Meals from scraps
Like many people living below the line, we look for ways to eat cheaply - or for free!
One thing I have found that helps our quest is putting hardly anything edible in the bin.
That sounds a bit lousy, so let me explain!
When I'm prepping veg for a meal, I keep the peelings and chopping-offs. Any rotten parts go in the compost bin, and everything else goes into a bag in the freezer. Once this is full, I start another and when I have two large bags full I put this into the slowcooker with water and a stock cube. A few hours later I whizz it all with my stick blender and we have a thick soup that is really tasty.
Another way I use this is to add some dried lentils, or spices.
Do you make any meals from scraps?
FM xx
Like you, I save and freeze all peelings and offcuts from veggies and when I have enough, make soup! One thing I don't freeze, but use the following day, is broccoli stems, I slice them thinly, steam them lightly, make a small amount of fairly thick cheese sauce and have broccoli cheese on toast, yummy! When making cauli cheese, I put the leaves in with the florets, there's loads of flavour there!
ReplyDeleteEnds of strong cheeses are grated, and frozen, then mixed with breadcrumbs which I also grate and freeze if a loaf is getting stale. The two combined make a great crunchy finish for cottage pie or similar!
A chicken carcass is never thrown away until every last little bit of goodness has been extracted from it, I can happily sit for ages picking every tiny morsel of meat off the carcass, it's great for chicken fried rice, and then some of my previously frozen veg, stock from the chicken bones, and a small handful of stuffing mix makes wonderful soup!
We're very lucky financially, in that we're not 'hard up' but I'm still not going to throw good food away!
We've both been ill with Covid, (fortunately we've both had our autumn boosters, which I think helped a lot) so have been stuck at home, for the last eleven days. After both eventually testing negative for four days on the run, we finally went out.
We went to one of our favourite restaurants for a carvery lunch, and a woman sitting at the next table ate a lot less than half of her food. I'm a foodie, and believe me, the food at that restaurant is very, very good, we wouldn't go there if it wasn't. If she wants to waste money in that way, that's her business, but wasting food when so many people are struggling, is obscene! I wanted to shake her until her teeth rattled!
Pam Corbyn’s (River Cottage) Compost Heap Jelly, a clear jelly marmalade made with left over orange peel and apple peel and sugar.
ReplyDeleteI make candied orange peel for cakes too.
Nelliegrace
I can make several types of meal from leftover mash - bubble and squeak, fishcakes and rissoles, using up any leftover veg in the mix. Leftover stew gets a pastry case to become either a pie or pasties. Bread that needs using up makes very tasty bread and butter pudding. I know that you can make a savoury one with bits of ham, cheese, leftover veg etc in it, but to be honest I have never fancied it! I freeze any spare crusts and use them at a later date to make breadcrumbs. Small amounts of veg get added to omelettes to bulk them out. I have also roasted the seeds from pumpkins and other squash to make a tasty snack.
ReplyDelete