Saving Money During Thanksgiving and Christmas

I love Thanksgiving and Christmas!...Not just because these holidays are a nice time to spend with family and friends...but because this is a wonderful time to stock up your freezer with bargains.

Yesterday I baked a 12-pound ham...I paid 99-cents per pound...this ham will be served on Thanksgiving along with turkey...and here is how I am going to stretch my dollar;

First, I baked my ham unseasoned in my roaster on 200-degrees all morning. Water is added to the bottom of the roaster; this water keeps the ham moist and will become a rich broth. When the ham has cooled I cut it into slices and hunks;

Next the ham is put in a zip lock bag and stored in the fridge until Thanksgiving. Any ham that is leftover after our meal will be used for sandwiches over the next several days. When we are tired of ham sandwiches the last of the ham is packaged for the freezer to be used in future dishes such as scalloped potatoes; cubed and cooked with eggs for breakfast burritos...

The broth is placed in containers and set to the side;

And the bone and fat is put in a pot to be boiled for about an hour.

This second broth is added to the first and placed in the fridge so the fat will harden and can easily be skimmed.

The broth is now divided into 3 Ziploc bags, each consisting of approximately 8 cups.

My crock pot is a 5 1/2 quart size. One bag of broth is enough to make a full pot of beans; the beans are packed with flavor from the broth and go well with corn bread. The leftover beans are then packaged into 2-cup servings and placed in the freezer to be used for chili; chalupas; burritos or any recipe that calls for beans.

I love getting the most for my dollar!