Rendering your own Lard

I know some will turn up there nose at this.  But Lard doesn't have transfats.

I always boil down bones from meats to make my own stock/broth.  I have always had fat left over.  What do you do with it.  Yesterday I had used pork stock, and the left over fat.  I used the fat instead of shortening in my biscuits.  My Goodness those were the best biscuits I have ever had.  My middle child asked if I had gone and got Popeye's biscuits for breakfast.  Well they didn't exactly taste like Popeyes but they were soft flakey and so yummy.  So I started thinking, maybe I can make my own lard because whole generations use lard.  Well, I decided to look online this morning and see what I could find.  And low and behold I found something.  How to render and can your own lard.  Yippee!  I read it and decided this needed to be shared.

http://www.howtobaker.com/techniques/insane-foodie-projects/how-to-render-and-can-your-own-lard/comment-page-1/#comment-41660

Also on the site, How to make your own sea salt and How to make Cream cheese without starter cultures.  This guy is Brilliant.  I have set this site as a favorite and I think those like minded will too.

Remember real fat from meats are okay it is transfat that is bad.  And Lard is 100% natural, pig fat and water are the ingredients.  Gee can you get more natural?

The essence of Frugality. 8 meals out of one.

If you know me I am truly a tightwad.  I refuse to pay full price for anything at the grocery store or any store.  Since moving to the big city, I have found so many more places to price match for Walmart.  This is awesome since the cost of living is more expensive here.  I am going to explain here how I got the absolute more out of a deal. 

A couple of weeks ago, I found a sale on meat.  I ended up getting a beef roast for $1.49/lb.  That on its own is a really good deal but I stretched that roast out into 8 meals and not just left over pot roast.  

1. On Tuesday, I made pot roast and fresh homemade yeast rolls. 
2. Wednesday morning I packed Mr. J's lunch with Roast beef sliders using the left over yeast rolls. 
3. Wednesday night, for dinner we had Beef Stew. I used the left over broth from cooking the pot roast that I didn't use for Gravy and added red beans, split peas, frozen mixed veggies, cut the left over roast up into bit size pieces, rice, and barley, then added the left over gravy, carrots, potatoes, and peas from the pot roast served with homemade cornbread.  
4. Thursday night for dinner, I took the some of the stew from the night before and put it in a cast iron skillet topped with homemade biscuits for a rustic beef pot pie
5. Friday lunch, I had the the left over rustic pot pie, and J had a bowl of stew and left over cornbread.
6. Saturday Dinner, I made actual pie crust from scratch and made a real pot pie out of the left over stew, and 2 mini pot pies out of the left over crust and 2 ladles of the stew for J to take for lunch next week which would be meals 7 and 8.  

Price break down:

• 3.65lb Round roast             $6.89
• 4 russet potatoes                $0.40         (from a 10lb bag at 2.98)
• 1 lb carrots                        $0.50
• 1/2 package of frozen peas  $0.50
• 3 mushrooms                     $0.10          (from a package that I got for .69)
• various seasonings              $0.50 
• 1/4 bag red beans                $0.25
• 1/4 bag split peas                 $0.25
• 1 bag mixed veggies frozen   $1.00
• 1/2 c rice                             $0.25
• 1/4c pearled barley                $0.13
• Cornbread  ingredients           $0.20 ( equivalent of 2 jiffy mixes)
• Biscuit ingredients                 $0.15(equivalent of 1 bisquick mix)
• Pie crust ingredients              $0.35 
• Fresh yeast rolls ingredients   $1.75

Eight meals for $13.22.  And it is healthy with plenty of veggies.  This week I will see what I can do with Chili!  Enjoy!!!