“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without” urged the WW II conservation motto. As a little girl, knowing nothing about the War effort, I thought my grandmother had coined this clever expression. Google suggests that the original maxim was “Eat is up, wear it out, make it do, or do without”- exemplifying the four threads of New England character.
A WSJ article touting the surprising versatility of bottled clam juice pointed out that many useful ingredients are only leftovers that a clever producer turned into profit. Breadcrumbs are just stale bread. Lard is rendered pork fat that was destined for the scrap heap. And clam juice is the liquor from steaming fresh clams. Making a market for these leftovers is “use it up” in a clamshell.
So what’s with the pot? It’s another version of “use it up”.
Making homemade chicken stock transforms leftovers into something that money can’t buy- stock that doesn’t have a bunch of preservatives or ingredients with unpronounceable names. The chicken bones, vegetable peelings, and tired garlic cloves that might have gone in the trash, get a starring role. A second chance. An encore performance. Bravo!
Thrifty, practical, resourceful, restrained. Maybe old-fashioned, but still good qualities, no matter where you’re from.