$0 Grocery Haul - Food in Abundance

Here is a picture of all the fruit and veggies, I collected from my friend's small food bank.  This does not include the chips and rolls I got for the church funeral this week or the chocolate sheet cake I got my brother-in-law because he said that he would like a cake.  Cake might seem like a silly thing to want/need when you are struggling to put food on the table.  But think about what might sound good to you if you were in their shoes.  I also forgot about 10 cucumbers in the back of the car that also are not in this picture.

I love collecting this food because we use what we can. And then I also get to go out and bless other people.  See those grape tomatoes in the little canister, she had about 30 of those that the store was going to throw out.  I think I might end up borrowing some dehydrators from people and dehydrating a bunch of those tomatoes.  I love to can apple butter from the apples that are on their way out after we have shared and eaten a few.  Apple butter makes a great gift and is delicious on homemade bread or warm biscuits.

Here is a link to the Apple Butter recipe I use.  Any more questions, just ask.

Happy Food Preserving!

Mason Jar Lids - This tip could change your life!

Peanut Butter jar lids and parmesan cheese lids fit on regular mouth Mason jars.  Start saving them and it will save your mason jar bands from getting rusty.  Those mason jar bands are reusable and if you keep them clean and dry they should last you a long time.

A Little Freezer Cooking Goes A Long Way!

Freezer Cooking is trending this month. With the chill in the air, I think everyone is itching to turn their ovens again. Produce is in abundance and the holidays are right around the corner.  So before all the crazy schedules get into full swing I love to spend time in my kitchen cooking.

This weekend, I made and froze:

• 3 small Apple Crisps
• 16 dinner roll sandwiches with Ham and Swiss (usually people use Hawaiian Sweet Rolls for this, so I used the white dinner rolls I had in the freezer and spread a brown sugar butter inside them)
• Garlic Honey Chicken
• Teriyaki Chicken
• BBQ Chicken and Potatoes
• 2 bags of Chicken Curry
• 1 quart of soup base
• a gallon of zucchini for roasting

I taught a freezer cooking class at the church.  One person showed up and there really was not a lot of teaching going on.  She was a pro; chopping her vegetables like a chef.  She taught me a lot about not wasting.  She doesn't deseed bigger zucchini and uses almost all of the bunch of celery, when chopping her veggies, for her crockpot meals and a soup base.  I let so much go to waste.  So I am going to try to cook like her more and see how we like it.

She had an abundance of apricots awhile back and she made a bunch of Apricot Chicken Freezer Meals.  How genius, the only thing I attempted to make with all the apricots we picked was Apricot Leather in my oven, which turned out to be a total flop.

Ham and Swiss Sandwiches for Lunches

 All this freezer cooking took about 3.5 hours.  The one thing I like about freezer cooking that canning does not afford you is the ability to get creative.  Add more vegetables, try a different meat, use a different cheese, freeze parts of a recipe, etc.

All the Freezing done this weekend

Baby in a box from Costco

Some of the Freezer meals and no I am not pregnant and yes that is my stomach - ha!

Chicken Curry for Haystacks; my favorite.  I hope I like it this way

How BEAUTIFUL is a stocked freezer?

Freezing What You Have

I saw the idea for Freezer Kits online this week.  My friend Erin brought me over a bunch of green peppers and I had some onions leftover from Freezer Cooking.  I also have some tortillas in the freezer that I picked up from my neighbor's small food bank.  I do not have red or yellow peppers or chicken right now so I will have to include that later.  But I was able to freezer seven bags of green peppers and sliced/diced onions.  I flash froze them separately on cookie sheets before adding them to the baggies.  I also froze three more bags of green peppers.  So once I have the rest of the ingredients I will have 10 fajita kits in the freezer.  Use what you have.  Freeze the bits and pieces; do not let it go to waste.

Intro to Simply Preserving!

My holistic learning goal is to learn more about the reasons and methods behind food preservation. Food Preservation has been something I have interested in for a long time.  I know in life there are times of plenty and times of scarcity.  And from one family to another the means with which we have to feed our families are varied. But I know we all want to take care of our families and make sure they have the food they need to thrive.

I am excited about my journey to learn more about Food Preservation.  I am preparing myself to take a Master Food Preserver Class through the State of Utah next summer.  As of now, I have taken the Canning 101 class through the Utah State University Extension Program.  And have just started taking Intro. to Food Preservation online through The University of Georgia.

Click here  to register for the Intro. to Food Preservation Class.  In order to take the Master Preserver Class this is their pre-assessment course.  If you are not living in Utah and eligible to take the Master Preserver Class you may not be able to take this course but you can try.

If you can't take the course, keep checking back here and I will be sharing some of the information I am learning.