Paczki Day on a budget? Why not!
Families who are on a budget want to have a little bit of fun from time to time just like any other family.
If you live in the Monroe, Detroit and Toledo areas, you know one of those “fun days” are coming up on the calendar. Feb. 16 is the date. Fat Tuesday in southeast Michigan and northwest Ohio translates to Paczki Day!
Paczki is a Polish jelly donut. Because the recipe uses more rich – um, fattening – ingredients, it’s kind of a special jelly donut.
Bakeries and supermarkets in the Monroe, Mich., area that are currently advertising their paczki treats include Busch’s Fresh Food Market, Kroger, Monica’s Baker Boy and Inga’s Bake Shop. I do recommend you order in advance if you can. Like I said, this is a seasonal recipe, not the everyday one, and pre-orders will help ensure you get the flavors or amounts you want.
The big tip for families on a budget is: Don’t buy more packzi than everyone can eat on Fat Tuesday. It’s very easy to overspend when there is no reason to do that. The treats are made with ingredients best eaten fresh, and if you are truly following the Polish Catholic Lenten tradition, you are observing a fast from sweets on Ash Wednesday anyway.
But another trick, especially if you have little ones in the house, is to think outside the paczki box and pick up some jelly donut holes.
This is a photo of a box of Tim Hortons jelly donut holes that was served in 2008 to the Sunday School students at my church. The teachers and staff told the children these treats were “baby paczki!” Don’t they look like baby paczki?
Posted: February 6th, 2010 under Faith celebrations, Family fun, Holidays.
Comments: 7
Comments
Comment from Paula Wethington
Time: February 8, 2010, 6:51 am
One of the google search phrases that showed up this morning was “Can you buy paczki on a bridge card?”
In other words … can you use Michigan Bridge Card food stamps to buy these treats?
I don’t know from personal experience but … for all practical purposes you are buying a box of donuts. I assume a box of donuts is an allowed expense based on the variety of items that are marked as “food” on my grocery receipts and how the rules are explained on michigan.gov? Paczki is just a seasonal recipe of donut.
So my best guess is that one could go to whatever full-service supermarket you normally shop at that takes food stamps and get the paczki in a to-go box. (Remember: items intended to be eaten in the store are not allowable expenses.)
Now to the rest of you: stop those snide remarks about what people on food stamps “should” use their benefits for. I have many times referred food stamp families to tricks that stretch their grocery funds such as Angel Food Ministries.
Besides, like I said, any family who truly observes Polish Catholic Lenten observances will have a lot of meatless meals between Feb. 17 and April 2. I’ll be posting my Lent food on a budget suggestions soon.
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Time: February 8, 2010, 2:39 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter. Michigan Essay said: It’s impossible to buy more paczki than one can eat RT @MonroeOnABudget: Paczki on a budget? Sure! http://tinyurl.com/yf4f4jf. [...]
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Time: February 12, 2010, 10:06 am
[...] and northwest Ohio is with a Polish donut called paczki. I do have a post on how to follow the paczki tradition on a budget, but … there is another [...]
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Time: February 12, 2010, 7:51 pm
[...] and northwest Ohio is with a Polish donut called paczki. I do have a post on how to follow the paczki tradition on a budget, but … there is another [...]
Comment from Paula Wethington
Time: February 15, 2010, 12:17 pm
One of my neighbors at BlogsMonroe, John at Discovering the Real Jesus in Monroe, is pondering the moral temptations of packzi “the size of footballs and the weight of shot puts”! http://www.blogsmonroe.com/christian/2010/02/save-me-from-fat-tuesday/
Comment from Paula Wethington
Time: February 15, 2010, 5:10 pm
I was chatting with my daughter on the Internet today. She’s not able to partake in the Detroit-Toledo-Monroe paczki eating craze this year. She is attending college in a community where Polish people are not commonly found. Nobody has heard of this custom where she’s at.
But she did say that she found donut holes at a nearby bakery. I told her to buy some of those and tell her friends it is “baby paczki”!
Comment from Donna Freedman
Time: May 19, 2010, 2:28 pm
I lived just outside Chicago for a few years. A bakery I walked past to get to the Blue Line had a sign in its window about “Paczki Day” that warned customers to order in advance.
I finally went in and asked. They made a particular variety of paczki with which I promptly fell in love: Fresh, sugared strawberries inside, instead of jelly. And they made them year-round! I miss those things.
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