Recession

I'm sorry about the lack of posts recently, but I haven't had much to say about grilling or barbecue. There are a couple of posts that still need be to written about some past adventures in the world of bbq, various reviews, restaurants and equipment but lately my focus has been on recessionary cooking.

What is recessionary cooking you say? Well, it's cooking in the method my grand mother and mother followed while I was growing up. "WTF?" I hear you saying.

Let me explain. When I was a kid whenever my mother or grand mother cooked a meal, no part of that meal was ever wasted. That's not to say that we were raised in one of those "You'll sit there until you eat everything on your plate houses." What I mean is that creative leftovers were regular meals in our house. Every part of the roast, vegetables, starches were reinvented at the next meal(s) until they were gone. Hell, even the dog would feast on the bones when they were no longer of use to us humans

So I've been focusing on using all aspects of our meals in as many creative ways as possible. It's hard to believe but our Thanksgiving bird is still feeding us. The first round of meals after Thanksgiving was the easiest; just a simple microwaved version of the holiday feast. Then came the turkey sandwiches, followed by turkey salad, turkey hash, thanksgiving style grilled pizza and turkey croquettes. Even the cranberry sauce and apple pie were refashioned into toppings for ice cream sundaes.

Then the carcass and was boiled with some aromatics yielding a fantastic turkey stock. This stock was used to create bean and kielbasa soup, turkey noodle soup and a wonderful mushroom barley soup that was flavored with the stock and flecked with the last remaining bits of thigh meat from the bird. On a side note, I love barley and rarely use it, but every time I do I ask myself why don't I cook it more often.

I've also been taking advantage of the food sales. Ricotta was on sale for about 30% of its usual price which led to my creation of a huge spinach lasagna that was so large that my daughter chastised me for its size. (What's wrong with a 10lb lasagna I ask you?) "How could we ever eat all of that?," she asked. I explained that I wanted leftovers. She sighed. She hasn't quite caught on to my recessionary food fever. But that lasagna has been dinner and lunch on multiple occasions and gets better and better as it ages. Our freezer has never been so full.

So, while my daughter may not be applauding this new found thrift, I think I've reduced our food budget for the last 2 weeks significantly. I'm enjoying this new impetus for thrift by rediscovering some old dishes and keeping some money in my pocket.

How's the recession treating you?

Photo of Gray's Papaya courtesy of Eideard