Soups have long been the mainstay of any cook who is trying to stretch the larder to feed more people, or the budget to save money.
Soup is the basic survival food. This is part of a series of Survival Soup recipes that you can make from commonly stored foods, your garden in season, foraging wild edibles, or what is seasonally plentiful on the homestead.
Do without further adieu, I give you Garbage Soup. Money-saving, ecologically-sound and delicious.
You Will Need:
- Frozen (or fresh) veggie-scraps
- Frozen meat (or dried, canned or fresh), skin and bone scraps
I will admit, NOT the most appetizing name, but it can save you a lot of cash over a year’s time. What do you do with the skins of the onions you use? The carrot and potato peels? Root ends of celery? Chicken bones and skins? Shrimp shells?
They go in the trash, or down the disposal, or (hurray!) in the compost pile, right? Try putting all of the veggie scraps into a big zip bag (yes, even the papery skins from the onions – great color). Put the meat scraps into another, squeeze air out of both and just stick them in your freezer.
Directions:
- When the veggie bag is full, dump it into a stockpot, add garlic (I always add garlic) and some black peppercorns
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about an hour or so.
- Strain and press any remaining liquid out of the veg.
You now have some very tasty, and FREE vegetable stock. The stuff in the strainer will break down in your compost pile MUCH faster.
If you want a chicken/meat/seafood stock, sear the bones/fat/skin etc in a skillet and simmer in the veggie stock another hour or so, Strain again and skim off excess fat. DO NOT compost the meat scraps, or you will get bad smells and rats.
You just cannot beat free food :)