Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Waste Not Wednesday

Today I thought I'd do a post on how I took several food items that are normally thrown away and turned them into another useful product and thereby saving myself money in the future. Have you ever heard the saying, "Waste Not, Want Not"? I was sifting this saying through Scripture to see if it was a biblical thought and Proverbs 31:11....

The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.

One commentary I read on this verse said that her husband 'knows she will take care that a proper provision is made for his household, and will not waste anything'. 1

I've been making a determined effort to not waste food. I really can't afford to waste food but it's amazing how much food does go to waste each month. We've been blessed with an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables this summer. Our vegetable garden is still producing and the trees on our property have been very generous. This week I picked 2 tall buckets of Granny Smith's and 1 bucket of Fuji's plus a previous bucket I made into 2 batches of applesauce and 8 jars of canned apples.  I would feel guilty letting all of this produce go to waste...especially considering our financial situation.It feels as if the Lord is raining manna from heaven. :-)  I've recently gleaned almonds and grapes and we're still cracking walnuts from previous months.

Here are just a few things I did within the past week to make sure food did not go to waste in our home.  

1.  Leftover bread turned into bread crumbs: We don't eat a lot of bread these days but my husband does like to keep a loaf of lower carb/high fiber bread on hand for an occasional sandwich. I had saved quite a few end pieces so I decided to make some bread crumbs. I recently bought a container of bread crumbs and was shocked at the price. Here is how I made them. I turned my oven on the lowest temperature and placed the bread on a cookie sheet. I set my timer for 30 minutes and then turned the bread over and set the timer for another 30 minutes. Be sure to check your oven after 15 minutes in case it runs hotter than mine. Make sure that the bread is completely dried out. You want it to feel hard and stale with no moisture left. Place the dried bread in a food processor. Use the blade and process until it's in fine crumbs. I also added Parmesan cheese and parsley flakes.



2. Free apples turned into Apple Butter for Christmas gifts.  I decided to use some of the apples I picked to make Apple Butter for gifts. I purchased small jelly jars. I found a great recipe on Food (previously Recipezaar) which is one of my favorite places to find recipes. I'm hoping to can more jars of apples this coming week after I can some spicy tomato sauce.

Here is the recipe:

Apple Butter


Ingredients
    • apples ( enough to over fill slow cooker or 4 quart crock pot)
    • 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
    • 3 cups white sugar(I only added 1 cup of sugar)
    • 1 cup brown sugar
    • 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
    • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions

  1. Peel, core and slice enough apples to fill a 4-quart slow cooker or crock pot so full that the lid will not go down over it.
  2. Add vinegar; cook for 18 hours.
  3. If crock pot is fast cooking, cook on high for 10 hours, stirring occasionally.
  4. Add white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon and cloves.
  5. Put into blender to blend it like apple butter. Mix all together and cook 4 more hours.
  6. Seal in jars.

* The 'author' of this recipe is Brenda Hall from http://www.food.com (11492)

1 Clarke's Commentary

9 comments:

  1. I enjoyed your post - it is so true how even the little things should not be wasted as they are a blessing from God. I always feel terrible if food goes to waste, and I am not perfect with it, but I keep striving.

    How wonderful that your garden has been so abundant and that you have much from that to be thankful for. Have a lovely rest of the week!

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  2. Go to http://allrecipes.com/ and at the top click on ingredients. Then you can put your ingredients in and get a recipe to use!Look forward to next Waste Not Wednesday. Lord bless! You are so positive.

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  3. Some great ideas. We've been making our own breadcrumbs for years. Also make croutons. They are so good on top of salads or some creamy mac and cheese. Thanks for all your tips and that apple butter recipe looks great. What a blessing free apples are. Have a great weekend.

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  4. I enjoy your blog, looking forward to more posts!

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  5. Hi.....
    Thank you so much for your concern and sweet comments on my blog and for the encouraging suggestion you gave me...... I will definitely be checking out Hinds Feet...... Thank you so much

    I love your suggestions on your blog.

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  6. You are definately blessed to have the nuts and fruit there! Our neighbor has a tree dripping with apples but I'm not bold enough to ask if we can pick them, though I'd LOVE to have some! My daughter-in-love grew tomatoes in her little garden and gave me a bunch of them. They'll last about a week. We have plenty of room for a garden and have had gardens in the past. And now I'm too tired to get out there and fix things up and plant a new crop. Hubby and kids don't care, so I do without the garden and just enjoy what I can. I do have a big bag of frozen homemade bread edges; I'll use that for stuffing.

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  7. Great post! You are such a good steward of what God has given you! Blessings, Janel in NJ

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  8. Hi,I'm feeling so much more energetic since I started Curves again. I'm trying to learn to not tell myself I can't do something, but to just go ahead and try and then if I can't at least I tried. I keep tweeking my diet to try and get it moving. I'm stuck again. I've been spending too much money on food and so I'm trying to work on that. I wanted to eat organic, but I may have to start compromising on that. How are you and hubby doing? Linda

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  9. Good Apple Butter idea!
    My daughter took advantage a few weeks ago of some apple trees that were on her church's property. She picked the apples (mostly from the ground) and made jars of apple butter and then sold them at her church for an orphanage they support in Haiti, and she made about $500 from those apples that would have gone to waste!

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