Frugal Living Newsletter at about.com just wrote about networking to get more
By writersedge
@writersedge (22563)
United States
September 22, 2008 7:04am CST
food. They talked about telling everyone that you do canning so you get stuff. Also offering to talk about stuff falling on the ground that people don't want. They spoke about "Food Networking." We do that, check this out:
Many of you know I already did the first one by making plum jelly from some plums a guy had that he said were bitter.
This past weekend, we had a lot of "frugal food luck." My husband went to my other brother's house after our garage sale one day. My sister-n-law was going to throw a ham bone out. He asked for it. So I'll throw some water in a pot, boil it up, add noodles, and before serving, add a can of mixed veggies.
I was helping my brother pull weed vines that are horrible, and uncovered quince! They had cut down the quince, but they were back and there were many little yellow and green quince. Quince jelly, here we come! Picked a bunch and brought them home!
Next night, after the rummage sale with one of my brothers, my husband stopped in at the other brother's house. A bread truck drove up and said he hated to throw stuff away and all the bread was past dated and his company isn't affliated with the late bread store, so my brother and husband loaded up on bread and coolies. Actually we have English muffins, pitas, etc. Lots of stuff we haven't been able to afford. Too much stuff for my brother's freezer, so his wife gave us some venison ( he wasn't too happy about that, but it was only two packages). I can't believe my husband was at the right place at the right time so much. My brother usually is, but not always my husband. My brother has an entire freezer full of venison because the guy next door's freezer went out, so my brother took his meat to freeze until it got fixed, but it didn't get fixed and the guy had to move out of his house so he told my brother to keep it. He couldn't transport it to another state unless he rented a freezer truck anyway.
So how is your food networking coming along?
1 person likes this
2 responses
@carolbee (16230)
• United States
22 Sep 08
You talk about perfect timing. Your brother and husband are really in the right place at the right time. I do know the Bread Company will donate day old bread. I know someone who picks it up for her church. You might see if something of that nature would work. Use to be that Dolly Madison sold their bread and other items real cheap when I believe they were a day old.
I haven't made any food in a long time so we don't network. I've turned into a lazy housewife who hates to cook. One of our son-in-laws bought a half a cow and then had it processed. It's cheaper than buying retail. They freeze the meat and use throughout the entire winter months. Works very well for them. The hamburgers are very good since they bar-b-que every so often and we are there for dinner.
2 people like this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
22 Sep 08
My Mom and Dad used to get part of a cow from a neighbor and do that. My parents used to raise pigs and put part of one in the freezer and sell the rest when I was a kid, too. There was an old guy who used to fish, scale, clean and bone the fish (actually, I found out later, the kids do the last two)and we bought a lot to put in our freezer.
We have an old bread store up here, but for some reason, that guy's company wasn't affliated with it. We often buy bread at that store, but it's getting so you have to be there when the trucks arive. My husband said the last couple of times, the bread shelves were almost bare. Mostly cookies, cake, pies, and so on were left. By the way, it was supposed to be bread and cookies not coolies up there when I was writing.
1 person likes this
@PearlGrace (3171)
• United States
22 Sep 08
I haven't checked out the Frugal Living Newsletter at about.com but it sounds like I need to. Yes, it sounds like you were in luck this past weekend, when it comes to getting free or no-cost food. I do not even know what a quince is! I guess it is a fruit of some sort. You sure have been doing alot of canning and jelly making lately, that's great.
Plus, getting all the free bread products you got this past weekend, you definitely hit the jackpot. I must admit I do not know what "coolies" are. You are really stretching your food dollar, writersedge. And it is very impressive. Take care.
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
23 Sep 08
Should have been cookies instead of coolies.
Quince are really, really sour fruits. More sour than grapefruit,lemons or rhubarb. You don't eat them raw, you cook them with sugar for a desert or you cook them for a jelly or jam. Our Japaneese Quince are the size of small apples. I have seen them in stores the size of regular oranges, but I suspect they aren't Japanese. Last night, I chopped some up and put them in a pan with water. My husband didn't want sugar in them, but he did want some of the whole wheat English Muffins(from the free bread stuff we got) with them to cut the acid. So I toasted one and put some cooked quince and water on top.My husband doesn't like sugar in sour things. He's funny like that.
My husband likes to take peanut butter and jam or jelly to work with him. So we need a variety of jams and jellies or he will get bored with it. I also eat peanut butter and jam or jelly a lot.
I think if you look in a section of your grocery store, the one that has unusual fruit (it may say exotic or some other name), you will see them there. They will probably have a ridiculous price for them. So we are lucky that they grow easily most years. Some years something eats the flowers and some years something eats the fruit. This year we were lucky that nothing ate very many of them. Thanks for your response and take care.
