This week, we will be having our first ever Pennywise Platter Thursday Carnival! I am looking forward to it and hope that you all join in. And I thought it was time to give some details.
The Spirit of the Carnival
For many of us, these are not the easiest of times. Budgets are tight, but we still want to eat well. And many of us have children that we want to nourish in these important growing years. So many of the books and blogs and websites out there devoted to eating frugally center on cheap, unhealthy food and buying regular grocery store items on sale. I recently picked up a book with “Five Dollar Meals” in it, hoping to get some ideas for my family. But I quickly realized that I wasn’t going to find anything “usable” for my family because almost every single recipe started with canned and packaged products. I promise you, this isn’t the only way to eat on a budget! There is a better way!
Balancing a tight budget with nourishing food isn’t always easy, but it’s possible. I hope that this carnival will be a chance for all of us to share what works for us in this area. Possible topics include:
- Nourishing frugal recipes
- Shopping and gardening tips
- Canning and other food preservation recipes and tips
- Homemade Kitchen and Household Cleaners
- And whatever other topic you come up with that helps us know how to better afford nourishing food!
The recent comments and discussion that happened on my post, Single Gal on a Budget is an example of how extremely delightful and helpful it is for us to band together to share our ideas! I just loved everyone’s comments and hope to see more of that in the future. And I hope to see that same spirit conveyed through the Pennywise Platter Carnival.
How it will work (Guidelines)
Each and every Thursday I will host a “carnival” for you to share your frugal and nourishing recipes, tips and ideas. If you don’t have a blog, leave your comments in the comment section.
For Fellow Bloggers: Write a post devoted to the general topic of the carnival, linking to the carnival post of the week. Then come here and using the Mr. Linky * leave a link to your post following the simple instructions that will be posted there.
Because the idea of this carnival is for everyone to share their ideas with everyone, I will “enforce” two of the guidelines. The first being that you need to link to the carnival in your post, the second, that you don’t use an old post for the carnival (posting the day before is just fine, I mean linking to a post that is really old).
The reason why is this, when you link to the carnival in a new post, you are sharing with your readers not only your ideas, but also everyone else’s helpful tips. If your post is old, or you don’t have a link to the carnival, then your readers won’t get that benefit. Let’s stay in the spirit of the carnival by sharing the carnival with everyone!
However, if you have old posts have you would like to direct people to, simply do a new post (with a link to the carnival) with links to whatever old posts you think would be helpful.
And as always, these tips should and must be family friendly.
I hope that makes sense to everyone! Please feel free to ask any questions that you have. I will be making some images for the carnival this week, and you are welcome to use them on your site too.
I can’t wait to see what recipes and tips you all have! See you Thursday!
* Please note that there have been some issues with the “Mr. Linky” function. I believe it will be ready to use this Thursday, but if not I have a plan B to get everyone’s links up! Thanks!
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What a great idea-can’t wait to see all the recipes!!
Love it!!! I tfind way to many recipes using things like canned soup – I don’t even understand it, lots of times it is just as easy and more frugal to use real, natural food, not to mention it actually tastes better!!
I can’t wait to see what comes up!
I don’t have a blog, or website. Do I send a frugal recipe in this comment section?
Sorry. I’m not very computer educated, and only use it a small amount, but I do have a couple yummy things to share.
Sounds great! I get irritated when people say they don’t have the $ to eat right. We’re a family of 4 living on one income, so we’ve figured out how to do most of it fairly inexpensively.
Sweta,
Me too!
Christine,
I agree! There are much better ways to do things. 😉
Hey Judy,
No problem and I would love to get your recipes! On the day of the carnival, just leave a comment with your recipes to share. Don’t have to share them all on one week, as it will be a weekly post. 🙂
Cara,
Some people just don’t know! I hope this carnival can help educate people a little more. 🙂
That soup looks heavenly — and I love your pottery. Look forward to peeking at the carnival.
That’s what I meant, that people need better information out there. I’m irritated at the lack of information, not the people lacking it. LOL :o) This should be a great help!
Thanks so much for your reminders. Reading everyone’s stories here is definitely an inspiration to me. It can be so easy to get sucked into the coupon/freebie game, as I definitely have been in the past. If it’s free, get it, right? Wrong! Here’s to getting on track. I am learning a ton and am so grateful your brother-in-law publicly recommended your blog! Be sure to tell him to do it again! I know plenty of women who would love and need this information and help. Being healthy SEEMS overwhelming when you are doing it alone.
P.S. Got my first kefir starter packs in the mail today. Can’t wait to try it!!
Hi,
I have enjoyed your carnivals in the past but sometimes I am completely overwhelmed by the number of posts, recipes, information to sort through. Sometimes I really only have 5 minutes to look at the carnival, so I don’t have time to read and sort through everything. I was hoping to suggest some kind of feature, maybe where you could identify 3 winners or the top three posts that you should read if you only have 5 minutes to look at the carnival. I think that feature would be soooo helpful. One thing I really need to conserve, in addition to money, is very precious time.
In addition to identifying the top three recipes/tips of the week, I think it might be helpful to have a beginner’s corner, where you identify the top three posts for beginners to cooking with whole foods. When I first came to your blog a few months ago, I felt so behind. There were many posts I felt I had to go back and read to get myself up to speed. It can be intimidating. A section in the carnival for beginners or new readers could include more detailed instructions or more simple things to begin with.
I love your blog! I think these simple things could make it even more readable and helpful.
Courtney,
LOL, I will pass on the message to Josh. 🙂
Emily,
Thanks for the very helpful feedback. You had some great ideas for me! It may take me a while to try something new, like you suggested (if you as a reader can get overwhelmed, I can get overwhelmed sometimes keeping everything rolling!), but I will definitely but some thought into it! Thank you again!
Milkmaid,
Thanks! I actually made that bowl. 🙂
Cara,
I thought’s what you meant, lol! I was just trying to agree with you *smile*
I love that catchy title! This sounds good. I can imagine you and Joel tossing titles back and forth. I love the way you include your family in your posts. The picture of Elena’s chocolate smile recently was very sweet.
Say, I would love the recipe for that soup at the top of this blog! Looks absolutely wonderful!
I agree with Emily. When there are lots of links I only look at two and hope they are good ones. I have ran a blog with many readers though and know that you can spend hours just trying to get everything sorted on your blog and writting posts. Do what you can. And thanks for all the great info!
I’ll be here on Thursday. Now to figure out what to post. 🙂 I love big, busy carnivals because I can click over and read a couple posts and then come back later and click some others when I have time. But I always know that the topic is the same on all the posts. Plus, I call the kids over “What do you think about this?? Does it look yummy?” We all love new ideas. 🙂
I find that it saves a lot of time if people leave a short summary with their link, like ‘Kimi (Chocolate dipped strawberries)’ so I can go there if I’m looking for that sort of thing, or skip it if I’m not.
I’m a lurker, but I wanted to take time to agree with Emily about the time requirement to look through blog carnivals. I have a personal rule to look at only the first five posts in the interest of my computer time, and I know I miss things that would interest me as a result. What Cara suggests would be very helpful! I really appreciate your practical and inspiring blog and am especially looking forward to getting inspiration from the new pennywise platter Thursdays.
can you please explain how to use “mr linky” or how to link my post to this carnival?
Jacqueline,
Here you go! http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/04/spring-is-here-asparagus-egg-drop-soup.html
And Everyone Else,
Thanks for the very helpful feedback and ideas! I appreciate it. I am looking forward to learning from those of you who are going to participate in the carnival too!
Coming back to request crock pot recipes! I have a difficult time finding recipes that don’t use condensed soups and other pre-processed foods. If anyone has them, please share! And if they are good summer dishes – even better.
Is it Thursday yet?? I can’t wait!
What does this have to do with nourishing budgeting – nada. Just the nourishing part! I have a friend who is turning 68 years old and she is a stroke survivor. I have always told her to eat heatlhy because I knew by the way she was eating, her health will decline. About 4 years ago, she suffered a stroke. Luckily, she was in the hospital at the time of the stoke. Immediately the nurses was there to attend to her needs as she was having this stoke; otherwise, she would have suffered more physical damages than she has already suffered. She is part if Kaiser Permamente. After she was release from the hospital, I was surprise that she was not referred to a nutritionist or dietician to teach her how to eat healthier, nor did the doctors or nurses came to educate her on eating healthier or guide her on what to do when she returns home. She was just given a tri-fold pamphlet on what foods to avoid for a heart-healthy diet and sent home. Seeing that I was always health and fitness conscious, she came to me and ask me to help her. She really didn’t have a clue on where to start. I had to accompany her to a grocery store to teach her to read nutrition lablels and read ingredient listings. I downloaded materials for her to read. I had to teach her about trans fat, whole grains, low sodium, etc. Each time she went for a routine checkup, her doctor is complimentng her that she is one of the very few patients who is recovering well and looks very good. I told her to tell her doctor that if it wasn’t for me, she would be clueless on what to do and that not too many patients have that advantage of having a friend/relative to guide them to eat nutritiously better. I think Kaiser Permamente should have nutrition classes and healthy cooking demos/classes to educate their patients how to eat healthy BEFOE they are discharged from the hospital. Couple years later, I advice my friend to ask her doctor for a referral to a nutritionist. Her doctor did refer her to one, but she had to ask. Why didn’t they do this in the first place? Anyway, the nutritionist repeated everything I had already told her. I am 53 years old. If I was back in my younger years, I think I would of study nutrition. I think I would make a great nutritionist/dietician! Today, I am still guiding my 4-year stroke survivor friend of mine like she is my patient.
I have 3 separate blogs, but will definitely participate on my simplydawson.blogspot.com I’m still learning, but my new skill this week is blanching corn and cutting it up for the freezer – last week I did beans I’ll try to link up my new skills…. of course realizing that so many people already do what I’m attempting – maybe there are other neophytes ready to try. This is a GREAT IDEA!
This is completely off topic, but…where did you get that lovely bowl? 🙂
Woops, read through the comments and read that you made it. God’s given you a beautiful talent!
I second the short summery to the link. I only click on the ones I’m interested in learning about. I’m not going to go read on the benefits of raw milk if I already know that and am drinking it.