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The Kitchen Table

Do you keep 'stew stuff' in the freezer?

17 years ago

Maybe everyone does this...I don't know...

:-)

I've always kept a container in the freezer for what I call "stew stuff." When DH and I open a can of veggies and don't eat the whole thing, I dump the leftovers in the container (juice and all). Then when I make stew and it's in the last 30 minutes or so of cooking, I add the "stew stuff" from the freezer.

Do you do this, too?

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Comments (14)

alisande
17 years ago
I do it with soup broth; that is, water leftover from cooking vegetables. If there's a few veggies left in the water, all the better.
socks
17 years ago
No, but it's a good idea. I don't use too many canned veggies, but it would work with leftover fresh ones as well.
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hayjud_mn
17 years ago
Mine all ends up in a soup!
carol_in_california
17 years ago
I save stuff for soup......we love "refrigerator soup" or "freezer soup."
summer_tx
17 years ago
Yep, I've been known to save 'stew stuff'. I've never labeled it as such, but I should have. :) I hate to waste food, even a small portion. Good idea Rita.
trishaw
17 years ago
Well dang- No I don't. But I will now!

Trish in SC
kathyg_in_mi
17 years ago
I don't, but only because I'm married to "Leftover Man". If it is in the fridge and I don't put a "Do Not Eat' sign on it, poof, it is gone.
Kathy G in MI
OklaMoni
17 years ago
Kathy, I didn't know we have the same husband. LOL

Moni
kathyg_in_mi
17 years ago
Was worse when the boys still lived at home. Then I had 4 to beat off the food with a stick. Many a day I came home to cook something and they had popped it on the grill and ate it. Can I tell you why I stopped buying boxes of steaks and burgers....whenever I was going to cook some...there were none!
Darn boys!
Kathy G in MI
angela59
17 years ago
Wow, I never would have thought of this and have thrown away so many little containters of leftover vegetables since no one ate them......thanks for the tip!
marlingardener
17 years ago
You betcha! We have packages of stewing pork in the freezer from the feral hog we were given (dead, headless and footless, and cleaned out, thanks be!). I am not a good butcher, so after I cut off all the recognizable parts, we had a lot of good meat left which makes a great hunter's stew. I save chicken carcasses (chickens I do know how to cut up) and make stock, then use any meat I can salvage for Brunswick stew or a good soup. We have our own veggies, and believe me, after you grow them you don't waste them. Any left-over veggies go into the stock pot or a soup. I won't mention the bag of beef bones waiting to turn into stock . . . .
timberframe4us
17 years ago
I used to and should again! I called it Coffee Can soup because that's what my then-BIL called it (and his grandmother before him). When ever there was just a little bit of something left we just added it to the container. When it got pretty full, I dumped it in the crockpot. Once I could tell what was in there I might add some canned veggies if it looked too meaty. It was always a great surprise to see what it tasted like--never the same twice and always yummy somehow. I don't know why I stopped.

Thanks for the post that reminded me!
tami_ohio
17 years ago
I don't use canned veggies. I have whats left of a whole beef in the freezer (we usually buy half a cow, but this one was small). I pull out a roast or some stew meat, brown that, throw in some cut up potatoes and carrots and a bag of frozen mixed veggies if I think I need more, throw in some barley, and let it cook.

Tami
loggerbaby123
17 years ago
kathy sorry that was funny beating 4 boys off with a stick!! yep i salvage leftovers for freezer soup if i can get to it before mom does lol. lotsa leftovers go to our local animal sanctuary. just beef boullion in a tupperware thingy and dump everything in. i guess it can be called dump soup? (except NEVER add broccoli, cauliflower, or leftover cabbage) NOT a good thing and please friends dont ask how i know lol

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