How to stretch your pantry/fridge

[TOGIE]

in the spirit of inflation!

Reading a Wall Street Journal article about people buying whole chickens more often now because inflation has hit whole chickens far less than parts of chickens.

I've always loved buying whole chickens, don't do it very much though, and it's also hard to beat the price and convenience of a rotisserie.

But i'm interested in what people already do, or have done, to stretch your pantry and fridge (and dollars) farther, in the spirit of inflation.

I still love boiling up some ramen when i see some packets of it hiding in back of the pantry. I ditch the nasty seasoning packet, adding frozen mixed veggies, and adding ground beef or fried eggs, with sriracha, salt, black pepper, garlic and chile powder. Honestly really delicious and pretty cheap, nutritious, filling meal.

Making homemade pizza with that lingering jar of spaghetti sauce for your marinara, leftover chicken or beef as your meat topping, and whatever cheese you have laying around, from cheddar to swiss. Swirl some of that remaining jar of stubbs barbeque sauce on top before cooking, throw on whats left of that half red onion. voila! damn good barbeque chicken (or beef) pizza.

what you guys got?

 

[Bowmannate2000]

My wife is getting into canning. You can buy dried beans and can them a lot cheaper than buying pre-canned ones. Also have been canning chicken. Hopefully we get a good tomato harvest from our garden and can make our own pasta sauce!

 

[TOGIE]

My wife is getting into canning. You can buy dried beans and can them a lot cheaper than buying pre-canned ones. Also have been canning chicken. Hopefully we get a good tomato harvest from our garden and can make our own pasta sauce!

canning is great idea. which reminds me, i've been meaning to look into making my own sauerkraut. sick of that pasteurized nutrient depleted chit from the store, even if it's still delish. and don't wanna shell out for that premium unpasteurized stuff you can find in the crunchy stores.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

If I fill an extra deer tag, we might try canned venison too!

 

[BackofBeyond]

canning is great idea. which reminds me, i've been meaning to look into making my own sauerkraut. sick of that pasteurized nutrient depleted chit from the store, even if it's still delish. and don't wanna shell out for that premium unpasteurized stuff you can find in the crunchy stores.

Don't can kraut. You'll kill off the microbes in the process.

Grab a back of shredded cabbage (or shred it yourself) and layer it with salt/cellery seed in a 1/2 gallon jar. Cover it with some cheese cloth and leave it on the counter for a week. Then stick it in the fridge... easy peazy lemon squeezy.

But canning is a great way. We have a fruit stand close, and we buy fruit in bulk and can it. Any meat left in the freezer when it's time for the 1/2 beef to show up get's canned up as stew or bean soup. We also buy rice, beans, lentils in bulk and dry can them into 1/2 gallon jars to keep the bugs out. Basically just think of all the stuff you're depression era grandparents (or great grandparents... whatever suits) and do the stuff they did.

 

[longbow51]

Buy a freezer (if you can find one). Make your own stock after you make your roast chickens/turkeys.

Then, leftover chicken/turkey becomes:

1. Chicken enchilada casserole
2. Chicken noodle soup; make your own noodles, its really easy, and you don't need a machine
3. Chicken and dumplings

Make up bulk lasagne, spaghetti sauce, chili, soups, stews, etc. and freeze.

Easy to pull out something when you're busy rather than ordering out.

Plus, cooking days are fun; someone chops, someone sautés, someone assembles, etc.

Buy 20# each of pintos, black beans and rice. Depending upon where you live, you may have to store them in different ways.

Funny how no one is much laughing at folks who stored food and ammo any more.

Canning fresh veggies in season is pretty easy too.

And, from my brief time in Idaho, the Mormons had "canning days" when they canned fresh veggies, and they all supposedly had a year's supply of food stored. They invited my wife to come and they knew we weren't Mormon; don't know if its still that way or not.

 

[TwistedSage]

Long grain rice, bullion cubes, and goya packets will go way further than the pre-packaged rices and 5 min rice. Same with dried beans. Whole chicken is pretty much at least 2 meals, the main event then chicken noodle soup with leftovers. I'll make garlic bread before any bread ever expires. Shopping smart is probably the best way to stretch the dollar, after that try your hardest not to waste anything.

 

[longbow51]

If I fill an extra deer tag, we might try canned venison too!

Our prepper friends can most of their deer; lasts a long time, and if the power goes out when they're gone (they travel a lot in winter) it doesn't spoil.

 

[Bowmannate2000]

Our prepper friends can most of their deer; lasts a long time, and if the power goes out when they're gone (they travel a lot in winter) it doesn't spoil.

Yeah, that would be my fear. Power goes out and lose everything in the freezer... Or just a freezer failure. It's nice to have some alternative food storage.

 

[Sask hunter]

Shoot a moose or elk every year so you don’t have to buy meat lol

 

[longbow51]

Yeah, that would be my fear. Power goes out and lose everything in the freezer... Or just a freezer failure. It's nice to have some alternative food storage.

You know appliances are crap now. We had a < 1 yo freezer go out; had an alarm, and got a loaner so no big deal. So, yep.

 

[gouch]

I've always provided a lot of my food from hunting, fishing, foraging, gardening and gleaning. Canning, drying and freezing to preserve it. With the price of gas and everything else, I'm not so sure I am saving much though. I almost never buy anything that has been processed. Just the basics then make everything from scratch. I buy anything I normally would buy when it is on sell even if I already have plenty of it on hand. If it is perishable it goes in the freezer and if not into the pantry. I'll need it someday. Of course, when my house burned down, I lost thousands of dollars' worth of food that I was saving for later.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Just trying to cook most of your meals at home is huge, I think a lot of us on here do it, but I'm shocked how many people I know eat out for 5+ meals a week.

 

[MTelkHuntress]

Our clients give us canned fish sometimes, I really want to learn how to do it myself one of these days. Make great sandwiches with them.

I make tons of apple butter and can it in the fall from picking apples that people don't want (and to keep the bears away)...no apple goes to waste! Not exactly healthy but it sure tastes good. (I'm sure you can makes lots of other things with free apples)

Also this thread instantly made me think of this pine bark bread recipe....so if you really want to stretch that dollar!

 

[rwc101]

Add rice to everything.

 

[SaskHunter]

Filling the freezer with game is #1 on our list. But lets not kid ourselves here, most of us don't hunt to save money on meat. That being said, it is a good mix of having an expensive hobby and taking advantage of its benefits. To cut cost, I do my own butchering.

We barely eat out. Living ways from the city helps, especially with $2+/Liter gas. We make our city trips count and rarely eat out, mostly because my kids are wild animals though. We also make lunches, we don't go out to eat or buy vending machine crap.

We do a lot of "leftover meals". We do at least one "whatever's leftover supper" and at least plan two meals with one supper, a week. We'll often cook larger chunks of meat for one supper (ham, roast, steaks, whole chicken, etc) and make that into two meals. The leftover meat goes into pasta, casserole, pizza, etc.

Most of those habits were started quite a while ago and not for financial reasons, we just reached a point where we realized how much we were wasting on food and decided to change things. Minimalizing is something my wife and I have been applying to most of what we do. We focus our time, money and energy on tangible things like trips/making memories with the kids, rather than going out for supper...

 

[Stocker]

My wife cans a bunch and makes jelly’s/jams from fruit and berries. Her specialty is elderberry jelly and juice. If we get any cough in the winter we take a drink of that and it’s gone within 6 hours.


I still think it’s witchcraft of some sort. Been trying to get the county together to have a trial and burn her but no luck yet.

 

[SaskHunter]

Add rice to everything.

Added rice to my coffee.

Tastes awful.

 

[jryoung]

Pack your bones out and make stock, good for your wallet and nutritionally will keep you hunting longer.

Make friends with your favorite vendor at the farmers market and try and get wholesale/restaurant pricing by buying in bulk for canning/dehydrating.

If you live on the coast, swing into your marina occasionally when the charters are coming back in, racks and heads are usually given away for free.

Source local produce, this is easy in California not only are neighborhoods loaded with fruit trees, especially citrus, but many homeowners want you to take them. Not to mention, in rural parks/preserves there are endless wild/feral fruits.

And for a curveball, my wife recently bought $60 worth of tomatoes and $10 worth of basil, we made sauce out of it, 9 quarts worth.....or $7.77 a quart. Sometimes the math doesn't always work.

 

[rwc101]

Added rice to my coffee.

Tastes awful.

Obviously the issue is with your coffee.