Recall (Schweppes)!

Due to a production error that allowed mold to grow in some bottles, Schweppes has announced a recall of the following products:




1.5 L bottles Shweppes flavored water - peach flavor

1.5 L bottles Shweppes flavored water - mixed berry flavor

1.5 L bottlesShweppes flavored water - apple flavor
The recall applies only to those bottles with a production date of 31.1.16 and a use by date of 31.10.16


The products are being removed from store shelves.

Consumers who have purchased these products are asked to call customer service at 1-800-701-701 to arrange for a refund.

Free e-books in Hebrew!

A great way to improve your Hebrew is to read it and speak it and immerse yourself in it.

Here are some FREE Hebrew e-books for you!

Clicking on the link above will take you to a page with a whole bunch of free downloads! There's a wide variety of genres there - so much to read!

Grab 'em while you can!

I'll post more as I find them!

Want to see snow? Good news!

There's still some snow on Mt. Hermon up here in the Golan, and as of today,
until further notice, the site is open to the public FOR FREE!

You'll still have to pay for the rides and the cable car and ski rentals (if there's enough snow for skiing) and all the extras, but you won't have to pay the fee to get INTO the Hermon site! (This is a BIG deal, trust me!)

And if you're up this way, let me know! It would be fun to meet! Maybe I'll even see you at the Hermon, playing in the snow! (If not, you can find me in Katzrin!)

Recall!

Mars, Inc has announced a multi-national recall of a number of chocolate bars. Pieces of plastic were found in Mars Bars, Milky Way Bars, Snickers Bars, Celebration Bars, and "Mini Mix", posing a serious dangers. The chocolate bars were produced in Holland earlier this year.
As of right now, the following products are being removed from store shelves:


Snickers Mini, 187gram bars, with a best buy date of 11/12/16

If you have purchased these chocolate bars, please return them to the store where purchased, or call the customer service number on the package for more information.

It's possible that some of you may have chocolate from Europe that was brought in privately (including items that may have been bought at Duty Free Shops). The full recall list includes SNICKERS^®, MARS^®, MILKY WAY^® and CELEBRATIONS^® products produced in the Netherlands factory during the production period between December 5, 2015 - January 18, 2016.

Menu Plan for the week!

This week, I'll be trying to use *something* from the freezer every day. It's time to use up some of my stash of food, since there are holidays looming on the horizon...

So my menu may look haphazard, but as long as everyone gets fed, we're happy.

Here's the plan:

(Lunches will be sandwiches/eggs/cottage cheese/vegetables/soups/quick breads/whatever I can manage)

Sunday: Split Pea Soup with lots of carrots, Rice Pasta with Kasha (from the freezer), Baked Apples

Monday: Red Lentil Soup (using soup stock from the freezer), Brown Rice with Black Bean "meatballs", cucumbers and carrots

Tuesday: Baked Ziti, Lettuce and tomato salad (I'll take something out of the freezer for lunch)

Wednesday: Freezer vegetable stew, fresh dinner rolls with butter/cheese/who knows what

Thursday: Anything leftover from the week!

Great Deal on an Unlocked Moto G!

*this post contains affiliate links
 
This Amazon deal is going to sell out fast!

Even though this Moto G is not the absolute latest model out there, people in Israel love the Moto G, and are always telling people to use it (unlocked) here.

The best place to buy it is on Amazon, and today it's on sale!

So grab it while you can!

(Amazon deals are always subject to change. At the time of this writing, the phone is on sale for $85.99)

Things I buy from Aliexpress!

I'm constantly on the lookout for ways to stretch our shekels, and over the last year or so, I've tried to plan far enough in advance for things that I can make a fair number of purchases on Aliexpress. Most of what we buy in the store here comes from China in any case, so cutting out the middleman saves a lot of money.

Here is a quick sampling of the kinds of things we tend to buy from Aliexpress!

I'd love to hear what you buy!

MicroSD card (great for expanding the memory on your phone!)

Gift bags (we got these small ones for a crafting project)

Food safe bags (for mishloach manot and other gifts)

Anti-nausea wrist bands (I've got a bunch of these in my bag and more in the car!)

Sun hats (I really need hats with visors in the summer!)

Sunglasses (especially the kind that fit over glasses!)

Purim Costumes

Craft Supplies & Puzzles

Lego Compatible Specialty Figures

Computer Cables and the like

And many more things!

I highly recommend you check out Aliexpress to help you save money!

Salmonella in Eggs - Check your eggs!

I'm a bit late posting this, but in case you haven't heard, MORE eggs were recalled last week due to the presence of Salmonella.

Here's what you need to know:

The recalled eggs are stamped with code  ES5236 (ES is the import code, these eggs are from Spain)
They have a sell by date of 6/2
They have a use by date (if refrigerated) of 6/3 

You won't find these eggs in stores any longer, but some of you may have them in your refrigerator. Please check your eggs before you eat them! If you have eggs that were recalled, you should be able to return them to the store where purchased.

This post is a follow up to last month's post about eggs from Spain.
For more information about Israel's egg importation, see that post (click here).

Shabbat Menu

It's Thursday night again, and that means I have to put up my challah dough - I've found that Spelt Challah really works better when it rises overnight.
For those of you who are wondering why I've been making spelt challah even though spelt flour is so much more expensive than wheat flour - I guess I owe you some sort of explanation!

For years I maintained that I wouldn't jump on the spelt bandwagon because it is so much more costly than wheat flour. Really, I'm paying about 3 times as much for whole spelt flour right now (13 shekels/kg) than I used to pay for whole wheat flour (abour 4 or 4.5 shekels/kg). So it's not that it's a frugal move. It's just that I discovered that when I stopped eating wheat, my thyroid started working better - prior to that switch, my thyroid was being chronically sluggish, and I was feeling the effects of that. 6 weeks after I stopped eating wheat, I had a bunch of bloodwork done, and lo and behold, my thyroid was back to functioning normally! AND I felt so much better - my energy came back! So, while it's not always a frugal move to buy spelt flour for baking, in this case, I think it actually is, as it's keeping me from going on daily thyroid medication!

And with that in mind, here's my Shabbat menu:
(You can find our favorite Shabbat recipes by clicking here)

Whole Spelt and Oat Challah 
Vegetable Soup
Roast Chicken
Stir Fried Tofu for the vegetarian kid
Brown Rice
Roasted Cauliflower and Broccoli
Lettuce Salad with Honey-Cinnamon Oranges
Black Bean Cholent for Lunch 
Baked Apples for dessert

What's on your menu this week? I'd love to hear!

BrainPop (Israel) Discount!

Are you a Clalit (Health Fund/Kupat Cholim) member?

If you are - and you want to get your kids a BrainPop membership, you can get a great discount!

BrainPop is an educational website used around the world to help children learn many subjects, including Science, Math, Social Studies, Language Arts, Art, Music, and more. Israel's BrainPop site is in Hebrew, and offers an optional ESL site for Hebrew speakers to work on their English.

Normally, BrainPop membership costs 220 shekels/yr for either BrainPopIL or BrainPop ESL, and a combined membership (both sites) costs 299 shekels. But if you are a Clalit member, you can sign up using this link to get a 50% discount for whichever membership package you choose!

I'll be posting more deals and discounts for you as soon as I find them!

Price Controlled Foods - Updated Prices

The Ministry of Finance announced today that they will be lowering the prices of price controlled dairy products and eggs. The new prices are listed below. As soon as they announce what day these prices will go into effect (sometime this week), I will post an update here!

They are also trying to find a way to add basic fruits and vegetables to the "basket" of price controlled foods. I will update you if this happens!

 

Full list of Price Controlled Groceries

The prices listed below are the MAXIMUM prices for the specified items - in theory, a store can discount it further, if they want to.
If a store is selling price controlled items for a higher price, they are in violation of the law. You can (and should) report these violations!

Here are the items that are supervised, and the maximum price to consumers:

(The prices shown below are for the entire country, excluding Eilat. Eilat is exempt from VAT, so prices there will be lower.)

Lechem Achid (I believe this is about 65% whole grain) - 750g loaf, 5.07 (was 5.11)
White bread, 750g loaf, 5.07 (was 5.11)Challah or yeast cake, 500g, 5.11 (was 5.15)  (don't ask me what kind of yeast cake this is referring to, I have no idea!)Lechem Achid, sliced and packaged, 750g, 7.02 (was 7.08) White bread, sliced and packaged, 500g, 6.24 (was 6.29)
Regular Kitchen Salt, Fine Kitchen Salt, Fine Table Salt, and Coarse Table salt, 1 kg, 2.07, (was 2.09) 

UPDATES will be made to these products: 
3% milk, 1 liter, bag, 5.00  (was 5.11)
1% milk, 1 liter, bag, 4.65 (was 4.76)
3% milk, 1 liter, carton, 5.75 (was 5.90) 
1% milk, 1 liter, carton, 5.40 (was 5.55)
Eshel, 4.5% fat, 200ml, 1.55 (was 1.59)  
Gil, 3% fat, 200ml,  1.40 (was 1.44) 
Sour Cream, 15% fat, 200ml, 2.20 (was 2.28)
Sweet Cream, 38% fat, 250ml, 5.95 (was 6.20)  
Butter, regular, 100g, 3.80 (was 3.92) 
Emek Cheese (at the cheese counter), per kg, 41.30 (was 42.93)  
Gilboa Cheese (at the cheese counter), per kg, 39.25 (was 40.80) 
Gvinah Levana (white cheese), 5% fat, 250g, 4.60 (was 4.80)   
XL eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 12.50 (was 13.10)
L eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 11.45 (was 12.00)
M eggs, regular, 1 dozen, 10.55 (was 11.10)
 
Do you ever see stores overcharging? Have you ever made a report to the supervisory board?

Food Recall

Mama Mary Food Factory (kosher, Rabbanut Kiryat Yam) has announced a recall of the following items, due to the presence of salmonella during a routine quality test:

Meat-filled Dumplings (called כיסונים in Hebrew), 800g package with code MEC 27.12.15
with expiration date 27.02.2016

and 

Kiev-style Meat Filled Dumplings, 1kg package, with code MEC 29.12.15, and expiration date 29.02.16


Consumers are asked to return these products to the store where purchased.

If you have any questions about this recall, you can reach "Mama Mary" at 04-875-4803

FREE ADMISSION to the Bloomfield Science Museum (NOW)!

I hope you are spontaneous!

Today, from 4pm - 10 pm you can get into the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem FOR FREE!

They will have a digital planetarium show, a show about life on other planets, telescopes (dress warmly) will be set up for viewing the night skies, a family mobile-building project, and more!

English speakers, take note: There will be a lecture in English, given by Korean female astronaut Dr. Yi So-yeon, for an audience of age 12+

There are lots of other lectures and workshops, you can see the full list here.

Have fun!

Free Admission at MadaTech!

Here's a really great freebie for you!

Throughout February and March this year (2016),
admission to MadaTech is FREE on WEDNESDAYS!

(Not applicable to schools and other large groups)

Enjoy your visit! Maybe I'll even see you there!

Freebie for you!

Here's another free trial offer for you!

This time, it's zip-close style bags from Nikol!

Just fill out the form with your name, address, phone number, and email address, and they'll send you a trial pack! Click here to go to the form

(You can unsubscribe anytime you want from their email list, don't worry)

Enjoy your freebie, and be sure to share this post with your friends!