Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday! In honor, so to speak, of the wildly inflated price of eggs, this month will be Egg Meme Month on Frugal Friday. Yes, you may consider this encouragement to get your own henhouse up and running!

Aside from that, this is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed.

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Re: Soliciting advice on chicken goo

[ecosophia]

That "goo" is concentrated chicken stock. It's protein and water, and makes first-rate gravy, soup stock, etc. I save it and use it to make homemade soup.

Sorry for the lack of clarity about rendering chicken fat, btw. Here's a more detailed description:

1) Scoop the fat off the top of the broth -- it normally forms a solid layer.

2) Put it into a saucepan half full of water.

3) Heat on medium until the fat has entirely melted. Stir thoroughly so that the fat and the water mingle as much as they ever will.

4) Take off the heat, cool, and refrigerate. The fat will now be much cleaner, as all the water-soluble protein and other stuff will be in the water.

5) Use the fat in cooking.

Re: Soliciting advice on chicken goo

[(Anonymous)]

Can I add a clarification to the first step, JMG?

"1) Cool the broth (you may need to let it sit overnight in the fridge). The fat will rise to the top and solidify. Scoop the fat off the top of the broth."

This is the approach we used to remove the fat from stock when I worked in professional kitchens. It was faster And more efficient than trying to skim the liquid fat off while the stock was hot.

Caldathras

Re: Soliciting advice on chicken goo

[(Anonymous)]

Aha! And, darn. Next time I will know better and freeze it.

Thanks very much for the detail on the chicken fat, too. This is why the Weird of Hali Cookbook is one of my go-tos -- you explain things nicely for the incompetent. I make chili with beef that winds up, after a night in the fridge, with thin plaques of beef fat at the top. I just stir it in so it will melt in the microwave (I don't care what my arteries look like...) but perhaps it too could be rendered for cooking fat. I will experiment.

Re: Soliciting advice on chicken goo

[ecosophia]

Any kind of animal fat can be saved the same way. The one exception is bacon fat, which you don't have to clean -- it's salted, so won't spoil, and cleaning it takes away some of the luscious flavor. Just pour it off through a fine mesh strainer into a jar, and use it for cooking; you will not regret it.