I know it. You're thinking to yourself, yum, a nice cold glass of chicken milk, wow, what I wouldn't do for one right now. Okay, maybe not. There is no such thing as chicken milk. Duh. I'm using absurdity to illustrate the absurd. There are parts of our food that we pay good money for that completely go to waste. You PAID for that stuff you are throwing away! Some of it is absolute GOLD. Throwing it away is absurd!
When there is an extended emergency, like a dollar collapse, EMP or complete economic devastation, you can't afford to waste something you paid for.
Vegetables - Save the seeds! Cucumbers, Tomatoes, and yes even lettuce has seeds. Some seeds we eat, while some are just tossed away as trash. You can plant them, roast them and eat them or use them to trade for something else you need. Save the rinds! If you have a lettuce core or the peelings of carrots, these can be used to feed yard birds when feed is unavailable. If you don't have birds, chop the peelings and rinds into bits and use in a compost barrel or methane digester to get rich fertilizer.
Fruits - SEE vegetables. Save the seeds! For the rinds of all sorts of melons, which you don't eat, your birds will take a rind down to paper thin, once it is paper thin, toss it in the compost pile. Fruits don't grow quickly like veggies, so eat some now and start planting. The stems from grapes? You guessed it! Compost pile! Don't have one, put it in the methane digester! Don't have one of those? Ah come on they are easy to build.
Chickens - When I was 19, I bought my first whole chicken. I was away at college and had never bought one before, so I cooked it whole and when it was done, pulled it out and cut into it. Hey, did you know I found that someone had left me a little present wrapped in plastic inside that chicken?
Organs - Most whole chickens you buy will have the neck, (good for making soup), the heart, liver, gizzard and another organ that I'm not really sure I can identify. If you are like me and the thought of eating organs bring to mind the scene from The Day of the Dead, don't throw these tidbits away. Chicken necks work great as bait in traps for fish, crab and turtle. The liver wrapped in old pantie hose can be used for crawdads in a trap, the heart, gizzard and that 'other' one can be hooked and tossed into the water. Don't fish? Use them to make a meal for your pet when pet food is unavailable.
Bones - Boil all meat, fat and seasonings off of the bones, dry them, pulverize them and use them in your garden.
Everything else - After the skin, organs, meat and bones are gone what have you got? Well if you are slaughtering your own chickens, you've got feathers, the musk organ, feet and a head. The feathers, feet and head will break down in a compost pile. The feet can be used in voodoo rituals (he he). The musk organ can be used as a stink bait for catfish or neighborhood cats. (he he he)
Meats - With meat it's important because of the price to eat everything. If you slow roasted the meat, the fat portions will be soft and may appear to be useless! NOT SO! Soft meat fats, chicken livers and other things that just won't stay on a hook can be used in a leech trap to catch bait so that you can catch a meal. (Leech trap in another note.) If the fat is firm, it can be used as bait on a hook, to feed your pet or used to flavor soups. Meat bones are hard to pulverize but your dog will love you.
Eggs - duh! After you are done whipping up your omelets for the week, boil the shells to kill off bacteria and pulverize them to either feed them back to your chickens to help strengthen future eggs or put the ground up egg dust in your garden. They add good nutrients to soil. Or again, COMPOST.
Blood Pads - NO not those. The pads that come under roasts, chicken, pork etc. Remove the plastic portion and empty the absorbent material into the compost barrel. Toss the plastic. I've also heard that some hunters use these to leave a blood scent trail to a set location for predators. That way they aren't using food they could be eating for bait.
Empty containers - Water, soda and milk all come in convenient containers with lids on them. Water and soda jugs can be used to store water. Milk jugs can be crafted into wasp traps.
If you have any ideas on how to re-purpose food left over pieces feel free to add them below. I've got to go, it's time to collect all the bacon filled pig eggs.
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