Simple/Frugal kitchen and cooking aha moments

[Merski]

I wanted to make apple pancakes for DH this morning and had an idea...rather than cutting apples, I would grate them peel and all into the pancake batter. It worked like a charm and he said that the apples were more cooked and more evenly distributed than my previous method.

Do you have an idea that saves money or time in the kitchen that is cooking related or when you do, will you post your new aha?

[Blackdog Lin]

This is not my own idea, I believe I stole it from someone here, but it was indeed a very AHA moment for me: saving scraps in the freezer to make broth.

Instead of putting all the veggie ends, carrot peelings, chicken bones, meat fat etc. into the disposal, or the trash, I started putting them into a gallon ziplock in the freezer. When the bag was full, I dumped it all into a stockpot with water, boiled then simmered it for hours, and strained. I ended up with about 1 1/2 gallons of really delicious veggie/chicken/beef broth that we used as a base for soups and stews.

I've only done this once so far, but believe you me I'll continue doing it in the future. I am just blown away with the concept, and disgusted that I've been wasting these goodies all these years. And I heartily thank whoever it was that posted the idea in the first place.

[Merski]

Lin- that sounds like an Amy Dacyzyn frugal gazette idea and it's a great one.

[IshbelRobertson]

You know when you have about an inch of wine in a bottle after an evening or a dinner party? Make sure you put it into a ice-making tray, freeze then remove and put into a plastic bag in the freezer. Just add a couple to a stew or a casserole!

[fidgiegirl]

My sister advised me to have a sink full of water while baking or cooking. I expanded it to mean unloading the dishwasher as well so I could pop stuff right in there. Additionally, I pre-wash all the already-dirty dishes before I start in on the cooking/baking if it's a big job. I used to dread the cleanup around baking and cooking and now it is a snap.

When cleaning cast-iron, it works well to set a timer after the meal is cooked so the pan can sufficiently cool. Then we wash and are done. If we don't do this, what a pain in the a** to heat it up to clean it later.

[Anne Lee]

2 cups of meat is about a pound. When I buy a large pack of ground beef, I repackage it into 2 cup containers. Sometimes I weigh them, sometimes not. It depends on how much time I have and my mood.

[Bastelmutti]

It may also have been someone here who posted about crockpot baked potatoes. Such a cool idea - we love it. Wrap clean potatoes in foil & pop in crockpot (w/out water). Cook. Top w/ whatever you have in the fridge. Easiest meal ever.

[Merski]

Ishbel...there is never any leftover wine at our house but still love the tip!

[Dhiana]

Buttering my pans for brownies, banana bread, etc was a messy job until I realized I could just put the empty pan in the preheated oven for a minute or so, then take a chunk of buttter stabbed w/a knife and spread the butter inside the heated pan.
The butter melts immediately when it hits the pan and spreads more evenly also. No mess!

[fidgiegirl]

Buttering my pans for brownies, banana bread, etc was a messy job until I realized I could just put the empty pan in the preheated oven for a minute or so, then take a chunk of buttter stabbed w/a knife and spread the butter inside the heated pan.
The butter melts immediately when it hits the pan and spreads more evenly also. No mess!

OMG! I love this thread!! What a brilliant yet so so so so so easy idea!!!

[Blackdog Lin]

I am also loving this thread.

Another frugal idea: I save almost ALL leftovers - once we've already eaten on them for lunches - in ziplocks in the freezer. If there's at least a cup of something, I save it and label it. Then, about every 3 weeks, I pull out all the packets and think of a supper concoction to use some of them up. Soups, stews, casseroles, stir-fries, and sandwich spreads (if there's a preponderance of meat items) are all possibilities.

Last week's casserole had a Mexican flair to it, since among the choices were Mexican rice, plain rice, taco meat, pork roast, and half a can of cream of celery soup. Add some pepperoncini, canned tomatoes, sour cream, cumin and I think I added frozen corn too. Layer it up and Voila! Mexican Casserole Surprise.

We call ALL the casseroles (Something) Casserole Surprise. :) The sad part is the really good ones can never be recreated.

[Rosemary]

I save butter wrappers, like my grandmother did, for pans. There's just enough on each one to butter 1-2 pans.
When I don't have those, I use my hand to spread canola oil on the pan. Moisturizes my always-dry skin at the same time.

The freezer really helps us save a lot of ingredients. As noted above, wine... or juice, or coconut milk, or cream, or tomato paste -- any of those things that come in rather large quantities that we only use a small amount for a given recipe. I have a lot of small containers that I use in lunch boxes and they do double duty for this.

The best way I've found to get a great ginger flavor is to cut up the fresh ginger, puree it with a small amount of water in the blender, and then use this puree. I like to prep a large quantity and freeze it in ice cubes. Ginger cube = instant flavor!

[iris lily]

Here was my "aha!" moment today: I realized that the tiny, newly dug potatoes form DH's family farm were worthy of putting out as appetizers to the party we helped throw tonight. I had been feeding them to the dogs, but after two neighbors told us how GREAT they were ( I had sent them bags of the potatoes), I figured they were worthy party food. I microwaved them in a little olive oil, sea salt, and thyme. I meant to finish them in the oven but I overcooked them in the microwave but they were good as is.

Anyway, they were all eaten up, people liked them a lot.

[cdttmm]

I save butter wrappers, like my grandmother did, for pans. There's just enough on each one to butter 1-2 pans.


My mom taught me to do this - it's such a great tip!

[redfox]

Iris, my DH steams those lil ones. Yumm!

[treehugger]

I love this kind of stuff. Like others, I save butter wrappers for greasing pans, and "stock scraps" in the freezer. I also have a bag labled "croutons" in the freezer to save bread ends. When the bag is full, I make croutons and/or bread crumbs.

When cooking pasta, I add pasta to the boiling water, bring back to a boil, then turn off the gas and cover the pot. I set the timer for 10 minutes (this is approximate, it depends on size and shape of pasta), and it's done, using a lot less gas.

I use the oven a lot, since I bake all our bread, so I make sure to maximize oven time by baking several things together, even if that's as simple as throwing some potatoes in on an empty rack to bake.

Re: saving time, there are too many individual things to mention, but most of my methods have to do with planning ahead, and making large amounts of things to store (usually in the freezer) for use later when time is tight.

Saving time and money, the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes method is great for having bread and/or pizza dough on hand, ready to go with very little effort or forethought.

Kara

[Rosemary]

My mom always saved random bread pieces on a baking sheet in the oven, where they would dry out. Periodically (if no one had turned on the oven and forgotten about them, burning them to a crisp), she would grind them up for breadcrumbs and freeze.

[Marianne]

I'm like Kara, planning ahead really helps. If I'm going to use the oven, I try to bake several things, like extra potatoes for baked potato soup, or two chickens instead of one, etc, planning on extra for the freezer.
I also googled different ways of doing things, like slow cooker bread (works well for no rise whole wheat and cornbread), skillet bread, cooking dried beans in the slow cooker (AKA Crockpot).

[Amaranth]

Iris Lily, those little potatoes(pea to marble to grape size) are good in stew too. Ones that are about 1 inch to 1.5 inches are good baked/roasted, cut in half and topped like a cracker for appetizers. You can use potato toppings, cracker toppings, sandwhich ingredients, etc.

Funny marketing story: Some farmers at a farmers market could not sell their small potatoes. Then they mixed several colors together, raised the price to 4 times what the medium and large potatoes sold for, and put out a sign calling them Stew Potatoes. They sold out quickly each week.