(To participate in "Tightwad Tuesday with Canadagirl," click on the graphic above or in my sidebar.)
My newest addition should save me money in the long run (I can make and freeze my own cooked chicken/turkey much more easily). My newest addition should make meals more nutritious by cutting down on chemical-laden processed food (no more canned broth if I have frozen chicken stock tucked away!). My newest addition should bring delicious aromas to my kitchen that will whet our appetites hours before the meal is served (mmmmm...tell me that homemade chicken soup isn't as good as canned...I dare you!). My newest addition is a fun color, and it makes me cheery (who can resist bright red?).
Meet my newest addition: my Tramontina 12 Qt. stock-pot!
All these years of cooking, and I've never had a stock pot. But my kitchen is turning over a new leaf, finally!!! I have 3 chickens (organic) in my fridge, which need to be cooked tomorrow (along with some carrots, celery, and onions) and then shredded for enchiladas and chopped for whatever I can come up with another time, plus chunked for a chicken pot pie. I have a large soup/stew kettle, but it is short and fat, not tall and skinny. So it's been very hard for me to cook a whole chicken and make stock, as I can never keep the bird covered with water w/o it boiling over and making a major mess. The pot was a $34.99 investment (not too bad, considering that I live in the land of "Williams Sonoma" and "Sur Le Table" stores, with their $250-$500 stockpots; yeesh).
Groceries out here in Chicagoland are outrageously priced, as well. I read so many blog posts from people who live out in the country, grow much of their own food/produce, and have a harvest to "put up." That's such a blessing! I know it's a TON of work, but what a blessing. What a blessing. Don't miss out on that fact, you homesteaders! Well, at least I have my raspberry bushes! And I have my $11 organic chickens from Meijer's. And I have my stockpot...YAY! Enchiladas tomorrow for dinner (make one to eat and another one to freeze), chicken pot pie on Thursday (the recipe is from Colonial Williamsburg...it's fantastic!).
I'm taking the advice of doing a better job of using what I have in the house as I plan my meals now. I'm checking my recipes for those that use up the big bag of potatoes, so I don't throw the last 2 or 3 out. I check the pantry, and bring the older cans of chopped tomatoes up in front, so I don't think I'm out and buy more needlessly. I found 2 cans of cream of potato soup hiding in the back of the pantry this morning! I have one recipe that calls for them, so I'll be sure to make it next week.
One really nice thing about this is that my fridge isn't so crammed up, since I'm really using up all the foodstuffs in it more efficiently. We're just a family of 4, and only 3 of us home at lunchtime, so we tend to eat leftover dinner for lunch. If there isn't any, we'll make quesadillas (I always stock tortillas and cheese) or PB&J sandwiches (I have lots of blueberry freezer jam now!). Hopefully all this will help my grocery budget go down and the quality of our food go up. A good trade!
God Bless,
Lori
|
