Use it up, make it last, but don’t wear it out ...
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Sometimes, Andy makes enough food for twelve people, when there’s only the two of us. That means getting creative with leftovers.
The same goes for when you can’t afford to buy a lot of different things. Try adjusting the flavors or texture to make dishes feel completely different, even if they aren’t.
When it comes to vegetables, it’s best to start from the least processed to the most processed form. It’s hard to re-dress spinach parmesan, but if you start with raw spinach in a salad, then cooked spinach as a side, you can end with spinach parmesan. Three different flavors and textures.
Learn the glorious magic of bruschetta: You can put almost anything on a piece of bread brushed with olive oil, melt some mozzarella on top and have a Mediterranean treat.
Bruschetta (broo-SKEH-tuh, please) looks pretty fancy, but it’s just an open-faced sandwich, really. If you have half a sliced tomato, half an avocado and a little chopped onion, dice it all together and spread on slices of bread. Cheese it, broil it: you’re done. How about leftover roast beef and some bell peppers and onions? Or steamed squash? Or a medley of leftover beans? Pile some beans on the bread, top with cheddar cheese and garnish with diced green chilies. Yum!
Any leftover soup? Heat it up, whisk in some sour cream, maybe even add a cup of cooked rice or pasta. You’ve changed the richness and the texture. If it was a cream soup, can you use it as a gravy for mashed potatoes? Will it work in a casserole?
Make a batch of tomato soup and have that for lunch. The next day whisk in some sour cream. The next day add basil, oregano and Italian sausage and use it for a pasta dish. Still got leftovers? Tex Mex it with enchilada sauce and cheddar cheese and serve with tortilla chips.
Baked potatoes get boiled, hashed and then mashed. Green beans are blanched for a salad, then steamed with lemon and almonds, and then casseroled with water chestnuts for a little crunch. Back to the tomato soup: a half cup each of leftover boiled potatoes, green beans, corn and so forth would make a good base for stew.
One basic fruit salad (apples, oranges, bananas) gets changed into a tropical fruit salad (pineapple, mango and papaya) and then a dessert (frozen fruit pops, gelatin and whipped cream molded salad, fruit turnovers) or even breakfast (smoothies, pancake topping). Toss in some pecans, almonds or walnuts (it doesn’t take much) to change the texture.
Look at your food, cook extra when you can and then use up the leftovers without wearing them out!
Shop for Salvation Army
So, what is on sale this week? You can save money for yourself and get some things for the Salvation Army pantry, which is still quite low.
When I was last in there, there was no powdered milk for the kiddos, no macaroni and cheese, no pasta, no vegetables other than green beans, and the list goes on. There was very little in the way of dried beans and rice or canned meats. I know you have been giving donations! I’ve been hauling two car loads a week from Country Mart North, and I heard that Dillon’s recently had four shopping carts full. It’s just that the need is so huge, the food is flying off the shelves.
Walgreen’s has some specials in the Saturday flyer. Use the coupons to get Jiffy muffin mix, Jell-O or Van de Camp’s Pork and Beans for 39 cents. Canned Spam, corned beef, roast beef and ham are at $1.99. A dollar gets you some nice dried fruit (Deerfield Farms), and a couple of Madam Mandarin oranges.
Aldi’s has cantaloupe for a dollar apiece, and grapes for a dollar a pound. Twelve ounces of frozen lemonade is 75 cents. The ladies over at Abundant Harvest could make good use of those. Other fresh items include the Jonagold apples, iceberg lettuce, plums and tomatoes at the Country Marts and Price Choppers.
There are all kinds of “10 for $10” sales out there this week! Look at Dillon’s for 50-cent Kroger tomatoes, kidney beans and macaroni and cheese, as well as Campbell’s chicken and noodle soups. Dollar items include a dozen eggs, sandwich bread, bagels, English muffins, cream cheese, frozen corn, steamable vegetable mixes, 16 oz. sour cream, single-serving Aqua Star fish filets, Land O’Lakes spreadable butter and Hunts snack pack puddings. Also, all the Gerber baby foods are ten percent off.
Country Marts and Price Chopper have the “10 for $10” on a lot of things, but I especially noted the Rodeo lunch meats, hot dogs and smoked sausages, Toufayan pita bread, Hunts snack pack puddings, American Beauty pasta (perfect!), Lipton Rice & Sauce pouches, Hunts Manwich sauce, Star Kist tuna pouches (3 oz.) and good old dependable Best Choice applesauce, diced tomatoes, black olives, baked beans, canned mushrooms and scalloped or au gratin potatoes.
I am particularly excited about the Always Save rice. You can get four pounds for $2.50. That’s around 48 half-cup servings once it’s all cooked: a nickel a serving! Another great price is the Always Save chicken broth, two for 89 cents. Always Save canned vegetables, mixed vegetables, assorted beans, tomatoes and tomato sauce are all 39 cents.
A meal for four of rice and beans, with a side of carrots and peas would cost a total of $1.76. Add some Rodeo smoked sausages and bake some Jiffy corn muffins and the total cost is still only $3.15. That’s less than 80 cents per person! You’ve got 80 cents, don’t you?
We’re going to taper off the food drive this next week--I know you’ve all been working hard on it and might need a break to get things adjusted with the change in the seasons. Just try to keep it in the back of your mind when you are shopping. When you see a great price, maybe grab an extra one for our friends and neighbors who aren’t as well off.
Times aren’t nearly as bad as the Great Depression, but they’re not that great either. There’s a mom with kids, or a grandparent out there who’s not eating as they should due to the economy. There are kids who can’t concentrate in school because they’re hungry. Give what you can, when you can — you’ll feel good about it, I promise!
Thank you all. Let’s get cooking!