The Ultimate Tuna Potato Salad Recipe

Tuna potato salad is a classic dish that is perfect for a quick and easy lunch or dinner. It is made with simple ingredients that are readily available at most grocery stores. The salad is packed with protein and healthy fats, making it a nutritious choice. It is also relatively low in calories, making it a good option for those who are trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. It can be made inexpensively with many pantry staples such as potatoes and canned tuna.

Tuna potato salad is typically made with canned tuna, potatoes, mayonnaise, celery, onion, and dill. However, there are many variations of the dish. Some people like to add hard-boiled eggs, chopped pickles, or relish. Others prefer to use a different type of mayonnaise, such as olive oil mayonnaise or light mayonnaise. There is no right or wrong way to make tuna potato salad, so feel free to experiment until you find a version that you love.

To make tuna potato salad, simply combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well until everything is evenly combined. Serve the salad on its own or on a bed of lettuce. You can also use it as a sandwich filling or a wrap filling.

Tuna potato salad is a versatile dish that can be enjoyed in many different ways. It is a great option for a quick and easy meal, and it is also a good choice for picnics, potlucks, and other gatherings. So next time you are looking for a delicious and nutritious dish to make, be sure to give tuna potato salad a try.

Here is a recipe for tuna potato salad that you can try at home:

Ingredients:

2 cans of tuna, drained

4 medium potatoes, cooked

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1/4 cup of celery, chopped, optional

1/4 cup of onion, chopped (half an onion)

3 tablespoons of dill, dried is all right

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine the tuna, mayonnaise, celery, onion, and dill.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Mix well until everything is evenly combined.

Serve immediately or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Enjoy!

History of Tuna Potato Salad

Tuna potato salad is thought to have originated in the United States in the early 1900s. It is believed to be a variation of the classic potato salad that was popular at the time. Tuna potato salad quickly became a popular dish, and it is now enjoyed all over the world.

Variations of Tuna Potato Salad

There are many variations of tuna potato salad. Some of the most popular variations include:

Tuna salad on a bed of lettuce: This is a lighter option than the tuna salad sandwich or wrap. Simply serve the salad on a bed of lettuce and enjoy.

Tuna salad as a side dish: This is a great option for picnics, potlucks, and other gatherings. Simply serve the salad on its own as a side dish.

Tips for Making Tuna Potato Salad

Here are a few tips for making the best tuna potato salad:

Use high-quality ingredients. This will make a big difference in the taste of the salad.

Use fresh mayonnaise. This will also make a big difference in the taste of the salad.

Don't overmix the salad. Overmixing will make the salad mushy.

Serve the salad immediately or store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Tuna potato salad is a delicious and nutritious dish that is perfect for a quick and easy lunch or dinner. It is made with simple ingredients that are readily available at most grocery stores. The salad is packed with protein and healthy fats, making it a nutritious choice. It is also relatively low in calories, making it a good option for those who are trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.

Tuna potato salad is a versatile dish that can be enjoyed in many different ways. It is a great option for a quick and easy meal, and it is also a good choice for picnics, potlucks, and other gatherings. So next time you are looking for a delicious and nutritious dish to make, be sure to give tuna potato salad a try.

Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana

     Known for its edible small purple berries. I have eaten the berries raw, and they don't have much flavor. Popular for creating jams/jellies - sugar and pectin will have to be added.

    Usually you see the brightly colored magenta berries for months in the summer. I was finally able to get a picture of the flowers themselves.

Overnight Ferment (Fake) Sourdough Dill Bread

         The best thing about this bread is that it has all the benefits of being sourdough bread without the necessity and mess of maintaining a starter, something that I did for years. What are the benefits of sourdough? Better gluten for a better structure, better taste. To make this bread, you mix some of the ingredients together the day before you make the bread, let it sit out overnight on the counter, and then add the rest of the ingredients for the loaf. This is called making a poolish. Dill bread is exceptionally tasty and makes for a mean grilled cheese sandwich.

For day one:

One cup of water

One teaspoon yeast

One cup of flour

For day two:

Take the day one ingredients and add:

2 1/2 cups of flour

Three tablespoons water

2 teaspoons of dill

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

2 or 3 tablespoons of oil, I use lard

Put into the breadmaker on 1.5 pound setting.

Utilizing Food Waste on the Homestead

      The kids have been driving me crazy lately with what they will eat and what they won't eat. Literally worsened by the idea that their other family just gives them whatever they want, even going so far as to leave the house to drive to get takeout for them. Obviously I am not a fan of this kind of thing, nor am I a fan of encouraging picky eating. So I decided in my frustration to just start cooking whatever I want for myself, and if they don't like it then they can make themselves sandwiches. Mmm... sandwiches.

     The high prices of foods have also changed my life. I used to shop at the good grocery store that had everything, now I shop at two stores to save money, Walmart and Sav a Lot. I particularly enjoy how Sav a Lot has a huge Latin section with dried peppers, tortillas, and many other staples being really inexpensive. One day at Sav a Lot the freezer section had a big bag of frozen whole tilapia, very cheap. Of course, I knew that I wasn't going to get much usable meat from those little fishes, but it was kind of an experiment too, as I wanted to see if the cats would dig in. 

     I got the fish home and defrosted them, the my oldest saw them in the fridge. She, of course, hates me and everything about my life as she is a teeny ager right now. She looked at me like I was absolutely crazy when she found the fish. But then she offered to do the gutting and skinning which she wasn't too bad at. It turns out you have to have a really good knife for skinning, which I have since picked up from Walmart for a few dollars. 

     So the skin and heads and tails and fins all went into a bowl for the cats. Another thing I learned from this experiment is that my male cat who loves ham, sliced turkey, and cat treats will not eat fresh fish; my female cat who loves ham and bits of chicken, will eat fresh fish. She will only eat three small bites before she is full though. I should retry this picky eating with two hungry cats who have had an empty food dish for a few hours.  🤔

     I put the rest of the fish pieces outside for the ducks to eat, which they quite enjoyed. And I learned that the ducks love fish but they prefer it to be cut into bite sized pieces. The heads, which I had not cut up, stayed in the dish for a while before they disappeared into the compost. I don't think they ever did get eaten. But the fins and tail and spine all got eaten.

      So now I deliberately buy foods that have waste so I can feed it to the ducks or rabbits. For example, did you know ducks like to eat shrimp peels and tails? Who knew. And the rabbits absolutely love banana peels, orange rinds, and apple cores. These guys turn waste foods into compost.

Grapple Part 1

 

     Having noticed that the organic apple juice that I have been occasionally buying is nonexistant in the grocery stores right now, I decided to try the Welch's grape juice concentrate method of making homemade wine. I remember years ago when I first started learning about homebrewing that you could make a subpar wine this way, but I also remember reading from a homebrewing book that you couldn't ferment any juice with ascorbic acid in it because that preservative inhibits yeast formation. So, I never did try it until now.

     There is a homebrewing store near my house but I have never been in it. One time I wanted to pop in and see what they offered but the woman running the store made me stand out in the heat with the kids for what seemed like minutes while she secured her yappy dog. So I turned around and left. After I tied everyone into their car seats she came to my window and apologized for having to secure her therapy dog. 

     This blend of grapple is seven juice concentrates of grape and one gallon of organic apple. I figure even if the grape doesn't ferment it will still taste pretty good.

     It's the most active ferment I have ever made, with bubbles rising and the airlock pinging on day one. I even took a video. The glass of the carboy is not very clear so forgive the quality.

Stuffed Onions with Italian Meat Sauce

 

     I love old recipes. It's not really because they are healthier, but usually they are healthier because they involved less processed ingredients. I love that most older recipes are simpler, with fewer ingredients and are usually cheaper and more easily acquired than a lot of modern recipes. I can't even watch cooking shows because as soon as the recipe calls for some expensive ingredient that I might have to go to a specialty store to get I look at the show like mystery horror fiction - fresh terragon? Pickled chives? Veal? Custard? Not going to happen.

     This recipe came out amazingly. I made the meat sauce the day of in the slow cooker, then baked the onions and meat sauce for about an hour in the oven. When I make it again I am going to supplement the hamburger with turkey burger, lowering the price without changing the flavor much, and baking the onion a little bit longer so it's more tender. But came out great for a first try.

Nailed it.

Water Hyacinth Recipe

      The hardest part about eating vegetables might be the texture. Or maybe because it's unusual, or not native to your culture. People question the safety of vegetables they have never heard of, as if it must be unsafe to eat if it's not available at the store, which is illogical. There are a great deal of vegetables we probably should be eating because they are sustainable and local, but aren't. Is that because big business controls everything?

This recipe is great with frozen broccoli if you have no mushrooms.

Water Hyacinth with Mushrooms and 🧄

A recipe by Chrissy.

-  4 cups water hyacinth, sliced into strips the size of green beans.

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 3 teaspoons olive oil or your favorite oil, sunflower is good but coconut is so so.

- 1 cup mushrooms, frozen is ok.

Put the oil and garlic into your favorite cast iron skillet and bring to medium heat, then add mushrooms and sliced water hyacinth. Cook until tender, about 20 minutes, stirring and turning often.

Eat the Water Hyacinth

Raw

     If you want to grow your own food, you may have to open up to the idea of eating some fruits and vegetables that are not commonly found at the grocery store. And if you live in Florida, you're going to be working with a whole different plant set and growing season changes than them Yankee gardeners. All this flexibility in diet isn't easy, most people eat the foods that they were raised eating and find trying new foods to be difficult.

     Water hyacinth is my new favorite local food. It's a water plant that grows in warm water, and is well known for how quickly it creates baby plants. In the past it has been used to pull toxins out of water sources, indeed, water purification is one of it's advantages. After I had added it to my pond the water instantly cleared and the fish became visible. Because the pond water is kinda yucky, I feel that water hyacinth should always be cooked, and I handle it like it's contaminated with E.coli (as it may be after the great manure spill of 2016). 

     According to Green Deane, the best way to eat water hyacinth is to stir fry, and I completely agree. With oil and garlic preferably. It has a taste not dissimilar from some good fresh green beans, which are hard to come by nowadays. The texture is decidedly different, as the air bulbs are crunchy and airy, like eating potato chips, and can be a bit chewy. Overall I would say that water hyacinth is quite palatable.

     Water hyacinth is very different from other fruits and vegetables. Because it is so unusual I couldn't get the kids to try it, what a shame! It's so easy to grow in the pond - right plant, right space - that is seems to be ever bearing. Like ever bearing crunchy green beans! Even if the kids never eat it, I know I can eat it and the rabbits do quite enjoy the green bits (they won't eat the roots.)

     This video talks a little bit about how water hyacinth is used at this lake to feed local livestock, including chickens.

 

Grocery Store Onions

     You can plant the bases of fresh green onions. Most will regrow their leaves and provide you with additional green onion to eat. This will be the first year I have been able to keep them alive into the hot part of the summer, because the onions can't dry out in the heat. Shade is helpful also.

     You should try it! It's rewarding to see the fast growing changes and growth. And it stores food outside in the ground, uneaten by bugs and rot. The onion's pungency repels other insects.

Beans, Spring of 2019

     This spring I decided to try something different.  I planted a bunch of mystery beans in my containers, along with some morning glory. The beans were cheap and white, and said they were bush variety, so why not? I guess I am a why not kind of person.
     The germination rate on the beans was pretty decent - more than half sprouted. I can't complain about that.

     The best thing about beans is that they have been hybridized to grow quickly. This is a boon in our short spring growing season. Beans share this trait with peas. Every day you can walk over and visibly see that there has been a change from the previous day. Suddenly there are flower buds and tiny pods. Leaves are good in salads and smoothies, or with the stalk fed to the rabbits. And the flowers are gorgeous!

     There is a lot growing on in these pictures, as I am a big fan of polycultures and diversity. I am learning to appreciate the traditional choice of potting mix - that spaghnum moss is an excellent moisture sponge. It makes me wonder what other traditions people are growing on? I will post more pictures as they flower and fruit, assuming I can keep up with rhe watering!

April 29th, 2019

Ridiculously Simple Vegan No-Cook Ramen Salad

Flavorful pasta salad that is easy to make and high in vitamins and fiber is hard to come by. This recipe requires no heating, and the ingredients are inexpensive. Perfect for summer time. Simply put all the ingredients into a large bowl, stir, and serve. Like other pasta salads, more flavor is released when chilled for a few hours before serving.
1 16 ounce bag of coleslaw mix or broccoli mix
1 cup of sunflower seeds, hulled
1 cup of sliced almonds
2 packages of uncooked ramen, throw away the seasoning packets or use them for something else
3/4 cup your choice of oil
1/3 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
3 green onions, chopped

Backyard Green Smoothie Recipe

1 loquat leaf
4 red hibiscus leaves
4 hibiscus leaves
6 lemon leaves
1/2 ginger leaf
rosemary - greens from one sprig 4" long
1-2 cups cold water

optional : canna - no added flavor, no significant nutrition
     lemongrass - tasty but adds a real "grassy" flavor
     mints

     Directions - add all ingredients to blender and blend on high for at least 30 seconds. There should be enough blending that a foam is created on the top, which quickly dissipates. Then pour through a strainer into a large enough jar to hold your smoothie, which should be enjoyed immediately or refrigerated and enjoyed within about 3 days. Take the strained contents to the compost heap, give to the rabbits now, or freeze into cubes for treats for the rabbits later.

Meyer Lemon Yogurt Cake

     Meyer lemons are among the easiest to grow lemons here in central Florida. Not only a great source of vitamin C, they offer a unique flavor to baked goods and drinks.

1 (4-ounce) container homemade yogurt or store-bought
1 cup granulated sugar, to taste
3 whole eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, or 1/2 cup butter
1 tablespoon Meyer lemon zest

For the icing, which is optional
3 tablespoons sour cream, at room temperature. Do not substitute ricotta cheese! Ask me how I know this.
3/4 cup powdered sugar
juice of 1/2 Meyer lemon, to taste

Harvesting the Cranberry Hibiscus

     Earlier this spring my mother found these young plants at a garage sale, and they must have been priced well because she picked up one for me. It turned out the bargain annual happened to be the interesting and beautiful Hibiscus sabdariffa mentioned on the Florida Survival Gardening blog by David. No doubt the original seeds were from ECHO, as my mother lives not too far from there.

     I had no idea this plant could be so beautiful, unusual, useful, pest free, maintenance free...

     Today I am going to harvest the fruit. According to David, the round green bits are not the delicious part, but are where the seeds are stored. It's the red wrappers (or calyx) around the  round green fruit that is used for cooking and eating. This year recouping seeds is a high priority, since this is the only plant that I can source, and likely the only cranberry hibiscus growing in my county. It would be amazing to grow about 10 of these next year, as they like full sun. They do visibly wilt if you neglect to ensure hydration, but bounce back very easily and quickly. (I must have wilted it at least 5 times during the hot part of the summer.) Never would a tomato be this resilient.


       The leaves are edible, and I can tell you that the rabbits eat these leaves even before they eat their normal favorite weeds, Spanish Needle (Bidens alba). Although Hibiscus sabdariffa is tasty, none of the plants in the mallow family, or rose family, are particularly high in nitrogen (protein about 2 1/2%) - a consideration for overall rabbit dietary needs. I did eat a few of the leaves, which were very mild but did have a pretty tasty flavor, much better than Bidens, which is tart. These leaves would be good in a salad or on a sandwich (which is probably what I will be doing since the cold weather is here.)

     The seeds are higher in protein and very high in omega 6 fatty acids, and in quantity are valued as animal feed, particularly for chickens.

     This is the first and largest of probably two harvests from my one plant.

Rice WIne Recipes

Author Unknown Fast
Rice Wine Recipe

3 lbs white rice (not instant)
1 lg box white raisins (15 oz)
1 box dark raisins (15 0z)
2 tablespoons yeast
5 lb sugar
3 large peeled oranges or dates, quartered
6 qt water

     Thoroughly mix all the ingredients in a large 5 gallon bucket. Stir every day, keeping the lid on between stirrings. After about 20 days, rack to bottles. About 10 days later, after the yeast has settled, rack to clean bottles and serve.

Longshen Rice Terraces, China

Jack Keller's Rice Wine Recipe

2 lbs long grain brown rice
2 lbs granulated sugar
1 lb chopped golden raisins
7-1/2 pts water
4 tsp acid blend
1 tsp pectic enzyme
1 tsp yeast nutrient
1/2 tsp tannin
1 crushed Campden tablet
Champagne or Sherry wine yeast

     Rinse the rice well, then put in glass bowl with just enough water to cover rice. Chop the raisins and add to rice, adding enough water to cover them, too (1 quart total). Soak overnight or 12 hours. Pour rice and raisins into a nylon straining bag, saving the soaking water. Put sugar in remaining water in large pot and put this on to boil. Bring to boil and remove from heat, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Put nylon straining bag in primary and pour in soaking water. Add acid blend, yeast nutrient and tannin. Pour sugar water over this and stir. Cover with clean cloth and set aside to coll. When at room temperature, add crushed Campden tablet and stir again. Recover primary and let set 24 hours. Add wine yeast and recover. Stir daily for two weeks. Remove bag and let it drip drain (do not squeeze) into primary. Recover primary and let wine settle overnight. Rack into secondary and fit airlock. Rack after 3 months, top up and refit airlock. Repeat 3 months later. When wine is clear, stabilize, wait 10 days and rack into bottles.

Vitamin C Tisane/Infusion Recipes

Dried Hibiscus Flowers 

     Be aware that boiling the plants for 20 minutes reduces available ascorbic acid by at least 20%. Perhaps making sun tea/solar tea or steeping overnight might be a better method.

High-C Tisane (Homemade Red Zinger Tea)

Dried hibiscus, lemongrass, orange peel, peppermint, and rose hips
Boiling water
1 . Steep herbs for ten minutes
2. Drink as a vitamin C boost.

Pine Needle tisane

Dried pine needles
Boiling water
1 . Steep herbs for ten minutes
2. Drink as a vitamin C boost.

Celestial Seasoning's Red Zinger

Mint tisane

Your choice of mint or balm
Boiling water
1 . Steep herbs for ten minutes
2. Drink as a vitamin C boost.

Fresh Flowers, Water. Let chill overnight. Enjoy!

Crock Pot Irish Soda Bread

      I had no idea that bread could be cooked in a crock pot. All the recipe books always said that bread needs to go into a preheated oven at the very least, 350 degrees F. So when I read about this technique at another website, I had to try it out for myself.

   It's simple - the crock pot is set on the highest setting with a grapefruit-sized dough ball (one pound of dough) for at least an hour. Any type of bread will work, but the crusts will be less crunchy than if they were cooked in a hot oven. I now no longer want to get a convection oven, and I can make small batches of bread without wasting all that electricity of using the oven.
     For this first experiment I used a modified Irish Soda Bread because I was so excited to try it out with the crockpot, and I certainly wasn't disappointed. I won't bore you with the details of the recipe, since I modified it anyway with semolina flour, oatmeal, and yogurt, but if you are interested in trying out a good and easy recipe, then I recommend the Best Beer Bread Recipe Ever. Just be sure to divide the dough in half so you don't overload the crockpot, which makes cooking time much longer. It lets you have another fresh loaf another day without doing any work.

     Put the dough ball on a large piece of parchment paper, and lower into the crockpot. Cover and bake or at least an hour on high. The crust will be soft when the bread is fully cooked, when its internal temperature reaches 190 degrees F. That's an hour and a half in my crockpot.

The Skinny on Irish Soda Bread

     I may have said before that I am a big fan of soda breads. They are cheap, quick, and easy to make, and don't require the addition of finicky yeast. Traditional Irish Soda Bread, a recipe that became popular during the Victorian Era, is the master recipe for many other quick breads.
     Irish soda bread is made with flour, buttermilk, baking soda, sugar, and salt. The traditional flour used for the recipe is a soft flour, the opposite of durum semolina. Soft flours are uncommon here in the US, but cake flour is a good mixture between soft and all-purpose that will work nicely if you are trying to closely approximate the historical recipe. I just use all-purpose, since that is what we buy in bulk and have for our longer term food storage/preps.
     Buttermilk is the only hard-to-get ingredient. It can be found in most grocery stores and tolerates freezing well, but if you don't have a chance to run out and pick some up, it can be approximated by adding some vinegar or lemon juice to plain milk. Yet another (traditional?) technique for approximating buttermilk when none is available is to use the effluent from a somewhat rancid sourdough starter as the buttermilk portion of the recipe. I see no reason why the effluent, or whey, from homemade yogurt couldn't be used in this way. All four additives could change the base recipe to suit your tastes. Which is your favorite?

Making Bread After the Apocalypse

     The biggest problem with making bread after the apocalypse has to be the availability of ingredients. This is the part where gluten-free bakers get to jump up and shout hooray, because they have probably already been making potato bread and cassava bread for some time. Of the grains that do grow here in Central Florida, perhaps amaranth and sorghum might be our best choices. Research should be done into kenaf and durum semolina also. Assuming you'll be able to acquire some kind of flour or substitute...
     Many preppers foresee themselves culturing sourdough starter to make homemade breads at some point in the future. After maintaining a starter for several years, I now no longer do so because I don't have a large enough family to properly produce and use almost any quantity of starter. It also takes a lot of cleaning and attention to bacterial growth prevention. Here in Florida, the warmer temperatures in your average air-conditioned kitchen will make your starter 'grow' about three times as fast as the yankees' starter. A sourdough starter gone flat can still be used in your bread recipes with the addition of either commercial yeast or a pinch of baking soda.
     What can be used to leaven bread when you can't get baking soda? Hardwood ashes, once leeched and turned into lye (potassium hydroxide), can further be dehydrated and kiln-fired into potash/pearlash. Potash is potassium carbonate, known commonly for its fertilizer properties. It was an American tradition with some Native Americans and the colonists to leaven bread with potassium carbonate, but over time this fell out of favor when commercial baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) became available, as it has less of a bitter aftertaste. It is conceivable that the underground kiln your buddy used for making biochar was also making some pretty high-quality pearlash, or could be used to produce some.
     For the easiest Solar Cooker ever, used to bake bread in along with an oven bag, check out this design that I have used successfully.
     For other ideas on cooking with your preps, with local ingredients, and without expensive ingredients, please check out the labels marked Pantry Raid or Cook With Your Preps in the sidebar.

Voluntary Poverty

     Voluntary poverty. Some people think it's a rationalization to avoid hard work. Others view it as knowingly relying on the social welfare systems in place in our country. Others would view it as doing your best to live a life of less impact on both the environment and other people. Somewhere in the gray lies views about self-sufficiency, frugality, and happiness.
     Having lived in Florida almost my whole life, I can tell you that very few people in Florida were born or raised here. Most people have moved from someplace less hospitable to the heat and insects that they forever love to complain about. I have spent much time trying to understand what would make someone leave their family to come to a place that they hate, and the only conclusion that seems worthwhile is the one that says that they came here to have more with less. Taxes in the Northeast being what they are, they can come here and have huge ranch-style abominations, four cars, and spoiled brats that refuse to work hard for the community they now share. I'm not bitter, but it is a phenomenon that needs looking into.
     After working at a difficult and poorly-compensated career for several years, I am proud to say that I have paid off my house. It's not a big house, but it is more than big enough for our needs, which is very different from a person's wants. And I figure that if something happens to me, it will be three years of failed tax payments before we will be homeless.
     Now that shelter is covered, the next biggest expense is transportation. I'm still working on that one. The local transit system is not a far walk, maybe 2/3rds of a mile to the closest bus stop, and much cheaper than the car insurance for your average cheap car. I still use a cheap car at the moment, but that might change someday.
     After shelter and transportation, the next largest expenses are electricity and food/toiletries. Most of electricity is air conditioning. I have halved the air conditioning expense by raising the temperature setting in the house to 83F. It's warm but not actively sweating warm, and much cooler than outside. It's still good to drink plenty of cold water and do all outdoor activities before 10:00 AM. Installing solar water heating and an efficient clothesline system will save even more electricity over the long run.
     Food is a much more difficult expense to cut down. My love of sandwiches has led me to egg-salad, chicken-salad, and tuna-salad as my favorite warm weather foods. Easy to make, cheap, and nutritious. Unfortunately the kid prefers peanut butter and jelly, but sometimes I can talk her into grilled cheese and tomato soup, another cheap, easy, and nutritious meal. The next best way to save money on food is to grow as much of it as possible, and that is a topic for another post.
     People worry about healthcare a lot, and learning about the healthcare system as it stands today and in the future will prevent this anxiety. If you have a small child or a disability (Hmmmmmm?), you qualify for medicaid, provided your income is sufficiently low. Over the age of 65 should qualify for medicare, the cadillac of health plans at the moment, provided you have paid enough income tax to qualify. The most important thing about healthcare is to prevent sickness and injury in the first place, which is not easy or everyone would do it. Sometimes illness happens, and healthcare agencies will work with you to set up a payment plan. They don't mind, believe me. As long as you are paying it, even slowly, they will not put it to collections. And hospitals are unable to deny you critical care based on payment status, but they have been known to transfer patients once stable based on ability to pay. Not such a big deal since the patient still receives the needed care.

Finally part of the 3%. 

     After having recently re-evaluated my life situation, goals have changed somewhat. I still want to take this house off-grid as much as possible, and continue learning about sustainable living. I don't feel the need to slave to buy junk like so many others, and retirement savings seem not as important since it's so cheap to live here. Obviously having some money is worthwhile, but having a lot of money seems pointless, since the more you earn the more they take, for every category mentioned above.

     Did you know households that are led by a single mother have a 31.6% poverty rate? Are they like minds or deliberately accidentally poor?