Frugal Fanny

Monday, January 07, 2008

One of the reasons why eating with the seasons and preserving the harvest to enjoy when fresh, local foods are limited appeals so much to me is because it requires resourcefulness. There’s something reassuring and satisfying about reaching into my freezer in the basement and defrosting pumpkin puree for muffins or grabbing a container of applesauce for my toddler to enjoy during the week. It’s also good family economics for us.  Growing a lot of our own produce means that I really hate to waste anything; I know exactly how much time and energy went into growing all of our plants and wasting parsley stems, for instance, seems counterproductive (I save them in a ziploc bag to add to my stock pot). 

My frugal tendencies mean that soup is a nearly ideal winter meal for us.  I can use some homemade stock from the freezer along with veggies frozen from our garden.  Some of them, like the green beans pictured (along with some frozen parsley cubes and lima beans that were also added to last night’s soup), weren’t the best for eating fresh because they had gotten too big on the vine.  They are perfectly suitable for a winter soup though where texture is not paramount.  My basic freezer/clean out the fridge/use-up-some-inexpensive-pantry-items soup starts with carrots, celery, onion and garlic sauteed in oil before veggie stock is added. From there, I may add some canned or dried beans, various vegetables from the freezer and the crisper, a handful of grains or pasta and various herbs and spices.  The result is always different but usually very tasty, especially when served with a homemade biscuit like the savory scallion scones we had last night.  I must admit that I feel virtuous using up those some of those homely ingredients and turning them into a delicious, healthy meal for my family for pennies.