call the company at 08-933-1080 or make contact via their website. 

Please share this post with anyone who may be affected by this recall!

Recall! (Israel)

Yotvata is recalling the following products, due to the possible presence of pieces of plastic in the milk:

Chocolate Milk (Shoko), 2L plastic jugs, barcode 7290003023165, with expiration dates between 16/6/2016 and29/6/2016

Milk Enriched with Vitamin D (chalav m'ushar), 2L plastic jugs, barcode 7290003029815, with expiration dates between 16/6/2016 and29/6/2016

The products are being removed from store shelves.

Consumers who have purchased these products are advised NOT to drink them. Please call Yotvata's customer service line at 1-800-291-291 to receive a refund.

UPDATED PRICES: Price Controlled Foods

New prices for some breads went into effect recently (June, 2015). I decided to republish the entire list with the new bread prices for your convenience.

Here's a quick rundown of what you need to know about government price controls on food in Israel:

--- Retrieved from http://www.kosherfrugal.com/2014/09/updated-list-of-price-controlled-foods.html ---

--- Retrieved from http://www.kosherfrugal.com/2015/02/price-controlled-foods-price-update.html ---

The price listed is the MAXIMUM price for the specified item - in theory, a store can discount it further, if they want to.
If a store is selling price controlled items for a higher price, they are in violation of the law. You can (and should) report these violations to the regional supervisor.
Here are the items that are supervised, and the maximum price to consumers:

(The prices shown below are for the entire country, excluding Eilat. Eilat is exempt from Ma'am, so prices there will be lower.)
Lechem Achid (I believe this is about 65% whole grain) - 750g loaf, 5.11

White bread, 750g loaf, 5.11
 
Challah or yeast cake, 500g, 5.31 (was 5.58) (don't ask me what kind of yeast cake this is referring to, I have no idea!)
 
Lechem Achid, sliced and packaged, 750g, 7.30 (was 7.67)
 
White bread, sliced and packaged, 500g, 6.49 (was 6.82)
Regular Kitchen Salt, Fine Kitchen Salt, Fine Table Salt, and Coarse Table salt, 1 kg, 2.09
  3% milk, 1 liter, bag, 5.30 1% milk, 1 liter, bag, 4.95 3% milk, 1 liter, carton, 6.30 1% milk, 1 liter, carton, 5.90
  Eshel, 4.5% fat, 200ml, 1.65  Gil, 3% fat, 200ml,  1.52  Sour Cream, 15% fat, 200ml, 2.44 Sweet Cream, 38% fat, 250ml, 6.60   Butter, regular, 100g, 4.13 Emek Cheese (at the cheese counter),per kg, 45.45  Gilboa Cheese (at the cheese counter), per kg, 43.14 Gvinah Levana (white cheese), 5% fat, 250g 5.11 
  XL eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 13.20
L eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 12.10
M eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 11.20
  Do you ever see stores overcharging? Have you ever made a report to the supervisory board?
If you found this post informative/useful/important, etc, please find me on Facebook so you won't miss any updates!

Updated list of price controlled foods

Here's a quick rundown of what you need to know about government price controls on food in Israel:

The price listed is the MAXIMUM price for the specified item - in theory, a store can discount it further, if they want to.

If a store is selling price controlled items for a higher price, they are in violation of the law. You can (and should) report these violations to the regional supervisor.

And for those wondering, a while back the Ministry of Finance decided that Badatz milk products are also price regulated products, so stores cannot be charging more for the Badatz-supervised milk, leben, butter, sour cream, cheeses, etc!

Here are the items that are supervised, and the maximum price to consumers:

(I'm showing prices for the entire country, excluding Eilat, by the way. Eilat is exempt from Ma'am, so prices there will be lower.)

Lechem Achid (I believe this is about 65% whole grain) - 750g loaf, 5.11
White bread, 750g loaf, 5.11
Challah or yeast cake, 500g, 5.58 (don't ask me what kind of yeast cake this is referring to, I have no idea!)
Lechem Achid, sliced and packaged, 750g, 7.67
White bread, sliced and packaged, 500g, 6.82

Regular Kitchen Salt, Fine Kitchen Salt, Fine Table Salt, and Coarse Table salt, 1 kg, 2.09
 
3% milk, 1 liter, bag, 5.30
1% milk, 1 liter, bag, 4.95
3% milk, 1 liter, carton, 6.30
1% milk, 1 liter, carton, 5.90
 
Eshel, 4.5% fat, 200ml, 1.65 
Gil, 3% fat, 200ml,  1.52 
Sour Cream, 15% fat, 200ml, 2.44
Sweet Cream, 38% fat, 250ml, 6.60  
Butter, regular, 100g, 4.13
Emek Cheese (at the cheese counter),per kg, 45.45 
Gilboa Cheese (at the cheese counter), per kg, 43.14
Gvinah Levana (white cheese), 5% fat, 250g 5.11 
 
XL eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 13.60
L eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 12.50
M eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 11.50




 
Do you ever see stores overcharging? Have you ever made a report to the supervisory board?

If you found this post informative/useful/important, etc, please find me on Facebook so you won't miss any updates! 

Improvised "Pasta with Cheese Sauce"

A couple of months ago, I noticed an interesting post in one of those groups on Facebook where people post their dinner menus.

Among all the fancy "poached salmon with risotto and wilted baby spinach with fresh mushrooms" and other such gourmet (um, read: unrealistic for a busy family) menus was a GEM. It was a "Cheater's Macaroni and Cheese" recipe, that, get this -- had no cheese in it! 

I was intrigued and filed away the idea. Because, after all, we know that the cheese is the expensive part of a pasta meal, and I was wondering if we could find a way to "frugalize" our pasta meals, but still have milk protein in it.

So this week, I took that recipe and tweaked it to work with my family's preferences.

And here's what I came up with:

Improvised Pasta with "Cheese" Sauce

This makes a really large batch. Enough to feed my family of 6, including a teenage boy and a bottomless pit almost teenage boy AND have leftovers for my hubby to take with him to work for lunch the next day. Feel free to cut it in half.

 What You Need:

large pot
5-6 cups water
2 bags whole wheat pasta
1-1.5 liters milk
1/4 tsp turmeric
salt, pepper, granulated garlic, oregano to taste

First, bring the water to a boil in a large pot. Add the pasta. It will' look like there's not enough water in there, but that's because there ISN'T. Bring the pot back to a boil and stir the pasta as it cooks in the small amount of water. Eventually the water will all be absorbed, and the pasta won't be fully cooked yet. Turn off the flame. Add milk and seasonings to the pot. Stir well, and turn the flame back on. Bring it to a boil, and continue stirring as the pasta cooks in the milk. It will absorb some of the milk, and some of the milk will thicken as it absorbs the pasta's starches, so it will become somewhat saucy. It won't be super saucy, because if you don't let the pasta absorb enough of the milk, you'll just have pasta in spiced milk. When it appears to be ready, turn off the flame, cover the pot, and let stand for 5 minutes.
Mix once again before serving.

Note: the pictures in this post are from my attempt with whole wheat linguini, but it worked better with whole wheat fusilli.

Second Note: this is not a perfect imitation of macaroni and cheese, but for us it was "good enough". And just as I strive in life not for perfection, but rather for "good enough", that is what I strive for with my kitchen experiments as well. Especially the money-saving ones when money is tight.

I hope this helps someone out there!

More Printable Coupons

There are actually more coupons here for you to print out and use. I'm so happy I decided to do something productive today. (If you missed the earlier coupons, you can see them here)

I hope this helps SOMEONE with their grocery expenses!

These coupons are for several varieties of milk - and are valid between now and the expiration date printed on the coupon. Each coupon has a list of participating stores printed on it as well, so check before redeeming that your supermarket will accept it.

As far as I know, you may use only one coupon per purchase, but you may print them multiple times.

Please share this post with your friends so they can save too, and don't forget to find me on Facebook!

Expires July 31, 2014

Expires August 31, 2014

Expires September 30, 2014

Expires September 30, 2014

Yotvata Flavored Milk Recall

 
Yotvata announced that some single serve bottles of flavored milk (250ml, 300ml, and 350ml), with expiration dates from 9/11/2013 - 17/11/2013 are being recalled due to early spoilage. They maintain that products that do not have an "off" flavor or texture are safe to drink.

The recall affects the following products (single serve milk drinks):

"Shoko" (Chocolate Milk) 250ml - Mehadrin - barcode 7290003029433

"Shoko" (Chocolate Milk) 6pack of 250ml bottles - Mehadrin - barcode 7290011438395

 

Iced Coffee 350ml - Mehadrin - barcode 7290011438142

 

Banana  250ml - Mehadrin - barcode 7290003029389

 

Latte 250ml - barcode 7290105362353

 

Punch Banana  250ml - Mehadrin - barcode 7290105368959

 

Cappuccino 250ml - barcode  7290104729041

 

"Shoko" (Chocolate Milk) 350ml - Mehadrin - barcode  7290011438128

 

Latte Zero 250ml - barcode 7290105368942

"Shoko" Diet 250ml - Mehadrin - barcode 7290003029525

Chocolate Milkshake with Chocolate flavored Syrup 300ml - barcode 7290011438470

 

Vanilla Milkshake with Chocolate flavored Syrup 300ml - barcode 7290011438487 

 

Customers who would like to arrange a refund or replacement should speak to Yotvata's customer service  team at 1-800-291-291

 

Please share this information with your friends, and be sure to find me on Facebook! 

 

 

Tara Milk Cartons Spoiling Too Soon

Tara Dairies announced a consumer update that certain 1-liter cartons of their 3% milk are spoiling before their sell by date.

If you have a carton of Tara milk that is dated 13.11.2013, it may spoil too soon.

The cartons have been removed from store shelves.

Customers can get a replacement for spoiled milk by calling Tara at 1-800-777-333

Please share this information with your friends, and be sure to find me on Facebook!

Mislabeled Milk

Tnuva Dairies announced that a small number of 3% milk bags (barcode 42008, 1 liter, regular kashrut certification) were accidentally mislabeled with an expiration date of 11/11/2013 this week. 

The correct expiration date is 11/10/2013 (Oct 11).

Please take note!

If you have any questions, please call Tnuva's customer service hotline at 1-800-666-244

Please share this information with your friends, and make sure to find me on Facebook!

Milk Recall (Israel)

Tara Dairies is recalling some 1 liter cartons of homogenized milk.
The affected cartons are 1% AND 3% fat milk, bear a Mehadrin hechsher, and have expiration dates of 16.2.2013, 17.2.013, and 19.2.2013

Consumers are advised NOT to drink this milk, and should call the company at 1-800-777-333 to arrange a refund.

Price Controlled Foods in Israel

Some readers wanted more information about government regulated prices for certain foods in Israel, a.k.a. price controls.

Here's a quick rundown of what you need to know:

The price listed is the MAXIMUM price for the specified item - of course a store can discount it further, if they want to!

If a store is selling price controlled items for a higher price, they are in violation of the law. You can (and should) report these violations.

I'm showing prices for the entire country, excluding Eilat, by the way. Eilat is exempt from Ma'am, so prices there will be lower.

Lechem Achid (I believe this is about 65% whole grain) - 750g loaf, 5.29

White bread, 750g loaf, 5.29

Challah or yeast cake, 500g, 5.77 (don't ask me what kind of yeast cake this is referring to, I have no idea!)

Lechem Achid, sliced and packaged, 750g, 7.93

White bread, sliced and packaged, 500g, 7.05

Regular Kitchen Salt, Fine Kitchen Salt, Fine Table Salt, and Coarse Table salt, 1 kg, 2.07

3% milk, 1 liter, bag, 5.04

1% milk, 1 liter, bag, 4.74

3% milk, 1 liter, carton, 6.27

1% milk, 1 liter, carton, 5.87

Eshel, 4.5% fat, 200ml, 1.59

Gil, 3% fat, 200ml,  1.45

Sour Cream, 15% fat, 200ml, 2.37

Butter, regular, 100g, 3.73

Emek Cheese (at the cheese counter),per kg, 44.52

Gilboa Cheese (at the cheese counter), per kg, 42.21

XL eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 13.90

L eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 12.80

M eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 11.80

If you see a store charging higher prices, you can report them to the regional supervisor.

Last year, the Ministry of Finance decided that Badatz milk products are also price regulated products, so stores cannot be charging more for the Badatz-supervised milk, leben, butter, sour cream, and Emek and Gilboa cheese, FYI.

Making Kefir in the Summer

I must confess. I love where I live. We chose this house because we love the outside more than the inside, though... (we're renting, so at some point I am sure we will have to re-evaluate this issue!)

The kitchen leaves much to be desired, in my opinion. It has an impractical sink - it's a double sink, but the second side is really shallow. (It must be designed for fruit and vegetable washing?) The fridge and the dishwasher both open into the same space (they are at a 90 degree angle to one another) and I find that completely impractical. Imagine cleaning up after a meal, you're trying to wrap up perishables and stash them in the fridge, while the kids are loading the dishwasher, but only one of them can open at a time! It's like a see saw, up and down, up and down, open and closed, open and closed...

The only oven in the room is directly above the dishwasher, so it also opens into the same space as the fridge, and it is smaller than most of my baking pans. It is also one of those weird combination microwave/convection ovens. I had to buy an oven that is big enough to accommodate my baking pans, and I put in the laundry room - that's down one full flight of stairs! And that combination oven? I don't use it.

One more thing - no trisim on the windows! So in the late afternoon, if you are standing at the stovetop or using the counter (say, chopping up vegetables), you get blinded by the sun. (I guess I could go get shades, but that would mean I would have to actively do something to fix the problem, and I'm just not there yet!)

Oh. And no A/C unit in the kitchen. Can you say HOT?

I mean seriously, it is too hot for making kefir in the kitchen. Kefir is supposed to culture at room temperature. But I think they mean normal room temperature. Not 95 degrees Fahrenheit, as far as I know! A few kind readers gave me some tips, but I'm not installing an A/C unit and running it just to keep my Kefir going, and I don't have any cabinets that would qualify as "cool".

As I told you previously, I decided to use the cooler bag with an ice pack to maintain a somewhat steady temp for my culturing jar, until I figured out a better solution.

But that IS the solution! I have been getting perfectly wonderful Kefir, ready in 24-36 hours using this method. My grains are even growing! So, my temporary solution has become my permanent solution. No more stashing the culturing jar in the fridge, unless we are going away (ha! when will that happen?!)

And in case you were wondering, we don't love plain kefir. But we love smoothies, so we blend up kefir with any less than perfect fruit we want to use up, and then everyone enjoys a healthy smoothie! I love being able to feed my family healthy food that they think is a treat (and probiotic rich foods like kefir as really great for your body!)

Shopping for Deals

I'm a big fan of price comparisons and price "books". If you've never heard of a price book, the idea is you keep a notebook in which you list the grocery (and other) items you frequently buy, and keep a record of the lowest price you can find it for, and in which store. This requires a few days of investment time, running around comparison shopping, and I found it worked better for me in the States than here, since prices seemed to be more stable there. I have not yet figured out if there are cyclical sales here like there are there - like knowing which month you can get the best prices on frozen foods, or baking supplies, etc.

So, I plan to get back to keeping a price book - after we are settled into our new home. I know that I like to pick a store that has the best sales for me in a particular week and shop there. So, that means I usually hit enough stores over the course of 2 months that I can buy grocery staples at the "best" price. For instance, I found that the yogurt I've been buying (and I plan to stop, and begin making our own) is priced lower at kimat chinam than any other store in town. So, I buy it there, and only there (unless someone advertises a sale at a lower price, but I've never seen that).


Today, I needed to pick up milk, so I stopped at Mega and got milk, and a watermelon for only 1 NIS/kilo. I chose mega since they've been advertising that they are selling price-regulated items for 10% lower than the regulated price. I'm pretty sure that a couple of other stores are also matching that price, but since I was right near Mega anyway, I saved the gas...

Let me know how you shop for deals, and maximize your grocery budget! The more information we share, the more we can all save!

Monday Night, April 4, 2011

Continuing the freezer cleanout, I still have a few things to use up.

Among the odds and ends I've found are peas, corn, green beans, oats, oat bran, sesame seeds, and more.
Tonight we'll use some of that up:

Coming to the table tonight:

Corn soup (saute onion, garlic, and red pepper. Add frozen corn and soup stock (or water). Bring to a boil, then simmer for 10-15 min. Puree with an immersion blender. Add milk or soymilk, if you like it creamier, and heat gently, but don't boil again.)

Pasta with cheese
Make-your-own-salad
Apple crisp (using some of those oats and oat bran!)