Monthly Archives: July 2026

frugal living

For The Next Generation: Retirement Advice From An Old Codger.

Today’s post is a bit different from some of my recent ones, but its intent is similar.  Today, I want to talk about financial literacy and the crisis that the next generation faces.  This is not a doom-and-gloom post.  Hopefully, it will offer some hope.  What I am about to suggest is not a short-term strategy. Most get-rich-quick pitches are scams. 

Like many, I’m plugged into social media, and it has been distressing to see how many people are suffering due to runaway inflation, a soft job market, and crippling debt.  Apparently, we are getting new tariffs again, which will most certainly increase prices further.  This impacts all of us, young and old.

There is a trend that I have noticed on social media among younger participants.  It is a hopeless feeling, as if there are no reasonable paths for their futures.  They were told to get any college degree, which gave them debt but no job. They feel that they will never be able to afford a home, get married, or have children.  This has caused some to “doom spend” and use their charge cards for everything from exotic trips to daily Starbucks runs.  It has caused them to buy cars with extraordinarily poor loan terms.  It has caused them to eat out more than they can afford and then do DoorDash for the convenience of not having to travel to a drive-through.  Their attitude is, “I’m going to spend money now; I could die tomorrow.”  Such spending is promoted by advertisers who emphasize ridiculous statements such as, “You deserve it!” and by credit cards, Payday loans, Klarna, Afterpay, 30-day no-interest financing- and all of those tools that make it easy to have what you want, when you want it, even if you don’t have the cash. Credit makes you feel good now, but it enslaves you later.

I’m a retired guy, and at the moment, I’m reasonably set.  I don’t worry if a car needs a repair or if the hot water tank springs a leak.  It is a tremendous relief to not have constant money fears.  Now, I know what you’re thinking, “You’re a doctor, of course you are set!”  However, it was impossible for me to do many of the things that doctors do to build wealth.  My life situation would not allow it.  I did do some of those things, but I did other things, less glamorous things, on a daily basis that positively impacted me as much as any financial investment plan.  Those things are rarely talked about on YouTube videos. However, they are critically important. My success in retirement started at a very early age and depended on decisions and habits I’d built since I was 18. At the time, I did not think that those things would financially impact me in my retirement, but they certainly did, and in a good way.

Before I get into those habits, let me first give you the advice that every financial adviser will tell you.  Invest as much as you can from as early an age as you can, and you will reap the benefits in the future. Everyone knows that $10,000 invested at age 20 will have a much greater revenue-gaining effect than $10,000 invested at age 60.  Both are good, but the compounding nature of the market makes early investment a no-brainer. Per the EveryDollar app, $10,000 invested at age 60 with an 11% return (the average stock market return)  will grow to almost $30,000 at age 70.  However, $10,000 invested at age 20 will yield over $1.3 million at age 70. I knew medical students from wealthy families who were investing in their 20’s, but most of us couldn’t. Why couldn’t I? I was broke.

However, I did have one secret weapon: the power of critical thinking. I have always been less bound by emotions when it comes to any financial decision. This has been my saving grace. Let me walk through some aspects of my life to illustrate this point.

When it came time for me to go to college, my father told me in no uncertain terms that my only option was to go to the local community college.  My best friend, John, was going there, so the idea wasn’t repugnant.  However, at the time, I did have some resentment about the lack of options. However, in retrospect, my dad was right. The community college was nearly free. I’m an excellent student and did very well there, and moved on. Let’s face it, English 101 is the same at a community college as it is at an Ivy League school.

I didn’t have anyone to guide me after I graduated with an Associate’s Degree, so when it came time to apply to a 4-year university, I only applied to one school. I chose a state university as it had very reasonable tuition. My dad agreed to fund me for two years there, which was a huge plus. Naturally, I made sure that I graduated with my bachelor’s in two years.

My dad used his Chicago political connections and got me a job as a school janitor during the summers, which started in my high school years. Here is the embarrassing part: I was assigned to the same high school I attended (my dad’s sense of humor?). My peers saw me cleaning toilets, chipping gum off the bottom of seats, and mopping floors. Alas.  But heck, I was making money.

When I started working as a janitor, I was well below the required hiring age. When a union rep asked me my birthday, I panicked and gave him a date that placed me somewhere in my 30s; I was 16 at the time.  He commented on how “young I look for my age,” and snickered.  However, clout is clout, and there was no adverse consequence from my faux pas. I banked seasons of summer earnings, working during my high school years and through college; I was responsible for all my personal expenses the moment I started to work, from shampoo to socks. This made me very aware of the cost of things, a benefit for adult life. As an aside, I also learned how to mop a floor with the best of them!

I’m an academic type of guy, and I was clear that I wanted to go to graduate school with a goal to eventually become a university professor. When it came time to continue my education, I applied to more than one grad school, as I had learned a thing or two by then. I matriculated to the school that offered me two things: a 100% free ride with a stipend and a location close enough that I could live at home to save on housing costs.  I had done so well academically that my parents were more than willing to let me live at home rent-free during my grad school days. 

When I was an undergrad, I was able to use some of my janitorial savings to buy a new car.  What was it?  A Pinto, that is the car that exploded if it was rear-ended. It cost me $2,700 new. That was about as inexpensive as you could buy a new car in those days.  Yes, it was a piece of junk, but it did allow me to commute to graduate school from my parents’ suburban home. I bought the Pinto for cash.  A practice that I have repeated many times with future cars. Could I have bought a more expensive car if I had gotten a loan?  Of course, but it wouldn’t have gotten me to school any faster.  During grad school I married and moved out to my own place.

I finished my Master’s degree and was moving towards a PhD when I had an uncontrollable desire to quit graduate school and apply to medical school. Remember that I talked about critical thinking earlier in this post?  Well, critical thinking told me to keep working toward a free PhD instead of applying and possibly not getting into medical school. It was a crazy battle in my head, but medical school won out. I left my graduate program with a Master’s degree, got a research job at the University of Chicago, and applied to med school. Amazingly, multiple schools accepted me. I wanted to go to Northwestern, but it was the most expensive school that I was accepted to, costing several thousand dollars more a year. I was in a quandary and asked my PI (the research project’s principal investigator), who simply said, “Go to Northwestern; it will work out.”  This would be the first time I would have a tuition burden, but I took his advice because I felt I would have the earning potential to pay it back. 

After med school, I did my residency also through Northwestern, but the pay was nothing to write home about. In fact, when I was named Chief Resident of Psychiatry, my salary was only boosted by $100 per month (before taxes). I was on my own, now separated and paying child support for my daughter. I was poor. My peers were living in nice apartments, driving expensive cars (one was driving a BMW), and going on exotic vacations. Most had other financial means. I was counting my pennies and living in a basement apartment. I did use a charge card, but I always paid off my balance at the end of the month. I drove an extremely basic car and furnished my apartment with cast-offs, including end tables that I found on trash day. I cooked my own meals and packed a lunch every day.  I made my own coffee in the morning and then drank the free coffee (if you could call it coffee) that the hospital provided to staff on the medical floors. I had a budget of $20/week for food, and I stuck to it, often eating foods from the “shop generic” aisle.  However, because I lived within my means, I was debt-free except for my student loans, which were deferred throughout my 4-year residency. 

I actively networked with established doctors, so I had a job before I left my residency.  It was very hard for me to cold call doctors and ask them for something, but I did it because it was necessary.  This is another lesson: sometimes you need to do things even if they make you uncomfortable. 

I took a job, got a slightly better apartment, and (crazy me) bought a brand new V8, 5-speed Mustang Convertible. That was the only time I took out a car loan, but I paid it off sooner than the 3 years allowed. I also started to aggressively pay off my medical school loans.  By then, I was divorced (it took years) and was paying my ex-wife a large percentage of my salary in alimony. Naturally, I was poor with all of this cash outlay despite being a practicing doctor. However, my frugal habits once again helped me.  I cooked at home, packed a lunch, kept my entertainment simple, and even managed to creatively date. I can honestly say that through all of these adventures, I never felt sorry for myself or even deprived. I had everything that I needed, and I was doing what I wanted to do.  I knew that my plans were good ones, and eventually these times would ease.

I switched jobs, saved money, and bought a house that was bigger than what I needed for myself and my daughter. I felt it was a reasonable investment as it was in an up-and-coming suburb and would certainly appreciate in value. I did have a mortgage on the house, but once again I paid it off aggressively, years before its 15-year term. Here again, I practiced all of the things that I had learned through life.  I cooked at home, packed a lunch, found less expensive entertainment, and vacationed in simpler ways, like camping. I felt extremely privileged. It would have been easy to use credit for the finer things, but what would that give me? I lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood.  I drove a safe car.  I did fun things.  Going into debt would be a stress, not a plus.

I remarried, and my wife was happy to move into my existing house, where we still live over 30 years later and where we raised 4 kids (my daughter from my first marriage came to live with us, and we had three kids of our own). When my wife was pregnant with her second child, our accountant asked her, “How important is it for you to work?”  She was only working part-time, and the income that she brought home would almost be completely absorbed by the cost of having two babies in childcare. We mutually decided that she would take a hiatus from work, and that hiatus lasted 12 years.  When she finally returned to work part-time, we funneled all of her earnings into college funds, and we did that for several years. It was my sole responsibility to support myself, my wife, and four children.  What to do? I had a successful private practice, but I always had a second job working for the underserved, as I felt it was important to provide services for the less fortunate. These secondary jobs never paid as well as my private practice, which presented a problem, but it was worth it as I felt that I was doing the right thing. Despite all of this, we were able to not only get by but to live well.  The community that I chose years before had excellent schools and activities for the kids.  The house was paid off, and it was increasing in value year after year. We had everything that we needed and more.

All of my doctor friends have larger homes than I do; many went on fancier trips, drove luxury cars, and had expensive clothes. I had a perfectly nice house, drove a regular car, went on camping adventures with my family, ate at home, and I continued to pack a lunch. I had no debt. I felt secure.

What about investments?  I did have a financial advisor, and he was sometimes frustrated with me, as during parts of my life I couldn’t contribute, or I could only contribute less than what he wanted me to contribute to my investments. However, over time I was able to meet his wishes. I was in my 40’s before I could invest in a meaningful way, and being debt-free allowed me to do so with vigor in my 50s.

And there, dear reader, I have given you my secret to a secure retirement. I can summarize it in a couple of sentences.  I always lived somewhat below my means; I kept debt to a minimum and got rid of it as fast as I could. I did without. I lived by my own standard: “Comparison is the thief of joy”. I invested in appreciating assets and, with the exception of the Mustang, carefully purchased depreciating assets. I never allowed myself to get into high-interest debt, such as credit card debt. I critically looked at every major thing that I did in life, making an effort to maximize value and minimize cost. In my case, I felt it was best to invest in myself rather than the market.  When I established myself, I did invest.  Would I have been a richer man if my wife continued to work, if we had fewer kids, if I somehow invested more earlier on?  Most certainly, but I’m fine with my current level of security. Could I have extended myself and gotten a bigger house, a fancier car, gone on more luxurious vacations?  Sure.  Do I feel deprived in any way?  Absolutely not.  I am extremely happy and grateful for my life.  Happiness and stuff are not mutually inclusive. Did I do everything to build wealth at all costs?  No. I did do some things that were the opposite of that.  I bought the Mustang; it was a foolish car, but it was a lot of fun. I worked in service jobs that paid less than my private practice.  However, not only did I feel the need to do that, but it also gave me great satisfaction.  Securing your retirement future is not about doing everything right; it is about doing many things right and fewer things wrong. Debt via easy credit is a millstone around your neck, and the sooner you start debt, the more the stone weighs. I’m no financial guru; I’m just a guy who followed common sense rules.

If you feel that you need to go into debt now to have stuff, I am asking you to do anything possible to avoid that.  Companies that extend credit do it to transfer your money into their pocket. Spend money with intention, invest as much as you reasonably can, as soon as you can.  Find the balance that works for you. I felt that my education was an appreciating asset for me. I felt that my wife staying home with the kids for 12 years was an appreciating asset in my children. I felt that having a nice house in a good neighborhood with no debt was more important than having a giant house with a big mortgage in a gated community. I felt that spending time with my family as we discovered the world in our camper was every bit as good as flying off on an expensive holiday. What good would it be to be fabulously wealthy if my kids just saw me as an ATM?  At the same time, what good would it be if I pinched every penny to the point where we lived miserable lives?  If you can use your money to meet basic needs, you can find a multitude of economical ways to enrich your lives. My willingness to eat generic bologna sandwiches in medical school gave me the freedom to upgrade my apartment to somewhat better accommodations, and that conservative apartment allowed me to buy a house, and so forth. Now, when my wife wants to go on a nice trip or out to dinner, I say, “Sure.” She also spent conservatively during the early years.  Yet, I guarantee that my kids never felt deprived, and they all have great memories of the car trips and camping trips that we took. I cooked many meals with them, and my kids became competent cooks.  I fixed things with them, and all are willing to tackle a simple repair project.  All of them have traveled abroad now that they are adults, but at the same time, they are also sensible with their spending.  

Despite what advertisements and influencers say, you can’t have it all.  Why would you want that anyway?  However, you can have some.  Stop doom spending.  Find purpose in your life; it is there. You may have to dig for it, but it is there.  Celebrate every day.  Write a gratitude list and read it daily. Stop believing the BS that you see on social media and don’t buy a crappy, useless get-rich-quick course that some yahoo wants to sell you.  Building security is a slow process; that’s OK.  Even during my poorest times, I found ways to be happy and to have fun.  I wish you the same.

Peace

Mike 

Me from a couple year ago on a camping adventure out west. I traveled in my homemade adventure van. A fabulous trip with fabulous memories!

frugal cooking, frugal living, Uncategorized

Save Money: Make Cheesy Tomato Chicken Pasta In The Instant Pot!

With the astounding inflation that we are experiencing, one pot meals offer both convenience and value. When I was at the market yesterday, I spied a two-for-one sale on chicken breasts. Perfect! I thought. I had just watched a video where the presenter made a complete pasta and chicken dish in their Instant Pot. Simple, filling, and delicious. I already had most of the ingredients, and I could fudge the ones I was lacking. Dinner was about to be served!

When I use the term “Instant Pot” I’m actually referring to any electric pressure cooker. They all work very similarly.

Here are the ingredients as well as the name of the YouTube channel that originally published the recipe:

The ingredient list may look long, but the recipe is really very simple. Putting the dinner together took me about 10 minutes.

Here we are, ready to go. Cooking is easier if you gather all of your ingredients beforehand. I had everything needed except the chicken, which I picked up on a 2 for 1 sale.

The only real work for this dinner was cutting up the chicken and chopping up an onion. Let’s face it, that isn’t too much to do.

I had a two-pound box of macaroni, and the recipe called for 1 pound. I could have eyeballed it, but I have a kitchen scale, which is useful for so many things. Kitchen scales are very inexpensive. I think this one was around $10 (I have had it for a long time and don’t remember the exact cost).

Place the Instant Pot (or any electric pressure cooker) on sauté and soften the onion for a few minutes in some olive oil. You can use any cooking oil that you have on hand, but olive oil is nice.

Add the spices and cook them for about 30 seconds. This will bring out their flavor, but don’t let them burn.

Add the garlic. Fresh garlic is nice, but I’m using “jarlic” (garlic in a jar). In a pinch, you could use granulated garlic. Cook this mixture for around a minute. If using granulated garlic, just mix it in and move on to the next step.

Add the chicken and sauté it for a few minutes. Naturally, stir it around.

Add the spaghetti sauce and the water/broth and mix. In this situation, my sauce was a smaller bottle than what the recipe called for, so I added some tomato sauce to bring the total up to 40 oz. I added the 2 cups of hot water with the amount of chicken bouillon enough for one cup. I wanted the richness of a broth but I didn’t want the pasta to be too salty. Remember, you can always add salt when the dish is complete. I also added about one teaspoon of oregano to the tomato sauce to simulate a pasta sauce. I think I could have used the spaghetti sauce that I had and just added water to make up the 40 ounces too. The dish would have had a little less tomato flavor, but it would still be delicious. Remember, this is family cooking. It just has to taste good.

Add the dry pasta. Don’t mix it in, instead gently submerge it in the sauce. I used macaroni, but any small pasta would do. If you mix the pasta in some of the pasta could burn to the bottom of the pot.

The original recipe advised cooking under pressure for 5 minutes and then releasing the pressure. I like less al dente pasta, so I cooked it for 6 minutes. However, I felt it was still too hard. No problem, I just turned on the sauté function for a few minutes (with the lid off) until the pasta was the perfect texture. Many times it is possible to save a recipe with just a little problem-solving. After the pasta was completely cooked, I canceled the sauté function. Different shapes of pasta cook at different times, so you may need to adjust your pressure cook time a minute or two one way or the other once you have the recipe down. Additionally, you can always go with 5 minutes and use sauté to complete the process if necessary. Remember, you can always add time, but you can’t subtract it.

Here I’m using my scale again, this time to measure out 8 ounces of Mozzarella Cheese. I wouldn’t add more than this. If you don’t have 8 ounces, a few ounces less would also work.

I added both the Mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses to the pot and covered it for a few minutes to let the residual heat melt them. Once melted, stir the mixture. It will thicken as you stir it.

Here you can see the finished pasta. Very rich and creamy.

Earlier in the day, I threw together the ingredients for my flax seed bread in a bread maker. Measuring the ingredients took around 5 minutes. I then pressed a button and walked away. Three and a half hours later, I had a fresh loaf of homemade bread. It was still warm by dinner time.

Here is the cheesy chicken pasta, plated with some of my homemade bread. It was delicious, but the recipe made an absolutely massive amount of food. My wife and I both had it for dinner, but we barely put a dent in it. We will eat some of the leftovers over the next two days, but we can only eat so much. I hate to waste food, and I’m unsure how well this dish would freeze. Next time I will half the recipe.

Happy eating!

Mike

fear of parenting, parenting, Uncategorized

A Boys’ Only Night, And A Little About Parenting

Parenting is such a strange business.  It is probably the most important thing most humans do, yet it receives the least amount of training. 

When I was younger, I never wanted to have children, as I had been told that kids were a burden, an expense, a disappointment, and they caused problems in marriages. To be honest, I was a great disappointment as a child, and I can’t blame my father for my genuine shortcomings. 

I was a “surprise” seven years after he already had his perfect family of four. I didn’t give him much to brag about.  I was a huge kid, perfect for football.  However, I was clumsy, horribly coordinated, and blind in one eye, making it impossible for me to even catch a ball. He told me he loved me, but his actions demonstrated a different reality.  I’m not here to crap on my father.  He provided me with food and shelter.  He did the best he could; he was just done parenting by the time that I came along.

My head was always in the clouds, always thinking, always solving problems, always exploring scenarios. Mr. Wizard on TV became my virtual dad and hero, and teachers became my cheerleaders. However, the overall message was clear to me. Kids are problems; don’t have them.

I have always wondered how things work, why things work, and how I could modify things to do other things. A weird kid, I know.

That all changed with the birth of my first daughter, Anne.  How could anyone not love that beautiful baby? I realized that my fear of having children was based more on my fear of being a father.  I was a poor-quality son, and somehow that meant that I would be a poor-quality parent. I was terrified that I didn’t have the skills to do the job. I was afraid that I would be an inadequate dad.  How could I teach my child sports when I was so awful at them myself? Isn’t that strange? I focused on the one thing I was terrible at and framed it as the sole necessary ingredient for fatherhood. 

Sometimes marriages are mismatches, and that was the case with my first marriage. We divorced, but I made a commitment to do the best that I could to be a good dad to my daughter. I assumed that she would be my only child. Note to self: never make assumptions.

I dated a number of wonderful women during the years that I was single. I genuinely liked them, but I can’t say that I loved them. I committed to myself that I would not marry again unless I was sure.  This eventually led to the certainty that I would live a single life. Over time, I stopped dating altogether; then I didn’t.

I met my wife by chance, and we hit it off. At the time, she was in the process of earning her PhD, and I was already a medical doctor. We married, but held off having children until she was near the end of her schooling.  She was healthy, and I already had a child, so we were certain that getting pregnant would be a walk in the park. It wasn’t. Pills, shots, procedures- we did it all. Finally, a procedure called IUI was advised. It worked, and we had our first child together, a daughter.  A few years later, we followed the same protocol and had our second daughter together. I was certain that we were done, but we were surprised by a bonus baby, a son whom we named William. 

By then, I knew I couldn’t be a perfect parent, since no perfect parent existed.  All I could be was me.  However, I could be an intentional parent.  But what was my goal?  My objective in parenting?  It was simple.  It was my responsibility to raise my children to be successful adults.  That was it, one goal, one mission. You may have your own idea of what successful means.  Perhaps it involves a title, a job description, or a salary. In other words, something tangible.  That was not my definition.  For me, it meant they would be able to support themselves financially.  That they had the tools and education to accomplish what they wanted to do.  That they were critical thinkers and not sheep.  That they had healthy self-esteem and faith in themselves, but not the false self-esteem created by the idea that everyone gets a participation award. That they had the life skills to function as an adult, and that they were kind and compassionate human beings who realized how fortunate they were and how some others were not. It was their responsibility to use their gifts and abilities to move the world in a positive direction, even if that movement would be minuscule. 

Of all, being kind was the most important.  When I was young, adults would remark how kind I was.  I was never a tough kid the way a boy “should” be. I worried about others, I could sense their distress, I wanted to help them. I saw my kindness as a great weakness, a flaw. Another imperfection that made me different. However, I came to realize that it was one of my great strengths. Treating others with respect opens the world, and the act itself makes the planet a better place for all. 

How did I accomplish my parenting goal?  I tried to be a good parent.  I tried to be reliable. I admitted to them when I didn’t know something. I taught them what I knew.  How to cook, how to fix things, how to camp, how to see the wonderment that is all around us, how to be grateful. How to be creative, how to critically examine information, how to be kind, how to give back, how to love, how to respect, how to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, and so on.

I let them know how much they were loved, but I also had expectations for them.  Those were not expectations to make me look good, they were expectations to use the gifts that they were given to their fullest. This is what I could do for them; it would have to be enough.

I have a deep, never-ending love for all four of my children and savor the times when we can all be together.  Those events bring me joy. However, I also love those rarer situations when I can spend time with just one of them.  Each child is a bit different, yet amazing in their own regard.

My son is the only child still at home.  He is constantly busy with his social life and pursuit of a PhD. My wife works some evenings, and these are often times when William and I spend some time together. We will make dinner together and sit down and talk. The worm has turned, and he is more up to date on scientific theory and procedure than I am, but I’m still capable of contributing to the conversation. At other times, we may talk about world events, my life, his life, or even his friends.  I’m interested in their lives, too, as they move into adulthood and follow so many different paths. 

My son is smart, actually very smart, and approaches complex topics with a relaxed ease.  He is a social creature who easily makes friends, so he always has a story to tell of an adventure or to relate. Most importantly, he is kind.  I can’t think of a time when he was deliberately mean to another person.  He treats people with respect, and he treats me with respect.  I do the same to him, as he is no longer the kid I taught to fix an outside faucet or cook a steak over an open campfire. 

A few months ago, he wanted me to watch one of his favorite movies, “Dune.” We did this to our mutual enjoyment, and at the end we decided to continue the franchise by watching “Dune Part 2.”  Life got in the way, and that never happened.  The other day, at dinner, William said, “Dad, if we don’t schedule “Dune 2,” we will never watch it.  I agreed and pulled out my calendar.  We would do it the following Tuesday, as Julie would be working that evening and we could have a boys’ night. Naturally, it would involve food, a menu suitable for such an occasion.

On Monday I went to Aldi and picked up some brats, buns, potato salad, a can of pork and beans, and some chips.  I couldn’t find sauerkraut for the brats, but Julie kindly stopped by the little store around the corner from her office to pick some up for the event. We were all set.

Aldi only had this enormous box of brats. If I made six, we would have enough for dinner, Julie, and even the next day’s lunch. What to do with the other six?

Yep, I had to make a plug for using a vacuum sealer. The other six are safe and sound in the freezer for another day.

The day before, William suggested that I crack open the bottle of Angel’s Envy bourbon that he gave me for Father’s Day. Dear reader, I’m not much of a drinker.  In fact, I’m a lightweight when it comes to any alcohol.  However, I do like a rare shot of bourbon on occasion. A few years back, Julie and I were trying to salvage a vacation and spontaneously decided to travel Kentucky’s bourbon trail. It was there that I discovered Angel’s Envy and its silky smooth delivery. Julie bought a bottle, but I never remembered to replace it when it finally emptied. Ever listening, William remembered this and thought it would be a nice Father’s Day gift. Sort of an adult son to his “old man” Father’s Day present. 

William worked from home on Tuesday as he was learning a piece of software that analyzes gene sequences.  By 5 PM, he was done for the day, and the two of us set about the task of making dinner.  Into a pot went the brats.  Out from the fridge came the potato salad; into another pot went the pork and beans, which I added some mustard, catsup, maple syrup, and bacon bits. The table was set with paper plates, and dinner was served. Conversation followed as we talked about our day.

I like to par-cook the brats before putting them on the grill. This pot has a can of beer, water, and some onion flakes. Real onion would work too. The trick is to only simmer the brats (do not boil) for around 20 minutes. At that point, they will be fully cooked and ready to crisp on the grill.

On the grill, they went to brown up.

My mom always “doctored up” canned pork and beans. I do the same with a little mustard, catsup, maple syrup (or brown sugar), and bacon. Yum!

A perfect guy’s dinner. Brats with mustard and sauerkraut. Beans, potato salad, and chips. Of course, we served it on a paper plate. Who wants to wash more dishes than they have to?

We worked together to clean up and then had a short break before we started the movie.  I poured a couple of shots of Angel’s Envy for the big event.  It felt strange pouring a drink for my son, but he is 25 and no longer a kid.  To be clear, we had one drink each.  It felt more ceremonial rather than anything else.

We each had one shot of Angle’s Envy. It was more ceremonial than anything else.

It had been months since we had seen “Dune 1” so William filled me in on the story as I already had forgotten large portions of it.  “Dune 2” is a long movie, at times slow moving, yet engaging.  Since it was only the two of us we were free to banter as he reminded me of the various roles and motives of the characters. For sure, it was an enjoyable evening.

In this commercialized world we are told that the best parents offload parenting by sending their kids to classes and summer camps.  Every child must go to Disneyland, fly in a plane, have  catered birthday parties, wear designer clothing.  Honestly, I think that all of that is BS.  A child should spend time with their parents.  Parents should teach their children how to act, how to critically think, how to celebrate life.  Time with you kids doesn’t have to involve the use of a platinum credit card.  Playing a game, going on a hike or bike ride, critically examining a news story.  For me, those activities are more valuable.

As a child I learned that children were a burden.  As an adult, I discovered that they were a joy.  Kids are not a bonus designed to make parents look good.  They do require quite a bit of time, effort, and money.  Isn’t that the case with many things that we deem valuable? 

My evening with William may seem ordinary to you, but for me it was priceless. As he ages there will be less of these special times, but it is my hope that there will be some.

Peace

Mike

A photo of William and me from a father/son camping trip that we took a year or two ago.

frugal cooking, frugal living, Uncategorized

Save Money: 16 Bean Soup

Inflation continues, and many are struggling. This is another post in my series to help people get through these difficult times by using common-sense principles.

By now you know that I’m a fan of soups and one-pot meals. I have made a number of bean and lentil soups, and they are all similar, yet a bit different. Bean soups are extremely flexible and forgiving. Ingredients can be added or removed, and you can still get an excellent, delicious end product. Bean soups can also be extremely economical. A 20-ounce, 12-16-bean variety sack costs only a few dollars; the vegetable ingredients are cheap, and the meat can be anything from an Easter hambone to cut-up hot dogs.

This recipe made over 5 liters of soup, plenty to feed a large family. Only two of us were home when I made this, so we had quite a bit left over. The good news is that this soup freezes well!

Recipe adapted from the website, “Valerie’s Kitchen”

Cut up the vegetables. Exact amounts are not important.

Prepare your spices. Don’t add salt until you can taste-test at the end. The ham is already salty, as is the broth.

Here is the meat that I used. The ham bone was a gift from my sister, who had it left over from Easter. I froze it and used it all of these months later. I also had a couple of strips of bacon in the fridge. I used these for their grease and for their bacon flavor. If I didn’t have the bacon, I would have used vegetable oil. The meat that you use can vary. Try sausage, other smoked meats, or even sliced hot dogs. You can also omit the meat for a vegetarian dish. However, the meat adds a lot.

You will need around 6 cups of liquid for the recipe. That can be 4 cups from a box of stock plus two cups of water, 6 cups of broth, or, in my case, 6 cups of water with some chicken bouillon granules. I only used about a tablespoon of the granules, as they are pretty salty.

Here are the beans that I used. They are the Aldi brand and were of very good quality. I believe they were a couple of dollars. You should dump the beans and sort for broken/moldy ones as well as small rocks. This bag was very clean, and I only had about 5 beans to discard.

To soak or not to soak? That is the question. With a pressure cooker, you can use unsoaked beans by extending the cook time. I tend to soak when possible, as I believe that it makes the beans more digestible and less… hmm. Well, you know what beans can do. Pro Tip: I added a pinch of baking soda to the soak. This helps old beans hydrate better. I soaked the beans in plenty of water, overnight in a covered bowl.

Here are the beans after a night of soaking. I drained off the old water and rinsed them before adding them to the soup.

The recipe calls for 8 ounces of crushed tomatoes, but I used a whole can. If I didn’t have these, I would have used any tomato product or even condensed tomato soup. Remember, you are cooking for a family and not following some sort of heirloom recipe.

I also used my usual jar garlic. Would fresh be better? Likely, but this works too. If I didn’t have this, I would have used powdered garlic granules.

Let’s go! I rendered the bacon for its fat using the sauté setting on my electric pressure cooker (think Instant Pot). Don’t worry about the crispy stuff on the bottom of the pot; I will take care of that in a bit.

After the bacon rendered, I added the onions and cooked them for a few minutes to soften them. The onions released a lot of liquid, which made it easy to remove the fond (the flavorful, burnt-on crust) with a wooden spoon.

In went the carrots and celery, as well as the garlic. I continued to cook this mixture for a couple of minutes.

Then my spices. If you cook the spices for a bit, their flavor is intensified. However, be cautious, as you don’t want to burn them.

Now the soaked beans. Remember, you can use dried beans too, you would just need to cook them longer.

Now the chicken broth and the can of tomatoes.

Lastly, the ham bone. My electric pressure cooker is pretty full. Perhaps a bit more than it should be. However, we are going for it. A pressure cooker should be no more than 2/3 full. Probably less if I were just making the beans alone.

All of this is very simple. Now it is time to place the cover and pressurize. Since these beans were soaked, I cooked them for 25 minutes. When the cooking was done, I let them sit for at least 15 more minutes before releasing the steam. If the beans were not soaked, I would pressure-cook them for about 45 minutes and also let them rest for 15 minutes.

As an aside, I looked up this pressure cooker, and I have been using it for over 8 years. I can’t say enough about how useful pressure cookers are. Stove-top units last forever, but you have to watch them. These electric ones are also very robust. It seems that the Instant Pot craze is waning, and you can buy a new 6-quart electric pressure cooker for well under $100. I checked Facebook Marketplace and saw several used 6-quart models (a good size) selling for between $20 and $50. The Instant Pot brand is good, but so are many other brands. My unit is not an Instant Pot, but it works great.

After cooking, I took out the hambone and removed any meat, which I added back to the soup.

I tasted for seasoning, and no salt was needed. I did add a few shots of hot sauce (optional). I used a stick blender to blend some of the beans to thicken the soup. You could also mash the beans using a wooden spoon, or just leave the soup as is.

Here is the soup, plated and served with some of my homemade whole-wheat bread. The bread was made with a thrift-store bread maker that cost me $6.99. Why an avocado garnish? It was going ripe, and I needed to use it up. Necessity is the mother of invention! I also added a little grated Parmesan cheese. The soup was extremely filling and really delicious. There will be leftovers for several lunches and for freezing for a future meal.

Making food from scratch is much more economical than eating ultra-processed foods. Additionally, the food tastes so much better. I put together the bread’s ingredients in less than 5 minutes, pressed a button, and had a fresh loaf 3.5 hours later. The soup took less than 10 minutes to prepare, and then the pressure cooker took over automatically. Easy peasy.

Times are tough, but cooking from scratch and shopping at Aldi can save you both money and frustration. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, you can make this soup on the stovetop; it would just take longer (4 hours?). I’m pretty sure you could also make this soup in a slow cooker on low for 8-10 hours. If you go with either of these two methods, you will need to soak your beans overnight.

Bon appetite!

Mike