Well, it’s been a ten days or so since we declared our winter break. But, we’ve missed you! And we’ve been up to some preservation shenanigans, so let’s discuss! We’ve also got some frugality tips for you!
We previously talked about our freezer storage. One of the main points we made was our “annual cleanup” that helps us stay on top of veggies or meats that we definitely want to use up. One of our primary uses of this previous season produce is in making veggie or meat stocks. This helps us achieve value instead of food waste.
Often these “kitchen sink” stocks aren’t the very best stocks that we could make. The constraints of using “what you have” don’t always match up with the optimal ratios for how you might prefer to make a stock. For example, with this batch it’s fairly obvious we went a little too hard on the starches and that made for a semi-cloudy stock.
That said, this is more of a visual problem than it is a taste or quality problem. These “kitchen sink” stocks can actually be surprisingly good. We often break the “rules” with our early season stock, too, like perhaps throwing in a few thai peppers to make a spicy stock. It’s kind of a cooking playground to experiment with different ideas.
In our case, we also found some older frozen chicken thighs in this year’s freezer recovery. While you probably don’t want to make a meal from two year old frozen chicken, it will be perfect for making up a nice chicken stock! While, yeah, we didn’t intend to lose that chicken to the freezer for a couple years, we’re at least able to fully recover that cost!
Our winter cooking takes a drastic shift in the winter months. We’ll probably discuss this further at some point, but things like stock become essential for making soups, stews and other winter warming comfort foods. Whereas during the summer months, stock would be a rarely used ingredient for us, if at all.
As for our frugality tip, a close eye of our canning glassware of choice here will show you we’re re-using commercially canned glassware. (Pasta sauce, specifically.) We often make purchasing choices based on our ability to re-use the glass. While it’s a big no-no to re-use the canning lids, re-using that glassware is a great way to make those dollars go much further. This glass may not last as long as quality canning glassware, but it’s robust enough to handle a few canning sessions.
One last thing! A huge thank you to all of you who came out for our annual fund raiser this season. Your efforts helped us cover almost 70% of our annual web hosting costs for this next year! We can’t thank you all enough for your support, you’ve truly made it possible for us to keep at this effort year after year!
