Roll Up Your Sleeves!

Growing up, in a family that had been through the Great Depression was an education. An education in frugality .

Recently, we enjoyed a wonderful rotisserie chicken from the supermarket. It was enough to feed three of us, with a little left over on the bones. We put that away, hoping to get perhaps a few scraps left over. But after working on it with a simple fork, I was able to pull off another 4 oz of meat. In many homes, that might have ended up in the garbage .

Look. Pulling meat off a chicken carcass isn't much fun, and it can even be a bit messy. But 4 oz of meat is 4 oz of meat. And that's another lunch , or even more. The same holds true for the Thanksgiving turkey . Many carve the main meal's meat off the turkey and perhaps even keep some large chunks of meat for later in the week, as leftovers. But I'd be willing to bet that most of the turkey carcasses that end up in the trash have at least a meal or two left on them.

Even if you're not thinking of poultry bones, think of crab legs. Most crab legs sold in the supermarket are joined at what I call a knuckle, or a joint. Most people who buy snow crab legs will break off the legs eat the wonderful tubes of meat inside the leg and throw away the joints. All it takes is a little bit of picking with a small fork, and you can get enough crab meat from those joints, to make a great crab salad or even a couple of delicious crab cakes.

I could go on and on . I'm not usually taken to Biblical or religious references, but as I was pulling the meat off that rotisserie chicken and saw the huge pile had it made, I was thinking of the story of the Loaves and Fishes from the New Testament. It's very much the same thing. If I remember correctly, after everyone had eaten, enough of the remains of the bread and fish were gathered together to feed even more people. Waste not, want not. Live it.

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