When I was a young child in the Great Depression, we lived on a small acreage outside the city limits. Our neighbors as well as my family had large vegetable gardens and a few chickens and cows. No one necessarily was hungry as we grew most of what we ate. Just about a half mile south of our house were the railroad tracks and trains went by several times each day. It was an area where hobos liked to camp out, or gypsies sometimes set up an overnight campsite with their horses and wagons. Invariably when we saw a group gathering by the tracks in the dusk of evening, we knew we'd have "visitors". No one bothered anything around the house but we did have a person or two come to the back door asking for any left over food. They took any thing but usually said they'd like to have any potato peelings. They concocted a big kettle of soup they cooked over a wood fire on the ground by their campsite. They said the peelings were so good and always asked for them although they accepted any food people gave them. The next morning the group would move on down the road - or the hoboes caught a freight car going on south. All the peelings or scraps we had usually went into the "slop" the hogs were fed. They thrived on it. juanita > I have heard since I was young that the skins on a baked potato were > very healthy. That is why I eat skin and all. I also eat the skin on a > sweet potato. > > Not real fond of mashed potatoes with the peels on. That may come from > learning to peel potatoes under the watchful eyes of mom and grandma. > You could not have any little brown spots but neither should you have > thick peels. > > I have never seen the use of throwing something away that is edible. I > get irritated when someone peels an onion and throws away half the > onion instead of taking the time to just peel off the dead skin. > > Back when I use to make big pots of vegetable soup, I would save the > juice/water off canned vegetables to go in my soup. Kept a jar in the > fridge for just that purpose. I would also use my potato water in > mashed potatoes, soup, gravy and so on. Waste not want not was the > motto I was raised by. > > Marilyn > > On Sat, May 21, 2011 at 1:53 AM, <askgranny@juno.com> wrote: > > > Odd thing, except in the Spring when Mama scraped the freshly > > scrabbled potatoes she always peeled them and cooked the peels up > > in her skillet of chicken scraps ..Now days, when folks spend their > > money as fast as they git it and sometimes faster they eat baked > > potato shells, French fries cut up with the peel on, and even > > potatoes mashed with peels on..or baked potatoes, peels and all... > > > > We always cut both ends of the tomato off when prepping them, now > > nobody bothers...I think it is mainly pure de old laziness,but must > > admit it saves more veggie .. > > > > When I open a can of vegetables like corn or carrots I pour the > > juice off them before warming them in a little butter...Tastes > > pretty good, saves money..I understand you can't do this if you are > > on a low salt diet..I'm not. I guess I have a lot of money saving > > tips in the kitchen, just do them without thinking...Jeannie T > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > > On Fri, 20 May 2011 16:49:27 -0500 Viola Seward <lolav@arvig.net> > > writes: > > > Yo Jeannie. Back then we were so poor we about boiled the potato > > > peelings for supper. But we couldnt because our dog who killed the > > > chickens got them. Then i made gravy to give them some taste.