Did your dad drink the water that the vegetables were cooked in too?
A lot of my parents' peers did that. I usually keep it for stock or soup.

Or just drink it.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 12:09, 2 replies)

Surely you use the vegetable water
as a base for the gravy?

Thus adding extra depth of flavour...and also minimising your water usage.
(LongJohnBaldry, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 12:11, closed)

Keep it for stock.
Whenever they have meat, they'll keep every single bone/scrap of fat, and then add the veg water and cook themselves up some good stock. My mother has filled the freezer with tupperware boxes full of stock.

To be fair, they buy expensive, local organic food. The local butcher gets his meat from the National Trust place up the road that has a rare breeds farm. The meat is expensive, but delicious. They eat sensibly, but well.

We always have goose at Christmas, and when my parents go on their "new year" tour of their various friends (they always do this, staying one or two nights with each, it's a great way to guarantee catching up with people at least once a year), they'll take them all a bottle of good wine and a tub of goose-fat as "thankyou for having me" presents. That's not tight, because the wine is very good, but goose-fat is always appreciated by the friends!
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 13:02, closed)