Tag: #WasteNotWantNot

Posted in Preservation

Building a Pantry One Jar at a Time

Posted on by simplegoodfood

You don’t need a pantry full of food to have a well-stocked pantry. Sometimes, a few small jars of useful ingredients can make all the difference.

There is something satisfying about putting a little food away for later.

Not a year’s supply. Not a basement full of buckets. Not a pantry that looks like you’re preparing for the end of the world.

Just a little something put back while it’s inexpensive and available, so that when you need it later, part of dinner is already waiting for you.

That is the kind of pantry I’m interested in building.

Especially when you don’t have a lot of refrigerator, freezer, or storage space, every little bit counts.

A Pantry Doesn’t Have to Be Big

I’ve come to think of a practical pantry less as a collection of things I might need someday and more as a collection of ingredients I know I’ll actually use.

A jar of dehydrated carrots.

Some dried onions.

A little celery.

A few potatoes.

A bag of lentils.

A can of chicken.

None of those things takes up much room individually. But put them together and they can become a meal.

That’s where the idea of building a pantry one jar at a time really starts to make sense.

You aren’t trying to store everything.

You’re simply creating a little breathing room between buying the food and needing the food.

Put a Little Back

This is the idea behind this month’s Put a Little Back theme.

When produce is plentiful and reasonably priced, preserve some.

When you have a little extra time, prepare something for later.

When you find a shelf-stable ingredient that fits the way you cook, keep a little on hand.

It doesn’t have to be complicated.

It doesn’t even have to involve preserving food yourself.

Sometimes buying a shelf-stable ingredient is the practical choice.

That’s an important part of pantry building, too.

Think Ingredients, Not Just Food

One of the biggest shifts in the way I think about a pantry is to stop asking:

“What foods should I store?”

and start asking:

“What ingredients would make a future meal easier?”

That’s a very different question.

A jar of dehydrated carrots isn’t necessarily exciting by itself.

But those carrots could become part of:

  • Vegetable soup
  • Chicken and rice
  • A stew
  • A pot pie
  • A casserole
  • A skillet meal

Suddenly, that little jar has possibilities.

And that’s what I want from the food taking up my limited storage space: possibilities.

Small Jars Can Do a Lot

This week I’m experimenting with small-batch dehydrated vegetables and a little 1–2 quart slow cooker.

The first experiment was a simple lentil and vegetable soup.

The dry ingredients fit into a 1-pint Mason jar. Once broth and cooked chicken were added and everything had time to cook, that little collection of dried ingredients turned into four cups of soup—two generous servings.

That surprised me a little.

It also made me think about how useful small pantry projects can be.

The jar didn’t contain a complete meal in the traditional sense. It contained the ingredients that made the meal easy to put together later.

That’s the distinction I want to explore this week.

You Don’t Have to Preserve Everything

I also don’t think every ingredient needs to be dehydrated at home.

I’ve dehydrated meat before, and while it can certainly be done, I’ve found that it takes considerably more time than I want to spend for the way I cook.

For me, buying some cooked rotisserie chicken and using it for several meals makes more sense.

Commercially canned meats can serve a similar purpose.

Canned chicken, tuna, salmon, or other shelf-stable proteins can give you options without taking up valuable freezer space.

The same principle applies to dried beans and lentils. They’re already shelf-stable pantry ingredients. They don’t need to be dehydrated to earn their place on the shelf.

Preserving food isn’t about doing everything yourself. It’s about making good use of what you have.

Build Around the Way You Actually Cook

This might be the most important pantry rule of all:

Don’t build a pantry for the person you think you should be. Build one for the person you actually are.

If you make soup often, keep ingredients for soup.

If you eat a lot of rice bowls, keep ingredients that can become rice bowls.

If you cook for one or two, don’t fill your shelves with ingredients designed for feeding twelve people.

If freezer space is limited, look for shelf-stable ingredients that can take some of the pressure off the freezer.

And if you have limited storage space, small jars and small batches can be an advantage rather than a limitation.

You can put away a little at a time without having to find room for a mountain of food.

The Pantry Is There to Help You

A well-stocked pantry shouldn’t become another source of work.

It should make life easier.

Maybe it’s a night when you don’t feel like going to the grocery store.

Maybe the weather makes a trip inconvenient.

Maybe you’re trying to stretch the grocery budget until payday.

Maybe you simply have a little chicken left over and a jar of vegetables waiting on the shelf.

That’s when the pantry earns its keep.

A few ingredients that have already been put away can turn “What are we going to have for dinner?” into a much easier question.

One Jar at a Time

I don’t expect to build my pantry all at once.

I don’t need to.

A jar of dehydrated vegetables here.

A few dried beans there.

Some rice.

A can or two of chicken.

A little something preserved when it’s in season.

Over time, those small additions begin to add up.

And that’s really the heart of Put a Little Back:

You don’t have to put away a lot. You just have to put away something useful.

One jar at a time.

A Simple Way to Start

If you’re interested in building a small pantry of your own, start with something you already eat.

Choose one vegetable that’s inexpensive and plentiful.

Dehydrate a small batch.

Store it properly.

Label it.

Then, sometime later, actually cook with it.

That’s the part that matters.

Because the goal isn’t to have jars sitting on a shelf.

The goal is to have ingredients waiting to become dinner. 🍲

And that’s exactly what we’ll be exploring throughout this week.

Posted in Kitchen Tips, Seasonal, Soups & Stews

Freezer Clean-Out Vegetable Soup

Posted on by simplegoodfood

There comes a point when a freezer needs more than another package added to it.

It needs a little cleaning out.

That’s not a failure of freezer planning. It’s actually part of successful food preservation.

All week, we’ve been talking about putting food back: freezing green beans while they’re plentiful, saving cooked chicken for another meal, portioning vegetables for future dinners, and keeping an inventory so we know what we have.

Now it’s time to use some of it.

This Freezer Clean-Out Vegetable Soup is exactly the kind of meal I want waiting at the end of a week like this. It’s flexible, comforting, economical, and designed around the odds and ends already living in your freezer.

You don’t need exactly the vegetables listed below.

Look in the freezer. See what needs to be used. Make soup.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • A practical way to use assorted frozen vegetables.
  • Perfect for small amounts of several different vegetables.
  • A great home for leftover cooked chicken, turkey, or beef.
  • Makes about 6 cups, or 4 smaller servings.
  • Uses inexpensive pantry staples.
  • Naturally adaptable to whatever you have available.
  • Helps prevent preserved food from becoming forgotten food.
  • Freezes well, making it possible to enjoy some now and save the rest.
simplegoodfood's avatarsimplegoodfood

Freezer Clean-Out Vegetable Soup

This Freezer Clean-Out Vegetable Soup is exactly the kind of meal I want waiting at the end of a week like this.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Soup
Cuisine: American
Calories: 400
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 cup diced onion
  • 1 medium carrot diced
  • 1 celery stalk diced
  • 1 clove garlic minced, or 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 4 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 can 14.5 ounces diced tomatoes, undrained
  • 2 cups assorted frozen vegetables
  • 1 cup cooked chicken chopped or shredded
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
  • 1/2 cup cooked pasta rice, or diced cooked potatoes, optional
  • 1 tablespoon fresh parsley optional, for serving

Method
 

Start With the Fresh Vegetables
  1. Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat.
  2. Add the onion, carrot, and celery.
  3. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables begin to soften.
  4. Add the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds.
  5. If you’re using garlic powder instead, add it with the other seasonings later.
Build the Soup
  1. Add the broth and diced tomatoes.
  2. Stir in the thyme, parsley, black pepper, and salt.
  3. Bring the soup to a gentle boil.
  4. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, giving the fresh vegetables time to become tender.
Clean Out That Freezer
  1. Now comes the fun part.
  2. Add your 2 cups of assorted frozen vegetables.
  3. This is where you get to look at what you actually have.
  4. Green beans?
  5. Absolutely.
  6. Corn?
  7. Throw it in.
  8. Peas?
  9. Perfect.
  10. Mixed vegetables?
  11. That’s practically what this recipe was waiting for.
  12. A few broccoli florets? Some frozen carrots? Peppers? Zucchini?
  13. All fair game.
  14. You don’t have to use exactly two cups, either. If you have a little more or a little less, adjust the amount of broth to keep the soup consistency you like.
Add the Chicken
  1. Stir in the cooked chicken.
  2. Simmer for another 8–10 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender and everything is heated through.
  3. If you’re using previously frozen cooked chicken, make sure it has been thawed safely and reheated thoroughly.
Add a Little Something Extra
  1. If you have leftover cooked rice, pasta, or potatoes, this is a wonderful place to use them.
  2. Add about 1/2 cup during the last few minutes of cooking, just long enough to heat through.
  3. This is optional, but it can turn a simple vegetable soup into a more substantial meal.
Taste and Adjust
  1. Taste the soup.
  2. Does it need more salt?
  3. A little more thyme?
  4. Another splash of broth?
  5. Adjust it to suit what you’ve put into the pot.
  6. Remember that your vegetables and broth may already contain salt, so it’s better to start conservatively and add more if needed.
Serve
  1. Ladle the hot soup into bowls and finish with fresh parsley if you have it.
  2. Serve with a piece of crusty bread, crackers, or a simple sandwich if you’d like.
  3. Or just enjoy a bowl of soup.
  4. Sometimes that’s enough.

Notes

What Counts as a “Freezer Clean-Out” Vegetable?

Almost anything that’s appropriate for soup.
Here’s a handy way to think about it.

Great Choices

  • Green beans
  • Corn
  • Peas
  • Carrots
  • Mixed vegetables
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Diced peppers
  • Spinach
  • Zucchini
  • Shelled lima beans
You can combine several vegetables or use just one or two.

Vegetables That Cook Quickly

Tender vegetables such as peas, corn, and spinach generally don’t need as much cooking time.
Add them toward the end.

Vegetables That Need More Time

Carrots, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and similar vegetables may need a little longer to become tender.
That’s why they’re added before the final few minutes of cooking.
The beauty of a clean-out soup is that you can adjust the timing based on what’s actually in your pot.

Change the Protein

Chicken is a natural fit, but it isn’t required.

Try:

  • Cooked turkey
  • Leftover roast beef
  • Cooked pork
  • Beans
  • Lentils

Or leave the meat out completely.

If you have several small amounts of cooked meat in the freezer, this is a great opportunity to use them rather than letting them become permanent freezer residents.

Change the Flavor

The recipe above is intentionally mild.

But you can take the soup in different directions without completely changing the basic idea.

For a more Italian-style soup, add Italian seasoning and a little Parmesan when serving.

For a chicken-and-herb soup, use thyme, parsley, and a little rosemary.

For a tomato-rich vegetable soup, add another small can of tomatoes.

For a heartier meal, add cooked pasta, rice, barley, or potatoes.

The point isn’t to follow a rigid recipe.

It’s to have a reliable framework for using what you already have.

Stretch Every Grocery Dollar

This may be one of the most economical recipes you’ll make all month.

The broth and canned tomatoes form the foundation.

The vegetables can come from your freezer.

The chicken can be leftover or previously meal-prepped.

The rice, pasta, or potatoes can be leftovers.

You’re taking ingredients that might otherwise sit around separately and turning them into one satisfying meal.

That’s not just economical.

It’s smart cooking.

Waste Not, Want Not

This is probably the most important section of this particular recipe.

A freezer clean-out isn’t an excuse to throw away food simply because it has been frozen for a while.

Instead, it’s an opportunity to pay attention to what you have and use food while it’s still at its best quality.

That’s why labeling and inventory matter.

If you’ve been dating your freezer packages and rotating older food forward, you already have a head start.

And if you discover something you no longer remember putting away?

That’s a pretty good sign that it’s time for a freezer reset.

Cooking for One or Two

This recipe makes about 6 cups, which gives you approximately 4 servings of 1½ cups each.

For one person, that’s several easy meals.

For two people, it’s dinner with leftovers.

If you’d rather make a smaller batch, simply cut the ingredients approximately in half.

This is also one of those recipes where a little variation isn’t going to hurt anything.

Don’t have exactly 2 cups of vegetables?

Use what you have.

Have extra chicken?

Add it.

Have only one kind of vegetable?

That’s fine, too.

Soup is forgiving.

Meal Prep Note

Soup is one of my favorite foods to prepare ahead.

Once cooled appropriately, portion the soup into containers sized for the meals you expect to eat.

Keep what you’ll use soon in the refrigerator and freeze the rest if desired.

For the best quality, leave appropriate space in freezer containers for expansion and label them with the contents and date.

The National Center for Home Food Preservation’s guidance on packaging and labeling frozen foods offers useful recommendations for choosing containers, allowing for expansion, and labeling frozen foods.

Storage & Freezing

Refrigerate leftover soup promptly in shallow containers so it cools more quickly.

For best quality, refrigerated leftovers should generally be eaten within 3–4 days.

If you want to freeze the soup, portion it into freezer-safe containers, leaving appropriate headspace for expansion. Label each container with the name and date.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service guidance on leftovers and food safety provides current recommendations for cooling, storing, reheating, and using leftovers safely.

When reheating soup, heat it thoroughly before serving.

A Little Freezer Math

Here’s something I hope you notice about this recipe.

Earlier this week, we froze green beans.

We talked about cooked chicken as a freezer ingredient.

We discussed portioning food according to future meals.

We started an inventory.

And now we’re using those things.

That’s the cycle.

Buy or harvest.

Prepare.

Preserve.

Organize.

Use.

Then do it again.

That’s a much healthier freezer habit than simply adding more and more food.

Preserving Food Is Only Half the Job

A freezer full of carefully preserved food can feel like an accomplishment.

And it is.

But there’s another step.

Eat it.

If you never use the green beans, they weren’t really helping you.

If the cooked chicken sits untouched for a year, it wasn’t much of a meal plan.

If your freezer is so full that you can’t see what you have, the abundance has become a problem instead of a solution.

Successful preservation isn’t measured by how full the freezer is.

It’s measured by how often that food makes your life easier.

Today’s Harvest, Tomorrow’s Dinner

This soup is a fitting way to finish our week because it doesn’t require perfection.

It doesn’t care whether you froze your vegetables in matching containers.

It doesn’t care whether you have exactly the right combination of vegetables.

It doesn’t even care whether you planned this meal last Tuesday.

It simply asks:

What’s in the freezer that needs to become dinner?

Pull out a few vegetables.

Add some chicken.

Open a can of tomatoes.

Pour in some broth.

Give everything a little time together in the pot.

And there you are.

Dinner.

That’s the whole philosophy behind “Today’s Harvest is Tomorrow’s Dinner.”

Put a little back when food is plentiful.

Know what you have.

Use what you saved.

And when the freezer needs a little breathing room, make soup.

Preservation isn’t successful because we saved the food.

It’s successful because we eventually enjoyed it.

Posted in Chicken Meals, Rice Bowls, Seasonal

Harvest Chicken & Green Bean Rice Bowls

Posted on by simplegoodfood

Remember those green beans we put in the freezer earlier this week?

Now they’re dinner.

These Harvest Chicken & Green Bean Rice Bowls are a simple example of why I like preserving ingredients instead of only preserving finished meals. A portion of frozen green beans, some cooked chicken, rice, and a handful of pantry staples come together in a warm, satisfying bowl.

It’s not complicated.

It’s not fancy.

It’s just a good meal waiting in the freezer.

And that’s exactly what we’re after this September.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Uses frozen green beans, making it a great follow-up to our Put a Little Back feature.
  • A practical way to use leftover or meal-prepped chicken.
  • Makes just 2 servings, perfect for a small household.
  • Uses inexpensive pantry staples.
  • The vegetables, protein, and grain are all in one bowl.
  • Easy to customize with whatever vegetables you have available.
  • A good example of turning preserved ingredients into an actual meal.

🥣 Build Your Bowl

Base

Cooked brown or white rice.

Protein

Cooked chicken, shredded or chopped.

Vegetables

Frozen green beans, plus optional additional vegetables such as carrots, corn, or bell peppers.

Sauce

A simple savory garlic-soy sauce.

Fresh Finish

Fresh parsley or sliced green onion adds a little brightness.

Optional Toppings

  • Sesame seeds
  • Sliced green onion
  • A small sprinkle of shredded Parmesan
  • A squeeze of lemon

Make It Your Own

This is a bowl, not a rulebook.

Use whatever rice you have. Swap the chicken for cooked turkey. Add another vegetable. Change the sauce.

The important part is the basic formula:

Grain + protein + vegetables + sauce = dinner.

simplegoodfood's avatarsimplegoodfood

Harvest Chicken & Green Bean Rice Bowls

A portion of frozen green beans, some cooked chicken, rice, and a handful of pantry staples come together in a warm, satisfying bowl.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings: 2
Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: American
Calories: 475
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Bowls
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
  • 2 cups frozen green beans prepared for freezing and thawed
  • 2 cups cooked chicken chopped or shredded
  • 1/2 cup diced carrots
  • 1/2 cup diced bell pepper
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt or to taste
For the Simple Sauce
  • 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon low-sodium chicken broth or water
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar or lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
For Serving
  • 1 tablespoon sliced green onion or fresh parsley
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds optional

Method
 

Prepare the Rice
  1. If you don’t already have cooked rice available, prepare enough for about 1 1/2 cups cooked rice.
  2. Leftover rice is perfect for this recipe.
  3. If you’re using refrigerated leftover rice, make sure it has been stored properly and reheat it thoroughly before serving.
Make the Sauce
  1. In a small bowl, whisk together the soy sauce, chicken broth or water, honey, rice vinegar or lemon juice, and garlic powder.
  2. Set aside.
Cook the Vegetables
  1. Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium heat.
  2. Add the carrots and bell pepper. Cook for about 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Add the frozen green beans.
  4. Cook for another 4–5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are hot and tender-crisp.
  5. If the green beans are already fully cooked from a previous preparation, they only need enough time to heat through.
Add the Chicken
  1. Add the cooked chicken to the skillet.
  2. Sprinkle with the garlic powder, thyme, black pepper, and salt.
  3. Stir everything together and cook until the chicken is heated through.
Add the Sauce
  1. Pour the sauce over the chicken and vegetables.
  2. Stir gently and cook for another 1–2 minutes, just long enough for the sauce to coat everything.
  3. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Build the Bowls
  1. Divide the warm rice between two bowls.
  2. Top each with half of the chicken and vegetable mixture.
  3. Finish with fresh parsley or green onion and sesame seeds, if desired.
  4. Serve warm.

Notes

A Very Good Use for Frozen Green Beans

This is exactly why I like freezing vegetables in meal-sized portions.
The green beans don’t have to become a recipe all by themselves.
They can simply become part of a recipe.
On Wednesday, they’re a package in the freezer.
On Friday, they’re vegetables in dinner.
That’s a pretty good return on a little bit of preservation work.

Use What You Have

The basic combination here is chicken, green beans, and rice, but you can easily adjust it.

Swap the Protein

Try:

  • Cooked turkey
  • Leftover pork
  • Rotisserie chicken
  • Cooked shrimp

Change the Vegetables

Use what needs to be used.

Try:

  • Corn
  • Peas
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Zucchini
  • Mushrooms
  • Extra carrots
  • Frozen mixed vegetables

Change the Grain

Rice is inexpensive and versatile, but you could also use:

  • Brown rice
  • Wild rice blend
  • Quinoa
  • Barley
  • Farro

Or skip the grain and serve the chicken and vegetables over mashed potatoes.

A Simple Sauce Goes a Long Way

You don’t need a complicated sauce to make a good bowl.

The combination of a little low-sodium soy sauce, honey, acid, and garlic gives the chicken and vegetables plenty of flavor without making the meal heavily seasoned.

If you prefer a different direction, try a simple lemon-herb sauce instead.

Or use a spoonful of your favorite prepared sauce from the refrigerator.

This is one of the advantages of bowl meals:

the basic ingredients can stay the same while the flavor changes.

Stretch Every Grocery Dollar

This is a particularly economical meal because several of the ingredients can do double duty.

Cook a little extra chicken for another meal.

Make extra rice and refrigerate or freeze it in useful portions.

Buy green beans when they’re plentiful and preserve some for later.

Use the last carrot or bell pepper in the refrigerator instead of letting it become waste.

You’re not trying to make an elaborate meal from expensive ingredients.

You’re combining inexpensive ingredients that you already know how to use.

Waste Not, Want Not

This recipe is practically designed for leftovers.

Have half a bell pepper?

Use it.

A lonely carrot?

Dice it up.

A little leftover chicken?

Perfect.

Some cooked rice from yesterday?

Even better.

That’s one of my favorite kinds of cooking—looking at what you already have and figuring out how to make it into something worth eating.

Cooking for One or Two

This recipe makes 2 servings, but it’s easy to adjust.

Cooking for one?

Make one bowl and refrigerate the remaining ingredients separately for another meal.

Cooking for two?

Make both bowls and enjoy dinner together.

If you’re planning ahead, you can also prepare the chicken, vegetables, and rice separately and assemble the bowls when you’re ready to eat.

Meal Prep Note

This recipe works especially well as a small meal-prep project.

Prepare the chicken, rice, and vegetables ahead of time and refrigerate them separately.

When you’re ready for dinner, reheat what you need and add the sauce.

You can also portion the cooked components into two meal containers for easy lunches.

The key is keeping the components useful enough that you’re not locked into eating exactly the same meal twice.

Storage & Freezing

Refrigerate leftovers promptly in a covered container.

For best quality, enjoy refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days.

If you’re using previously frozen green beans, thaw them safely and keep them refrigerated until you’re ready to cook them.

I don’t recommend refreezing the completed rice bowl. Instead, freeze the individual ingredients when appropriate and assemble fresh bowls when you’re ready to eat.

For current food-storage and food-safety recommendations, the USDA’s guidance on Freezing and Food Safety is a useful reference.

Recipe Information

Yield: About 4 cups, 2 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: About 20 minutes
Equipment: 10-inch skillet, small mixing bowl

Today’s Harvest, Tomorrow’s Dinner

This bowl is really the whole September preservation idea in miniature.

You bought or harvested the green beans while they were plentiful.

You prepared and froze them.

You labeled them and put them away.

And now you’ve pulled them back out and made dinner.

That’s the point of putting food back.

Not a freezer full of food you never use.

Not a collection of containers that eventually become mystery packages.

Just good ingredients, saved at the right time, ready when you need them.

Today’s harvest really can become tomorrow’s dinner.

Posted in Recipe Roundup

Make the Most of September’s Harvest: 7 Simple Ways to Buy, Cook & Preserve

Posted on by simplegoodfood

September has a way of making the kitchen feel a little more abundant.

The farm stands are full. Corn is piled high. Tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, onions, potatoes, and other seasonal vegetables are everywhere you look. It’s tempting to bring home a little bit of everything.

But making the most of the harvest isn’t about buying everything you can carry.

It’s about buying what you’ll use, enjoying what’s fresh, putting a little back, and making tomorrow’s meals easier.

That’s the idea behind this week’s collection of GoodFoodGoodMeat.Blog posts.

🍂 The September Harvest Approach

There are really four steps to making the most of seasonal abundance:

Buy it at its peak.
Look for what’s plentiful, fresh, and reasonably priced.

Use it well.
Build simple meals around what you already have.

Put a little back.
When something is especially good and plentiful, preserve an amount that makes sense for your household.

Use it later.
The food you preserve isn’t just something sitting in the freezer or pantry. It’s an ingredient waiting for a future meal.

That’s the philosophy behind all seven posts in this week’s harvest collection.

🌽 This Week’s Harvest Collection

When the Farm Stand is Full
Check out this recipe
Smart Shopper Spotlight: What to Buy When It’s in Season
Check out this recipe
Harvest Chicken & Vegetable Skillet
Tender pieces of chicken are cooked with sweet corn, zucchini, bell pepper, onion, and tomatoes for a simple skillet dinner that tastes like the best of late summer and early fall.
Check out this recipe
Put a Little Back: Sweet Corn — Today’s Corn, Tomorrow’s Meals
Check out this recipe
How Much Should You Actually Preserve?
Check out this recipe
Harvest Corn & Chicken Rice Bowls
There is something satisfying about putting food away when it's at its best and then actually using it later.
Check out this recipe
Farm Stand Vegetable Fritatta
When the farm stand is full, make a frittata!
Check out this recipe

Start With What’s in Front of You

Our week begins at the farm stand.

When the Farm Stand is Full

A full farm stand is an invitation to pay attention—not necessarily an invitation to buy everything.

The opening article looks at how to recognize seasonal abundance and make thoughtful choices about what comes home with you.

The goal is simple:

Buy what is good. Buy what you’ll use. And when it makes sense, buy a little extra for later.

🛒 Shop With a Plan

Once you know what’s plentiful, the next question is what actually belongs in your basket.

Smart Shopper Spotlight: What to Buy When It’s in Season

Seasonal shopping can be a great way to find fresh produce at good prices, but the smartest purchase isn’t necessarily the biggest one.

This article looks at how to think about:

  • What’s actually in season
  • How much you’ll realistically use
  • Whether you have room to store it
  • Whether you have time to preserve it
  • How buying seasonal produce can help reduce waste
  • When buying extra makes sense

Because a bargain isn’t really a bargain if half of it ends up in the trash.

🍗 Cook the Harvest Now

Fresh seasonal vegetables don’t have to become an elaborate project.

Harvest Chicken & Vegetable Skillet

This colorful one-skillet dinner brings together tender chicken with sweet corn, zucchini, bell pepper, tomatoes, and onion.

It’s exactly the kind of meal that makes seasonal shopping worthwhile.

You don’t need a complicated recipe when good ingredients are already doing most of the work.

And because the recipe is flexible, it’s also a good reminder that a recipe can be a starting point rather than a set of rules.

Use what looks good.

Use what you have.

Make dinner.

🫙 Put a Little Back

Of course, you don’t have to eat every bit of the harvest this week.

Some of it can become future meals.

Put a Little Back: Sweet Corn — Today’s Corn, Tomorrow’s Meals

Sweet corn is a perfect example.

When it’s fresh and plentiful, you can enjoy some now and freeze some for later.

This post walks through the basic process for freezing whole-kernel sweet corn, including blanching, cooling, cutting the kernels from the cob, portioning, packaging, and labeling.

The goal isn’t to fill the freezer.

It’s to create useful portions of a food you already know you’ll eat.

Today’s corn becomes tomorrow’s ingredient.

When preserving food at home, always check current, tested recommendations for the specific food and preservation method you’re using. The National Center for Home Food Preservation is an excellent source for research-based home-preservation guidance.

📦 How Much Is Enough?

Once you start thinking about preserving food, another question naturally follows:

How much should I actually put away?

How Much Should You Actually Preserve?

The answer isn’t the same for everyone.

Someone cooking for one has different needs from a family of six. A person with a small freezer has different options from someone with a large chest freezer.

Your preservation plan should be based on:

  • What you actually eat
  • How often you eat it
  • How much you use at a time
  • How much you’ll continue buying fresh
  • How much storage space you have
  • How much time you have available for preservation

Think in meals and portions, not just pounds and bushels.

The goal isn’t the fullest pantry.

The goal is having enough of the foods you actually use.

🥣 Turn “Later” Into Dinner

And this is where the whole idea comes together.

Harvest Corn & Chicken Rice Bowls

Remember that sweet corn we put away?

Here’s one way to use it.

These rice bowls combine chicken, sweet corn, seasonal vegetables, and brown rice for a simple meal that works beautifully with either fresh corn or the frozen corn you saved earlier.

That’s the payoff of preservation.

You aren’t preserving food simply so you can say you preserved it.

You’re creating future meal ingredients.

A package of corn in the freezer becomes part of dinner.

🥚 And Don’t Forget What’s Already in the Refrigerator

Not every harvest meal needs to begin with a trip to the farm stand.

Sometimes the smartest thing you can do is look around your own kitchen.

Farm Stand Vegetable Frittata

A frittata is one of those wonderfully forgiving recipes that can turn a handful of vegetables into a real meal.

Zucchini.

Peppers.

Tomatoes.

Corn.

Onions.

Leftover roasted vegetables.

A few eggs can bring them all together.

It’s a particularly good recipe for the end of the week because it encourages us to use what we have rather than buying something new.

Good food doesn’t have to be complicated to be useful.

The “Put a Little Back” Philosophy

If there’s one idea I hope sticks with you from this week’s collection, it’s this:

You don’t have to preserve everything.

You don’t need a freezer packed to the ceiling.

You don’t need dozens of jars lined up in the pantry.

You don’t need to spend every weekend of harvest season working in the kitchen.

You simply need to recognize what makes sense for your household.

Maybe that’s a few bags of sweet corn.

Maybe it’s a batch of tomato sauce.

Maybe it’s some dehydrated vegetables for winter soups.

Maybe it’s nothing at all this week because you already have enough.

All of those choices are perfectly reasonable.

The purpose of preservation isn’t to create more work.

It’s to make good use of abundance.

Buy It at Its Peak. Use It Well.

That’s really the story of this entire week.

The farm stand is full.

You notice what’s plentiful.

You buy what you’ll actually use.

You cook some while it’s fresh.

You preserve a little when it makes sense.

And later, when you’re standing in the kitchen wondering what’s for dinner, you discover that your past self already did you a favor.

“Oh, good. I already have some.”

That’s one of my favorite benefits of putting food back.

It’s not about stockpiling.

It’s about cooking for your future self.

A Little Harvest Wisdom

There’s another benefit to thinking this way.

When you start looking at food in terms of use, storage, and future meals, you naturally become a little more aware of what you buy.

You notice what’s sitting in the refrigerator.

You think twice before buying more.

You find ways to use leftovers.

You learn which foods are worth preserving for your household—and which aren’t.

And that brings us right back to an old-fashioned idea that still makes plenty of sense:

Waste not, want not.

You don’t have to use every scrap perfectly every single time.

You just have to keep looking for ways to make good use of what you have.

Before You Preserve

Food preservation is one area where “that’s how I’ve always done it” isn’t necessarily enough.

Different foods require different preservation methods, and safe processing depends on the food, the method, and the recipe or procedure being used.

Before freezing, drying, or especially canning food, check current, tested guidance from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

For broader food-safety and storage questions, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service provides additional guidance.

A few minutes spent checking current recommendations is worth it.

We’re putting food back because we want to enjoy it later—not because we want to take unnecessary chances with it.

Make September Work for You

You don’t have to follow every idea in this collection.

Pick the ones that fit your life.

Maybe you’re a regular farmers-market shopper.

Maybe you have a tiny refrigerator freezer.

Maybe you’re cooking for one.

Maybe you’re feeding two people and deliberately trying to keep grocery spending under control.

Maybe you simply hate throwing good food away.

Wherever you start, the principle is the same:

Buy what is good.
Use what you have.
Put a little back.
Enjoy it later.

That’s how we make the most of September’s harvest.

And that’s how today’s good food becomes tomorrow’s good meal.

Posted in Breakfast, Side Dishes, Skillet Meals

Farm Stand Vegetable Frittata

Posted on by simplegoodfood

A simple, colorful frittata for breakfast, lunch, or an easy meatless supper.

When the farm stand is overflowing with beautiful vegetables, sometimes the best recipe is the one that doesn’t ask you to choose just one.

This Farm Stand Vegetable Frittata brings together whatever looks freshest—zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, onions, corn, and fresh herbs—with eggs and a little cheese. Everything comes together in one oven-safe skillet for a meal that’s simple, satisfying, and wonderfully adaptable.

It’s also a great way to use those odds and ends of vegetables that aren’t quite enough for another recipe.

That’s farm stand cooking at its best: buy what’s good, use what you have, and waste as little as possible.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Flexible: Use the vegetables you have instead of making a special shopping trip.
  • Meatless: Eggs provide the protein while the vegetables bring color and flavor.
  • Small-batch friendly: Four servings makes this practical for singles and couples.
  • Good for any meal: Breakfast, brunch, lunch, or a light supper.
  • One skillet: Sauté the vegetables and bake the frittata in the same pan.
  • Budget-friendly: A few eggs and seasonal vegetables go a long way.
  • Great for leftovers: Refrigerate individual portions for easy breakfasts or lunches.

🥣 Build Your Bowl

Okay, this one isn’t technically a bowl—but the same “build it from what you have” philosophy applies.

Base:
Eggs and egg whites

Protein:
Eggs, with Greek yogurt adding a little extra protein

Vegetables:
Zucchini, bell pepper, onion, corn, and tomatoes

Sauce:
No sauce needed

Fresh Finish:
Fresh parsley or basil

Optional Toppings:
A little Parmesan, sliced avocado, or a spoonful of Greek yogurt

Make It Your Own:
Open the refrigerator and see what needs to be used. A frittata is one of the easiest ways to turn a handful of leftover vegetables into a real meal.

simplegoodfood's avatarsimplegoodfood

Farm Stand Vegetable Fritatta

When the farm stand is full, make a frittata!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Breakfast, Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: American
Calories: 285
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 6 large eggs
  • 4 large egg whites
  • ⅓ cup plain Greek yogurt
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • ½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ small onion diced
  • 1 small zucchini diced
  • ½ red bell pepper diced
  • ½ cup fresh or thawed frozen sweet corn
  • ½ cup cherry tomatoes halved
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • ½ cup shredded reduced-fat mozzarella or Monterey Jack cheese
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley or basil

Method
 

Preheat the oven.
  1. Preheat your oven to 375°F.
Prepare the egg mixture.
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg whites, Greek yogurt, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning until well combined.
Sauté the vegetables.
  1. Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch oven-safe skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook for 2–3 minutes.Add the zucchini and corn and continue cooking for another 3–4 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften.
Add the tomatoes and garlic.
  1. Stir in the tomatoes and garlic and cook for about 1 minute.
Add the eggs.
  1. Spread the vegetables evenly around the skillet. Pour the egg mixture over them and gently shake the skillet so the eggs settle around the vegetables.
Add the cheese.
  1. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top.
Begin cooking on the stovetop.
  1. Cook without stirring for about 2 minutes, allowing the edges of the eggs to begin setting.
Finish in the oven.
  1. Transfer the skillet to the preheated oven. Bake for approximately 15–18 minutes, or until the center is set and the eggs reach 160°F.
Rest and garnish.
  1. Remove the skillet from the oven and let the frittata rest for about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with fresh parsley or basil, slice into wedges, and serve.

Notes

Make It Your Own
This is one of those recipes where I actually want you to change it.
The vegetables listed here are simply a starting point.
Try:
  • Green beans instead of zucchini
  • Spinach instead of corn
  • Mushrooms instead of peppers
  • Roasted potatoes for a heartier frittata
  • Broccoli or cauliflower for extra vegetables
  • Fresh herbs instead of dried seasoning
  • A little Parmesan instead of shredded cheese
Just remember that vegetables with a lot of moisture—such as fresh tomatoes, mushrooms, or zucchini—should be cooked first so they don’t release too much liquid into the eggs.

What About Leftover Vegetables?

This is where I especially love a frittata.

Have half a bell pepper left from another recipe?

Use it.

A handful of cooked green beans?

Into the frittata they go.

A little leftover roasted zucchini?

Perfect.

A few tablespoons of corn?

Absolutely.

The vegetables don’t all have to be perfectly fresh from the farm stand. In fact, a frittata is one of those recipes that can help keep perfectly good food from becoming food waste.

Just make sure cooked leftovers have been stored safely and are still within their recommended refrigerated storage time.

Serving Suggestions

Serve a wedge of frittata with:

  • Fresh fruit
  • Whole-grain toast
  • A simple green salad
  • Roasted potatoes
  • Fresh tomatoes
  • A spoonful of Greek yogurt

For breakfast or brunch, fruit and whole-grain toast make an easy combination.

For lunch or dinner, add a salad and you’ve got a light, satisfying meal.

Make-Ahead and Leftovers

Frittata is excellent for meal prep.

Once cooled, cut the leftovers into individual portions and refrigerate them in covered containers.

Reheat gently in the microwave or in a skillet until heated through.

For the best quality, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days.

You can also enjoy leftover frittata cold or at room temperature, making it a convenient option for a quick lunch.

A Farm Stand Recipe Without a Shopping List

There’s something I particularly like about this recipe.

It doesn’t send you to the grocery store with a list of twelve ingredients.

It sends you to the farm stand—or your own refrigerator—and says:

What looks good? What do I already have? What needs to be used?

That’s a pretty good way to cook.

And it’s exactly the mindset we’ve been talking about all week.

Buy what’s plentiful.

Enjoy it while it’s fresh.

Put a little back when it makes sense.

And use what you have.

Nutrition Estimate

Per serving: approximately 285 calories and 23g protein.

Nutrition is an estimate and will vary depending on the specific ingredients and brands used.

Food Safety Note

Cook the frittata until the center reaches 160°F, measured with a food thermometer. Refrigerate leftovers promptly and use within 3–4 days.

If you’re using previously cooked vegetables or other leftovers, make sure they have been stored safely and are still within their recommended storage time.

One Last Look at the Farm Stand

This week started with a simple idea:

When the farm stand is full, pay attention.

Not because you need to buy everything.

Because abundance gives you choices.

You can cook a skillet dinner with it.

You can freeze some sweet corn for later.

You can plan how much preservation actually makes sense for your household.

And you can take a handful of those beautiful vegetables and turn them into a frittata.

That’s the kind of seasonal cooking I love.

Simple food. Good ingredients. Nothing wasted. And plenty of room to make it your own.

Posted in Rice Bowls

Harvest Corn & Chicken Rice Bowls

Posted on by simplegoodfood

A colorful, protein-packed bowl that turns seasonal corn into an easy meal for today—or months from now.

There is something satisfying about putting food away when it’s at its best and then actually using it later.

That’s exactly what these Harvest Corn & Chicken Rice Bowls are about.

Tender seasoned chicken, sweet corn, colorful vegetables, and fluffy brown rice come together in a simple bowl topped with a fresh squeeze of lime and a little parsley. It’s an easy meal during harvest season, but it’s also a perfect way to use some of that sweet corn you froze when it was plentiful.

Today’s harvest really can become tomorrow’s dinner.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

  • Uses seasonal ingredients: Sweet corn, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini are right at home here.
  • Great for preserved corn: Pull a portion of frozen sweet corn from the freezer when fresh corn is no longer available.
  • High in protein: Chicken provides a satisfying protein base.
  • Meal-prep friendly: The components can be prepared ahead and assembled when you’re ready to eat.
  • Flexible: Change the vegetables, grain, or toppings to suit what you have.
  • Small-batch friendly: Four servings means dinner for two with leftovers, or easy individual lunches.
  • Budget conscious: Rice and seasonal vegetables help stretch a pound of chicken.

🥣 Build Your Bowl

Base:
Brown rice

Protein:
Seasoned chicken breast

Vegetables:
Sweet corn, zucchini, red bell pepper, and cherry tomatoes

Sauce:
A simple lime-and-olive-oil drizzle

Fresh Finish:
Fresh parsley and lime juice

Optional Toppings:
Avocado, a sprinkle of Parmesan, or a spoonful of Greek yogurt

Make It Your Own:
Use whatever seasonal vegetables you have on hand. Yellow squash can replace zucchini, green beans can replace the peppers, and leftover roasted vegetables work beautifully, too.

simplegoodfood's avatarsimplegoodfood

Harvest Corn & Chicken Rice Bowls

There is something satisfying about putting food away when it's at its best and then actually using it later.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings: 4
Course: Dinner, Lunch
Cuisine: American
Calories: 475
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

For the Rice Bowls
  • 1 cup uncooked brown rice
  • 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil divided
  • 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt divided
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 medium zucchini diced
  • 1 red bell pepper diced
  • 1 cup sweet corn fresh or thawed frozen
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
For the Lime Drizzle
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 small clove garlic finely minced
  • Pinch of salt

Method
 

Cook the rice.
  1. Prepare the brown rice according to the package directions. Once cooked, fluff with a fork and keep warm.
Season the chicken.
  1. Place the chicken in a bowl and toss with Italian seasoning, garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon of the salt, and black pepper.
Cook the chicken.
  1. Heat 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for about 5–7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned and cooked through. Transfer the chicken to a clean plate.
Cook the vegetables.
  1. Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the skillet. Add the zucchini and bell pepper. Cook for 3–4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften.
Add the harvest vegetables.
  1. Stir in the corn and tomatoes. Cook for another 3–4 minutes, until the corn is heated through and the tomatoes begin to soften.
Return the chicken.
  1. Add the cooked chicken back to the skillet and stir everything together. Cook for another minute or two to bring the flavors together.
Make the lime drizzle.
  1. In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, honey, garlic, and a pinch of salt.
Build the bowls.
  1. Divide the warm rice among four bowls. Top with the chicken and vegetable mixture. Drizzle lightly with the lime dressing and finish with fresh parsley.
Serve.
  1. Add any optional toppings you like and serve warm.

Notes

Using Your Frozen Sweet Corn

This is where Wednesday’s “Today’s Corn, Tomorrow’s Meals” idea gets to shine.
If you froze sweet corn during the September harvest, you can use it directly from the freezer after thawing it. Drain away any excess moisture before adding it to the skillet.
You don’t need to wait for fresh corn season to make this meal.
That’s the whole point.
A portion of corn that you prepared when it was fresh and plentiful can become part of an easy dinner weeks or months later.

Make It Your Own

The bowl is a formula more than a strict set of rules.

Try:

  • Quinoa or barley instead of brown rice.
  • Yellow squash instead of zucchini.
  • Green beans instead of bell pepper.
  • Leftover roasted vegetables when you have them.
  • Rotisserie chicken when you need a shortcut.
  • Turkey instead of chicken.
  • A sprinkle of shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack for a little extra richness.

For a little more flavor without making the dish overly spicy, try adding a pinch of smoked paprika to the chicken.

Meal Prep Tips

These bowls are easy to prepare ahead.

Cook the rice, chicken, and vegetables and store them separately or in individual meal containers. Keep the lime drizzle in a small covered container and add it just before eating.

For the best texture, reheat the rice, chicken, and vegetables before adding the fresh parsley and lime dressing.

If you’re cooking for one or two, portioning the ingredients individually means you can grab exactly one meal when you need it.

A Little Leftover Magic

Have a little chicken and vegetable mixture left over?

Don’t make another identical bowl.

Use it to make:

  • A chicken and corn quesadilla
  • A quick skillet scramble
  • A wrap
  • A simple soup
  • A stuffed baked potato

That’s one of the easiest ways to stretch a meal without making leftovers feel like punishment.

Nutrition Estimate

Per serving: approximately 475 calories and 39g protein, including the rice and lime drizzle.

Nutrition is an estimate and will vary depending on the specific ingredients and brands used.

Food Safety Note

Cook chicken to an internal temperature of 165°F, measured with a food thermometer.

If preparing these bowls ahead of time, refrigerate leftovers promptly in shallow containers. For best quality and safety, use refrigerated leftovers within 3–4 days.

From Today’s Harvest to Tomorrow’s Dinner

This is exactly why I like the idea of putting a little back.

The corn doesn’t have to be the whole meal.

It doesn’t even have to be the star.

It just has to be there when you need it.

A cup of frozen sweet corn can turn a little chicken and rice into a colorful, satisfying bowl. Add a few vegetables, a simple dressing, and you’ve got dinner.

That’s the payoff for doing a little work when the harvest was at its peak.

Buy it when it’s good. Preserve what you’ll use. Then enjoy it later.

Today’s corn just became tomorrow’s meal.