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