Laura's Laws of Thrifty Cooking #5

USE WHAT YOU'VE GOT!

This applies not only to leftovers, or food that you have that will not be good if you don't use it, but also to the area you live in. Local food availability. I live in Wisconsin. I am grateful for that in many ways: milk, awesome cheese, butter, yogurt, sour cream etc as well as some of the fantastic livestock and produce farmers that we have around. However, we don't live near the ocean and we have long cold winters. I love shrimp, and most other seafood, but it just isn't as fresh or as good around here, and I have been making a conscious effort to eat closer to home. I do a lot of canning, drying, juicing and freezing in the summer and fall so that I have some of those great vegetables during the winter, but I also eat more 'winter vegetables' during the winter. I have a closet in my house that is always cold and I keep potatoes, turnips, carrots, onions and so on in there. In some other places in my house I keep squash and apples - all from Wisconsin. I bought several pounds of onions at the farmer's market last fall and they should hopefully last me until my spring onions are ready. I do have to buy other vegetables during the year, but they are much more expensive than you can get them for when they are in season, so every year I end up storing more food when it is plentiful and using it throughout the year. Now, not everyone will have a place to keep food cool in their house or have the equipment, time or interest to can, but you can even take advantage of seasonal items in the grocery stores, in Wisconsin, in the winter. All of the 'storage vegetables' are cheaper here during the winter, but zucchini is outrageous. Look around and see what kind of great foods your area has.

Take advantage of other opportunities in your area too. This fall I was able to pick, pears, apples and plums just by asking. If you don't belong to freecycle, join. I just posted that I was looking for these kinds of fruits when I knew that they were in season and people were grateful to get rid of their surpluses. It is hard to imagine how much food goes to waste just because someone has a fruit tree in their yard that they have no interest in picking. I picked and picked and then shared the surplus with friends (more on that soon). Someone didn't have to pick up near as much fallen fruit off their yard and a bunch of people got free fruit, what could be better? You could always ask at your local farmer's market too. They may have a bunch of vegetables or fruits that aren't nice enough to sell, but you may be able to get them at a discount. You never know until you ask. Eating local is far from the elitist activity that it is sometimes portrayed as. It is very thrifty and once you get to know your area, very fun!

-French Toast - Bread made from a Wisconsin flour, local eggs and local maple syrup (another great reason to live in Wisconsin!). Very local and very thrifty!

PS - Powdered sugar - not so local- but pretty!