The Tightwad's Guide to Cooking from Scratch

[Wifezilla]

Soup is your friend. It is delicious, nutritious and can be made out of just about anything.

Hubby almost lost his life recently when he threw out a chicken carcass

 

[hoosier]

After I have extracted all I can from a chicken or turkey carcass, I freeze them until I have a lot. Then, I pressure cook them and get meals for the dogs.

 

[TanksHill]

If I am really pinching pennies I will make ham and bean soup 1 night of the week. Or just bean soup. A big pan of home made corn bread on the side. Both can be made with all pantry stock and a couple eggs.

Most meats are bought on sale. If you plan ahead you can buy multiples at the holidays. For instance for those of you who are new, last Thanksgiving we kept a running tally on which forum member found turkeys at the best price. Then at St Pattys day I stocked up on corned beef. Not just a couple. For 4 days straight I bought 2 per day. I would have preferred more. But the store ran out. Easter was hams etc... I also buy in bulk like others and repackage.

This frugal shopping paired with canning, gardening and chicken eggs lends itself to a great menu.

Farmer J, we have 5 also. Usually I do 1 recipie then try to add an extra veggie or jar of home canned peaches or pears. But 2 of mine are still pretty young.


I will think of some more ideas.

G

 

[freemotion]

You all know this, but....I take a pail or bag when I walk the dogs, even if it is just a quick 20-30 minutes. Today I got almost a quart of elderberries and a bit over a quart of grapes....and I was in a huge hurry, too. I just sat in front of the tv just now and removed them from the stems and sorted them, freezing the elderberries (I just toss em, unwashed, into a big ziploc gallon bag....they stay loose when frozen this way so I can remove what I need for a pie or whatnot. I keep adding to the bag until it is full, then it goes into the downstairs freezer.) The grapes will be seeded in front of the tv tomorrow (got some re-runs of The Dog Whisperer recorded ) and made into a pie recipe I've been wanting to try...or two, since it calls for only two cups and I got four. If I don't make wine from those elderberries, we'll have pie all winter.

I found a co-op that orders rarely but has access to good stuff. I got my wheat berries for $22 for 50 lbs. I got honey for $91 for five gallons, and I still have plenty left a year later (put into canning jars for easy use.) I get my spices in bulk (what I don't grow or forage) and got the herbs needed to make my own herbal goat dewormer at a fraction of the cost of buying it ready-made.

Oh, this is cooking from scratch....I kinda talked about obtaining stuff for cooking from scratch....Here are some tips on using all this stuff: I grind my wheat about every 2-3 months now, and store it in the second fridge. It stays really fresh. When I make a pie crust, I make a double or triple batch and bag the rest and freeze it. I freeze many ingredients in portions for easy use....I just froze a gallon of chevre in half cup and one cup portions in gallon ziplocs for use in recipes.

I have many ingredients in my freezer, already prepared, to make from-scratch cooking quicker and easier. Like bags of washed and snipped scallions. Half-cups of herbed chicken fat for tossing root veggies in for roasting. Ice cube trays of puree'd herbs (pesto-style, with a bit of olive oil) to make fresh salad dressings with all winter. Some bags of roasted red peppers. Diced onions (not too many.) Bags of blanched chard stems to use instead of celery, which I'm allergic to. On and on it goes.

I am a huge fan of leftovers and try to plan several meals around one big hunk of meat. One thing we try not to skimp on is good meat. You can get by with a lot less of many other things if you have a good protein and good saturated fat daily. It really is readily usable energy for the body. Eggs play a large role in our diets, and whole milk dairy, too.

 

[SSDreamin]

This time of year, my frugal meals are usually stir fry's. They consist of whatever I've picked from the garden that day; if my guys are eating it, I throw in some meat. I can cubed beef, pork and chicken in 1/2 pint jars. They are the perfect size for this purpose. Serve on a bed of rice, and we're good to go!
Winter time is veggie or bean soup. Any leftovers are thickened and made into shepard's or tamale pie. We also eat a lot of hash and eggs or biscuits and gravy in the winter time.
My favorite tightwad meal is bean rolls, taught to me by my ex-MIL. That woman could stretch anything and always had beans on the stove, guess it came from raising 13 kids on almost no money and a flat out refusal to accept gov't assistance. You could walk in her house, sit down, and be eating stick-to-your-ribs food five minutes later- no matter what time you showed up!

 

[abifae]

Even knowing enough to be terrified of feed lot meat, I buy meat on sale. I cannot afford grass fed only

But when I can, I'll buy a full grass fed cow quarter and fill my freezer.

 

[freemotion]

Oh! That reminds me! (not sure why...) PIE!!! Pie is a great one dish meal. The swiss chard pie recipe floating around here is great and cheap, especially if you raise any of the ingredients yourself. I love tomatoe-basil pie, too, and you can add anything to it, like a bit of leftover cooked meat or lots of cheese to make a complete meal in one pan.

 

[AnnaRaven]

Homemade yogurt is easy and cheap.

Also, don't buy things in the "convenient" small packages - buy it in bulk and repackage it yourself, as appropriate.

I learned to pressure can and have been making extras of soups and pasta sauces and canning it.

 

[abifae]

Invest in freezer paper and good freezer bags. No frost burned meat. And yeh, buy huge family size stuff and break it down yourself.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Tanks, it used to be that way here, too. One teenage son is enough to blow that strategy away.

Planning menus looking ahead to reuse is another trick if you have the luxury. I think SD is queen of refrigerator soup.