Natural | Prudent and Practical

July 28, 2009

The Cost of Homemade Soap Bars

Filed under: crafts — Tags: crafts, natural, updates — K @ 12:18 AM

About a week ago, I wrote about my first experience making soap and included instructions. I was curious if it was more economical to use the homemade soap. I went ahead and figured out the entire cost of the batch. Here goes…

3oz Canola Oil……….. $0.263
12oz Castor Oil……… $8.288
14oz Coconut Oil…… $2.604
2oz Hempseed Oil…. $2.500
2oz Jojoba Oil………. $6.020
11oz Olive Oil……….. $2.463
16oz liquid…………… $0.133 (for the tea bag)
6oz lye……………….. $0.879
.8oz eo……………….. $11.75 (Oh my gosh! That’s a LOT of eo!)

GRAND TOTAL equals $34.90 for about 4 pounds of soap. I didn’t cut it evenly, but it’s about 20 bars. (Yes, an accomplished soap maker will frown at me, but hey it’s my first attempt!) 1/2 of a circular bar lasted me about 1 month. Considering I go through a lot of shampoo due to my extremely long hair, this is a bargain! In the past I bought Nature’s Gate at the grocer which costs $4. So in 9 months my shampoo will have paid off, but it should last me a few years! This kind of surprises me. Looking at the numbers and doing the math, I about freaked out when I saw that I used almost $12 worth of essential oils! Just imagine how cheap it could be if I made the old-fashioned animal fat and lye soap.

My Opinion

The first time I tried the new soap, my hair came out oily. I ran online to look up an excuse for this and found it. Basically our head secretes oils. By using regular shampoos, you strip all the good stuff off of your hair… yuck!

(As a side note, this “stripping” is why many people have to use conditioner. Funny how that works – you buy shampoo, it strips your hair and makes it feel funny, leading you to purchase conditioner to make it feel soft again!)

Anyways, by stripping the natural, good oils from your hair, your body compensates for this by overproducing the oils. This is why people like me have to wash their hair every day to every other day, otherwise we look like grease-balls. So you’re wondering what does this have to do with the homemade shampoo? When you switch to a shampoo that simply washes and doesn’t strip your hair, the follicles are still overproducing the oils. It may take any where from a few days to a few months for your hair to stop over-producing oil. To help with this, you can sprinkle baking soda on your hair while in the shower to help absorb some of the oil. If you feel the need for “conditioner”, apple cider vinegar does the trick.

I’m now able to go about three days without my hair feeling greasy. My hair looks really good too! I have to go through the extra step of baking soda for now but it’s worth it. The soap is cheaper, more spa-like, and natural (no parabens or sodium laurel sulfates here), which is just the way I like it!

Comments (11)

July 24, 2009

Classic Oatmeal Bread

Filed under: food — Tags: food, health, natural — K @ 2:43 PM

Hi! For this week’s Food Friday, I’m putting up a recipe for a basic oatmeal bread. Although the recipe is easy, the taste is anything but basic! Being new to bread making, I expected little bits of oatmeal in the bread when it was done baking – this isn’t so, as the oatmeal bakes right into the bread, leaving it soft and flavorful. This is currently our favorite bread recipe, so I’ve made it a few times. I cut off a couple slices for dinner and warm them up – add a little dab of butter/margarine and YUM!

*You can see in the above photo how D started attacking the top and sides when I ran to get my camera. He couldn’t even wait 10 seconds for another slice – that’s how good it is…

Oatmeal Bread
Yield: 2 loaves

What you need:

1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 cup quick oats (I’ve used the regular oats and it works out fine)
1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold milk
5-1/2 cups white flour

What you do:

Sprinkle yeast over lukewarm water in a small bowl; set in warm place
Combine oats, shortening, sugar, and salt in large bowl
Add boiling water and stir until shortening melts
Add milk
Let mixture cool to lukewarm
Add in yeast mixture and flour
Knead at least 5 minutes on a floured board. If you have a Kitchenaid, you can use the dough hook!
Place in greased bowl; cover with damp cloth and let rise for 2 hours
Place on floured board; cut into two parts; shape into 2 loaves
Place the loaves in greased 8-1/2″x4-1/2″ loaf pans and let rise 1 hour
Bake at 350 degrees-F for about 40 minutes

Enjoy!

Comments (13)

July 17, 2009

Don’t Throw Those Bananas Away!

Filed under: food — Tags: food, gardening, natural — K @ 8:08 PM

Most people know that you use very ripe to slightly over ripe bananas to make banana bread. D and I usually don’t finish the last banana or two in time and we were composting them because I didn’t want banana bread. I hated being wasteful so I started to save the bananas. You’ll see in the photo below that I peel the bananas and squish them into a container. I then set this container in the freezer and add more bananas when they start going down hill.

And what about those peels? I’ve been composting mine, but if you have roses, banana peels are like the elixir of life for them. Yes, if you’ve seen Seven Pounds, he’s right. Bananas have many nutrients that roses like including calcium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphates, and sodium. If you’ve kept a banana too long, you see how fast they get mushy and start decomposing. When buried next to roses, this fast decomposition means that the “fertilizer” is more quickly available to start working its magic.

I had to try one to make sure it tasted ok

So… I did finally make banana bread. There are so many different recipes online nowadays! I used a traditional recipe out of a cookbook. I pulled out my banana container, drained off the juice, and scooped out what I needed. (I still have 1/2 jar left after making three batches!)

What you need:

1-3/4 cups sifted flour (I ran out of white at the end and used some whole wheat flour – worked fine)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening (I also ran out of this, so I used butter – again, it worked fine)
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup mashed banana

What to do:

Mix flour, soda, cream of tartar, and salt
Cream shortening, then add sugar, then add eggs
Mash ripe bananas (2-4 bananas yield 1 cup)
Add flour, then bananas to the shortening mixture
Mix well
Pour into greased loaf pan and bake in 350 degree F oven for 1 hour or until done. I experimented with muffins – 1 batch makes 12 regular sized muffins, but you only bake them for 30 minutes.

Optional Mix-Ins:

Peanut butter
Reese’s Pieces – a Twitter buddy told me this makes it taste like a peanut butter banana sandwich, mmm!
Nuts – I added a couple handfuls of walnuts to my batches
Chocolate chips
Chopped cherries

Yield: 1 loaf or 12 muffins

Although I’m not fond of nuts, I put them in the bread because D likes them. I can’t wait to try adding Reese’s Pieces to the bread. I ended up making 2 loaves and 12 muffins, so I’m pretty set for a while! This recipe produces a nicely textured, moist bread and I enjoyed it!

So I listed a few mix-ins above. What are your favorites? What unique ingredients have you added to banana bread and was it good?

My "freezer container" still has enough for another couple batches... that's a lot of bread!

Comments (5)

July 16, 2009

Say Goodbye to Commercial Shampoo

Filed under: DIY — Tags: crafts, DIY, health, natural — K @ 2:16 AM

I’ve been meaning to make my own soap for a while. In late June I finally tried it out. I used the Crock Pot Shampoo Bar Recipe from Skin Care Naturals. Following is the recipe and instructions in my words. Later today I will show photos of the final product, how much it actually cost, and my opinion!

Before you get started:

2 plastic bowls and plastic spoon to stir
Small bowls (for measuring the individual oils)
A large bowl or pitcher (to pour all the oils into to verify the weight)
A stainless steel pot (for melting the oils and later mixing in the lye)
2 thermometers (one for checking the temperatures of the lye and oils)
Weigh all ingredients!
Do not use aluminum – lye eats right through it!
If you get lye on you, rinse the spot with vinegar. If the burn is anything but very mild, seek a doctor.

Ingredients

3 oz Canola Oil
12 oz Castor Oil
14 oz Coconut Oil
2 oz Hempseed Oil
2 oz Jojoba Oil
11 oz Olive Oil
16 oz liquid (can be a mix of water, tea, and lemon)
6 oz lye
.8 oz eo (I used lavender, rosemary, and tea tree)*

Lye
1. Measure 8 ounces water in a big bowl. Go outside. Sprinkle in the lye and stir. Be careful – it gets very hot (around 200 degrees F) and smelly.
2. While this is cooling outside, I went back inside to mix the other 8 ounces of liquid.
3. In a glass measuring cup, I squeezed the juice of one lemon (2 tbsp-1/4 cup), then poured in apple cider vinegar to equal 1/3 cup liquid. I then added enough peppermint tea to equal 8 oz of liquid to be added after the oils have cooked together.

The oils

1. Pour all oils (except hemp) in a jug on a scale to make sure that the weight is correct. It should equal 42 ounces.

2. Melt all oils except hemp and e.o. in the pot. (Hold back the hemp until after the soap is cooked).
3. Mix in the 8 ounces of lemon/vinegar/tea from above.

Mixing
Measure the temperatures of both the lye water and the oils.

When both have reached 110 (+/- 10) degrees F, mix the lye water with the oils. Stir until mixed. Add hemp and essential oils. Stir (or use an immersion blender) until trace.

[Trace is when the the soap solidifies just enough to hold it's shape slightly meaning that the lye water and oils have mixed completely. To test for trace, dip your spoon into the soap and let it dribble back into the pot. If the dribble leaves a mound before disappearing back into the soap, you've reached trace. (I was tired and forgot to get a photo, but will remember to take one the next time I make soap.)]

I used 4″ pvc that you can find in the plumbing department as a mold. I put plastic wrap on the bottom and secured with a rubber band, then lined it with wax paper. Slop the soap into the mold. You’re supposed to insulate with towels around the soap molds to make sure the soap cools very slowly – I didn’t.

24-48 hours afterward, I popped the soap out of the molds and cut into slices. I placed the slices on a cooling rack for good circulation. Every evening i flip them over. I’ve been trying out the soap for about the past week (after 3 weeks of curing).

Subscribe to this blog and get be the first to see what the soap looks like, costs, and my review!

If you need more information please visit the following resources:

Comments (19)

July 7, 2009

Free Organic Baby Layette Giveaway

Filed under: saving money — Tags: free, natural — K @ 1:52 PM

Jessica over at Eco Child’s Play has just listed a a new GIVEAWAY!!! If you’re interested, you can click here to go sign up!

Organically Grown is giving away a unisex mini wardrobe to one lucky reader!

All of the products from Organically Grown are made with organic cottons. From their website:

According to the Organic Exchange, an estimated 170 million pounds of pesticides, and 25% of the world’s insecticides are used in the production of conventional, non-organic cotton. 7 out of 10 of these pesticides are on the EPA’s “known” list of “likely” or “probable” carcinogens. These chemicals result in work-force illnesses, water contamination, and the devastation of farmland. All of the problems are eliminated though organic farming practices. Organically Grown is proud to be a part of the solution.

Organically Grown is going to give one lucky reader three bibs (pictured above $18 value), an adorable Giraffe Three piece Set ($28 value) and a World of Friends Blanket ($28 value).

Here’s the link so you can go sign up!

Comments (0)

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