Coupon for Olivia spreads

Trying to save time?
At least save some money too!

Here's a coupon for 25% off Olivia spreads

Coupon expires July 31, 2015

FREEBIE - Nikol garbage bags

Even though I'm not a fan of plastic bags, sometimes the reality is that they are needed. So I decided to post this freebie for you, despite my misgivings about buying garbage bags...

Want to try out Nikol's new garbage bags? They claim they are stronger and won't rip easily, so maybe they're worth a try! I know some of you out there go buy Kirkland bags at Osher Ad, perhaps these will turn out to be a less pricey alternative for you.

Just fill in your name, phone number, address, and email address (you can unsubscribe from their mailing list afterwards, don't worry) and they'll send you a trial pack!

Click here to sign up for yours!

Save Money on Kids' Shoes and More

Have you tried out MyHabit? MyHabit has amazing deals (that don't last long!) and fast, low cost international shipping!

If you're in Israel, like I am, and you spend up to $60 in your MyHabit order, your shipping costs will usually be $15 and you'll get your package delivered to your door with no additional fees!

Here's a great deal going on right now - Kid's Dress Shoes.

Rosh Hashana is right around the corner, and if you're like me, you don't want to spend hundreds of shekels on kids' shoes that are serious JUNK. I've found a lot of that being sold here. 
So --  enter MyHabit!!

You can get decent quality kids shoes for under $20 (some are slightly more), so you can save some serious cash this way.

I know you'll find good uses for the money you've saved!


And while you're there, check out the other deals, and then be sure to let me know what money saving deals you found!

Break the fast

It's really hot this Tisha B'Av - I hope everyone is managing to stay cool and avoid dehydration!

Hoping you make it to the end of the fast without getting sick!

Since the timing of the fast this year was just difficult, in my opinion, I haven't prepared a break-the-fast meal yet.

But here's the plan:

Watermelon 
Cake left from Shabbat
Coffee and lemonade and iced tea

Real food:
probably Baked Ziti, or sandwiches, or whatever anyone feels like making. I'm not doing much cooking!

And it's just going to have to be "Good Enough".

Hope everyone has a meaningful and easy fast.

Food Recall

Strauss has announced a recall of "Dani" puddings, due to the presence of plastic pieces inside the pudding.

Anyone what has purchased Dani puddings in 8 packs with barcode 7290010472390 or single puddings with barcode 72993637, with an expiration date of 4.8.2015, that were produced between 16:45 and 20:00, is asked NOT to consume these puddings.




Please call Strauss customer service at 1-800-777-777 to arrange your refund or replacement.

Refunds for Cottage Cheese and Gevinah Levanah

Significant weight discrepancies have been found!



If you've recently purchased Tnuva brand cottage cheese or gevina levana (white cheese) in 125g ("personal size") containers, you may be due a refund.


After a recent investigation, in which it was revealed that the 125g cups on the market right now weigh much less than they should, Tnuva has announced a program to compensate customers for the error.

Customers who have these products in their refrigerators with an expiration date of all dates thru 26.7 should call Tnuva's customer service hotline at 1-800-666-244 to request compensation.

"Nine Days" Pantry Challenge Menu

It's that time of year again - the Nine Days are here and it's hot out. It's actually quite fitting to have a week in the summer to focus on lighter eating. It seems to be quite practical, when you think about it, even though that wasn't the origin of this custom. I believe in keeping 9 days food very simple, not any fancier than a regular weekday's meals would be.

In my house, it's not really going to be a "lighter eating" week, since we eat vegetarian during the week year-round, but I plan to do a "lighter spending" week! Starting very soon, we will not be able to avoid spending money as we approach our son's upcoming Bar Mitzvah. There's just no way around it, even though I decided to self-cater the Thursday night event. Self catering is a lot of work, but it allows me to control the cost of the event, while serving foods that would be out of our price range if we did a catered event, as well as the ingredients used. With all the different foods we need to be careful about (at least labeled!!), this seemed to make the most sense...

But I digress. This week we'll be pantry challenging...

Here's the planned menu:

Sunday
Lunch: Sandwiches, cut vegetables with chumus
Supper: Spaghetti, Steamed Kishuim, Watermelon

Monday
Lunch: Lentil patties, rice cooked in vegetable broth, carrot sticks
Supper: Baked Potatoes/Baked Sweet Potatoes, non-dairy crustless vegetable "quiche" (using random veggies from the freezer)

Tuesday
Lunch: leftovers from Sunday and Monday
Supper: Sloppy Sams on Fresh Rolls, Corn, tomatoes & cucumbers

Wednesday
Lunch: leftover Sloppy sams and corn
Supper: Scrambled eggs, Pancakes, melon

Thursday
Lunch: Sandwiches, any vegetables that need to be used up
Supper: Pasta with sauce and cheese or polenta, salad, ??

Shabbat - this is a really tentative plan
Fresh Challot
Food from the freezer, plus fruit soup and a fresh black bean cholent
Seudah Shlishit will be tuna salad/egg salad, rolls, veggies, and  lots of fruit and lemonade or something like that...

Shabbat Menu

This week flew by! I can't believe Shabbat is almost here already, this week did not seem to have enough days. Isn't it strange how that happens?

This week we are having 5 adults plus a baby for our Friday night guests, I hope I have enough food - this really just sneaked up on me!

Here's the plan:

Homemade Challot
Salad Course: Chumus, cut veggies, fennel salad, roasted eggplant, cabbage salad...
Spicy Roast Chicken
Brown Rice
Potato Kugel
Butternut Squash Kugel
Sweet Potato Kugel
Roasted Kishuim 
Roasted Cauliflower (maybe)
Polenta with Tomato-Lentil Sauce and nutritional yeast

Black Bean Cholent will be served at lunch

Dessert: Watermelon, Cinnamon Cake

Seudah Shlishit:
Challah and all the leftover salads and watermelon 

Hopefully this will be enough! What's on your summer Shabbat Menu?

Food Recall (Israel!)

Another fish recall...


"Yisragal Meterman" and The Ministry of Health announced a recall of the following product due to possible listeria contamination:

Vacuum sealed Herring fillets (production date 05/07/15, expiration date 20/08/15)

Consumers are advised to return the product to the store where purchased for a refund.

Weekly Menu

Time for my weekly menu planning! I'm so curious to hear how many of you out there do weekly menu planning! What's your strategy?

This week, we really need to use up some things from our freezer, so while I cannot call this a full pantry challenge, I am trying to keep my supermarket purchases really basic this week.



Here's the plan:

Sunday
Lunch: Rice, Tofu, corn, assorted leftover vegetables
Supper, Baked potatoes and sweet potatoes, hard boiled eggs, carrots, roasted kishuim, and some figs

Monday
Lunch: Random things from the fridge that need to be used up (potatoes, veggies, polenta, yogurt...)
Supper: Shabbat leftovers

Tuesday
Lunch: Sandwiches, carrot sticks, apples
Supper: random freezer findings

Wednesday
Lunch: Random freezer findings
Supper: Baked Ziti, make-your-own-salad

Thursday
Lunch: Any random leftovers from the week
Supper:Pizza (homemade),  salad, steamed veggies

This is not such a detailed menu, but hopefully it will do! It's time to do a good freezer cleanout in any case!
How's your menu for the week shaping up? Do you find menu planning saves you money? Do you waste less food?