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| easy, delicious, cheap
Parsimony when cooking involves not just the cost of the food, but also the cost of the cooking. I am cheap! The potatoes were free at the grocery due to savvy shopping. Carrots were frozen ones that I had for dehydrating--half a bag. Vidalia onion was bought cheaply this summer and stored. The cabbage was expensive. However, figuring it was huge and has made 14 servings over one week, the cost is okay--$3..
All this went into one pot. First, the water was put on to boil as I washed and trimmed the eyes from the unpeeled, red potatoes. About five minutes later frozen carrots went in. Fifteen minutes later I had the cabbage ready and then sliced the onions and added them. About five minutes later, I turned off the eye and put on a lid just before I took the smoked turkey leftover from the oven.
Yes, I boiled cabbage. Wait until you hear the rest.
With this I served the last of the smoked turkey from last week. I baked it for an hour before serving.
From this huge pot I got two servings (one each) for exbf and I on the day he was here. He took home two servings (maybe more) and I ate another two and have three servings left. So, that is at least 9 servings from the one $3 pot of vegetables. The smoked turkey was only $10 last winter. We got many more meals than 9 from the turkey, maybe 20+ servings.
serving of turkey=$0.50 or less
serving of vegetables=$0.33
one meal=$.83 or less
water he drank=free my glass of tea=negligible
My servings are generous!
Yes, I boiled it all and forgot to put the one pat of butter in. One pat is enough. The only other addition was about 1/4 tsp. of salt.
The result of boiling is a "broth" that is delicious. Some may be horrified as it is rather bland and has bits of vegetables, lots of mushed up potatoes . But, the nutrition will not be wasted. I have nothing else to use it for, and I just don't have room in my tiny refrigerator-freezer right now. Besides, I am looking forward to drinking it! I have not taken a picture, but the broth is murky with bits of vegetables small enough to swallow and too small to scoop out.
Vow?
I will never pour out even one bit of liquid from cooking any vegetable. From here out, I will freeze it...just as soon as I drink the pint of liquid saved from my one-dish vegetables. Bonus One pot is all I washed!
Your turn
Do you save vegetable broth? What do you do with it? Do you ever drink it?
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Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Vegetable Broth and a Vow
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looks delicious! I am a broth drinking fool! I notice I am becoming a soup fanatic in my "mature years!" Nothing beats a hot bowl of something and a grilled cheese sandwich! You got my email if you need it! the rat
ReplyDeleteRat,
DeleteIt is good stuff. Thanks so much. Ummm, now I want grilled cheese! I don't do soup and sandwich, never did. It makes no sense to me. However, I must be wrong since the world loves it...lol.
I love cabbage, so I would probably like this too :)
ReplyDeleteIt would be perfect for a crowd. lol Of course, seasoning can be your choice. My husband and two older children did not like cabbage. The baby toddled over, just having learned to walk, and wanted some as I sat alone eating it after dinner. She loved it.
DeleteIt is liquid gold! I am with you. I might have given the veggies to my dog... but not with onions!
ReplyDeleteAlex,
DeleteI cooked the vegetables for me, so I sure would not give them to a dog! "Liquid gold" is a good term.
Yummo. And, as a cheap vegetarian, I use my vegetable water. And don't regret it.
ReplyDeleteEC,
DeleteThere is no use throwing away nutrients I or you paid for. For a long time, I have told myself I needed to use it. Now, I will always use it for something. Saving it in the freezer will keep me from wasting it.
Linda you would stand up and applaud at how many meals I can squeeze out of one rotisserie chicken. I hope you have a Costco near you ...Their rotisserie chicken goes a a long , long way..... We eat a meal, I make broth, there are sandwiches the next day, Frank's dog has at least two yummy snacks.
ReplyDeleteWe are huge soup fans. Hand me a ham bone and we can eat for 3 or 4 meals. A chicken carcass is just as good. This week we have a turkey to deal with .....unfortunately we just aren't on the turkey bandwagon. The soup is going to be amazing but I have no idea how I am going to get these guys to eat all the sliced turkey. I know, enchiladas, tacos, sandwiches,.....etc. It just doesn't fly around here. I'm in the weeds. And just think about it ....in about 5 weeks from now we will have to do it all again ..... You just have to laugh!.Today I actually drove 20 miles to pass off sliced turkey to a friend!
I wrote on another blog (Hi Sluggy!) about how I had actually gone out and bought a roaster to try to make a decent turkey dinner. Wouldn't you just know it? This afternoon I went into a Goodwill and discovered the EXACT roaster that I had bought for $29.99 priced at $9.99. Here is the really crazy thing .... I actually considered buying it! After all, now I knew what a good deal it was ($20 less) besides someone I knew might like to have one..... or maybe I could use it in the camper. Of course I had read the entire booklet and now knew that this roaster is supposed to be the cat's pajamas. Apparently you can even use it to bake a cake! I mentally slapped myself and walked away ....(Thank you Sluggy and Tanner) but I must admit that I had mixed feelings.
Everyday I wish that your chickens had the stuff that I send into our green bin.
Janet,
DeleteThere is a Costco about 50 miles from me! That is stretching a chicken. Even the dog gets some. The store that just left made Rotisserie Chicken Salad. They used unsold rotisserie chickens and a sauce sent to them to make the best chicken salad. I could have easily lived on it.
I have been wanting a ham bone, but really cannot afford it. I want beans with a ham bone in it.
Turkey is my favorite. I don't get people not like turkey when they like chicken. ??? Can you freeze it and reincarnate it in a week or so? You probably had a nice visit with the happy recipient of the turkey slices. Thanksgiving is so near that it seems impossible. I am hoping to afford a turkey breast. This is making me hungry...lol. I would freeze the turkey. Maybe you can just freeze it so you can eat a slice at a time if you like turkey.
Doesn't that kill you when you find something like that cheaper than you just bought. We had a good thrift store and I would buy things for friends who would repay me. I use Reynold's turkey bags. The turkey is delicious.
Bake a cake? Is it an electric roaster? What kind?
Oh, I wish my chickens had your green bin contents, too. Thankfully, the work hard at finding food. You should see them so serious in their scratching and pecking the lawn apart. I don't walk on that part of the lawn anyway.
This was the way I was raised---waste nothing. It's rather sickening listening to people that complain they are broke, but wouldn't make a pot of soup that lasts all week. They want their McDonalds or whatever junk. And then they complain they're "sick". I don't call that "progress". I rather think we've Regressed.
ReplyDeleteBroths are so healthy ............AND delicious!
My mother never cooked this dish, but she started cooking cabbage in V8, ruining the cabbage in my opinion. She and my sisters drank the juice after the cabbage was gone.
DeleteI am amazed how poorly some people eat. Oh, we progressed so far that people depend on others to feed them junk. I am not much of a broth person, but I do appreciate them, more at some times than others. Cool weather changes my tastes. Of course, it was almost 80 today, so not exactly cold.
I like the one pot bit. :-D It seems I'm always in the dish pan since the dishwasher quit so one pot is a very attractive feature to me right now.
ReplyDeleteI make bone broth regularly. It's different from regular broth in that a bit of vinegar is added to the water to pull the minerals from the bones. It simmers for 2 days then I strain and freeze it to use whenever broth is called for in a recipe.
Soups make great meals. You really did well with costs. $0.83 per meal is amazingly low. Well done!
Sue,
DeleteThat appealed to me when I thought about all this.
I've been reading about bone broth. I am cooking a chicken tomorrow. Maybe I will try it.
The cost was amazing to me. I paid twice the price now for that cabbage. I could have brought the price down to about $0.75 if it had been cheaper. Since the turkey was bought last year or early this year, that was a sunk cost. Still, it did cost.
Still, a really frugal price for all that nutrition. Expect the bone broth to taste a bit darker than regular broth. I used to make it in the crock pot, but it got too dark for my liking that way (my crock pot only has a high setting). Now I simmer on low on the electric stove.
DeleteSue,
DeleteI thought it was a very frugal price! I don't have a crockpot!