I lived right down the road from a family when I was a wee lad that did this. They had a large kettle on the stove 24/7. Just added to it every day. It was yummy stuff and always ready to eat. The kids mom would dip out a cup for each kid, smear a little butter on a tortilla, roll it up, Viola! Lunch was served! Never paid a lot of attention to what was in it but as best as I recall, various veggies, meat, definitely had taters, pinto beans, and hot peppers for spice!

 

YH , just curious. Where was the place of your raising? Sounds like it was Texas.

 

I grew up in eastern Oregon. Snake river valley.

 

I knew an older lady , years ago , who was a Cherokee & raised by her grandmother . She said that they lived in a cave & had a fire going about all the time. A huge cast iron pot was over it & they added to it, every day. They added wild vegetables, fruits, roots, herbs, ANY meat , etc., to keep the pot going. She moved out of the cave when she got married.

 

day 4 , it is starting to develop some real flavor , I am adding less seasoning but getting that flavor that comes with time.

the home dried mushrooms were a good addition.

if you catch a sale on mushrooms we caught one about 2 years ago I think it was $0.59 a pound for mushrooms that were overstock and would go bad before they sold , we bough a bunch , and came strait home and washed , cut and dried them in the food dehydrator then packed in half gallon masons , I found a jar in the back of the pantry , still good and now about half of them are in the stew more for later.

I also have some packaged dried mushrooms from an Asian foods store that I will add later when I run out of these dried mushrooms.

last night I added 2 pounds of venison I have a store of venison and will be mostly venison from here on out saving my beef for later.

 

I'm getting hungry....

 

Many weeks, I make a big pot of chili that lasts for about 4 days. I heat it to boiling twice a day and let it boil for about 10- minutes. In the winter, it could also be done on a wood stove and will be always hot.
A friend cooks on the weekend and makes several different kinds of meats on the grill, then just has to heat them up (or not) either in the oven or microwave, and always has something fast throughout most of the week.
Although I like to cook, it is convenient to have things prepared ahead so that when other chores/tasks come up, you don't have to spend so much time for each meal, but can still get a hot meal ready on quick notice.

 

almost every week we make something that is more than one meal. chili , soup , pulled pork , stew . we eat leftovers for many a lunch.

 

OK. Description of the food threw me a bit. Pinto beans, hot peppers, tortillas. Sounds like more Southwestern style.

 

I'm thinking you are correct, the family were not native to the area, very well could have spent time in Texas, Arizona or other points in the south west. They were a family of migrant farm workers who had found a farmer to work for year round.

 

This sounds very interesting and actually really good

 

Back to the OP, you might throw a couple cups of brewed coffee in that big pot. Makes a difference in soups and stews. Add richness, I guess you would say.

 

After several days of being heated and cooled to room temperature , do you worry about food borne illness?

I've had to take several scary classes on this so I'm curious.

 

Heating and cooling doesn't create any problems as long as it's brought to a boil every day. That kills any harmful bacteria and resets the spoilage clock to zero again. The downside is that some of the stuff that gets carried over through several boilings will be overcooked, get soft and mushy. That can be bad or good depending upon preference. Me? I like a good hearty thick stew as apposed to thin soup. It took my Yvonne quite a while to figure me out, she is a cup of "scald yer mouth thin broth" person, I'd rather scoop out some cold thick stew and make a Sammy! I do the same with cold gravy.

 

Every time the food is reheated, it kills all the bacteria that could make you sick. In a way, It's more sterile than most of the food we eat. As long as the perishable ingredients are eaten within a reasonable amount of time, there really shouldn't be an issue.

I have done something similar over the course of a week or so, in a big pot on the wood stove. It's a great way of using leftovers!!

 

mom always had a pot of something or other going on back of the wood stove fall and winter months.

 

Very old style of cooking, keeping a pot going on the back of the stove, The French Cassoulet started this way

 

based on the scare tactics used by modern "food" product manufactures to convince you of what is the "safe" way to do things not one of us should be here today , the methods of canning and food preservation of the past should have killed everyone of our ancestors.
but we are here
I am of the belief that besides a mess of chemicals that may make people more allergic to a food item , we have created a weak society that gets an upset tummy at the mere thought of eating something not perfectly sterile.
the real reality of it is out of sight our of mind , what passes for clean is probably way below most any of your standards but you likely go eat it any way and pay for it and tip the server.

I also have a strong gut and healthy immune system I have eaten things that others thought made them sick with little or no result.

no I am surely not immune from botulism but my pot hardly spends any time cooled down to where bacteria could grow and boils twice at least twice every day.

think about a salt cured ham if you walked up to someone and told them you planned to kill a hog , cut a the hams and rub down the shank portion of the ham with 1 pound brown sugar 4 pounds pickling salt then wrap it in in some clean brown paper grocery bags and tie it with cotton string then hang it in your 50-60 degree basement from Nov1 till Easter and then would they like to come over and have Easter ham with you. how many takers do you think you would have. I suppose it would depend what they knew about salt cured hams.


I believe there is significant pressure by the "food" manufacturing industry to end home canning and preserving.

why do I think this , well our county extension office can no longer teach food preservation Madison (communist state HQ) sent the order it is "to Risky" which leaves people who have been teaching food preservation for more than 20 years and kept up with all the best practices and canning methods scratching their heads as to where this extreme risk is. Isn't the exact reason they are there to teach food preservation to help people mitigate the small risk and educate the safest best practices backed by real food science to the citizens of the state?

why might that be , ever think gosh ho bad does it look if food manufacturers keep killing people with their products yet home preservers just never seem to get any bad press for sickening or killing all their dinner guests.

if we realize we could do it ourselves and really cook form scratch . why would we need these manufactures?

yes I may be a bit conspiracy theorist on this but it doesn't mean I am wrong it certainly would not be the first time a major US industry worked against know good products and practices .

 

I wish DH would eat stew, or soup, or anything that I could keep on a back burner, this sounds yummy. I guess I could do it just for myself

 

day 12 still going , up side haven't had any of the heart burn that often plagues me , once just a little but it was because I had a beer shortly before bed but even that was minor had a drink of water went back to bed.

not every meal every day has been stew , we made Tamales last Sunday so Sunday dinner was Tamales. but at least 2 every day and 3 most days .

also not waiting for a noon or 6 or setting any time parameter on when to eat , hungry eat not hungry don't eat.

I have lost a few pounds also but not really something I was trying to do although I certainly had extras to loose .

My bowl , I started with one that was a bit larger but found if I took a second bowl it was too much , My bowl ended up being one I had made , thru the pot my self and glazed it myself and it holds only about 1 1/2 cups 12 fluid ounces my wife's bowl is a large coffee cup also about 12 fluid ounces .

I think you can probably see where if you have 12 oz of stew and an apple for a meal you might loose weight, but it does sound strange to say I lost weight eating potatoes after all that is where a bulk of the calories in stew come from.

 

day 15
I had moved to a smaller pot the original was a 12 quart and we just weren't eating that much any more more around a 3 quarts a day , the 6 quart pot got to warm even on low on the back burner. today I moved to a 6 quart crock pot to better manage the temperature .

if you were wondering , how much of each ingredient
about
20 pounds potatoes
10 pounds meat
6 pound onions
2 pounds carrots


that makes for some inexpensive eating

we also ate a bushel of apples we get the Utility apples and deal with the spots.

 

day 15
I had moved to a smaller pot the original was a 12 quart and we just weren't eating that much any more more around a 3 quarts a day , the 6 quart pot got to warm even on low on the back burner. today I moved to a 6 quart crock pot to better manage the temperature .

if you were wondering , how much of each ingredient
about
20 pounds potatoes
10 pounds meat
6 pound onions
2 pounds carrots


that makes for some inexpensive eating

we also ate a bushel of apples we get the Utility apples and deal with the spots.

I love this concept. I definitely want to give this a try someday

 

This is how I eat all winter and raised my kids on that one pot. I go about 8 days and usually the pot gets empty. I start a new one. I might take that last bit and freeze it fir an instant meal later. The lean years we lived on zucchini and maybe fish I caught. My one son was on the phone I over heard him tell his friend what are you eating today,? Then he said; “ we are eating the lawn”. Lmbo! I add dandelion n other greens from the wild. Puffball mushrooms.

I love it. It changes daily. I have a pot going now. Tomatoes, cabbage, beans, bunch more leftover from the end of garden. Hot peppers etc. I put 2 beets, among other items, yesterday n my son said the beets are perfect addition. Gave it a nice color too.

Pears, apples and pork made for a nice base too. I’m over run with pears n apples. It’s amazing how they mellow in a big pot.

 

day 20
5 days in the crock pot.
I am now the only one still eating stew.
the temperature regulates well in the crock pot it stays on Keep Warm setting except for when I set it to high for 3 hours after adding more ingredients

I find it easy no asking what am I hungry for or do I have what I need to make it? just , am I hungry and have a bowl it is hot and ready to eat.

this could be a solid way for those who can't afford much food to feed themselves

not sure if you have a Kwik Trip gas station and convince stores in your area but they stock potatoes , onions and Bananas at $0.29 a pound. now I have been using red potatoes and my cost is $0.39 a pound.

but imagine eating for 20 days the cost for the stew being 20 dollars and that includes some seasoning like bay leaf , and salt.

my cost is a bit higher I used garlic and a few other spices but I think I am still about 30 dollars and I had 2 people eating for 14 days and just myself for 6 more.

I also drank milk and had coffee apples and some cheese.

the utility apples are 20 dollars a bushel and we did eat a full bushel in 20 days.

I also had a few of the $0.29 bananas after the first week.

my meat is almost all venison , technically it has no value it can't be sold but obviously it does cost me something but getting on the road kill deer list with the sheriff could provide a free for your labor and some supplies like freezer bags meat.

growing the potatoes would also be an option , I used to grow a lot of potatoes , 10 dollars in seed potatoes makes a lot of potatoes .

I didn't have as good a crop of onions for $0.29 a pound buying onions makes sense.
same with carrots .

 

day 20
5 days in the crock pot.
I am now the only one still eating stew.

I used to think it would be wonderful to be able to pour "people chow" out of a bag just like pouring out "dog chow" for the dog. No hours spent prepping and cooking, no time spent on cleanup, and more time to do things I really wanted to do. Then I put on a very restricted diet where I basically ate the same thing every day. I never got sooo tired of eating the same thing day in and day out. Now I've noticed that the cat gets really excited when I open a new bag of cat food (I alternate flavors when I fill his feeder) and I totally understand.

As good as soup is, especially on a cold day, do you find yourself craving something else occasionally, or do you add enough of a variety to your soup that it is different from day to day?

 

How is your body feeling eating this way?

 

no heart burn , loosing some wight , when I have eaten other meals during this time it almost always feels like I over ate.

good very good

 

After several days of being heated and cooled to room temperature , do you worry about food borne illness?

I've had to take several scary classes on this so I'm curious.

I was wondering the same thing myself.

 

you see it never actually cools to room temp , heat 3 gallons in a heavy pot to a boil right before bed with a tight fitting lid then turn it off I seldom get to sleep more than about 7 hours and the first thing I do is put the fire back under it I would check it and it would still be warm.

when I moved to a smaller pot it cooled more so I moved to the crock pot now it never falls below 140*

I would recommend if you don't have multiple people eating it the crock pot as a good way to keep it always at temp

boiling it morning and night and keeping it on heat all day , I know it sets off alarm bells for people who have taken state food safety training , I also took this training I understand why they set those rules , and they are good for serving a wide variety of people in a public setting.

 

I am getting some variety only the first 2 weeks were stew except for the day we made Tamales.

my kids won't stew my wife said she is stewed out so I am still making other things as much as I wish some nights I wasn't.

I could always eat the same thing for days , I would make a big pot of chili then eat it all week , soup, pulled pork , sloppy does , spaghetti. so I suppose it is that I wasn't picky to begin with , just having it hot and ready takes a lot of the what am I hungry for out of things.

this seems like meal planning is a very regular discussion , I have several things that I would just keep making over and over if others in my family wouldn't complain.

but I get some variety a meal here or there. but I am still doing about 2 a day as stew at this point.

when I was right out of college and had a bit more disposable income there was a 5 dollar burger and fries deal at a local bar we went to for lunch just down the hill from work. ate that every day for nearly a year they just asked "usual?" when I walked in the door.

 

I've been trying this for about a week. After the initial ingredients in the crockpot, I think I've spent about five bucks adding to it. Bag of broccoli, lima beans, etc. With stuff boiling down, it's getting thicker all the time, even with adding new veggies and leftover coffee from the pot. Flavor is really good at this point. Thanks for posting about this!

 

Ive never done what greencounypete is doing.but yet i do enjoy fixing up large portions of what ever.right now.i have beans n ham.fried fish.corn bread muffens.and hush puppy's. In the fridge.great choice of foods to eat.

 

I've done it years ago as a single man. It's always been a tough sell to the women in my life. I can get away with a crockpot at a time, about a weeks worth but next week we have to shake things up again.