# Food and the economy



## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

The topic of food and the economy goes hand in hand many here are truly concern with it and many new home makers find it hard to make ends meet especially in the kitchen. Number one in my book has always been setting a good meal for my family and I remember the elders in the family not wasting anything, like, old bread, one food item that gets lots of used in my house, try it toasted in salads or soups or bread pudding or salad/soup croutons, fresh bread crumbs for adding to meatballs or meatloaf's, great for French toast, garlic bread, pasta casseroles topping, apple crumb pies topping, dressing and stuffing's, I guess I just loved bread and I hate to waste a God given gift. If you have uneducated eaters in the family is about time they learn a thing or two about food and money, fast food chains loved uneducated eaters. Lentil Soup on the cheap side-1 potatoe,3 chicken bouillons.7 cups of water,1 cup lentils,2 tbsp of Italian dry herbs or Spanish paprika,1/2 of a chopped chicken breast, some toasted old bread for a quick pressure cooker meal for 4-6. The breakfast burritos for 4 are just as simple,2 chopped potatoes boil in salted water till tender,4 eggs,1 cup of milk,8 oz of cooked pork sausage, flour tortillas some grated cheese,tomatoes,hot sauce or peppers, microwave for a few seconds and enjoy it with a large cup of JOE. These's are simple quick healthy home cook meals, cheap too.























Enjoy it.


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## bigg777 (Mar 18, 2013)

Here's a frugal and tasty recipe for your canned salmon and rice supplies.

Next time you cook up some rice, make an extra cup or two of cooked rice. The next day place the leftover rice in a large mixing bowl, add the entire contents of 1 can of salmon, shredded carrots, salt, pepper and 2 eggs to the bowl(and any additional seasonings you prefer). Mix thoroughly, you will have a somewhat wet fishcake batter. Portion into 5-6 oz. patties and fry on a medium/medium-hot, greased griddle 3-4 minutes per side or until well browned. Serve with homemade tartar sauce and/or on a roll.

This is a very tasty salmon cake recipe and really stretches your budget with the addition of the rice. Enjoy!


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## Marcus (May 13, 2012)

One of the little tricks I learned a long time ago is Jalapeno juice.

Most folks throw it away after using all the peppers. However, the juice is good to spice up hamburgers among other things. Just pour a little bit over the patty when cooking. The juice is not near as hot as the peppers themselves so folks who are sensitive to hot and spicy foods can handle it much better. It also works in soups and chili and can replace other spices.


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## pawpaw (Dec 21, 2011)

*THANKS Marcus!?*



Marcus said:


> One of the little tricks I learned a long time ago is Jalapeno juice.
> 
> Most folks throw it away after using all the peppers. However, the juice is good to spice up hamburgers among other things. Just pour a little bit over the patty when cooking. The juice is not near as hot as the peppers themselves so folks who are sensitive to hot and spicy foods can handle it much better. It also works in soups and chili and can replace other spices.


Reading your post, I began salivating inexplicably, and now I'm drooling. This jalapeno juice is going in a meatloaf TODAY! I've never been overwhelmed by mere internet visuals like this before. 
Dammit! I just put this shirt on, too......


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## bigg777 (Mar 18, 2013)

Here's another change of pace recipe for your Spam supply. Place sliced up Spam, mayo, little bit of mustard and lit-o-bit of sweet relish and black pepper in a food processor. Pulse the processor until the Spam salad is at your desired consistency.

Spam salad is nearly as good as ham salad and helps to add variety to your preps usage.


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## camo2460 (Feb 10, 2013)

Marcus said:


> One of the little tricks I learned a long time ago is Jalapeno juice.
> 
> Most folks throw it away after using all the peppers. However, the juice is good to spice up hamburgers among other things. Just pour a little bit over the patty when cooking. The juice is not near as hot as the peppers themselves so folks who are sensitive to hot and spicy foods can handle it much better. It also works in soups and chili and can replace other spices.


Marcus your post brought back a memory of when I was a kid. My Dad used to pour a little hot pepper juice in the Ketchup bottle, when the Ketchup got low. It was a little thin but all of the Ketchup was used, with no waste.


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## Idaholady (Apr 24, 2010)

Readytogo; Enjoyed your post, but had a hard time reading it; how about adding some paragraphs to break up the information? 

Guess I'm getting old and find reading all those lines running together to be a little difficult. LOL Many thanks.


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

Idaholady said:


> Readytogo; Enjoyed your post, but had a hard time reading it; how about adding some paragraphs to break up the information?
> 
> Guess I'm getting old and find reading all those lines running together to be a little difficult. LOL Many thanks.


I do apologize for that and will correct it,I find it hard myself


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## readytogo (Apr 6, 2013)

*Onigiri or Italian rice balls*

I love history just as much as I love food and I`m always trying to be creative in the kitchen just as much as frugal or more so, nothing goes to waste in this household so left over rice is not left over at all, back in feudal Asia or Japan Onigiri took roots, nothing more than short grain rice wrap in sea weed with the addition of fish or meat http://www.japanesecooking101.com/rice-ball-onigiri-recipe/ the Italians and probably because of Marco Polo came up with Arancini ,practically the same thing and just as simple 



 and that`s all it takes to keep the chickens from eating your rice. Enjoy:beercheer:


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## Genevieve (Sep 21, 2009)

found this online this morning and thought I'd post it here. soup is always a good way to use up things and it's healthy ( or can be lol) and filling. add a bread and you're good to go.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

the old ww2 ration recipes and depression era recipes live on in my kitchen, too. 
I am especially fond of plain old fashioned oatmeal as a ground meat stretcher - it goes in EVERYTHING along with a beef bouillon cube to enhance the illusion that it is meat. For ground pork or poultry I use a chicken bouillon cube. The room mate demands my 'special' meatballs, meat patties, be made at least weekly, and I put oatmeal into anything I use 'loose' hamburger in as well. Cant hurt to have a little more fiber, and it makes less look like more (I also am progressively cutting back on how much hamburger I use when the recipes calls for one pound...12 oz works just as well.) Since the fake sausage patties made completely out of oatmeal tasted as good as they do, I figured it would work with hamburger as well...and it does.
Just mix 1/4 cup old fashioned oats into your hamburger along with a crumbled beef bouillon cube and cook 'as usual'. Keeps the meatballs and meatloaf nice and moist BTW.


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## Caribou (Aug 18, 2012)

I grew up with a roasting pan on top of the fridge that old bread was deposited in. This was used for dressing, bread pudding, croutons, bread crumbs, and as a binder/filler for meatloaf, to name a few.

The carcass from a chicken or turkey dinner gets turned into a soup. As much as the wife likes ham she likes the ham bone more. I have known her to take a ham to a potluck just to have to bone for a pot of beans. I get to eat the beans so I am good with that.

Leftover vegetables get tossed into the soup pot.

Leftover protein gets used in other dishes. For example, a lam roast gets diced with some cooked onions, a can of mushroom soup, some curry, and is placed on top of rice or pasta. Leftover shrimp (yes that can happen) can be added to pasta or a salad.

Food fatigue is a very real problem. The trick to maximizing leftovers is to be able to change them into a less recognizable item. One of my grandmothers used to make a ton of anything she cooked. It would be served at every meal until it was gone. Because of this Dad is not fond of leftovers. Mom is frugal and very creative, little goes to waste.


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## kappydell (Nov 27, 2011)

Caribou said:


> I grew up with a roasting pan on top of the fridge that old bread was deposited in. This was used for dressing, bread pudding, croutons, bread crumbs, and as a binder/filler for meatloaf, to name a few.
> 
> The carcass from a chicken or turkey dinner gets turned into a soup. As much as the wife likes ham she likes the ham bone more. I have known her to take a ham to a potluck just to have to bone for a pot of beans. I get to eat the beans so I am good with that.
> 
> ...


Me too!! I always have stock going in the crockpot, and I use it for the most delightful gravies, and grab a cup if I get hungry during the day (trying to lose weight...sigh....that's the problem with liking to cook....)
It gets all the pan drippings, bones, veg. cooking water, dry hash-brown soak water (what I don't use to make bread, that is), and anything else that is liquid and edible. Sure is tasty....

And when boughten bread is on sale for less than 50 cents a loaf I buy a dozen loaves or so, cube them up and toast them for bags of croutons, stuffing cubes, or (once I crush them) bread crumbs. At least that store bread is good for something....there's never any leftovers of my home made breads. We use the older loaves to make 'strata' (now called 'breakfast casserole' I guess) filling it with various bits & pieces of leftover meats & veggies for texture - kinda like lasagna, it hides lots of 'stuff'.

My freezer is my personal 'meat locker' and holds not only meats (always on sale, never retail) but the items I am saving for stock, stew, casseroles, etc. I even wash my fats for re-use....chicken fat is excellent for baking, you know, and generations before ours learned to flavor saved 'drippings' to season foods. I also use them for fat lamps, soap, and weatherproofing my leather work shoes.

No Waste is a personal goal of mine for years, now, in every aspect of life, not just the kitchen.


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