Facts about Food Friday – Chicken stock ice cubes

Chicken stock ice cubes

FaFF

Mmm, appetizing, right?

That large roaster I love so much is also great for cooking big turkeys or multiple chickens at once. And that much poultry, uh, goodness, means a whole lot of stock can be made at once, too.

You never usually don’t know which recipes you’re going to use in 3 months and how much stock/broth they’ll call for, so a really easy way to store it is to freeze in ice cube trays.

Cool it in the fridge like you normally would, pour into trays, freeze until solid, and then toss them all into gallon sized bags so your trays aren’t monopolized with soup base.They don’t stick together, so later, you can simply pull out a couple for a quick sauce or a couple handfuls for a soup.

Chili for a crowd – 21 quarts for under 10 bucks

21 quarts of chili for huge party
 
2 bags (32 oz. each) pinto beans -                                                         $3.50 (Aldi)
3 pounds ground meat (beef, pork, turkey…whatever you feel like) -    $3-6 (Catch it on sale)
Several cans tomato products (sauce, paste, diced, stewed, fresh) -    $3?
Spices, weee! – Do you really need a price check on this?
Total — $10-$15
 
This is another reason I don’t do these sorts of posts. I have no idea what was put in that particular pot of chili. Those were complete guesses and vary a lot based on how it’s made each time.
 
What I do know, though, is that whether you prefer mostly meat and no beans….soupy or thick….tomatoes or no tomatoes…chunked meat instead of ground…. spicy or mild…
 
No matter what, 21 quarts of chili is a lot of chili. O.o
 
Based on a cup serving, that’s 84 servings…
 
Which means a large roaster pan of chili like this (or soup, meal, whatever) will not only feed you tonight and tomorrow….but once frozen, you’ll have meals for months for those lazy nights where you don’t feel like cooking. Add it into your OAMC rotation and you’ll be set for a while.
 
And for potlucks, fundraisers, etc, it’s a great way to push out a lot of food for a small amount of money. Turn it into chili dogs for something more substantial or serve with corn chips, crackers, or bread. It can easily be turned into a chili casserole, too, to stretch it even farther and get more bang for your buck.
4 gallons of pinto beans cooked in a crockpot roasterAdding meat to huge slow cooker of tomatoes and beans 

How to cook chili con carne recipe for mass partyChili with cheese for chili dogs at barbecue party

Homemade dog food – Make it, portion it, freeze it, win!

Homemade dog food with chicken, scrambled eggs, peas, carrots, potatoes, rice, and gravy

A couple days after putting up the post on how to make your own dog food, I found some more pictures I had wanted to share.

The above is where I roasted a whole turkey, deboned it, and mixed it with cooked rice, peas, carrots, some leftover potatoes (not many), and some scrambled eggs. Below shows it with some gravy. Appetizing, huh? I swear, dogs dig it. :P

Homemade dog food with chicken, peas, carrots, potatoes, rice, and gravy

And this? This is a whole lot of plastic wasted, but it means it could all be tossed into the freezer and my mom could pull it out, one serving at a time (about a cup for Buddy), microwave it, and be done.

Homemade dog food with chicken, peas, carrots, potatoes, rice, and gravy - Split up into ziploc baggies to freeze

I would also freeze a couple days’ worth in plastic bowls that could be thawed out in the fridge and then scooped out for each meal. For the sake of convenience, this made it just as easy as having store-bought food on hand.  And because it was only done once a month or two, the effort saved a bunch of time, money, and health in the process.