Sunday, February 12, 2017

Waste not, want not.

Quote of the day :  NO food can do your family good if you feed it to the garbage disposal.    

Cutting waste is a good way to stretch your food dollar.    This blog will explore ways to cut waste on the kitchen,  


  • Buy fresh foods in moderation.   We all need fresh veggies and fruit, but not over buying will mean you are going to eat all that you buy.
  • If you have a lot of something left and it has been on the fridge too long, make an effort to use it up on a recipe,    Several cookbooks on line will let you plug in an ingredient and find recipes.    
  • It used to be that our grannies saved the keels and made stick.   Now, we are hearing that the peels are where the pesticides  are. I do wash just about all the fresh I get with vinegar water.
  • Leftover veggies can become soup ingredients.   
  • Leftover rice can be rice pudding or filling for stuffed peppers.   
  • Dry bread : bread crumbs or bread pudding,   Why pay someone two dollars a pound for their dry bread?
  • Smoothies anyone ? 
  • You can dehydrate apples and just about any other fruit. There is a way to do it in the oven on a low heat. 
  • Leftovers make good lunches.   
  • Portion controlling your meat when you get it home from the store helps.   Buy bulk, rotate your protein based on a good sale price and portion control it.   Cook it if it makes sense,   I cook ground meat, I don't cook chicken breast or pork loin.   Keeping to a select few cuts of meat can make things simpler.    I cook whole chickens  and separate it into half breasts, legs and thighs and wings, and soup bones.   Lately , I have been buying split chicken breast and de boning them and cooking the bones for loose meat and stock.    The loose meat can make a whole other meal.    You don't cook too much, but not enough for another meal .    
  • Buy in bulk when the cost is really cheaper and the item won't spoil.   Salt and soda come to mind,.  Big bags can be found at the warehouse stores and one bag can last a long time,   Soda is a good cleaner.    Salt never goes bad.   
  • You can hard boil eggs in the oven .  Good snacks and lunch ideas.   You can also dehydrate eggs or make custard.   Breakfast for dinner is a good cheap dinner to stretch a buck.   
  • Freezing bananas or berries for smoothies is good.   Otherwise, just buying fruit for smoothies can get really expensive.   You are better off eating the fruit.   A nutritionist told me when the children were little that an apple was a lot better to give them than apple juice.   Apple juice has too much sugar and especially in tippy cups can ruin their teeth,   
  • Broccoli stems can become cream of broccoli soup or can be choooed in little pieces in a cream based chicken casserole  or chicken noodles.    
  • Grated cheese can be frozen.   You can grate block cheese and freeze with a little cornstarch .  Shake the bag.   
  • Grapes can be frozen for a treat. 
  • You can freeze milk 
  • I use sour cream in place of yogurt in some recipes.    
  • Spaghetti can be used in a stir fry,   Stir fry is a good way to use up bits of vegetables and meat.   
  • Top ramen lasts forever and can be used in soups and Stir fry sand lasts forever.    Ditch the seasoning packet.   If you must use it, use one in a very large soup pot.   
  • Chicken bones make stock.  Chicken stock can be as much as two dollars a box.   Why throw out your bones and skin and buy someone else's,   Throw the bones in a lot of water or a slow cooker and add some herbs.  Simmer until the meat can fall off the bone. Strain and hold in the fridge for a few hours,   The fat will come to the top and it will be easy to spoon off.   Freeze if you aren't going to use soon.   Pick the chicken off the bones.    
  • Leftover  cooked chicken can be sandwich filling or you can stuff a tomato or pepper peels a  with it.   

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