The Stockpile Post - Liver and Onions

In a fit of synchronicity, the universe responded to a recent conversation between my husband and I regarding, 'How comes nobody eats liver and onions, anymore?' with a screaming deal on liver.

And onions.

The liver is at Food City until Sunday for 59c/lb and the onions are at Albertsons 3 lbs/$1.

I'm willing to bet that liver and onions has fallen so out of favor that there are entire generations of you reading who've never eaten it. Perhaps you didn't know that it was something you COULD eat.

I don't know what the real reasons are for why people don't eat liver, so I'll make something up:

Liver was supposed to be really good for you because it contained a lot of iron. Cod Liver was something kids who lived in the days of Beaver Cleaver and before had to muscle down by the tablespoonful every time they caught a sniffle. I don't know why that was, but it probably had something to do with the fact liver meat is high in iron, so good for the blood, and good blood keeps the sniffles away.

How am I doing on my made up history?

People ate liver because it was good for them. Once a week to keep their blood up. Early Weight Watchers programs required that you eat liver once a week and people choked it down even though they didn't like liver and they really didn't like Cod Liver Oil.

Then nutrition science and medical science collided. Liver contained a lot of cholesterol which made it very bad for you instead of very good for you and nobody had to eat liver anymore and liver was consigned to the pet food factories and manufacturers of paté.

YAY!!!!!!

Hold it. Not YAYYYYY!!!!

Not even 'yay'. Because liver tastes good when it's cooked good. That means not cooking it until the leftovers can be used to resole a worn heel. Cook it gently, with plenty of liquid, and a deft hand and liver is a treat.

Now the onions? Cook those for a really long time, preferably in a little bacon fat. Yes, this is probably horrible for your arteries, but I'm not saying to eat it once a week, I'm saying to eat it once in a while.

When the onions are soft and carmelized and whatever, put the thinly sliced liver in the pan with some chicken broth. Give it a minute, flip it, give it another minute, lay it over the bed of onions, serve with fava beans and a good chianti.

Sorry, I couldn't resist that last independent clause.

Look, at less than a buck for a pound of liver and and a pound of onions, give it a go. If you don't like it, toss it down the disposer. (Don't give it to your dog because somewhere in my travels I heard that onions are bad for them, although they never seemed to bother my dog any).

If you like it, you can always buy more liver for 59c/lb and freeze it for another time. If you don't, at least you followed the advice you give your kids to 'give it a try'.

By the way, it generally take 3 to 10 tries to develop a taste for something, so don't sell your first attempt short.

Okay, where was I? Oh yeah! Stockpiling.

Here's what else I'd buy at Food City:

4 dozen medium eggs at 79c/dozen
4 packages of Bar-S bologna at 49c/lb
bananas at 33c/lb (remember the muffin mix mentioned in the last post?)
chayote squash at 33c/each (I'm a newly-minted fan of this stuff, having tried it for the first time recently.)
AND
Blue Ribbon Long Grain White Rice - 49c for a 2-lb bag, 4 bag limit.

I know I advocate brown rice, but this is such a good price and rice is a great base for so many recipes, that I'd be remiss in my duty not to recommend 8 pounds of it for 2 bucks.

At Albertsons, I'd get:

a 2 lb bag of carrots for $1
6 ears of corn for $1
And those yellow onions I mentioned earlier.
I'd also buy about 10 pounds of the boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.57/lb because that's about a low as I've seen them in the last year.

Then go to Bashas to get:

16 oz containers of Bashas cottage cheese for 88c each. - That's a really good price. I whirl different fruits into smoothies with my Magic Bullet and pour it over my cottage cheese for a low-fat, high protein, high fiber treat. This morning I made a peach/blueberry mix. Yum.

half gallons of milk are 88c/each - best price in the area this week.

London Broil for $1.67 pound. I'd marinate some and have the butcher grind some up for very lean hamburger. These are value packed at 2 steaks to a pack and you're limited to buying 2 packs at a time.

Baby portabella mushrooms - 8 oz for 99c (for the steak)

Frys

grapes - 67c/lb

I'm thinking a chicken salad kind of thing with those chicken breasts, some of the walnuts I hope you purchased a few weeks back and the grapes. Grapes and chicken taste SO GOOD together.

Sprouts has

Raspberries - 99c - grab and eat as many of these as you can.
Broccoli crowns - 77c/lb - I really like broccoli, you may have guessed
Cauliflower - 99c/head - I also really like cauliflower

Have a good week!