Frugal kitchen tips and hints. Share!!!

[Beekissed]

But you don't need that much water to boil the meat. so you could probably just strain it into a bowl, and put it in the fridge to congeal. The chickens could probably get it once its cooled.

In the book I'm reading they describe what to do with this! They keep a container in their freezer and they put all meat stock in it. They keep a bag and they add all meat left overs to it. Also a bag for left over veggies. When they get enough they combine the ingredients and make soup. They also use the meat stock for boiling rice and pastas. They have some really good ideas in this book....

Cheap Talk with the Frugal Friends by Angie Zalewski and Deana Ricks

They also save vegetable stock for all the nutrients in the water and add it to the meat stock container. They boil those chicken carcasses after you pick the meat, with 6 c. water and save the stock.

To keep frozen bottles of water from sweating on everything, I always put a cute sock on the bottle to insulate, and soak up the sweat. If you work with paper alot at work like I do, this helps keep your work surface dry. The low, footie-type socks fit a 20 oz. perfectly! Gets a lot of snide( and a lot of amazed) comments but it works well. I try to get the jungle prints! A frozen bottle of water is dual purpose if you pack your lunches. Keeps your lunch cool and provides an ice cold drink with it.

 

[heatherv]

I cook my ground beef up in a big electric oven roaster, and add water like Miss The North. I guess I never thought of it as boiled. But I scoop it off and put it in a bowl in the fridge, like you mentioned. It works great. I then add onions and garlic, salt and pepper to the meat and cook for a few minutes, and then bag it up into meal sized portions and freeze. This has saved me so much time in meal prep. I do the same w/ chicken as well. Easy to add to casseroles, burritos, salads, etc.etc.etc.

My brother takes his grease from cooked meats and pours it over his firepit, I guess it helps him ignite is fires? I haven't tried that yet though.

I buy my yeast in bulk, and keep in freezer for longer life. The savings is huge compared to buying the preportioned packets.

I buy ketchup in the big huge restaurant size cans. My kids go through tons of ketchup. So I buy the big can (for $2 and some change) and refill the bottle over and over. I put the right portion for a refill into ziplocs or freezer containers, and then I freeze them. Take 'em out to thaw as the bottle gets low.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[MorelCabin]

My favourite is buying regular ground beef (cheaper), and instead of browning it in the frying pan, that splatters everywhere, I boil my ground beef, and then strain and rinse with hot water.

Oh hey, can I ask a question about this? I have read this many times and wanted to try it, but for whatever reason I only ever seem to think of it in summertime and what do you DO with the now-grease-loaded rinse water?? In wintertime I could set it outside to let the grease congeal to remove it, then put the water part of the water down the drain; but in summer, not so much. And no way do I want to put all that grease down thru my pipes and septic

So, what am I missing here? There MUST be SOME smart way of getting around this.

Thanks in advance,

Pat

Well, I know this doesn't help you, b/c if I remember correctly--you don't have a dog, but what I do is pour the grease water over their food.

But you don't need that much water to boil the meat. so you could probably just strain it into a bowl, and put it in the fridge to congeal. The chickens could probably get it once its cooled.

I actually just throw it out the back doorbehind a bush I have there. I do that with deep frying oil too.

 

[miss_thenorth]

Oh hey, can I ask a question about this? I have read this many times and wanted to try it, but for whatever reason I only ever seem to think of it in summertime and what do you DO with the now-grease-loaded rinse water?? In wintertime I could set it outside to let the grease congeal to remove it, then put the water part of the water down the drain; but in summer, not so much. And no way do I want to put all that grease down thru my pipes and septic

So, what am I missing here? There MUST be SOME smart way of getting around this.

Thanks in advance,

Pat

Well, I know this doesn't help you, b/c if I remember correctly--you don't have a dog, but what I do is pour the grease water over their food.

But you don't need that much water to boil the meat. so you could probably just strain it into a bowl, and put it in the fridge to congeal. The chickens could probably get it once its cooled.

I actually just throw it out the back doorbehind a bush I have there. I do that with deep frying oil too.

Forgive me if I'm wrong Morel, but don't you cohabit with bears? And you don;t have any problems with this??

When we lived up north, just the smell of grease would bring unwanteds to our back porch.

 

[me&thegals]

Fruit that is past its prime (especially tropical fruits) gets stuck in the freezer for future smoothies.

Overripe sweetcorn gets used for creamed corn, where its overripeness is not a problem.

 

[punkin]

This may not seem like much, but very little of my kitchen scraps ever make it to the trash. If I cook a roast or something in the crockpot, whatever liquid I have left after making gravy, goes over the dog food. The outside dogs really love it in winter.

All table scraps either go to the dogs, chickens, worms or compost bin.

Any butter that I can't scrape out of the container gets melted in the microwave to pour over stuff.

I reuse baggies to keep veggie peelings in the fridge till I add the next tray. I also reuse baggies to double bag stuff for the freezer.

I reuse dryer sheets several times.

If I have leftover hamburger or hotdog buns, I spread butter on them with garlic powder and shredded cheese and broil till bubbly.

 

[enjoy the ride]

I just thought of something that I haven't had in years- my mom, when finances were tight, used to take hamburger and knead it for awhile til soft (like one was going to make meatloaf.) Then she spread the meat on each half of a hamburger bun like buttering a bun and put it under the broiler. Cooked in no time as the meat was basically a thin spread and the buns were toasty. Made meat go for a long way- you could put whatever condiments you wanted on each half. As kids, we loved it. I can't remember if she buttered the half bun first.
Bless Mom and her end of the month meals..............

 

[Beekissed]

I use an empty box from my trash bags to dispense plastic grocery bags. It fits in neatly beside the rest of my "bags" boxes and is pretty sturdy.

You could also use an empty tissue box.

 

[MorelCabin]

Well, I know this doesn't help you, b/c if I remember correctly--you don't have a dog, but what I do is pour the grease water over their food.

But you don't need that much water to boil the meat. so you could probably just strain it into a bowl, and put it in the fridge to congeal. The chickens could probably get it once its cooled.

I actually just throw it out the back doorbehind a bush I have there. I do that with deep frying oil too.

Forgive me if I'm wrong Morel, but don't you cohabit with bears? And you don;t have any problems with this??

When we lived up north, just the smell of grease would bring unwanteds to our back porch.

I've only seen a bear here once, I think it is because we have a dog to keep them away

 

[farm_mom]

All leftover veggies are put into baggies and froze for my pot luck beef stew or soups.
Any leftover corn, butter beans, green beans, mushroom stems, etc. etc. are kept for the soups etc. in the freezer until I need them. Doesn't take long to bag up enough to cook with.

I do this too. I also save all the veggie peels, stems, corn cobs, tomato ends, garlic pulp (what's left after mincing) onion skins etc in a freezer bag in the fridge until full. Then I simmer it all on the stove top for a few hours and viola! Veggie stock for soups/recipes. I freeze mine in ice cube trays for easier use.

One of my favorite tips is to take your garlic that's starting to get a bit soft in the spring and cut the cloves in half. Dehydrate, and grind (I use mortar and pestle, but you could use a coffe grinder or something else, I'm sure) when needed to have your own garlic powder.