Little or No-Cost Thanksgiving Turkey Stuffing

Some of my fondest memories as a child are of helping my mother to prepare the turkey and dressing for our Thanksgiving Day feast. My mom had this way of fixing turkey stuffing that, not only cost little or no extra money, but was absolutely delicious as well.

The Bread

For some weeks before Thanksgiving my mom would start saving the end pieces from the loaves of bread that we used. Also, if any of the slices got broken, they went into the container as well. She had a large Tupperware type container that she would put the bread pieces in, and would then keep it in the freezer to keep the bread pieces fresh. We were a family of five. With three kids taking a lunch to school, and my dad taking a lunch to work; we went through quite a bit of bread.

About three days before Thanksgiving, mom would take her container of bread out of the freezer and she and I would sit, and break the bread into small pieces and place into a large baking dish. This was so we could keep the bread pieces stirred up, and as much air as possible get to the bread to dry it out. By Thanksgiving morning, our bread was dry enough for my mom's special Turkey Stuffing.

The Celery

Celery was a staple around our house, and no Thanksgiving meal was complete without a plate of stuffed celery. When my mom would clean the bunch of celery to be stuffed with cheese or peanut butter, she would cut off the leafy green ends, chop it up fine, and set aside for the Turkey Stuffing.

The Onions

My mom used a lot of onions in her cooking, so we always had onions on hand. A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving, mom would take some of the chopped onion she had prepared for certain dishes, set it in a Tupperware type container and put in the freezer. By the time that she would prepare her Thanksgiving Turkey Stuffing, she would have enough chopped onion already prepared.

The Olives

The night before Thanksgiving, my mom and I would start putting our dishes together for the Thanksgiving meal. We would make our stuffed celery, put on a decorative plate, cover with Saran Wrap and put into the refrigerator for the next day. We would do the same thing with the olives, but before putting our covered bowl of olives into the refrigerator, mom would take a few off the top to slice, use in her Turkey stuffing.

The Giblets

You don't have to have bouillon or broth on hand to fix Turkey stuffing the way my mother did. When cleaning the Turkey, we would take the neck, heart, liver and gizzards and put in a small pan. She would then barely cover with water, and simmer until the giblets were done. A lot of times she would put a few pieces of her celery and onions to help flavor the water, because this was the liquid that she used for her stuffing. She would take the giblets out of the water and let cool. I cut the giblets up, and pulled the little bit of meat of the neck, while my mom would put the Turkey stuffing together. She would then add the giblets and about ½ teaspoon of sage and ¼ teaspoon of ginger, and of course salt and pepper to taste. This was the recipe my mom used if the Turkey stuffing was for our family of five. If there guests coming she would of course, adjust the recipe.

Using ingredients that you already have on hand, is one of the best ways there is of fixing Thanksgiving Turkey Stuffing at little, or no cost.