Getting Close to Putting the Garden to Bed

 

All leaves and practically no roots. These are the last of the beets for the year. I pulled them up yesterday afternoon. I cut off the small roots and allowed them to dry on paper overnight. I sorted through the greens and stems, then washed what looked good. I've got the greens in the fridge wrapped in paper towels and plastic bags overnight. I'll chop them for the freezer tomorrow. We still have various other greens left in the garden. I'm trying to make sure we use some greens everyday. By early to mid-December, the greens will die back from repeated freezes.

It looks like there are two to three meals worth of beet greens and stems. Any suggestions for how to use them? I've thought of added to soups and stews. But I was wondering if any of you have favorite ways to use greens such as beet leaves.

This has clearly been the largest garden and harvest we've ever had. I'm tired, but pleased with how much we've harvested.

Your Favorite Kitchen Tools for Saving $$

Cooking at home is one of the most accessible money saving activities for any household. Whatever you skill level in cooking, preparing foods at home instead of eating out saves money. 

We all have our favorite kitchen tools, some of which help us save food/money more than others.

What are your favorite money-saving kitchen tools and how do they help you save?

Here are 3 of mine:

• rubber spatula -- I can usually get about a quarter to a half a portion out of a bowl or jar by scraping it well. I have 6 rubber spatulas and at least half of them are used each day. If I save a partial portion of two or three foods every day, that adds up to about 365 bonus portions of random foods by the end of a year. Little bits add up. And spatulas are inexpensive tools for making that happen.
• my freezer -- I would have no place to store all of the beautiful free blackberries we forage each summer without my freezer. I also stock up of foods when on sale and keep in the freezer, plus I freeze surplus produce from the garden. On the pro side -- freezers can save a lot of money, but on the con side -- they cost a lot up front. Fortunately, most stand alone freezers continue to run for many, many years, even decades.
• an extra-large, shallow bowl -- I used this bowl to mix and knead dough for our homemade sandwich bread for many years. This bowl is larger than my largest mixing bowl, so large that I was able to go from mixing the dough for 2 loaves of bread at a time to 4 loaves of bread. It was a game-changer for me, as I didn't have to bake bread as often, and I could bake more at one time, using less electricity for the oven. We still use this bowl for mixing extra-large batches of a lot of foods. I originally bought it at Target for about $7. It was one of those bargains that pay for themselves quickly.

How about you? What are some of your favorite money-saving kitchen tools?