Friday, March 4, 2011

Tip from the Green Housewife - Make Meat Pie from Freezer Leftovers

The more I hear about the world-wide food crisis, about how many millions of children go hungry each day, the more I am convicted to try to put a stop to food waste in my own kitchen at least.  Jesus Himself, who created all things (John 1, Colossians 1), and who after multiplying 5 loafs of bread and two fish to feed 5000 people, had His disciples gather together the leftovers (John 6:12). His words were, "Gather together the broken pieces that are left over, so that nothing is wasted."  I intend to follow better in the steps of my Creator, Redeemor, and Lord, and be a better steward of what He has given me.  Food not wasted can translate not only into less toxic gases in our landfills, but less money wasted on groceries which can be used for paying down debt, or saving for emergencies, or actually feeding hungry children in Africa!
     Cleaning out our freezer, I found the dough for half a pie, leftover from last Christmas or Thanksgiving. I defrosted the dough and added the needed flour and butter to make it enough for a whole pie :). Then I put it in a pie pan and let it sit while deciding what to fill it with. I decided to make meat pie with leftovers from the middles of about 4 sandwiches Pete brought home from his job - last week I used the bread from those same sandwiches to make bruschetta. I cut the lunch meat and cheese into one inch pieces, and mixed in three eggs, half a cup of milk, a quarter cup of chopped onion, a quarter cup of chopped mushrooms, and some salt and pepper. I baked it on 350 for twenty five minutes. Here is the result:
Pete was in heaven, and I didn't have to cook dinner for two nights! Apart from the freezer leftovers that I could have tossed, I spent less than a dollar on this pie, and that includes using free-range eggs :).

What are your green or frugal tips?

6 comments:

  1. Wonderful! The pie looks absolutely delicious and I commend you on using all of your leftovers. I eat leftovers every day but seldom make anything new out of them. I'm too hungry for that, lol. But I do try to stretch every dollar and use things wisely most of the time so I can give abroad.

    As for my frugal tips, I do use leftovers. I don't hoard food in the sense of buying and having racks and racks of food (I might do more storing of food if I had more room). I put canning and freezing food in a different category from buying oodles of dry and canned goods just because they are on sale. I'm trying to eat healthier so most of the canned foods and dry goods aren't always the healthiest foods anyway. Let's see..I make soap from scratch, reuse/repurpose things, buy 2nd hand where possible, regift things and just generally make do where possible. I think those are the main things. I'd love to get into more gardening though I only have a very small plot and canning.

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  2. Joyful, I want to learn how to make soap from scratch, but the idea intimidates me for some reason, lol! We sound so similiar in so many ways :). I regift, and shop second hand as well.
    I do stockpile a little, but not too much because I don't have tons of room either!
    And I only stockpile what I use and make sure to cook from the stockpile so that things do not go bad. I stockpile things like split green peas and beans and chickpeas, because I am trying to eat healthy as well! I do have one 25 bag of flour because I just starting baking my husband bread (I don't eat the stuff!) and it is so much cheaper to buy bulk.

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  3. PW, it would be wonderful to meet you in person ;-) I was very intimated about the idea for making soap too but it is really, super easy. The soap I love to make is liquid laundry detergent, though I've also made powdered detergent. I haven't tackled the bar soap yet but that is on my list of goals for this year. I've heard it isn't really that hard but it isn't so easy for me to buy caustic soda (lye) here and so that is part of the hold up.

    I just bought 10 kg (about 22 pounds) of flour because it was only $9.00 as opposed to the usual $15.00. I do eat the bread, lol. I just love bread, always have but if I'm going to eat white bread, I'd much rather have home made. I also try to make it healthier by adding whole wheat or other things like oatmeal. It is just hard to keep everything in stock with no pantry and small cupboards. I only buy sprouted grain bread and that is mainly what I keep on hand at home for sandwiches and toast. I've yet to try making it but have plans to do so.

    If you want to try making liquid or powdered laundry detergent, I give you step by step instructions here...http://snapthatpenny.blogspot.com/search?q=laundry+detergent
    (sorry, I still haven't figured out how to put a link into a comment)

    Happy Friday.

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  4. Joyful - I would love to meet you as well!

    I would eat homemade bread to my heart's content, but I am allergic to wheat - still no good at gluten free bread, but I will be one day with practice :).

    I'll have to give the laundry detergent a try! Sounds relatively easy.

    Praying for Kigen, will post about him tomorrow

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  5. Do try the laundry detergent! It really is just so simple - you'll laugh. We use the powder, even with our front loading machine and have never had a problem with it. It's uses 2 tablespoons per load, and never leaves a residue in the cup to the machine or the machine itself. One batch lasts us about two and a half to three months - doing laundry for 9 people here, and a neighbor uses our machine for a couple of loads a week as well.
    Aside from that, we garden, I sew what I can, always mend what we have, crochet, and we always use our leftovers.

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  6. Simply Faith - As soon as I run out of laundry detergent, I will try it! Sewing is something I want to learn, but I do mend and hem things. And I am starting a garden now!

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