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How to stretch your pantry/fridge

Backofbeyond said:
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.
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just to be sure, i wasn't intending to can the kraut, only make it myself. specifically for the reasons you outlined - to avoid the store bought stuff that is devoid of microbes and nutrients due to pasteurization.
 
another one of my favorites

got whole milk in the fridge? everyone should, all the time.

got butter in the fridge? everyone should all the time.

how to stretch that into a meal?

reduce that milk with plenty of butter in a sauce pan with garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and a little chile powder. boom! alfredo with a little zing.

put on ramen or cheap box of kroger penne noodels with pieces from a whole cooked chicken or ground beef/venison
 
If a feller wanted to get into canning, what kind of pressure cooker shoulf he get?
I've always wanted to get into it, but have no clue where to begin.
My wife's grandmother cans vegetables, but from what I understand that is a different process
 
There's not much cheaper per ounce than potatoes and bananas from the "going bad" pile. We stick slightly past bananas in the freezer for smoothies later. I like to bake a few potatoes to keep in the fridge for the week. Then cube them and fry with a diced green pepper and eggs for a pretty fast/cheap but filling breakfast.

Canning can be cheaper, but the margin isn't as friendly depending on the item and method. Water bath is easy and fairly cheap, but buying a quality pressure canner, keeping stocked on lids/jars, and heating it for several hours (for those of us at high elevation) is certainly an expense. We enjoy the taste and convenience of canned meat a lot, so it's worth it even if the cost was a wash.
 
@WestKyHunt

If you want to can meat, meat products, or other low acid foods get an All-American. Buy once, cry once. I've done hundreds of quarts in mine over the last 10 years.


If you want to do high acid foods, tomato sauce, pickles etc. the basic enameled waterbath is fine. If you find yourself processing a bunch of foods, you can upgrade to a larger stainless box that can hold up to 15 quarts at a time. There are some kickass canning books out there now, between the rise of the food movement, hipsters and mommy bloggers there are some fantastic recipes that I would have never considered.

 
jryoung said:
@WestKyHunt

If you want to can meat, meat products, or other low acid foods get an All-American. Buy once, cry once. I've done hundreds of quarts in mine over the last 10 years.


If you want to do high acid foods, tomato sauce, pickles etc. the basic enameled waterbath is fine. If you find yourself processing a bunch of foods, you can upgrade to a larger stainless box that can hold up to 15 quarts at a time. There are some kickass canning books out there now, between the rise of the food movement, hipsters and mommy bloggers there are some fantastic recipes that I would have never considered.

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Thanks for the information!
 
SnowyMountaineer said:
There's not much cheaper per ounce than potatoes and bananas from the "going bad" pile. We stick slightly past bananas in the freezer for smoothies later. I like to bake a few potatoes to keep in the fridge for the week. Then cube them and fry with a diced green pepper and eggs for a pretty fast/cheap but filling breakfast.

Canning can be cheaper, but the margin isn't as friendly depending on the item and method. Water bath is easy and fairly cheap, but buying a quality pressure canner, keeping stocked on lids/jars, and heating it for several hours (for those of us at high elevation) is certainly an expense. We enjoy the taste and convenience of canned meat a lot, so it's worth it even if the cost was a wash.
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that reminds me, the reduced price pile of meat at kroger can be killer deals. i still have a frozen pork butt in my freezer that came out to like 75 cents a pound.
 
Another thing I like to add to my breakfast to mix it up is pork Chorizo. It's cheap to begin with, and it only takes about two ounces to add a ton of flavor to anything you cook in a skillet.

I throw a couple ounces of chorizo in a pan and cook for @ two minutes until it just starts to brown and releases it's fat. Toss in half a diced green pepper and some cubed (already baked) potato, coating in that lovely orange grease. Cover for a couple minutes untouched. Stir and push to the edge of the pan to let it finish. In the center fry a couple of eggs to your preference. If you're a rich MF and have sour cream and chives toss some on top. haha
 
rwc101 said:
Add rice to everything.
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Fried rice is one of the main clean-out-the-fridge meals in our house. Gather up all the little bits of leftover and sad looking veggies, scraps of meat, herbs, etc, fry it up with some rice. It does not have to be Asian inspired.

Same with frittatas, but instead of rice use about 8 eggs and some grated cheese. Saute everything, add the eggs and cheese, put it in a 10" ovenproof skillet and bake at 350º until set.

Bonus: slice the leftover frittata put it on crusty bread with some greens, some dressing, or sriracha mayo for lunch the next day.
Double bonus: fried rice and frittatas are generally a hit with kids.
 
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WestKyHunt said:
If a feller wanted to get into canning, what kind of pressure cooker shoulf he get?
I've always wanted to get into it, but have no clue where to begin.
My wife's grandmother cans vegetables, but from what I understand that is a different process
Click to expand...
I started with a Presto, but echo @jryoung with a recommendation for an All American. I managed to find one at an estate sale recently, but haven't gotten to use it yet. It seems like a very nice bit of kit. Won't be long and I'll use the two side by side for a true comparison.

If you keep your eyes open, and have the cash in hand, you can get into it for a deal. I ended up buying the All American, three more water bath pots, and 6 boxes of jars, rings, and new-in-the-box lids for $350.
 
I don't think I can stretch my pantry any more than I have. Learned early on when my wife started her first graduate degree that we either learn some tricks or starve. I have always bought whole chickens, watched the meat counter for sales and stocked the freezer when the price came down enough, save every garlic/onion/carrot/celery/parsley etc. trimming along with the backs from the whole chickens to make broth. We went so far as to buy a whole cow and butchered it to fill an empty freezer one time.
 
We started raising a couple rabbits this year (because we can keep rabbits in the city). We also bought a small chest freezer, started a garden this Spring, and applied for several doe tags that we normally wouldn't bother with. We may not need all that, but I would rather be one step ahead, if prices keep going up.
 
We can pasta sauces and make jelly from fruits. But depending on how you allocate the costs, the meat get get from hunting is our biggest savings. I am going hunting regardless, so I tell the wife the meat is free! We haven't bought red meat in over 10 years. We buy our whole chickens from a farmer friend. We buy a few chicken breasts from Costco and a little bit of seafood, but that is it for meat.

Funny story: My 14 year old son buys a ticket at our Pheasants Forever banquet on the meat/freezer raffle. Why a 14 year old boy would do this over a gun ticket is beyond me, but he does. then he wins it. As we are taking the meat out to load the freezer someone mentions a ribeye and Tbone. My boys go, "what is a Tbone and Ribeye?" Everyone looks at me (knowing we are big meat eaters) with bewilderment. I said, "Yeah, they have never had a ribeye or Tbone, all we eat is wild game and never call it that". Side note: when we cooked them side by side, wild game came out on top!
 
Again, sorry if this is a d-rail or we’ve already discussed this, but I always use a 6% cash back credit card and the coupon/savings app for the grocery store I’m shopping at.
Adds up pretty quick.
 
DouglasR said:
Again, sorry if this is a d-rail or we’ve already discussed this, but I always use a 6% cash back credit card and the coupon/savings app for the grocery store I’m shopping at.
Adds up pretty quick.
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Just make sure that your credit card balance is 0 by the end of each month. If you start paying credit card interest, your 6% will disappear quickly!
 
DouglasR said:
Sorry if this is a derailment from the thread, but does anyone have any coupon apps they use?
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with kroger at least, paying attention to the digital coupons can be a big saver on some items.

i'm always focused on protein items when it comes to savings, i don't care if rice is on sale or not, it's cheap regardless, and i buy it at costco.

for example, i found t bones at kroger that were already marked down to like 8 bucks a pound, if you pay attention and find the digital coupon they were offering you could get em for about 5 bucks a pound, limit two packages though. every week or two there is almost always some steak or meat item on that digital coupon list. if you only buy your grocery store meat that way meat's not too expensive.

but really we gotta just put in the small amount of effort it takes to pick up half a cow every year to supplement our wild game.

yes we have on average what comes to 60-90 lbs of wild game in the fridge every year. but that's really not much as a couple that cooks up meat for at least dinner every single day. and especially because i like to save a lot of wild game for when we have family and friends over, and then it's really not much meat. i gotta really figure out how to fill a bull and cow tag every single year.
 
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