Melondy Phillips
Staff Writer
As inflation soars and supplies grow thin, many people are looking for ways to stretch a dollar, set up a shoestring budget, run a tight ship or tighten their belt. There have been many days in the past where “pinching a penny” wasn’t going to cut it for us, I had to really make a penny scream.
One aspect of wasting money is with food. The USDA reported that the average American family of four loses about $1,500 to uneaten food each year; that is more than $100 every month in just food waste! Some estimates are much higher.
Here are a few basic money saving ideas for food:
Clean vegetable scraps, such as broccoli stalks, celery leaves, etc. can be saved and used later. Some possible uses are vegetable stocks, powdered for adding to dishes, and in smoothies or juices. Celery leaves are great in homemade stuffing.
When peeled and chop-ped, broccoli stalks add delicious flavor to soups and stews. The clean peelings can be dried and ground into powder for adding flavor to other meals. By doing this, there is almost zero food waste. Most fruits and vegetables can be handled in about the same way.
A bowl of the dry papery onion or garlic can be ground into powder. Dried citrus peels make great powdered zest (cut away and compost the pith as it can be bitter). Lemon peel added to white vinegar will make a great cleaner.
Pre-freezing fruits and vegetables on a tray before placing them into a baggie keeps everything from sticking together. This provides the ability to easily remove the desired amount without the need to thaw the entire bag.
Adding a couple spoonfuls of flour to an equal amount of butter, which has been browned in a pan over medium high heat, makes a cheap and easy thickening base called roux. The butter can be substituted out for other fats: bacon grease, lard, and even oils or fat drippings, but each substitution will have its own flavor. The lighter the color, the lighter the flavor, whereas cooking it longer, so that it caramelizes, creates a more robust flavor. This flavorful thickener can be used for gravy, sauce bases, macaroni and cheese, chowders, etc. which contributes to a more filling and satisfying meal. To make gravy, just slowly add liquid while constantly whisking. The liquid can be whatever is at hand, bone broth or stocks, drippings, vegetable broth, milk, or just plain water (which may require more seasonings than the other liquids).
I have learned that bone broth soups can be very satisfying to the body as they provide a lot of nutrients, yet require very few ingredients. Sipping on bone broth soup throughout the day may also improve some digestive issues by giving the digestive system a break from working so hard; the juices are easily absorbed by the body.
Several vegetables, including celery, onions, scallions, lettuce, etc., can be partially eaten with the rest replanted to grow again. Free food!
Any grease or fat from the meat I cook, that I do not need to use right away, gets saved. Bacon grease? Of course! But that isn’t all. The fat drippings from hamburger is saved in jars and mixed into the dogs’ food as a treat now and then, excess fat cut from roasts, steaks, etc. is rendered into tallow, and the fat from pigs is rendered into lard. This rendered fat can be used to cook with, season cast iron pans, make soap, etc. The cracklings, the solid pieces of fat left after rendering, are used as occasional dog treats.
In the process of making bone broth, there are inevitably bits of fat and meat that fall off the bones. After straining the finished broth, I pick out all the fat and meat and then either can it in small jelly jars or freeze it for adding to dog food at a later date. The bones can be dried, ground up, and added to the compost or garden soil. Giving bones to dogs is controversial and can be harmful to some dogs. Since my dogs take their time enjoying a bone now and then and don’t inhale it, I am comfortable giving them certain bones.
One area that has a deceptive appearance is in buying of pre-made, pre-packaged, processed and refined food-like items. The cost of ingesting a lot of these highly processed convenient foods can far exceed any “savings” there may be at the register. Sydney.edu.au published a news article that stated, “A year-long study of the dietary habits of 9,341 Australians has backed growing evidence that highly pro-cessed and refined foods are the leading contributor of rising obesity rates in the Western world.”
The article also quoted the lead author Dr. Amanda Grech, “As people consume more junk foods or highly processed and refined foods, they dilute their dietary protein and increase their risk of being overweight and obese, which we know increases the risk of chronic disease, …” (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart attacks, and strokes). Saving a few pennies at the register could potentially lead to major medical bills down the road.
Try growing a garden. Growing a simple garden doesn’t mean it has to supply the entire household’s food needs, but it can help cushion the blow at the register. In today’s crazy busy world, trying to care for another “thing” can be overwhelming. Instead, focus on just a few crops based on needs, time, supplies, space and the ability to preserve all the hard work. I find that most people I speak with want to grow tomatoes – it’s an iconic crop. I love growing tomatoes, too, but depending on many factors, they may not be the best crop to grow. Instead, growing items such as beans for drying can take a lot less work and space to grow in (if pole beans), as well as storing very well and being more filling at the dinner table, all while using less storage space. Dried beans are also their own seed which can be used for planting the following year.
My granny, who lived through the Great Depression, taught me many things while I was growing up, just by observing the way she lived her life.
At the end of the day, there may still be small bits and pieces of undesirable or unusable food left over. All food scraps can be composted, including meat and bones, but beware it can attract critters, including bears. Organic, nutritionally rich and worm filled compost added to garden soil can help even very small garden plots to produce a lot of food.
There are many, many other ways to stretch a dollar, some easier than others. Let me know if you would like to see more articles on different ways to save money.
queenbee@pocahontas times.com