Using It All

by GettingFreedom on March 27, 2009

I’m not a fan of wasting things. As a matter of fact, my daughter made a comment at dinner other night, she said “Yeah, we all know we’re not allowed to waste in this house!”. I had to laugh–but you know, I think it is important for that thought to be instilled in them.

One thing that has always kind of gotten to me, was draining off canned goods. I’ve always drained them off right into the sink, because that is what my mom has always done.

Did you know that is the same as pouring your money down the drain? You paid for that!

  • When you buy canned veggies, save that juice to use later in place of veggie broth. Definitely cheaper, as they charge an arm and a leg veggie broth at the grocery store! One can should grant you right around 1 cup of broth.

  • Mushroom juice is perfect to use for your very own cream of mushroom soup.

  • The juice from canned chicken can also be used for cream of chicken soup, or for a quick substititue to chicken broth. When you need to cook chicken for a dish, boil it and save that water for chicken broth as well.

  • If you buy canned fruit, save the fruit juice to make jello. Or you can pour it into ice cube trays and add to a punch bowl for a party. For added flair, you can also use fruit juice when making a cake mix–just put in the place of the water. Or just heat it up with water and pour over the top of a cake in the place of icing. What about popscicles?

  • For dinner this evening I saved the juice from Ro-Tel and marinated my (leftover)chicken in it to give it added flavor and heated it up on the stove and later added it to our dish. Truly goes to show, you can use it all!

What ideas do you have for using it all?

This post is linked to: Frugal Friday

Related Posts with Thumbnails

{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Joy March 27, 2009 at 2:39 am

After reading this post I will never be able to drain anything in the sink again. Thank you for making me think of other uses for it. I’ve never thought to do this.

I’m sure when I make homemade soup any of the veggie can liquid can be dumped in and used.

Thanks,

Joy

[Reply]

Reply

2 Bobbi Jo March 27, 2009 at 2:49 am

I do the same thing as you. It is such a shame to waste what we pay for and my hubby works very hard to earn the money.
I have never thought of using the juice in place of icing. I usually use it in smoothies or drink it.
Thank you for sharing. Hugs, Bobbi Jo

[Reply]

Reply

3 Janet March 27, 2009 at 3:26 am

Love the ideas, thanks for making me think about this!

[Reply]

Reply

4 Kim March 27, 2009 at 4:01 am

Not necessarily frugal for me, but I drain the water (not oil) off tuna and pour it over my dogs’ dry kibble – they practically inhale it!

[Reply]

Reply

5 Relishing Life March 27, 2009 at 5:17 am

What a great idea to use the liquid in the cans of veggies for veggie broth!! I would have never thought of it!!!

[Reply]

Reply

6 An Imperfect Perfection March 27, 2009 at 11:47 am

Hi! I recently discovered your blog.

Great tips!

I will start saving my veggie juice too! Thanks for sharing!

[Reply]

Reply

7 The Blossoming Skillet March 27, 2009 at 12:45 pm

Thanks for the tip. Just be sure to check the sodium or sugar content of the can before adding it to other meals.

[Reply]

Reply

8 Amanda @ Mommy's Idea Book March 27, 2009 at 1:49 pm

The other day I baked a chicken in the oven with some veggies. Then I used the broth from the chicken and veggies as the liquid to cook rice a couple of days later.

It made the rice very flavorful and I saved myself a can of store bought chicken broth.

[Reply]

Reply

9 Brooke March 27, 2009 at 3:01 pm

how horrible is it that i like to drink the juice from canned fruit?

[Reply]

Reply

10 Shell March 27, 2009 at 3:16 pm

Hi! So, I stumbled across your blog from the UBP and I’m adding your button to my page! My husband and I are in (hopefully) our last year of getting rid of our unnecessary debt and it’s really nice being able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

And, this post about saving the various juices from different canned goods…who knew?? I certainly didn’t, but now I know and I’m going to give your ideas a try!

Thanks!

[Reply]

Reply

11 Ashley March 27, 2009 at 3:57 pm

What a great idea! I had never thought about that before.

[Reply]

Reply

12 Sheri March 27, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Defintely be careful, the “juice” in some of that is full of sodium.

[Reply]

Reply

13 Heather@justdoingmybest March 27, 2009 at 9:16 pm

I never thought about keeping veggie juice, but it makes perfect sense. I’ve thought about the fruit juice though, at least in small doses. The kids love the juice left from pineapples and sometimes I add it to orange juice.

Thanks for sharing…you gave me something to think about.

[Reply]

Reply

14 Kelley March 28, 2009 at 6:44 am

Wow…I never thought about the liquid in the cans….wow. I need to make better use of it!! Thank you!!

[Reply]

Reply

15 Miriam March 28, 2009 at 3:07 pm

GREAT post!! You got me thinking and I ended up writing my own juice tips over on my blog. I put in a link back to here so my readers could come see your great ideas!

All the comments about sodium and sugar content: Store bought broth is going to be loaded with sodium anyway, and you can always cut back the salt or sugar in the recipe that you’re making (soup, smoothie, whatever)

[Reply]

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: