What is a 'Use It Up Food' challenge?
It's about food waste or more specifically not wasting food ...
It's about repurposing our leftovers into another dish,
It's about using every part of fruits and vegetables,
It's about using up the really small amounts of food ...
It's about using up food scraps, peels and stems ...
It's about being mindful of every bit of food that comes in and through our kitchens and finding a use for it ... all of it!
That's our purpose for this series, so, how did we do this week?
I've had two partial bags of lemons sitting in my refrigerator for several days, make that a few weeks. Every time I would see them, I would think, 'I really need to do something with them before they start to go bad. Just because some things keep well in the refrigerator doesn't mean they can take up long-term residency in there! At some point they are going to go bad if we don't use them. Such is/was the case with my two partial bags of lemons.
Here's what I did with them ...
Then I removed the juice from the lemons using a citrus juicer like this one and filled up this ice tray. Each section holds 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice. I then placed the try into the freezer to freeze. Once they are completely frozen, I will pop them out of the ice tray and into a zip lock baggie. I'll make a note on the baggie that each cube equals 2 tablespoons of lemon juice ... because I might forget or have a senior moment!
The rest of the lemons were cut into eighths and put into a half gallon jar, along with seeds and any pulp that was in the juicer. I covered the lemons with white vinegar, put a screw on plastic cap on and set it aside to sit for about 4 weeks. After that, I'll strain out the vinegar and use it for cleaning purposes and or in making cleaning products.
WAIT! We're not finished yet; we've still got the remains of the lemons that are left in the jar ... here's what I'll do with them once the vinegar is strained out. I'll add them to my compost bin, of course!
Not one bit of these lemons went to waste, every bit of them were turned into a product that we could use or that would help us grow our garden!
So, how did you do? I can't wait to read your comments!
mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27
Sharing 44 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building
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That is awesome, Patsy! What a great way to use up those lemons! I once used citrus-vinegar cleaner exclusively. Might need to go back to that. In wintertime (C.F.C season) I often opt for Lysol-type products; those prices are outrageous now, even for store brands. In my kitchen this week, we had a lot of soup and breakfasts for dinner. With a $1.97 lb. deal on ground beef, I used up the last of a loaf of bread that was stale for two small meatloaves. Also used those free condiment packets for seasoning. One was dinner and (for me) breakfast the next day, and the other went into the freezer. Rather than buying margarine, I'm using butter from the freezer one stick at a time. This week I'll make veggie broth from wilted lettuce and other past-prime things for more soup. I have enough celery and spring onion to make a small pot of creamed soup base for the freezer. If it was spring, I'd try to grow "new" plants from the root bases.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of... we have a stack of wood pallets, at least 6 of them, that I'm thinking of using for garden beds just beyond our (rocked) septic field this year. We're out in the country. Only one outdoor spigot. We planted lilac bushes out a little farther and the hose reaches w/o trouble. I'm thinking growing some veggies in the in-between space could work. Our land is slightly sloped and rainwater runs down to that part of it with the help of trenching put in. Thoughts? Advice? Has anyone used wood pallets for raised beds in the garden?
Have a blessed week! --Elise
Elise, you must be EXTREMELY careful about repurposing wood pallets for raised garden beds. Some are treated with MB (Methyl Bromide) which is quite toxic to the soil and food plants.
DeleteHere is a good article about how to tell toxic from non-toxic (heat treated) wood pallets:
https://www.instructables.com/How-to-determine-if-a-wood-pallet-is-safe-for-use/
No idea on the pallets but have you seen the movie 'Still Mine'? They put old refrigerators and freezers on their backs and used them as raised beds and their kids had a fit. I just think it is a great idea but no we won't do it because all our sun is in the front yard.
DeleteElise, I don't know about the pallets, that's one thing we've not attempted.
DeleteI have grown celery from the bottom portion of the stalk and onions the same way. If you have a window that gets plenty of sunlight, that would work too.
You did some amazing 'use it all up' things this week! Quite inspiring!
Sue, we have quite a bit of high grade landscape fabric leftover. My thought was to remove the center boards of one to stack on top of another and pin in place, lining with the landscape fabric. In part to keep ground critters out. Thank you for the link.
DeleteLana, I've seen old claw bathtubs used, too. Hubs votes "no" on that. LOL
Thank you, Patsy. I'm tryin'!!! :-) --Elise
Wow! Zesting all those lemons was a lot of work! I like the end of the cycle with the compost.
ReplyDeleteWednesday morning Hubby went out to get something out of the freezer and sent me a text asking if he could throw out the chimichangas. Sigh. I told him to bring them in and we would eat them for lunch. They actually were not as bad as we remembered and we did not waste them. But, note to self, Don't buy frozen Mexican food even if it is only $1 for a big pack! We also used up an open container of cheese dip leftover from Christmas.
An overripe banana was peeled and added to the bag in the freezer. Now there is enough for our favorite banana chocolate chip muffins.
Five soft apples were peeled and sliced and made into apple crisp using the topping I keep on the freezer.
I peeled and cut all the remaining carrots so that we can eat them easily with meals and not let them go to wiggly. My Mom always put ice on top of cut carrot sticks to crisp them up and it works. It makes them crispy and delicious. I need to do that more often. When we went on car trips Mom always had a jar of carrot sticks in water in the cooler. At rest stops she would pull out the jar and we would all get some carrots to munch on. They were so good! I have quit buying 'baby carrots' because they just don't taste good and we waste them.
We continue to put half of each loaf of freshly baked bread right into the freezer. This has cut bread waste to almost zero. Leftover ends go into the crouton bag in the freezer.
We had waffles one morning and had leftovers so we added to the waffle bag in the freezer. We have a big bag of Krusteaz pancake mix that we used for the waffles and they were really good. It seems we just can't get through that purchase of that big bag and the date is not readable so we have no idea how old it is. It was a silly 'the sky is falling because the shelves are bare' purchase. Making waffles out of it will get it used quicker. Grandchildren will be back in 6 weeks and my goodness they can pack away the waffles so they can help! All I have to do is thaw out one of the big tubs of strawberries that we have been buying at the salvage store for 50 cents and everyone thinks I made the best breakfast ever.
I will use up the rest of the angel biscuit dough that I made a week ago for supper tonight and put the leftovers into the freezer. I want to be sure none of that dough is wasted.
Lana, I am super impressed! After reading your comment, I'm mentally going through my refrigerator thinking through things in there. I love the way we inspire each other with the choices we're using up in the kitchen! I'm taking notes from your comment!
DeleteLove it when we can use every last bit. Great job with those lemons. I had never heard of the baking soda soak and had always used vinegar. I will have to try the baking soda. The price of vinegar here has become outrageous. I often save up the rinds of lemons and oranges and make extracts. Just put them in a jar with some cheap vodka and let them brew for a couple of months.
ReplyDeleteSome of this weeks dinners were use it up. One night we had Annabel's Impossible Pie with odds and ends of everything and my leftovers had leftover so into the freezer it went for two more meals. I love it when that happens. I had some cabbage, carrots, scallions and celery that needed to be used so that become stir fry m I had some left over rice in the freezer and while perusing some sites on Instagram found a recipe that used leftover rice to make a gluten free pizza crust. Sounded interesting and I had all the ingredients necessary. It actually was quite good. It was just the rice, a bit of mozerella or any cheese for that matter, a couple of eggs, some water and some herbs and salt all blended in a high speed mixer until it looked like a batter. I spread it in a parchment lined pie plate and baked it until the top was crispy and then added toppings. I will make it again. It was firm enough to pick up and eat with your hands. Of course all egg shells get saved and powdered for the garden as do coffee grounds and ash from the pellet stove. I checked with the pellet company to make sure they were untreated and they definitely are safe for our garden. Cookie
Cookie, I have some leftover rice in my refrigerator right now, can you share your pizza crust recipe?
DeleteI like it when leftovers have leftovers too! Love that phrasing!
We're saving all the ashes from our wood stove for our garden too, waste not, want not!
Hmmm, stir fry sounds good too! I know I have some carrots that need using, I wonder if I could scrounge up enough other things to do a stir fry. You've got me think!