Free, almost free, or frugal food sources. [View All]

[Denninmi]

Well, since the bottom is going to fall out, apparently, I thought it might be both fun and actually helpful to someone to start a thread about really inexpensive ways to feed ourselves.

A couple of free food items for me this week -- puffballs and meadow mushrooms. Our July drought turned into about 8 inches of rain in August so far, and mushrooms are growing in many places. I found some white puffballs in a lawn at a cemetery, and I have meadow mushrooms (Agaricus campestris) growing in my own lawn. Both of these are wonderful edible mushrooms --puffballs actually are about the closest thing I know of in flavor to a truffle, but can be quite substantial in size, and you can make nice, large slices which can be floured or breaded, fried, and then used to make a dish similar to eggplant parmesan, or just eaten as is. Meadow mushrooms are extremely closely related to white buttons and criminis, the only difference being gills are pink instead of white. Yum, yum. As with ANY wild mushroom, please be sure you know EXACTLY what you are eating, if you have ANY doubt, don't do it!

And, a kind of frugal recipe, well, semi-frugal -- Corn Cob Jelly -- I am going to try this this weekend, and I'll let you know how it turns out -- 12 corn cobs after the sweet corn has been cut off. Break into quarters, put into a kettle, add just enough water to cover, and boil for 15 minutes. Strain off the liquid, and discard the cobs. Measure 3 cups of the liquid, and dissolve a box of powdered pectin in it. Then, add 4 cups of sugar, bring to the boil, and then stir constantly for 2 minutes. Add a couple of drops of yellow food color if desired. Also, some recipes suggest 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon or a tablespoon of lemon juice as an option. Skim the foam, ladle into prepared jars, add lids and bands, and bwb process for 10 minutes.