How do people afford to make Pesach?

JoyInTheMorning

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 6:10 pm

SixOfWands wrote:

Someone does, but I don't know who. I picked up a bottle when shopping, gasped at the price, and carefully returned it to the shelf.

Yeah, returning things to the shelf: that's how I make ends meet on Pesach. You can live without most things for a week. I usually use maple syrup during the year to mix with salad dressing and lemon juice for a sweet and sour dressing. For Pesach I'll just boil up some sugar and water into a simple syrup and use that instead. Will it be as good? No. Will it be good enough? Yes.

This is what I have found: every item you buy on Pesach is $4 or $5 unless it is a lot more. When you add up all those $4 or $5 -- for each bottle of ketchup, jar of mayo, can of potato starch, bottle of salad dressing, can of pineapple, etc. -- and then add all the much more expensive items, like nuts, olive oil, rainbow cookies (my weakness, forgive me!), and all the must haves, like shemura matza and wine and beef and chicken, the food bill is enormous. We cut back in the weeks before as we are getting rid of leftovers. But I also try to cut back on the things that I think we need but can survive without.

amother

Salmon

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 6:10 pm

amother [ Emerald ] wrote:

I really like the Dave Ramsey approach to this. Pesach comes every year with it's expenses, as do all the Yomim Tovim. Some months don't have any Yom tov expenses and some months are swamped. So every month we put the same amount of money into the Yom tov fund and from there we pay all the special Yom tov expenses like lulav and esrog, menorah supplies, shalach Manos, the extra food needed for meals as well as all pesach expenses. That way it doesn't put an enormous strain on our budget that month and we can be calm about spending the extra money.

Use the messilla workbook. They already figured this into account in the monthly budget.

renslet

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 6:38 pm

I definitely find the beginning of the school year much harder, financially.
We live on shlichus, sedarim are public so although my husband has to fundraise it's a totally different cheshbon.
Matza is probably the biggest expense, wine and grape juice next ( although it was such a good price we bought loads hoping it will last for the year)
Otherwise it's really just loads of fruit and veg, eggs, potatoes and protein.
I buy in big quantities like a whole box of whole fish so it's cheaper but a huge hassle to cut, whole chickens, which are way cheaper, then I shnitzel and cut the bottoms and use the bones for soup.
Meat is kosher lepesach all year round so I rinse the packaging and use what's left, and buy a bit more.
That's basically what we use, I find that I spend way more for sukkos because I use processed food and that really adds up.
Clothing - I bought my 7 year old a new pair of Shabbos shoes cuz her's were ripped. Took out some opsher gifts for my three year old, I bought my 5 yr old 2 new french toast shirts and that's it. I even didn't wash my sheitel cuz it still looks good. Oh and I bought one orange shell for each of my girls to match a skirt that they always wore with white, so now they have new outfits.
These were all things that they already needed, just pesach gave me the push to buy.

I find that as long as there is an abundance of sides, salads etc, you really need very little meat or fish. Plus the table looks so full

meyerlemon44

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 6:43 pm

amother [ Emerald ] wrote:

Do you keep the money in a specific savings account or keep it in cash?

amother

Emerald

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 6:51 pm

meyerlemon44 wrote:

Do you keep the money in a specific savings account or keep it in cash?

I put it in a "folder" in my savings account so that I can use my debit or credit card to make purchases and then transfer the right amount when I get home. I'm not so strict about every dollar especially with things like food where one shopping trip can buy Purim things and regular groceries for example, but overall I find that it's nice to know that the money you put away in Tammuz helps make Tishrei happen.

amother

Salmon

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 7:12 pm

Rubber Ducky wrote:

2 kitchens!!!??? I'm a kitchen designer by profession and 1 kitchen is enough for me! If you need to cook in advance, there's a cookbook called Pesach While You Sleep with instructions for doing some Pesach cooking in slow cookers in your laundry room.

Many people have 2 kitchens. It's standard in a lot of developments.

amother

Salmon

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 7:26 pm

amother [ Cerise ] wrote:

It still costs me a fortune.

Let's say I'm making chicken marsala. Chicken costs about the same; so do mushrooms. But I'm going to need to purchase some sort of flour or potato starch to coat the chicken. New cooking wine or wine. New oil. Spices (which I do save year to year.)

New lemon juice for my salmon. New ketchup for my brisket.

Not to mention what that Pesach kitchen costs you. You had to purchase a home big enough to accommodate two kitchens. Hook up water lines for a sink. Purchase double appliances. It probably costs hundreds a year.

You are wrong on the cost of the kitchen. DH is handy, and he did the installation of the cabinets, the countertop, and the backsplash himself. We bought appliances which were specially priced if you buy 3. We needed 5, and it was cheaper to get 6 rather than 3 and two at full price. We had the extra stove that we would swap out for Pesach in my regular kitchen.

We needed the water line, the electric, and the gas line anyway for the nearby laundry room. We didn't need to build a bigger house to accommodate the Pesach kitchen. Besides the cost of the Pesach kitchen is not an ongoing expense.

You missed the part where I eat healthy year round.

I wouldn't coat chicken when making chicken marsala. EVOL is KLP. We buy in bulk.

I don't use lemon juice on fish because of the preservatives. I use real lemon all year round.

I would never use ketchup on brisket. Ketchup has high fructose corn syrup and excess sodium.

What I am saying is if you eat healthy year round anyway and buy in bulk, Pesach costs are similar to year round food bills.

goodmorning

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 7:39 pm

amother [ Salmon ] wrote:

All real maple syrup is KLP. No additives.

It's probably a good idea for each person to ask her own rav about this one. The CRC's policy, for example, is "Coconut Oil, Stevia, Honey, and Maple syrup require Pesach certification." (www.crcweb.org/kosher%20consumer%20previous%20editions.docx)

amother

Cerise

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 7:40 pm

amother [ Salmon ] wrote:

You purchased a house of a size that allowed you to install a second kitchen. That extra space costs you thousands of dollars in mortgage payments, property taxes, heating bills, and other expenses each year.

You've also purchased a home large enough for you to buy in bulk. Still more money.

Hardly sounds frugal to me.

Oh, and patting yourself on the back that you wouldn't dare touch ketchup isn't so healthy either. You might pull a muscle. We eat quite healthy. But realistically.

amother

Orchid

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 8:06 pm

Whenever I'm shopping or planning what to get, I keep repeating to myself "it's only a week!" That helps me reign in the urge to stock up like we'll be snowed in for 60 years with only klp food and appliances. I make a menu plan for the whole week--not just chag, so I can see which ingredients I need and which we'll really use. And then, of course, if we did run out of food, it's not a snowpocalypse, so I could stop at the store and get veg or chicken or eggs if needed. That keeps me from going too crazy when I see everyone else with teetering carts overflowing with food (maybe they're cooking for a family of 14+ extended, but I'm not!). I also try to avoid recipes with things that I'll only use once and won't want to use after pesach.

amother

Salmon

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 8:17 pm

amother [ Cerise ] wrote:

You don't know my house, yet you are ok making a lot of untrue assumptions and then stating them as fact. I don't have a mortgage, and my taxes are on the reasonable side. The house also is energy efficient. My bills are about a quarter of a typical home this size.

It would seem you are the one in danger of pulling a muscle trying to get ketchup out of the bottle. How is using ketchup on brisket realistic?

I did say if you are used to eating healthy, then a another week of same doesn't damage a budget.

amother

Mauve

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 8:23 pm

JoyInTheMorning wrote:

Who makes Kosher L'Pesach maple syrup? Are you talking about imitation maple syrup or real maple syrup? The stores here (out of town) don't carry a brand that's okay for Pesach.

I live in Monsey. All the stores carry kosher for pesach maple syrup. Not imitation, I don't buy that stuff.

amother

Mauve

Thu, Apr 11 2019, 8:32 pm

Also although I buy more food stuff this time of year, I budget it out and know it will cost a ton. I really really really enjoy the challenge of baking for pesach. I don't use white sugar or chocolate and a lot of other stuff so automatically stuff will be a lot more. I dont have to bake but I thoroughly enjoy it and it's my simchas Yom tov so I make it happen. In my case we are a small family for now so I do a ton of stuff for my parents (who are happy to foot the bill) but it's easier for me to buy my own ingredients so this year I did. I am sure I will get paid back for a portion of it but if I don't it's fine. One thing I didn't splurge on was a standing rib roast and my mother just came over with one for me which was really nice. Personally $100 for a chunk of meat is too much for me to spend.