With summer ending soup & stew time is almost upon us.
I’ve been lazy this past summer with saving for soup stock and need to get started again. It makes for a few quick and easy meals..
I was listing a few time & money saving tips for Erika. New house to set up, 2 little ones underfoot… they can use all the timesavers they can get. I thought some may be useful to others & decided to post them here
Keep a few bags or containers in the freezer for leftover veggies. Judge the size used by the portions you will be preparing in the future. I at one time, used the quart containers, now it will be pint. Green beans, corn etc. what ever you have just toss those few leftover spoonfuls in juice & all. If you used butter cool them and skim it off first. When its full, you have the veggies ready for veggies soup.
The same can be done for meat scraps…just be sure to keep each meat separate. When you have enough, toss in a pan with a few cups of water to make stock…you can: 1. toss in your veggies & some potatoes and you have a meal. 2. thicken with flour & pour over your favorite noodles. 3. use as a casserole base
When chopping onions & peppers, don’t just chop the 1 you need. Do 3-4 and put them in the freezer…If your going to cry you might as well get your tears worth! Just don’t rub your eyes. No really Take my word for it
Do the came with celery…the entire bunch leaves & all….Yes the celery breaks down to nothing after freezing but it’s a good flavor. No one in my family likes hot chunks so at least they get the vitamins and it helps thicken. And if they cant see it…its not in there right? I use it in spaghetti, chili anything tomato/liquid base. The celery just disappears.
Don’t tell the family but I do the same thing with carrots…even in gravy. For some reason finely minced or shredded carrots lose the carrot flavor. But not the vitamins!
Plan meals to use 2-3 times…left over pork chop, hamburger patties can be cut up and tossed in Mac n cheese to make the meal, not a side dish. Meat for a pot of chili etc.
We eat a LOT of venison. It took a bit to learn how to cook it. The most important thing with venison is to remove the fat . I can’t stress this enough. Using hamburger for example it melts like beef & hardens as it cools like beef. But never melts again! If you eat it, **shudder…gag** its like a waxy substance that is so gross….Makes you want to cook up a roast right? It is good, I use it all the time in spaghetti, just mix your sauce like normal, let it cool & skim any fat, Reheat & your good to go. Takes about 5 minutes extra in meal preparation.
I’ll be adding venison recipes every so often so… be brave, if you have some in the freezer & don’t know what to do with it just ask!
What kitchen time saver or money saving tips do you have…share the wealth!
You already used most of my favorites but I do like to cook ground beef in bulk and package it so it's ready to pull out and use for quicker meal prep.
ReplyDelete