#i want herb and parmesan popcorn so bad

[youvebeenlivingfictional]

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[sl33py-g4m3r]

making a record of every dairy thing in my apartment to attempt to chart how fast it's gonna be to get rid of, mainly by eating; but I guess I can put some in the donation box at the park for people~~ the unopened stuff of course~~

goobers x 5 (a candy consisting of milk chocolate balls w peanuts in them. initially bought cause I tried them and they hit really good, then I stopped eating them, lol. and one of them is open)

store brand pasta sides (there are 2 rice too) x 12 (i like to stock up on things cause I don't go to the store that often mainly cause I'm blind legally and can't drive)

boxes of macaroni and cheese x 3

2 bags of doritos and one of store brand loaded potato chips (which I'm surprised don't have bacon or lard in them and are actually vegetarian)

2 of pringles I just bought (sour cream and onion and ranch)

2 of some crunchy puffed pea snacks bought at the dollar tree (calbee brand i think? they're so good and have a lot of fibre for a puffed snack like that!)

3 open containers of ice cream (that I'm sadly not eating cause I learned I don't like it that much so it's hard for me to eat)

2 jars of great value nutella with one being half gone

a mainly used tube thing of Parmesan cheese (which may not be vegetarian based on what and how rennet is used idk)

4 of some spreadable cheese (gourmet w herbs, one of them is open the other 3 are sealed in plastic and not open, bought at a discount store on impulse a while ago)

25 individual packets of swiss miss hot cocoa mix

a big bag of trail mix that has m&ms in it (are those even vegetarian? don't they use shellac for the candy coating or was that other candies instead?)

a partially used jar of alfredo sauce

a partially ate fluffy cheesecake kind of pie

and I think 2 partially used containers of popcorn salt

all the other butter type stuff/margirine/cheese that I have is vegan stuff that was given out at commodities when mom and a neighbour went~~ mom knew that I keep trying to go vegan and gave them to me~~ she even gave me some vegan (i think they're vegan I could be mistaken and they're just vegetarian) sausage patties too~~ and seasoned seitan (that idk where on earth to find anywhere at all; could buy vital wheat gluten and chickpea flour and attempt to make my own again. but whenever I make it I don't like it and can't figure out whether I don't like seitan or just made it wrong~~ made it homemade with just flour once~~ so if you want a good arm work out, try it, lol didn't like that either sadly for the above)

it's cool commodities is giving out vegan stuff sometimes~~ but she hadn't went in a long time~~

I feel this is going to tale a lot longer than I think it will~~ I guess just slowly and consistently use them and not feel bad for doing so? cause hopefully even being a vegetarian would still help fight global warming and stuff~~

and I've been a vegetarian for almost the entirety of this year~~~~ wooooooooo~~!!!!! I say almost cause the year isn't over~~~ and some many months last year too~~~

longest time ever that I've successfully been vegetarian~~~ like over 200 days~~~ cause I use a counter app to track the days and I've switched counters back and forth a few times trying to find a good one~~ Meatless is pretty good~~~ used to use Quit Meat but it wants you to log every animal food you consume and I felt that was too tedious~~~ Meatless just lets you log what meat if any you consume and hit either the plant based, or hit the egg/dairy buttons when you want to log a day as vegan or vegetarian. and it lets you choose what country you're in to give you relevant stats to your country~~

plopping another question here at the end cause I'm unsure if it's actually animal or not~~ I have some fleece blankets; and I thought fleece was the name for wool or some other animal derived fabric~~~ unless fleece means something that's non animal too.... they're light fluffy and warm blankets~~ so.... is it animal fleece or more than likely something else and still fine to use?

asked reddit a while ago when I went on r/vegan (cause r/vegetarian was barred by a filter or restriction and wouldn't let me post at all~~ why is reddit so locked down in this manner? it sucks~~ I don't like reddit~~

I've come so far over the course of a little more than half a year~~~ I no longer see meat as a valid food choice~~~~ or gelatine~~~~

a lot longer than I was when I first tried back in 2013 when I went vegan on a whim~~ lasted a couple of months, didn't know what I was doing, and went back to eating meat. repeat process endlessly until this time hopefully~~~

proud of myself for making it this far this time~~ and not going back to eating meat~~ cause when I did that, I'd feel like a hypocrite and deem myself a failure. But I'm not a failure cause I kept trying~~ I keep trying~~

so much so that the vitamins I take for in general vitamin, and the vitamin D the doctor wanted me on are vegan~~~

I still feel like a baby vegan even after all the time I've tried and failed in the past ~~ T_T;;

[crazydznutz]

Idk how to add bullets but also

- You can also try roasting or broiling vegetables. To roast, dry them, coat them in extra virgin olive oil, salt and whatever herbs (rosemary and thyme and pepper are the easy go-tos when you're newer to cooking), and then heat on high in a skillet or a cookie sheet for however long some site says or until you check them and they look crisp. To broil them, do the same but with the broil setting on your oven.

- Italian seasoning is just rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, and garlic

- Roasted potatoes will taste crispier if you boil them first and then roast them.

- GET A SALAD SPINNER!!! I use my salad spinner every single day for all of my produce. It will make drying fruits and vegetables and such so much easier. Sure maybe it won't fully dry them out enough for a crisp fry but it'll definitely reduce the amount you'll need to towel dry it, and it absolutely will dry it enough for ramens and salads and literally anything that doesn't involve adding oil

- Any vegetables you have about to go bad, add them to a Ziploc bag. When that bag is full, you will have a variety of vegetables to make a delicious soup. To make a soup, heat up some broth, or add bouillon cubes to water, or make your own stock

- chicken bones can be used to make chicken stock. I'm too lazy to type all the ingredients out RN and it can vary a little based on what you want so just look up a chicken stock recipe and use up your chicken bones too

- Adding romaine lettuce or green onions to a dish will give it some crunch and some green. A little bit healthier and now it's crunchy. I noticed a local restaurant adds romaine lettuce to their golden curry so I started doing that too. And then I started adding it to everything because it's so crunchy. And green onions look so nice on top of everything.

- Don't get your cookware from big retailers like Walmart if you can avoid it. Go to HomeGoods or Marshalls or Goodwill or something. It's so much cheaper and they usually have prettier styles too and also fuck Walmart and fuck Sam's Club and fuck Target. Also your friends or family members might be looking to toss their old cookware and appliances out. My Lodge Dutch oven (lodge is a reputable brand for reliable cast iron products) came from HomeGoods, and our cute Japanese artstyle cat bowls. Our air fryer and toaster oven and most of our pans came from shit friends and family were otherwise planning to toss

- Cornstarch slurry. It means add cornstarch and cold water together in a small bowl and then add that to the dish. I use this for everything. I thicken my stews. I thicken my peanut satay. I thicken my jams. I thicken everything with it. Allegedly flour works too but idk

- Stir fry 101: Use leftover rice. Cold rice will fry nice and crisp while fresh, warm rice will get soggy and gross. Use MSG. Use dark and light soy sauce, if you don't know what this means just get some soy sauce that's advertised as just soy sauce the way you always would, and then also go to your local Asian grocery store and try to find anything called a "Seasoning sauce" or something like that. A lady once told me how she used to run a local Chinese restaurant and she used Golden Mountain Seasoning Sauce and I have been listening to that ever since. Add eggs. Add random frozen vegetables. Add mung bean sprouts if you can. Sprinkle baking soda on your chicken (idk if this works for other proteins because I'm poor and not wasting what little shrimps and beef when I know my chicken stir fry is already a banger). Cook everything separately and then toss them all back in together towards the end.

- it's okay to not be 100% homemade. Frozen shit is okay. Try to get some frozen shit that can be a bit versatile. Pre-made frozen breaded chicken can be eaten as a chicken patty sandwich or turned into a chicken parmesan or added to a stir fry or put on top of some curry or a salad or whatever. Popcorn shrimp can be dipped in buttermilk and fried and then tossed in the sauce for bang-bang shrimp and then taste delicious over some ramen. Don't get super finished premade meals like a completely made lasagna where the most you can really do to make it less premade is toss some herbs on it.

- Add broth to everything. Boiling pasta? Toss a cheap bouillon cube in there. It'll give you pasta a nice meaty taste. Same with potatoes and such. Also reuse your broth. After making some ramen, scoop all the ramen out, pour in as much broth as you want. Then instead of pouring the rest out, add some creamy peanut butter, chili garlic, garlic powder, soy sauce, mirin, whatever the fuck you want really and make that into a nice delicious peanut satay. Pour that over your ramen too, or put some in the fridge for later

- Watch food videos. Watch the people who don't use a bunch of gadgets and gizmos. I love watching those YouTube food channels where they're out in the snow cooking fish they just caught or in a field somewhere making a roast in the dirt. I'll try to link some channels I love here. It'll teach you how to cook without getting sucked into endless gadgets. You do not need a specialized tool for chopping garlic or boiling eggs unless you have a very specific issue like not having a stove but loving boiled eggs every day. Some channels I love:

The first one is a family from Azerbaijan and they also show their dogs and cats and rabbits and ducks and cows and sheep and every video is so peaceful and beautiful and also teaches cooking sorry I'm giving them an extra special recommendation because I love watching them so much

actually yknow what, no. this is not being limited to discord, yall get it too.

some general cooking tips (in which there is a brief senshi posession):

moisture is the enemy of crispy skin. pat dry with paper towel, and if you have the time and spoons, give a thorough but even coat of baking powder and let sit uncovered in your fridge overnight. this will dry out the skin nicely. for pork belly, create a tight foil boat so that only the skin is showing, and cover in salt to draw out moisture, repeating a couple times if necessary.

furikake seasoning, for the fellow rice lovers, is just nori (seaweed), sesame seeds, sugar, and msg/salt. you might have most if not all of these things already in your kitchen.

chai spice mix is just cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmeg, & allspice.

pumpkin spice is just cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger.

to cure your own bacon, you only need water, white and brown sugar, and a non-iodized salt - himalayan pink salt is not iodized, if you cannot find butchers curing pink salt. from there, you can add any seasoning/flavoring you want.

the truly adventurous may cook their rice in green tea for a fresh clean taste.

you can tell if a fish is truly fresh by their eyes - clear and bright is fresh, while cloudy is older or potentially has been frozen.

it's cheaper to buy a large block pack of ramen from your local asian market and repackage the bricks into sandwich bags, than to buy a box of individually packaged ones such as maruchan or top ramen.

when buying meat, look at it's fat content - more fat marbling usually means more tender + flavorful.

you can save onion skins and other vegetable scraps to make your own broth with. you can also save bones for this. mix and match ratios to create your ideal flavor.

bay leaf will always make a soup or broth taste better, but Watch Out (they are not fun to bite into on accident).

msg is, in fact, not The Devil, that was just a racist hate campaign against the chinese and other oriental races. it's literally just a type of salt. it is no more dangerous to eat than any other type of salt.

washing your rice is important because it not only improves flavor and texture by removing excess starch, but it also helps reduce any residual pesticides or dirt, or even insect fragments (please remember that rice paddies are essentially giant ponds that all kind of things live in and swim around. you should also be washing all your produce in general.)

please salt your cooking water for pastas, it just tastes better and you will be happier for it.

boiled potatoes are also improved by salt water.

if you hate vegetables, please consider trying them fried in butter or perhaps bacon grease. it is healthier to eat them fatty than not at all.

healthy food does not in fact have to taste miserable. thats a lie. they are lying to you. free yourself from your blandness shackles. enter a world of flavor.

[imadeletingmysocials]

Things cheaper at Dollartree (after much research)

This is a big list I made for myself and anyone else who wants to know what is legit cheaper at the dollar tree and not just 1 dollar for the sake of there, some things might surprise you what is cheaper and even better at a dollar tree. I try to also pick the healthiest options and compare them to prices in places such as Walmart or a large stock place like BJs. I have also used fooducate.com to see which ones are more healthy, of course with things such as chips and snacks though don’t consider them to be healthy but in those cases I opt for the off-brand ones that taste better than the brand ones. Note: This is USA based.

Food:

Drinks:

Azul Coconut Juice, 16.5 oz. (cheapest and healthiest coconut water out there)

Gatorade Fruit Punch Thirst Quencher, 24 oz.

Stacker 2 B-12 Vitamin Shots is also cheaper.

Rockstar Pure Zero Silver Ice Energy Drinks (energy drinks are bad for you but it’s like 30 cents cheaper here than in walmart)

LaCroix Lime Flavored Sparkling Water 1 litter

(don’t even bother with any or all of the cheap soda it’s the worst, please drink water if anything else, all of the good soda is cheaper somewhere else also)

Snacks:

Cheez-It Original Baked Snack Crackers, 4.5 oz is cheaper at Dollartree.

Nabisco Cheese Nips Baked Snack Crackers, 7 oz is cheaper at Dollartree.

Nabisco Ritz Bits Cheese and Cracker Sandwiches, 3-oz. is SORTA cheaper at dollartree.

Island Choice Dry-Roasted Peanuts, 7.5 oz. (shelled nuts cheaper everywhere else of course in bulk)

Island Choice Honey-Roasted Dry-Roasted Peanuts, 7.5 oz

Pennysticks Mini Pretzels, 12 oz (pretzels the same, these cheaper)

Tropical Chips Plantains, 3-oz (30 cents cheaper)

Barcel Takis Fuego Flavored Churritos Stix, 4 oz (apparently, 9oz is 2,50 so 3 would be 12oz and 3 dollars, it would be kinda cheaper?)

Pringles Grab & Go Barbecue Chips, 2.5 oz (buying in bulk anywhere else is cheaper though, however, this single container costs 1,25 everywhere else)

Brim's Fried Barbecue Pork Rinds, 2.635 oz

Carolina Country Snacks Salt & Vinegar Pork Rinds. 2.75 oz

Sheila G's Chocolate Chip Brownie Brittle, 2 oz

Barcel Takis Crunchy Fajitas Tortilla Chips, 3.2 oz

T.G.I. Friday’s Jalapeno Cheddar Potato Skins Snack Chips, 4.5 oz

Snack Factory Original Pretzel Crisps, 3-oz (50 cents cheaper!)

PopCorners Kettle Flavor Popped Corn Chips, 3 oz. (better in bulk also)

Good Health Veggie Chips with Sea Salt, 2.75-oz (better in bulk also)

Stacy's Parmesan Garlic & Herb Flavored Pita Chips, 3 oz (better in bulk also)

Rudolph's OnYums Onion-Flavored Ring Chips, 3 oz (it’s off brand Funyuns but it’s actually BETTER and cheaper depending on where you buy them because they’re often sold more expensively at gas stations than Funyuns, fun fact)

Island Choice Banana Chips, 6 oz. Bags

Island Choice Sweet and Spicy Trail Mix, 5 oz (healthy!)

Breakfast Blueberry Biscuits, 7.93 oz.

Harvest Hill Quick Oats, 16 oz. Canisters (Top choice too)

Canned and Pickled

Pampa Tropical Mango Slices in Light Syrup, 15 oz. Cans

Bell's Pitted Olives, 6 oz

Green Giant Sliced Carrots, 14.5 oz (but mostly because I cannot find them anywhere else, all other Green Giant stuff is sold cheaper in bulk though)

Margaret Holmes Finely Chopped Spinach, 27 oz (TOP CHOICE)

Crider Premium Chunk White Turkey 5oz

Libby"s Sliced Pineapple, 20 oz (surprisingly!)

Margaret Holmes Seasoned Field Peas and Snaps, 15 oz

Cans of Pampa(R) Peach Slices, 15.25oz

Pampa Mushroom Pieces & Stems, 10 oz

Pampa Extra-Long Asparagus Spears, 12-oz (by the way Pampa is a really good healthy brand which is cheaper so these alternatives are great)

Libby's Premium Mandarin Oranges, 15 oz

Breckenridge Farms Pickled Jalapeno Slices, 12.5 oz (however Old El Paso Jalapeno Slices, Pickled 12.5oz is 1 dollar more expensive in other places and considered more healthy)

Van Camp's Chunk White Albacore Tuna 5oz (keep in mind this is the only canned tuna that is cheaper at dollartree, Albacore is very healthy and usually more expensive than Tuna, but dollartree sells white albacore in water on the same price as light tuna, this is a very good tuna brand as well)

Mc. Trader Tender Green Asparagus Spears, 10.5 oz

Pampa Smoked Oysters in Oil

Healthy Choice Chicken Noodle Soup, 15-oz

Beach Cliff Sardines in Mustard Sauce, 3.75 (top choice)

Beach Cliff Sardines in Water, 3.75 oz (top choice)

French Onion Dip, 8.5 oz (all onion’s dips the same as well)

Condiments and Spicing

Goya Sazon Seasoning, 8-Packet Boxes

Deli Market Yellow Mustard 20oz (not only is this the best healthiest mustard, but it’s cheaper if you buy it like this than any other mustard in stock size, I wish I had known of this before already stocking up buy buying a 2 pack of 20oz mustard at BJs which is enough to last a year for me)

Louisiana Supreme Hot Sauce 12oz (top choice too)

Kendale Farm Beef Broth, 32 oz (top choice, cheaper than most 32oz broths)

Heinz 57 Sauce, 5 oz. (1,50 cheaper than Walmart)

Hunts Tomato Ketchup, 20 oz (all ketchup is the same)

Deli Market Deli Spicy Brown Mustard (top choice)

Riverton Orchards Lemon Juice, 32-oz (lemon juice the same)

Kraft Bullseye Everyday Original Barbecue Sauce, 17.5-oz (80 cents cheaper than the same product in Target)

A.1. Thick & Hearty Steak Sauce, 5 oz. (SURPRISINGLY, not even in bulk is it as cheap as this? Weird, 5oz is 1 dollar right? 30oz for A1 is usually 8 dollars in stock supermarkets, but 5 times 8 would be 40oz! This is... Interesting. Especially considering it’s a well known brand as well, I wonder who is their dealer or are they just selling it cheap out of donation?)

Healthy Chef Canola Non-Stick Cooking Spray (this one’s pretty wild too, it only is sold at dollartree and is considered the healthiest cooking spray in the entirety of America according to fooducate)

Candy

Gonna go on a safe bet here and say that everything can be found for less and in greater quantity anywhere else. Hairbo Twin Snake is the same price at Walmart though. Most candies are sold 40% cheaper at bulk supermarkets though.

Office & School Supplies

You can probably find all of these at an Ebay auction, but it’s more accessible here.

Crayola Washable Glue Sticks, 2-ct. Packs (1.50 cheaper than walmart)

Duck Tape is cheap as hell

All-Purpose Krazy Glue, .052-oz. Tubes

Other stuff:

Laundry stuff, I’d recommend Ajax 40oz or Fab. Those are AMAZING brands and known as top quality in Australia. And it is insane how cheap this is, they must import it??

Scott Toilet Paper: Oh my god HOW IS 4 TOILET PAPERS THIS CHEAP HERE AT THE DOLLAR TREE???? TP is literally more expensive everywhere else.

Kitchen appliances, a glass salt shaker is like 5 dollars at Walmart but it’s 1 dollar at dollartree. All of the Betty Crocker kitchen appliances like spatulas are only a dollar too and so good. (They are 3 DOLLARS cheaper at dollar tree). IT IS INSANE HOW CHEAP this shit is here, like the can opener they sell for 1 dollar is 6 or 5 dollars everywhere else.

Fisher-Price Smart Care Aloe Vera and Chamomile Baby Wipes, 80-ct. Packs

All Arm & Hammer stuff including the Arm & Hammer Ultra Max 3-in-1 Fresh Scented Body Wash, Shampoo, and Conditioner, 12 oz are good choices. Deodorant too is good. All Arm and hammer stuff here is cheaper than on Walmart and a great brand.

Hand soap might be found for 97 cents at Walmart but it’s a small difference.

Not Cheaper, Best bought at a bulk store:

Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels

snack bars.

V8 Vegetable Juice

Potato Stix

Cereal

Canned Soup

Canned Tuna

Badia Original Complete Seasoning (this took a while to calculate but yes it’s cheaper to buy in bulk, dollartree has 2,5oz for 1 dollar, usually a 2 pack of 12oz each is 13 dollars. if you do like 2.5 times 2.5oz, it’s like 32oz which is more than 24oz for 13 dollars, but you can find 1.75 lbs. of this for 8 dollars)

Iodized Salt (get it at Great value honestly)

Dill Pickles in general, but Vlasic Kosher Dill Pickles is the healthiest choice

Cambell canned soups

Goya canned beans

Sunny Sea Sardines in Tomato Sauce, 7.5-oz

Here’s hoping me publishing this doesn’t crash the market or anything but seriously, you can live healthily and frugally like this. I literally survive like this easily, I just spend like 60 dollars a month max with supplies.