Pantry Stocking for Frugal Living, Part Six

And the sixth and last letter:

Ok, so you've had enough by now, I'm sure. Here's a little more:

Homemade soft drinks:

When you peel an apple, save the peel and the core. Combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water in a pan and bring it to a boil. Let it boil for one minute, then add the apple bits and remove from the heat. Let it hang out for an hour or two, then strain the apple bits out. You can mix this syrup w/ club soda to make apple soda.

You can make these syrups from almost anything. In my fridge right now I have mint syrup, lemon-lime (homemade 7-up), kumquat, orange, apple, ginger ... and some other stuff I can't remember.

Big treats:

Homemade Oreo cookies (which you've already tasted, I believe), homemade biscotti, biscuits, bread, ding dongs, pies and all sorts of other treats. I have a lot of recipes for this kind of stuff, so just tell me what you want to make and I'll get you a recipe.

This next section is deleted, as it just has a bunch of recipes from this blog that you've already seen before, as options for using all the stuff in the pantry and freezer. If you guys haven't found recipes on google for these treats, holler at you and I'll send you the links I have.

xoxo,
-a

PS - I'll leave you alone now, unless you have questions. :)

I forgot something. I think. I'm scared to go through all those emails to find out.

When you buy produce next, save a couple of the produce bags you put it in before you bring it home. Anytime you use produce, and you're not using the scraps to make syrups (citrus peel, ginger, etc), put the produce scraps in that bag and stick it in the freezer.

This is everything from onion skins, eggplant peel,tomato seeds, cabbage and celery ends, cucumber ends, parsley stems, squash seeds you're not roasting as a snack, citrus peels (not too many or it makes the stock bitter) you don't feel like making syrup with, whatever. Put it in the bag and keep it in the freezer. When the bag is full, throw everything in the bag into a big stock pot, fill it up with water (and a little salt if you want; though I generally don't salt this) and let it simmer for anywhere from 6 hours to a day. Then strain it, throw away or compost the produce scraps, and return the broth to the pot. Simmer it until it's reduced to the quantity that will fit in your largest pitcher. Viola, vegetable stock. I usually make this once or twice a month, because the scraps add up *really* quickly.

I like this because it only costs the few cents from the water, since the produce is basically "free," as it's stuff I would've thrown away otherwise. And if you compost, just toss the ends in your compost after you make the stock, which gives you a third use.

xoxo,

-a

Comments

  1. This was a really thorough walk thru of frugal living. Thanks for sharing some great ideas.

    ReplyDelete
  2. No problem, Mary. I'm glad you enjoyed them!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bergamot Curd

Gems, Lovely Gems

Lentil, Chick Pea and Eggplant Boil