I USED to waste it but now......

Shoot, I save or reuse almost everything. If it is plant material, it either goes to the chickens or in the compost pile.

Meat goes to the dogs, glass containers get saved for salsa or jam that I'll use quickly or similar. Plastic gets used in the garden, as does cardboard and newspaper, and those wire hangers get used to make hoops for row covers.

If I have left over vegetables from dinner, mashed potatoes too, it all gets put in a gallon ziploc in the freezer. I add to it as I have the leftover veggies, and in a week or two we have already seasoned soup for dinner.

I have recently taken to washing out ziploc bags and reusing them (unless they had raw meat in them).

Thank you for that one! You are a genius.

Does it stink when you dehydrate it?

Got another one I recently learned.Broccoli,use to only eat the top,found if stem cut thin crosswise,like a disc,those things cook up just great and taste just as good as the tops.Now how could I get this far in life and never have known that??

Now someone dont come along and tell me I'm lucky I havent poisoned myself yet.

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Yes I try to do it outdoors that day...

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"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

When I had my restaurant I would buy the spiral sliced ham for ham sandwiches and breakfast meat. The unsliced portions and bones would be frozen, and when I had enough I would make split pea soup.

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Libertarindependent

Me too. I also have a half dozen of the metal ones saved along with some tuna cans - we used to use them to make 'buddy burners' to cook on back when I was a girl scout.

I've also started saving bacon drippings. (My mom always cooked with bacon grease) I have a wide mouth Mason jar in my fridge that I pour the grease into, it's great for greasing the skillet when you make cornbread.

I wash and reuse even the ones that contained meat. Soak them in some white vinegar then wash them with hot water and soap. I also wash and reuse my foodsaver bags - you can only get a good seal on them two or (maybe) three uses but they're so expensive it's worth the effort.

I dont know how you guys can reuse em,even the expensive freezer ziplocks seems to rip on the edges now when you open them,seems to me like a purposeful design now?

Ive always saved bacon grease,good stuff,I use on the cast iron.

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You can also peel the stem, cut into matchsticks, and make into a salad with some balsamic vinegar and sesame oil. The "hard" part of asperagus can be peeled and made into asperagus soup.

You can make cream of broccoli soup from the stems,just cook them longer.
As long as they aren't too woody.

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I try to do this,although not always successful.

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I have found this too,I was using ziplocs to keep stuff cold in our coole ron trips,and noticed the bags would leak in short order in the corners.
Of course we bought store brand most of the time.

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I do that. If we get one of the rotisserie chickens, I save all the bones and goodies left on them (including skins) and make something called 'Chicken Frame soup'. I try not to waste much of anything. I'm too poor to waste.
Ohio Rusty ><>

We use the broccoli stems, too, although the bunny gives us a dirty look now that we don't give them to her.

We don't ever peel our potatoes, except for mashed potatoes. Everything sliced, diced, quartered, etc keeps the peel on. I haven't canned potatoes yet, but those might get peeled, I suppose. Oh, we also rarely peel tomatoes. We don't really mind those little bits of skin floating in the soup or sauce or whatever. For canned tomatoes my dd19 likes to skin them (she loves the hot water to cold water process, and how the skin just slips off), but those skins go to the worms for composting, so that's not a loss. The worms need to eat, too.

Oh, and we used to throw out the drippings from baked chicken. I cringe now to think about it! We love using the drippings for gravy now, but growing up I only knew to make gravy from a packet of powder!

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I save all my kitchen grease and make soap and shampoo out of it.

ETA: broccoli stems get tossed in the food processor when making coleslaw

One thing that I always threw out was the heel of the bread. I HATE the heel of the bread. But then I realized that I could use them for stuffing, croutons, and bread crumbs.
Then it went a step further - I somehow birthed muntant children who think that being given the heel of the bread is a sign that they are special

Since I have a compost, and critters, and a garden I rarely throw anything out. Plastic containers get re-used for containers for everything from seeds to leftovers for freezing and for lunches and even plant labels. Tin cans get used as garden edging, decorative lanterns (freeze water in them then punch holes in the can in designs with a naim and hammer, add a little candle and it makes a cute lantern). Paper gets shredded for animal bedding and the compost, newspaper and cardboard get used as weedblocker, plastic bags as dog poo pick up, vegetable, fruits, bones, leftovers, eggshells, dryer lint, hair, etc if good and edible get fed to the dog and chickens and then the compost pile. Old shoes get made into planters. Wood scraps for the fire. We go weeks without having to put the garbage can out for pick up.

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It's not that I don't like mankind, I just like nature a whole lot more.

I was thinking about this last night...Indians would bury dead fish in mounds and then plant on top of them. I wonder if the same thing could be done with chicken, and skip the drying process altogether?

I buy coffee in metal cans, I keep those for everything.

I save bacon grease in a mason jar too, it's good for cooking just about anything and great for suet for the birds.



And on the tuna cans, I've never done this but I have heard of people placing those in the garden. Used them to measure the amount of water the garden had gotten that week. Those cans needed to be full each week to know the garden has had enough water.

Yes,thats what amazed me,because they are stringy,but when cut crosswise amazingly tender,like cutting meat across the grain?

So I see that the matchstick makes sense too.

Broccoli soup,YUM!!!

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