Tails from Quarantine: Episode Five

Hello everyone!  I decided to change things up a bit and add an additional blog post this week.  I'm excited to share some of the ways I've been spending my time and making sure nothing is going to waste here while we're dealing with unstocked grocery store shelves and potential food shortages.  I'm generally pretty frugal, but I've been using some of my extra time to make even better choices and make sure nothing goes to waste.

If you're anything like me, not knowing what is going to be available when I buy groceries or how long things are going to last, you may be buying extra of some of the things that you really want to keep in your home.  For me, that means the potential for fresh produce, especially vegetables.  As I get close to the next shopping adventure, I look through the fridge to see what I may need and this week, I discovered several things that needed to be used before going to waste.

As I pulled out all of the veggies that I needed to prep for use, I had an audience.  Because in my house, veggie cutting means special treats for good girls.  They are always pretty well behaved and don't beg as much as they just wait patiently for me to share scraps.  Even Piper has caught on to this tradition, and she even understands that she needs to be out of the kitchen to earn a treat.

The first thing I spent my time on was cutting up veggies for use during the week.  I've been eating a lot of celery and cauliflower as snacks or with sandwiches at lunch.  I got two big bags of those prepped because if they are cut and ready to eat, I'm much more likely to eat them.

I had enough extra cauliflower leftover that I knew I wouldn't be able to eat, plus I had a couple of zucchini that needed to be used, so I cleaned and cut them up and prepped them to freeze.  After a quick blanching, they went onto the sheet tray to pre-freeze them before bagging them.

I also had a couple of cabbages to prep and freeze. And I kept one chunk with some of my homemade veggie stock fresh out of the freezer to cook up something yummy for dinner.

Because there had been a good deal on zucchini, I had bought extra, so I shredded some up for some homemade zucchini bread.  This is enough for two loaves of bread and I froze one other bag for some future bread making.  There is nothing like some fresh zucchini bread as a nice treat.  It is also great to use to make a special french toast breakfast.  Yummy!

As I cut up my veggies, I throw all of the ends and extra chunks into a giant stock pot.  This pot is full of celery ends and leaves, carrot pieces, broccoli and cauliflower stems, brussel sprouts ends, tomato pieces, and some spinach that was nearing the end.  I also threw in some dried rosemary from last year's garden. Fill it with water and simmer it for an hour and you have a great veggie stock ready for soups, stews, and other delicious meals.  Plus the house smells amazing.

 

I pulled the food saver out of the closet and vacuum sealed all of my awesome veggies for future use.  The zucchini will be great in soups and casseroles and everything else freezes really well for steaming for future meals.

After simmering the veggie stock for an hour and allowing it to cool, I strained it and used some ball jars I had stored in the basement to store the stock.  I filled the jars about 2/3 full to allow for expansion when they freeze.  After allowing the jars to cool even further in the fridge, I took them down to the basement and put them in the freezer.  There are so many great uses for this veggie stock, but I'm really excited to make a homemade minestrone with some of this.

As I cut veggies, I realized I had too much to add to the stock pot this time around, so I stuck the extras in a bag which will go into the freezer for a future batch of stock.  I'll add to bag over time as I cut veggies throughout the week to make sure nothing goes to waste.

In addition to this bag, there are some items, like the leaves of the cauliflower, leaves from the cabbage, and any parts of the zucchini and green beans, that don't work well for making stock.  I throw all of those items into my garbage bowl, along with with other items I've cut up over the last couple of days-like potato peels and the leaves from strawberries.  Once the bowl is full, I walk it across the street to the wooded area across the street for all of the deer and other critters living back there.  I even had some egg shells that I added to the bowl this time.  Can you tell I hate to see anything go to waste?

In addition, after draining the veggie stock, I have all of these amazing cooked veggie pieces.  These always get saved in a bowl for a special addition to the girls meals for the week.  It adds vitamins and fiber to their diet and they are always so excited for the special addition to their meals.

I also learned recently that it is possible to save eggs that are nearing their expiration date by freezing them.  I had a partial carton that needed to be used, so I decided to try it.  Just break open and mix the egg and pour into an ice cube tray.  I discovered that 1 large egg filled about two ice cubes. Once they are frozen solid, pop them out of the ice cube tray and into a freezer bag for future use.  What a great way to make sure you aren't wasting eggs.  These will be used for some future baking!

Another thing I love to do is save any old slices of bread before it gets moldy and unable to use and then stick those in the food processor to make some homemade bread crumbs.  This weekend, I think I'm actually going to try to use up some of my bread and make some croutons.

A couple of month ago I found a new recipe for Zucchini and Corn Cannelloni which is really tasty.  So while I was prepping veggies, I cut up some zucchini for this recipe as well.  I prepped the filling for a meal later in the week.  I made extra so that I could make a double-batch to add to the freezer for a future meal as well.

Of course I had a helper while I was cooking!  Piper really loves her food and gets very excited about the special treats she gets while I'm cooking.

The final product is delicious and I've wrapped and frozen one pan for a meal sometime later this month.  There is nothing better than having a fully prepped meal ready to go.

Another great tip that I've learned recently was to add orange peels and vinegar to a jar to make a homemade orange scented vinegar.  I use vinegar a lot for cleaning and this adds a great orange scent to the vinegar.  I've made a couple jars of this over the last month and I love it.

I'm always looking for ways to save money and make the most of all of my purchases, wasting as little as possible.  I've really enjoyed having some extra time to do these things over the last few weeks.  It's been a great way to spend my time while staying home.