Some of us are simply frugal and efficient by nature when it comes to food and cooking. We don’t like to be wasteful and can find uses for most things in our fridge and pantry – even when the vegetables are becoming mushy. We like to find many ways to use our leftovers and only as a very last resort does anything end up in the trash (no – ideally the compost).
So, how do you know if you’re one of these particular people? Here are a couple of behaviors that signals whether or not you're in the food efficiency category. You know you’re a super efficient cook if you: - Save your bacon fat when frying bacon
- Save vegetable cuts and scraps during the week to make your own vegetable stock.
- Save your chicken or turkey carcass after a meal to make your own stock.
- Save all your shrimp peel and fish skin and bones after a seafood meal to make your own fish stock. - Make breadcrumbs, croutons or gazpacho soup with left-over stale bread
- Make wine sauces, or reductions with leftover red wine
- Save your parmesan rinds to add flavor to sauces and stews - Freeze that tiny piece of left-over fresh ginger to use another time - Freeze fresh herbs if you have too much and they're going bad - Grate all your limes and lemons before pressing, in order to freeze small bags of citrus zest - Make your own banana bread or muffins when your bananas are getting over-ripe, instead of throwing them out - Make meringue with leftover egg whites – after all the yolks went to a delectable crème brule or chocolate cake…
- Use the same vanilla bean over and over again by soaking it in alcohol in order to make your own vanilla extract
- Make your own preserves and jams when fresh fruit is cheap and in season. - Know how to make soup out of all your leftovers / going-bad-vegetables and food - Never throw away any edible food but always succeed to utilize every single ingredient in your fridge by morphing one dish into another and freezing leftovers
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