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 :)
Hmmm…I can see where you’d probably save some $$ on this type of soup, but in my frig and freezer I have very limited space so I don’t save too many “scraps”. That’s why I dehydrate so many veggies etc. and/or can.
ps Wyz…wifey here again. I’d probably have to be near starving before I’d eat any crustacean’s. To me they’re “the cockroaches of the sea”…:-( Mr. WE2 loves shrimp etc., but it’s not good for people with gout.
I am going to make a space in my refrig freezer in the kitchen for one of those entre size Glad containers so I have something ready to put the scraps in. Does make good stock.
:) Well, if we all get together in the Summer for an SCP camping trip, I’ll remember to not just make shrimp :)
No, you still gotta make some shrimp, Wyz! LOL I do have a container in the freezer for leftover dinner veggies for just this purpose! I always freeze my ham bones and scraps. I usually make stock right away from any chicken or turkey carcasses, and usually have a handy supply of stock in the freezer. Steak/rib bones usually end up going to our 4 legged child. But I do keep an eye out and like to pick up pork neck bones and beef soup bones when they are available/on sale. Garbage soup is a great name, Wyz…heck, when I make soup or stock, I throw in everything but the kitchen sink!