Seventh Day Adventist or Jewish Cysters

[chandelier]

I was wondering if there are any Jewish or Seventh Day Adventist women here on the website because I have a question for them. I know I should go to the diet board but I thought I might have better luck on here.
I am a Seventh Day Adventist and I try to follow the kosher laws like Jewish people do. And to the Jewish women on here, I know I am not required to since I am a gentile, but I still like to anyway because it's still biblical and I want to please God by doing that.
So, since I have PCOS and have IR I have to eat low carb, and then it has to be kosher AND low carb. And I am living on a very low income, less than $600 a month so the food I get can't be very expensive either. So, I have to have kosher, low carb, cheap food. But the problem is that clean meat costs way too much and I live in a rural area far away from bigger cities that have that kind of stuff. And carby food that is cheap is out of the question too. So, I was wondering if any of you ladies can help me think of a list of foods that is affordable on a very low income and that are clean and low carb. All I can think of is peanut butter! Any help would be appreciated.

[Chigal]

Hi Chandelier,

I'm Jewish, as you can tell by my nick and my signature. First off, I commend you on your desire to keep kosher. It isn't easy, trust me. If you're on a limited income, meat will be a little hard to come by, as kosher meat can be very expensive. The reason why it's so expensive is because the animal must be killed humanely, the meat must be soaked and salted to remove all the impurities and it must be de-veined. You can only go to a kosher butcher to get meat that has been properly handled. Kosher meat is defined as beef, lamb, veal, venison, chicken and turkey. Please be aware that you cannot mix milk and meat so no cheeseburgers, unless it's soy cheese, etc. Fish would be easier to come by, as long as it has fins and scales, it is kosher and you can eat it without having to get it from a kosher butcher. No shellfish, clams, oysters, scallops, etc. As for grocery products, you need to look for the OU symbol. That's a symbol of a U surrounded by a letter O. That means that the board of rabbis certified this product as kosher and ok to eat. Some other symbols to watch out for: K, circle K, Chaf K (Chaf is a Hebrew letter), and a few other minor ones. All fruits, vegetables and grains are kosher and permissible. Milk, even pasteurized milk is permissible. There are some foods that are "neutral," and can be eaten with either meat or dairy. Please also note that your oven and your entire kitchen needs to be made kosher, and you need 2 sets of dishes, one for meat and one for dairy. This isn't an easy process. It's easier to be careful in what you eat and not keep kosher. I am religiously bound to tell you this. It's difficult to keep kosher. If you have any more questions, you can talk to me, but please take heed of what I say. I'm also including a good FAQ sheet for you, read it over carefully and pay attention to everything here, this is good information for a beginner.

http://www.cyber-kitchen.com/rfcj/kosherfaq.htm

[chandelier]

Thank you so much, Chigal! This is a relief off my chest. I will print out that factsheet and study it some more. I do have quite a few questions:

I live with my parents and my dad is a die hard porkaholic, and he has fixed bacon in the oven in the past. He still fixes other unclean meat in the oven so I don't think I will be able to use it to cook in. Is there any way I could clean the oven so it will be kosher if I want to use it? What about the burners on top of the stove? I know I might have to use a seperate skillet for kosher eggs or something but would using the same burners be okay, or would I have to clean them first before using them?

I have to stick to cheaper stores like Walmart super center, Save-A-Lot, Audies, and sometimes Krogers. what about frozen fish like Whiting, Polluck, or ocean perch? Are those kosher? Do salmon have fish and scales? I never saw a real picture of them. Just drawings so I couldn't tell it there were scales or not.

[Chigal]

Hi Chandelier,

I'm glad the information helped you out. I'm also glad to hear that you're taking my advice seriously, but it sounds like you still want to go ahead with this. So, I'll happily answer your questions.
1) Simply cleaning the oven will not make it kosher. You need a rabbi to make it kosher by blessing it. And, I'm afraid to tell you that if your dad cooks pork in the oven, it will make it tref all over again. I don't know about burners, I don't think those need to be cleaned, but there is always a chance that unclean food could touch the pots and pans. My advice there is to call a local Conservative synagogue, explain the situation to them and ask their advice. I wouldn't call the Orthodox, they may not take your requests and questions seriously, unfortunately.
2) All fish are automatically kosher. Every fish that has fins and scales (yes, including and especially salmon, yum yum) are kosher. The only thing you need to avoid are seafood, lobster, crab, shrimp, etc. Every fish is automatically kosher, so whether you see the scales or not, it's kosher.

I would highly reccomend doing a Google or Yahoo search on Kosher food information. If you can't do that, there are a few books I'd reccomend to you. They are:
The Jewish Dietary Laws by Samuel H. Dresner and Seymour Siegel
The Jewish Dietary Laws: Sanctify Life by James M. Lebeau

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

[Sari]

Just butting in here...I don't believe catfish is kosher, is it?

[Chigal]

All fish, if it has fins and scales is automatically kosher.

[chandelier]

That's okay Sari. I'm glad you wrote too.

[Chigal]

How are you doing with that FAQ sheet, hon? Any word from the local synagogue? Please keep in mind that things may be a little hectic in the next month or so for the synagogues because Rosh Hashana (New Year) is coming up next month.

[MyJourney]

I'd like to add my two cents if I may.

Chigal made some excellent points and gave you very good advice. The thing is that like everything in Judaism, the dietery laws are not cut and dry and people tend to adopt them with a varying degree of strictness.
The very basic laws are - as Chigal mentioned - Not mixing meat and dairy and waiting after a meat meal for a couple of hours before you can have dairy. Sticking to meat from kosher animals and drinking only wine that is kosher. Not all fish are kosher. The rule of thumb that Chigal gave is very good, but in addition fish that eat other fish or their remains aren't kosher (like catfish for instance). You need to pay attention with cheese and yogurt as well, and look for the signs Chigal mentioned.
Where can the rules be bent...
I know of Observant Jews that live in the US and buy Hallal meat, which is the Muslim way of butchering meat and is similar to the Jewish way.
If you eat off glass plates you can use them for both meat and dairy. Some people that eat kosher don't even keep seperate sets of dishes.
If you want to keep away from your dad's food, you can buy seperate pots and pans to cook your food.
I don't know about the oven, though I do have observant friends that microwave their food at work wrapped in a plastic bag, which is sufficient for it not to "get contaminated". Maybe you can bake wrapped in tin foil, and that should be fine.
There is also need to pay attention to supplements in order to verify that they are vegan and then they are considered kosher.

Wow, this has turned out to be really long winded.
Good luck,
Oshrat

[Chigal]

Todah rabah, kuzi. I forgot about the glass plates. You are 100% correct. Hallal meat is perfectly acceptable, but it is a bit harder to find here in the States, unless you live in a major city. The Muslim laws of Sharia (their dietary laws) are comperable to the Jewish laws.

[chandelier]

I've been doing good with the fact sheet Chigal. I haven't heard anything from the synogogue yet. Maybe until I can get ahold of them I will use the microwave and paper plates or something. My Journey, I didn't know you could use meat and dairy on the same plate if they are glass. That will save money on buying seperate sets of plates.

Also, I found some Egg Land eggs at Walmart. They had the kosher symbol. And So does Emeril's spaghetti sauce but I guess I would have to put that on vegetable instead of spaghetti.

I still have a few more questions. If there is unclean food in the fridge, would I still be able to put my kosher food in there if it is in seperate tupperware containers?
What about canned fruit and vegetables? Are there any ingredients I have to watch out for?
Does that go for bread too? I heard the there are some milk ingredients in bread.
Thank you so much for helping me ladies!

[Chigal]

Shalom, chandelier,

All the glass plates mean is that you can can use one set for each. It still doesn't mean that you can MIX meat and cheese. Also, remember please that you have to wait at least 4 hours to eat if you want to eat a meat meal after eating dairy and you have to wait at least 6 hours to eat if you eat meat and then want to eat dairy. If you have kosher pasta (check the supermarkets) you can put the spaghetti sauce on it. As far as the ingredients, as long as it has the kosher symbols on it, you're good to go, keep watching for that. Hebrew National products are 100% kosher, and I love the Heinz vegetarian baked beans, they're kosher. There aren't any milk ingredients in bread, no, but sometimes you have to watch out for the additives they put in there. Keep reading labels, that's the best bet. I'm not sure about the refrigerator, usually unless you buy it new, it has to be cleaned. I'm not sure if you can have one shelf for yourself or something and some space in the freezer. That'd be a question for the synagogue. Please feel free to post anymore questions!