GRANDMA'S DISH

One of my favorite things about family gatherings is the food. Now that Old Mother Frugal’s family is growing and adding more cooks, this brings more family recipes to our dinner table.

With family recipes come some great family stories.

I have a personal obsession with Depression-era cooking. I am in constant amazement the depth at which (mostly) mothers went through to place a meal on the kitchen table for their families. As a result, I look at dandelions as something other than a weed in the grass.

It seems every family has a dinner entrée referred to as “Grandma’s Dish”. Most “Grandma’s Dish” recipes came out of need to feed a large family during the Depression.

In Old Mother Frugal’s family, my grandmother’s dish was “Jumbutt”. It was a skillet dish of varying bell peppers, onions, potatoes and hot dogs or some type of sausage. Grandma never measured; she just counted the mouths she needed to feed and chopped accordingly.

For my daughter-in-law, that dish is aptly called “Grandma’s Dish” which is a tomato-based ground beef dish with varying spices.

At my daughter's wedding reception, she incorporated her groom’s grandmother’s favorite dishes and the family’s favorite salad dressing.

Whether it’s from Manhattan, NY or near Manhattan, KS or along the coast of Charleston, SC the legacy that grandmother’s leave to their families are the stories of family. Salute!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: My favorite website for Depression-era cooking is www.greatdepressioncooking.com with the late Clara Cannucciari. She was 98 years old when she passed away yet she share recipes that her mother made when Clara was a child.  These are simple yet inexpensive meals that can be applied to today’s frugal cooking.

                                                                   JUMBUTT

HAMBONE HAMBONE HAVE YOU HEARD?

Growing up on a street of attached homes, the aroma of food began to escape through windows and doors around 5PM on a daily basis. Except for Sunday. Cooking began early in the morning and one would try to guess what was on the stove top or in the oven while walking to church. 

Your nose could lead you to my grandmother’s apt in her building on any given Sunday. Italian sauce was a staple there.

And when dinner was over, she would pack up the leftovers and send them home with my parents which then became dinner for Monday.

Later on in years, my mother would do this for her children, and in turn, Old Mother Frugal does this for her adult children.

That was the genesis of loving leftovers. It goes back three generations. A time when ancestors were cooks during the Great Depression, of standing on long food lines and wasting not a morsel of food.

Old Grandmother Frugal was always quick to say “the closer the bone, the sweeter the meat”.  That was the translation, not sure how that’s stated in Italian.

Bones were a key ingredient in her cooking repertoire. There were pork bones and pigs feet for spaghetti sauce and chicken bones for her soup.

Just when you thought all the meat was scraped from the bone, she’d find more meat or just cook with the bare bone. She vowed there was still flavor to be savored in that bone.

Decades have passed since the Great Depression. It’s already 15 years into a new century. But the ways of our ancestors need not all been left in the past.

One of Mother’s “Grown-Up” Helpers has begun to freeze and keep any unwanted ham bones for Old Mother Frugal.  Typically there is enough ham to be scraped away for a meal of some sort [quiche, omelets, or pasta] and then the bone is used for split pea soup.

One recent ham bone yielded three pots of soup. With each pot, the flavor diminished a little but it still “looked” to have use beyond one pot of soup.

What may appear as one person’s trash is indeed another person’s treasure!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Keep all bones! Don’t be shy…ask the butcher to include the pork bones when he cuts a roast out of a pork loin and all parts of a chicken. If family has no plans for the Easter ham bone, take it home in a doggy bag. In return, bring a sampling of soup to the family for their generosity. Before bones become trash, be sure to convert them to a treasure!

 

                                          CORN BREAD and SPLIT PEA SOUP

 

PRESSURE COOKER SPLIT PEA SOUP

 

REFREEZE BONES FOR ANOTHER POT OF SOUP

 

A LABOR OF LOVE

There is an expression that calls to mind all the times Old Mother Frugal performed a service or prepared a meal that had multiple steps in its preparation. A “labor of love” is work done for interest in the work, rather than for payment.

When growing up, there were stories told by mom of ironing handkerchiefs, pillow cases, sheets and undergarments. Undergarments? That speaks to a “labor of love”!

Ironing shirts. That speaks to a “labor of love”. It’s a service that one can pay for but it’s an expense that can be eliminated in the effort to save money. Yes, Old Mother Frugal irons shirts. It is something to admire when nicely pressed shirts hang neatly aligned from the closet rod.

As a guest in my son’s home recently, he made biscuits and gravy from scratch. From browning the pork for the homemade white country gravy to nearly grating off his fingerprints on the cold, frozen butter for the biscuits…homemade biscuits are a “labor of love”. One can taste the love when they came out of the oven.

Four years ago, while in my local CVS store at Christmas time, an animal waffle iron sat on the shelf. I had Extra Care Bucks from CVS and a valuable coupon to be used on a non-sale item, so the animal waffle iron found its way to my kitchen shelf.

These animal waffles are served plain; with peanut butter or syrupy dip because that is how the little pre-schooler and toddlers in my family like them. Making animal waffles are not only a “labor of love” but a taste of love as well.

So when you are cooking or baking that special something, “love” is that secret yet intangible ingredient to be enjoyed by all!

SOUND THE BUGLE: Today’s tip: Find your favorite waffle recipe, make a stack of waffles and freeze them. They can be plain, made with fruit, pecans, chocolate chips or crispy bacon. Out of taco shells? Try using a waffle as a substitute for your taco shell. Not only do they make a great breakfast but they can also be used at dessert as a waffle sandwich filled with ice cream.

                                                 

 

                                                     

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THICK AS A BRICK

Chicken remains one of the least expensive meat proteins that one can prepare on a shoestring budget and still serve an elegant meal. Buying the whole chicken is the most economical use of your grocery dollars.

The price point that Old Mother Frugal targets is less than .99/lb. To find whole chicken at .69/lb or even .53/lb is stockpile time!

If you have concerns that you don’t know what to do with a whole chicken, most butchers will section it for you at no charge. Just remember to ask for all the parts. You will need and want them for soup stock.

However, if the butcher is not available, you can roast the whole chicken or place it in a large pot of boiling water and reduce to low boil for about 45 - 60 minutes. Once cooked, save the liquid stock for soup and remove the meat from the chicken carcass. The cooled chicken meat can then be placed in Ziploc bags and frozen.

Recently I experimented with a cooking technique called “Spatchcocked”. It required removing the breast bone between the two chicken breasts of a whole chicken and frying the chicken flat, under bricks that were covered in aluminum foil.

Marinating the meat in the refrigerator for two days with ingredients from my pantry, the end result was a scrumptious and moist piece of chicken for a price of .53/lb. The pressure of the bricks gave the meat a crispy sear that made for a lovely presentation on the dinner plate.  

All this to say that even Old Mother Frugal, who may be “thick as a brick” on occasion, can still learn a thing or two about cooking and trying something new!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Price points. A “price point” is the amount of money that you are willing to pay for an item. My price point for chicken is the following:

§  whole chicken is .99/lb or less;

§  leg/thigh quarters are between .39 and .49/lb;

§  breasts on the rib cage are .99/lb. I make my own boneless, skinless chicken breasts by removing the skin and the meat from the rib cage.

§  boneless, skinless chicken breasts would be $1.99 or less.

If you are squeamish about touching raw chicken, disposable plastic gloves at the Dollar Tree stores are great barriers between your hands and your chicken. Depending on where you live, your price points may be slightly higher. Find your price points and you will find savings in your wallet!

 

 

                                      SPATCHCOCKED METHOD

 

                                             MARINATED CHICKEN LAYING FLAT
                                              BEFORE GOING INTO PAN

 

 

PRESSURE FROM BRICKS

GIVES A GOOD SEAR TO THE CHICKEN

 

 

READY FOR SERVING

 

STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS...WHAT?

Could it be that Old Mother Frugal is bringing back ironing?

In all honesty, it never went away for me as it had for others.

As a new bride, I've recounted how I did not know how to cook.

The other skill that I did not acquire was ironing shirts.

I excelled at pillowcases and handkerchiefs. However, much like cooking, mom never delegated shirts to me. But I spent hours observing her technique.

My lack of precision pressing became abundantly clear to the new groom’s coworkers.

Unless he told them about the non-existent cooking skills, they were none the wiser. However, it didn’t take much to realize the new bride had no idea how to press a shirt.

I had to learn to hone my skill because in keeping a frugal household, sending shirts “out” to be laundered was not a chore that I was willing to pay someone else to do.

When money is tight and you need to be on a bare-bones budget, if you are sending out the shirts/blouses to be laundered, help is on the way.

Once washed, the first step is to toss the shirts into the dryer for no more than 5 minutes.

Then hang and allow to air dry. This step will take many of the wrinkles out of the shirt. Not sure of the science behind this phenomenon, but it works. It will also prevent undue shrinkage.

Next step is to set up your ironing board with iron in front of a TV or some music in your ears. It makes the time go faster.

Ready…Set…Press!

Start with the collar. Then the left sleeve and cuff. Flip it over and do the back of the left sleeve and cuff.

Now press the right sleeve. Flip it over and press the back of the right sleeve.

Turn shirt to the pointy side of the ironing board and press the narrow strip that runs below the collar. I never knew what it was called; I just call it the narrow strip under the collar. [See photo].

You are now ready to press the body of the shirt. Right front, back and then left front. Be sure to press the button holes flat as well.

Well done!  Hang it…button it…and admire your work and the money you have saved!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Some dry cleaners offer special discounts and coupons to frequent customers. As a regular customer, my discount is 20% on services. Check with your dry cleaner and see if any discount is available to you too!

                                               Start with the collar

 

 

Move to the left sleeve

 

Back of the left sleeve

 

Front of right sleeve

                                                               Back of right sleeve

 

Narrow strip below collar

 

Top of right side of shirt

 

Right front

                                           Move to back once right side is done       

 

Once left front is pressed, iron the button holes

 

Finished product

 

TWENTY MEATBALLS FOR TWO

In the second part of this series, unofficially entitled “The Evolution of Old Mother Frugal”, a serious miscalculation in meal preparation over 35 years ago led to what became the “cook once, eat twice” or "batch cooking".

For those who have not read “Saga of a Soggy Burger”, your humble blogger could not even cook a hamburger when she took her marriage vows.  There was some quibbling over the “obey” wording in the vows, but there was no mention of being able to cook and provide sustenance in the form of an edible meal.

Mom was a good cook and she cooked for a family of five. She learned from two, good cooking Italian women. Working on the premise that copying mom’s good recipes would surely make this new bride a good cook too, all mom's recipes came along with me into my new life as a young wife.

Not that I asked, but mom never taught “Meatball Math”. As the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know.

One week after the honeymoon, spaghetti and meatballs were on the dinner menu. I diligently followed the recipe. When done, there were 20 meatballs for dinner but only two adults.

Calling my cooking lifeline (one of my dearest best friends from high school) with this "Meatball Math" crisis, the kitchen was being overrun with these round mounds of ground chuck.

After suffering through the failed boiled burger experiment and “must cook” potatoes before mashing debacle, the new groom was facing life with 16 meatballs unless a back-up plan was in place and in place mighty darn fast. My cooking lifeline informed me to freeze the meatballs. There were enough meatballs for a month but that was okay, meatballs freeze well. Good to know.

And so it began, cook once and eat twice…or three times or four times. Meatballs with spaghetti or meatballs with mashed potatoes [see “Saga of a Soggy Burger”] or meatball sub sandwiches or meatballs parmesan, when one needs to plate 16 meatballs for dinner ideas, the options are many!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Buying meat in bulk can often save money. To save time, divide the bulk meat into smaller portions. When the meat is ground sirloin or chuck, section the meat. Use some for hamburgers, some for taco meat, and some for meatballs, enough for a meatloaf and sloppy Joes or stuffed shells. Label and freeze so that you don’t have to waste time thinking “what’s for dinner”. If you happen to have time on your side, cook ahead and freeze.

 

 

SAGA OF THE SOGGY BURGER

Well fellow readers and followers, can it be the one year anniversary of this blog?

In honor of this occasion and it being Throwback Thursday, Old Mother Frugal is going w-a-y back to a time very long ago for this entry of "Frugal Bugle".

Recently, the opportunity presented itself to have dessert with one of my dearest high school best friends at her dining room table. The topic: my very first venture into cooking.

As a teenager, my dinnertime chore was to take a pound of ground chuck and make burgers. Mom could only yield four burgers whereas I could yield five burgers. Since Mom needed five burgers, she would assign that chore to me.

But that was the extent of my meal preparation. Make the burgers. Cooking the burgers was not in her lesson plan. Mom only thought I needed to know how to create the burger, not cook it.

As this dearest best friend recalled with great accuracy, my first attempt at cooking the burger was to place it in a frying pan with boiling water.  That’s right, a boiled burger.

Yes, that burger went into the frying pan with boiling hot water, covered and simmered for however long for it took for it to turn white. Once it reached its degree of doneness, it was served to my fiancé.

It was not a pretty sight and the burger did elicit some odd looks. After that, there was no more cooking until the marriage vows were exchanged and the license signed by all parties.

By now, this dearest high school best friend became my cooking lifeline. When I called my lifeline “hey, how do you make mashed potatoes”, she began with adding the butter and milk presuming that the potatoes were already cooked and ready for mashing.

Oh no, no, no!

Mashed potatoes first needed to be cooked and I was clueless. It was at this moment when that pot of boiling water was resurrected as the appropriate cooking method for potatoes.

Cooking [and Old Mother Frugal] has evolved over the years. There are microwave ovens to aid in the cooking process. There is the internet with you-tube videos, websites and recipes to get a novice cook through cooking a meal.

Had those options been available eons ago, what memories would two old friends have to laugh about over a cup of tea or a pot of coffee?

Equally memorable by this dearest best high school friend is the story of the “twenty meatballs for two” which is when my foray into cooking once, eating twice, three or four times first began. That my followers, is another story for another blog entry!

SOUND THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Tap into the talents of your little helpers for meal time preparation. Solicit them young and early on. Little Grandmother’s Helpers can hold a carrot or mix the waffle batter. They’ll love it and you’ll enjoy the memories created when many hands make light work!

                               WEAPON OF BURGER DESTRUCTION

 

 

OLD TIMEY HAMBURGER PRESS