Autumn Harvest Soups

You can create soups from any vegetables that you have on hand. I have a habit of making a few different types of soups, cooking them until almost done, and then putting serving size portions into quart-size freezer bags and freezing them.

Here are your choices of components. Use whatever else you have on hand. I would add herbs and spices when reheating.

Vegetables:

pumpkin

squash

tomatoes

corn

peas

carrots

green beans

zucchini

potatoes

Liquid:

water

vegetable broth

beef broth

chicken broth

Meats:

pork

ham

beef

chicken

turkey

Others:

rice

(I would add pasta when re-heating)

beans

(I would add dumplings when re-heating)

Any combination of the above will work, and so would combining many items from each list. It is pretty easy, actually, to create soups for vegetarians as well as meat-lovers. Feel free to share your favorite recipes.

Autumn Trail Mix

I purchase cheap snack-size baggies to fill with trail mixes, because they allow one serving per person. This is easier with children. You can put the mixes into canning jars, but I cannot honestly say if they will stay fresh more than a week. Feel free to try it and let me know.

If you have purchased your pumpkins frugally, you already have the pumpkin seeds that you need. Roast them, flavored for autumn, in the oven at a low temperature.

Pumpkin seeds, roasted with your choice of seasonings

Store brand wheat chex cereal

Store brand raisin bran, or bran flakes and raisins

Store brand pretzels

Candy corn or candy pumpkins, a few per bag

Mix them all together, and and put into baggies or jars.

1 Pan Leftover Meal # 2

This is an easy one. that won’t cost much.

* You will need to brown any meat that has not already been cooked. Drain and rinse and put back into fry pan on the stove. I use usually extra virgin olive oil for browning, at a lower temperature, but you can use whatever you have on hand.

* Any raw vegetables that have not been cooked should be cooked until almost done.

Ingredients:

Meat, however much you have leftover, anywhere from 1/4 pound to 1 pound.

Vegetables, a mixture or just one. Whatever works for you. I am not sure on the exact measure, it will depend on how much meat. This is a good time to use up any leftovers from the refrigerator.

Pasta, thin. Egg noodles are fine. Uncooked.

Leftover water from cooking vegetables.

Any herbs or spices that you would like to use.

Combine all of the ingredients and cook on medium heat until cooked through.

You could make homemade biscuits or bread to go with this.

This recipe will save you money when you have little of it. Like before your paycheck or foodstamps come in. It will also help you to keep running your home as frugally as possible.

Trail Mix from Leftovers

Usually, about a week before my food money comes in, we are pretty low on food. Lunches and dinners are based around pasta, and there is not too much else in the house to eat.

I would like to introduce to the idea of making trail mixes from leftovers. This is done by, first, raiding the cupboards.  What is available for your use? What do you normally throw away? That do not make up a whole serving, so do not seem worth your time.

Rather than throwing these things out, why not throw them all together and make a trail mix. You can store them in anything. To discourage over-eating, I use snack size plastic baggies if I have any on hand. if not, I just throw it all into a quart-size canning jar.

Here is a list of items that I have used in trail mix:

cereals

small candies

pretzels

nuts

coconut

broken crackers

broken cookies

dried fruit

raisins

granola

This could be enough to last a whole week, or even just a couple of days, depending on how much you have for leftovers in your home.

This will save you money in the long run. It can be a very frugal recipe.