Operation Organize Garage commenced over the weekend and oh my what difference! We bought some new shelving and now the jars are all neat & organized (forgive the blurry photo, its a poorly lit room):
Having it all organized just makes me so very happy. So happy, that I finished using up the remaining chicken feet from that 5 gallon bucket. I made another 11 quarts of chicken stock, making a total of 21 quarts of stock from that 5 gallon bucket. I paid $15 for the bucket and of course got to keep the food grade plastic bucket too. Locally, I can buy 6 quarts of organic free-range chicken broth for about $26.00 making it about $4.30 a quart. A food-grade plastic bucket with lid costs about $8. I made 21 quarts (and got the bucket) for $15 or about 71 cents a quart, add the onions, carrots, peppercorns, garlic and jar lids I might have a total of $1.00 in each quart (though the carrots and onions were homegrown). Let’s break that down – 21 quarts of store bought stock would be about $90 plus another $8 for the bucket versus my $15 for same amount of broth and bucket. That’s a savings of about $83! Not too shabby, I think. There’s also the better flavor and gelatinous texture of my own homemade over the usually over salted store bought variety.
It is obviously more work to make our own stock, but not that much. Really all I do is through the feet (that were already cleaned) into a big pot with water, veggies, and seasonings and let it simmer all day. Strain it out, refrigerate overnight, skim off the fat in the morning and can it up. Actual hands-on time is very small, even with my time included its a far better deal than the store bought. Besides, I’m willing to do the work to save myself the money and make such good food for us to eat.
How was your weekend?
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I had a wonderful weekend. The weather was just beautiful. On Sat. we went to 4 thrift stores, I bought 5 books for $5. Back home we opened the windows and enjoyed a steady breeze blowing clean, fresh air into the house. Sunday the windows were open all day and I spent a good bit of time reorganizing our storage room. Sure feels good to look at everything sitting neatly on the shelves after it being in such a mess.
Kathie, your shelves are beautiful! You certainly made the most out of your time this weekend.
Looks great and I’m sure it’s so nice to have it organized! Definitely good savings on the home fixings too! Its always nice to have a weekend when you can see the fruits of your labor.
Wow! Look at you go!
I’ve gotten out of the habit of saving veggie bits for stock (the move threw my whole pantry off), but you’ve inspired me to start again and make some veggie stock. I usually just use water and half a bullion cube in soup because I’m lazy. Did you see the homemade bullion recipe over at 101 Cookbooks? Brilliant.
Uh. Wow. And I obviously meant “boullion” in both sentences up there. *headdesk*
Your stock will be infinitely better for you! We canned veggie stock last weekend. Great minds think alike, huh? Really we were just running out, been doing a lot of soups this winter.