Ally is a self-described rank amateur gardener and cooking enthusiast from Vancouver who is constantly on the lookout for new ways to save time, money and the valuable food she finds in-season, in large quantities and at great prices — windfalls she calls them.
We asked Ally to share some of the ways she prepares these windfalls so we call all be inspired to save money and waste less food.
Hi everyone! I’m Ally.
I work from home and dwell in an artist live-work building. I have a nerdy partner and two excessively adorable dogs. Across the street is where we occasionally hold business meetings, a dog park and two noisy construction sites.
In the fall, I often find myself getting a lot of one type of ingredient. Like a whole bunch of something perishable — more than we can possibly eat in a two-person household (even with the dogs helping us out).
That’s what I call a “windfall,” and that’s when I need to get creative.
I typically use a number of tools and techniques like dehydrating, canning and freezing. I share a dehydrator with a neighbour — we bought it together second-hand because we weren’t sure how much we would use it. I also have a small electric pressure canner which allows me to water bath, steam, and pressure can. And, I use my fridge freezer often too. Plus, I try to remember that you can keep some ingredients at room temperature for quite a while.
Sugar Pie Pumpkins
Last fall, when food was starting to go up in price, I saw sugar pie pumpkins at the store, and they were really, really cheap — $3 each for a whole pumpkin! It made me think that pumpkins could be a good substitute for any type of winter squash. So instead of buying butternut squash at probably three times the price, I bought eight sugar pie pumpkins. And when I got home, I quickly looked up how to keep sugar pie pumpkins at room temperature. It turns out you can keep them in your house for a fairly long time if you wash them and put them in a cool place. I didn’t want to process them right away. I didn’t have the time or energy to do it immediately. I thought, hey, I’m going to get to this later. I will make soup. Maybe I’ll bake a pie. Maybe I’ll cut some up and freeze it. I will do several things, but right now, I’m just going to ensure they are okay at room temperature for a while.
Eventually, when I got around to it, I chopped them all up and I made pumpkin soup. And I put some in my freezer, which I would periodically use to make roast pumpkin cubes. I intend to make pumpkin pie, too…
there’s always this fall!
Fresh Salmon
Another thing I had last year (which was completely unexpected) was fresh salmon. In mid-October, a good friend of mine texted one day and asked me if I wanted some salmon. I took four at $20 each, which is a pretty good deal for fresh Fraser River sockeye salmon. These ones came from my friend’s connection at a hatchery. And since fishing opportunities were limited last year, I got some of the only Fraser Valley River sockeye salmon that was available to anyone, which was amazing.
However, I grew up on the Prairies, so I’m not very good with fish. I called another friend with more experience, who came over and helped me process the salmon because it had to be done the next day. It was a windfall!
And it was one of those things that we couldn’t leave, it couldn’t wait. Unlike the pumpkins, it had to be done right away. So, what we did is we took all of the fish and processed them immediately. We cut some into steaks and filets, then we scraped bits of the salmon off the bones to save for salmon burgers.
Most of it went directly into the freezer. We also ran a whole load of salmon through my electric pressure canner. And we got eleven half pints out of it which we split between us. Then we made fish and chips on the barbecue to eat fresh salmon that same day — another thing I like to do with a windfall!
Apples & Grapes
Other types of windfalls I’ve run into are locally grown fruit from neighbours who have more than they can eat like apples and grapes — I typically volunteer to take some of this bounty and then need to figure out what to do with it all. In this case, the apples went into the fridge and slowly transformed into apple chips and applesauce, which can be stored for a long time at room temperature. If I have too much for my fridge, then I usually chop up the apples into slices to go in the freezer — later, they can be used for baking muffins or in apple crisps. One harvest season I even used the frozen slices to create apple pie filling that I preserved using my canner. With the grapes I scored, well, I used my Instant Pot to steam the juice (thanks, Internet for that idea) and canned it for my nieces and nephew. I even kept the grape mash to use for tarts.
I try not to love windfalls because they are often challenging in a busy life. So my big takeaway with acquiring large amounts of one ingredient is that it’s important to know what you can do quickly and what you can put off for a bit. And, I try to remember to make more than one thing because you will eventually get sick of homemade applesauce. Though it’s great, sometimes you just want something else which means you should try to do a few different things with your windfalls.
And don’t forget, you can always preserve food part way and then make something else with it later. Have fun with your harvest bounty!
