Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: December 6~12, 2020

Getting the thread started for the week; y'all join in!

post-Thanksgiving bargains and pre-Christmas food sales are out there >>> probably more important this year than in the last 25+ years ....

I ordered some 27 qt totes, 5 half gallon jars fit in one. I don't keep the cardboard boxes that jars come in and I'm running out of room in my pantry for glass jars. Using these totes I can store some jars on some heavy duty shelves that I have and not worry about the jars falling. I'm always looking for a better mouse trap to store stuff.

God is good all the time

Judy

Just finished all of the wiring for the new shed to the old shed. I am running the electrical from one to another. Now I just need to hook up the breaker boxes.

Also finished running the water to a new hose on the west side of the garden. Now I have water available in a hose on both sides of the garden.

Here in NZ my first berry crop is being harvested (gooseberries) I have been given an old recipe for gooseberry sauce which you can use with, fish and meat and probably anything else you want to add it too. I have one gooseberry bush and this is the biggest crop it has ever produced. Prickly bluddy stems though lol

nomifyle said:

I ordered some 27 qt totes, 5 half gallon jars fit in one. I don't keep the cardboard boxes that jars come in and I'm running out of room in my pantry for glass jars. Using these totes I can store some jars on some heavy duty shelves that I have and not worry about the jars falling. I'm always looking for a better mouse trap to store stuff.

God is good all the time

Judy

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We have had so many totes in three different sizes shipped here from Walmart this year. One box of six came with only only 5 lids. I told Walmart and they shipped another whole carton of 6 for free.

Kiwibutterfly said:

Here in NZ my first berry crop is being harvested (gooseberries) I have been given an old recipe for gooseberry sauce which you can use with, fish and meat and probably anything else you want to add it too. I have one gooseberry bush and this is the biggest crop it has ever produced. Prickly bluddy stems though lol

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Those thorns can get you for sure, but the gooseberries are worth it!

I always enjoy this thread!

For me this week I need to get wipers for my Jeep (never did this past week). Normal grocery shopping and will add some extras for the pantry.
Slow and steady.

Not sure what this week will bring. So far, its canning turkey and a planned meeting with a fantastic young friend to help me with internet stuff for the business.

hiwall said:

We have had so many totes in three different sizes shipped here from Walmart this year. One box of six came with only only 5 lids. I told Walmart and they shipped another whole carton of 6 for free.

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It was a box of ten, two were damaged and they said I had to return them to get a replacement, I told them where to stick it.

God is good all the time

Judy

The local Walmart is always out of Ball canning jars. There's an empty place on the shelf for them. Finding a box of lids there would be equivalent of finding a unicorn.

They get Kerr jars. The last case I got was horribly flawed. No way would I put them in a pressure canner.

We were at our Ace hardware in Russellville Arkansas. They had 2 cases of canning lids with rings. I bought 4 boxes of them. Left the rest for others. I did not really need the rings, but I was glad to get the lids.

We did get to use the warranty on our mattress. I am not sure we are keeping the one we got. I am not sure it is the one we picked out. It seems softer. When hubby gets up I am going to look at the tag and see if the model is on it. We have 2 weeks to exchange it for a different one. Hubby is a large man and he rolls to the middle on this bed. That leaves me little room.

We had to go work at my in-laws yesterday. We were past our lunch time, and both of us were hungry. We decided to stop at our little town cafe. Turns out it was their last day of business. Covid-19 and lack of reliable staff had just been too much. It is sad. It is like most small town cafes. It is a hub of social life for us middle age and older folks. We didn't eat there a lot, maybe once every few months, but we liked it.

I went to Sams today to pick up a few things, nothing major. Store was not busy, but was much better stocked than when I was there a couple of weeks ago--canned meats were back to fully stocked, ramen and mac and cheese back up to nearly full and most of the shelves full of things. Only toilet paper was POM in a big box though, and the only paper towels were the type used in restrooms in restaurants. They had lots of those, but no other kinds. I walked down all of the aisles. Not much of anything useful was on sale though, when two weeks ago we picked up some stuff for the food pantry at a good mark-down price.

It’s been a rough week or so since I last posted in the weekly prep thread. A couple of people I knew passed away from COVID, then last Tuesday my 33 yr old niece died from an asthma attack. She’s been through so much in her life and things were looking up for her and her 5 yr old, it’s still unreal to think about everything she has survived and in a few quick moments her life was over.

On a more positive and happier note the refrigerator parts came in earlier than thought and after 3 times of having a stranger in the house (although one guy came twice, he was still a stranger) hopefully our fridge is fixed. But then there was still an issue with the ice maker, DH thinks he may have figured it out.

We are so busy with having all the grands here 5 days a week and with everything else that’s been going on, I’m struggling to get into some kind of pattern, by the time I figure it out the grownups will be off work for Christmas. LOL!

As to prepping since the kids are here much more, I put in another Sam’s order. A couple of cases of chicken noodle soup, t.p. and Kleenex, snack cakes and another box of microwave popcorn! Also working on lists for hubs to do in person shopping.We tried to save everything we could with the fridge/freezer going out but there was still a lot of loss *sigh*.

I've been draggy the last couple of days and haven't gotten much done. I did cook a meatloaf today and precooked some ground sausage to go in the freeze for quick meals. I had three bags of corn grits from commodities and got them in mylar. I did a few things outside for DH and that's about it. I also move some filled buckets to storage.

God is good all the time

Judy

I am itching to go to the grocery store, but there is nothing that I need and really even want more of. And I absolutely have no space to store more food. I still have piles of stuff to figure out where to put them. I'm still storing things to last a longer time. Lots and lots of hard candies Vacuum sealed in canning jars.

God is good all the time

Judy

I’ve slowed down tremendously on the prep end of shipping. I spent so much money and was rushing back and forth to the grocery I got seriously burned out.

I need to step it up again.

My “every day meat” needs replenished , for one thing.

A couple of years ago we had our last home grown pig processed. I asked for pork chops and steaks. I think this pig was about 3 years old and weighed about 300 pounds. The pork chops and steaks were so tough we just couldn't eat them, so they have been in the freezer every since. I've been digging them out and DH has been grinding them into sausage. We use meat like this in a recipe just like ground meat.

We hung on to this pig so long because he got to be kind of a pet. I thanked him for sacrific for food for us. His name was "Sausage" and he was like a giant baby, but DH wanted to get out of raising pigs to cut down on his feed bill.

God is good all the time

Judy

Today I got a small shipment from WM. I like blue corn ships but can't always find them. I ordered two bags, not too badly broken up although package with soup cans. Each bag is 16 oz. I have already (yay for me) put them in jars to vacuum seal. This way I won't eat a whole bag in a couple of days and they should stay reasonably fresh in the jars. I also got 6 boxes of Goya Ham seasoning, the all fit in one jar, although each box had nine packets.

I cooked a big bowl of ground pork (from the steaks and pork chop) overnight in my crockpot. I cook it in water, drain it off and then brown it. I'm using some in a stir fry today or tomorrow and the rest goes in the freezer.

DH had to go to the VA today to get his INR checked for his blood thinner. His saw mill was finally delivered to central freight in Shreveport this morning and he was able to pick it up. He's a happy camper.

God is good all the time

Judy

Because we don't drive to go shopping (140 mile round trip), I order most things online. Usually just from Walmart.
Today I got an email from Walmart telling me they issued a credit for 3 items due to an issue. Not a big deal because most stuff is for storage anyway.
Then today FedEx brought a box from Walmart with those 3 items inside. It was 2 large refill bottles of liquid hand soap and a big bottle of Dawn dish soap. The Dawn bottle was about 3/4 full. Apparently FedEx notified Walmart of the leaking package so Walmart credited us for all the soap. What I got was messy but it was all free. I just had to wash the outsides of the 3 bottles and it was about $20 free.

Bought some more candles, dish soap, and a big bottle of 91% alcohol at Walgreens. Popped over to Aldi's to look for my favorite German Christmas cookies. They were out so I had to settle for my second favorite kind. They had remodeled the store, so I have to learn a new floorplan. We really don't have any room to stack anything else, so I only bought 4 of those little bags of pasta found in the Mexican section (25 cents each) to use for soup.

We haven't been doing much as far as prepping goes for the last couple of weeks. Cary is still working on more firewood, and I'm just resupplying my pantry as we use out of it. I'm doing more online shopping from Sam's, instead of fighting the in town crowds. No Walmart shopping trips for the same reason. We never have been fond of crowds, especially this time of year. Early morning, through the week, trips to our local Dollar General is as far as we're going.

Ever have one of those mornings where there just doesn't seem to be enough coffee in the pot to deal with the day?? I think I'm gonna have to add a Coca Cola to the mix to get myself motivated this morning!

Did a shift flip yesterday - I was still face down in the pillow when my phone rang and I answered it without looking at the caller ID, so ended up going in to work day shift instead of night shift; got a nice bonus for doing so, but I'm still a bit discombobulated. Remembered one of the reasons I went back to night shift - I didn't see daylight at all yesterday; it was dark when I drove in to work; dark when I drove home - Ugh!! I made up for it today by going out to fill the birdfeeders as the sun was rising - it's a beautiful, clear morning here and is supposed to warm up nicely today.

Scrubs are already in the washer, compost carried out, dishes done and floor swept; now I'm just trying to get up enough energy to go into town - cemetery to put wreaths on my parent's grave and a holiday decoration on aunt and uncle's grave, post office for stamps so that I can finish up the few Christmas cards that I send, bank to get some cash, store for some baking potatoes - and one of my preps for this week - my case of canned tamales came in! I like to serve them with bowls of chili - heated up tamale in the bottom of the bowl, chili on top. The other prep was picking up some more Vitamins D-3 and C last night on my way home from work - on sale buy one get one 50% off at CVS; I had some Extra Care Bucks to use, scanner coupons for $ off, and I get 20% off CVS branded items because I have their Care Pass program.

I need to make a 40 mile trip to a nearby gun store to pick up a gift certificate for oldest grandson's Christmas - daughter talked me in to going in halves on a still (moonshine) for him for his birthday (I love that boy - what soon to be 21 year old asks for a still for their birthday?? ), so it's not going to be as large of a gift certificate as it otherwise would have been.

If the daylight doesn't run out on me before I get everything else done, I'm thinking about finishing mulching all my flower beds once I get back home - more time out in the sunshine and fresh air can't hurt!! Tomorrow is supposed to be as nice as today, so if I don't get to it today, I can work on it tomorrow.

Daughter and grandsons are heading for Montana early , so we will be doing our Christmas on Sunday; I am sad to see them leave but understand all too well that you gotta do what you gotta do to take care of your family. We will be keeping the grand-dog while they are gone; he comes with the grandsons on the weekends they are here, but we've not had a dog full time for a few years now so it will be an adjustment for all three of us! With Hubby and I working different shifts, I won't have to have the teen across the field come over to let him out very often, so that's a plus.

Well, I reckon I'd better post this and head in to town before the post office closes - it's only open a few hours a day.

You folks all stay safe out there, take care...

We are starting to pick our Meyer Lemons.

They are from a tree that is not grafted so we can get additional trees from it. So far ours is a child of the parent and it has one child that we planted last year. There are 3 more we can uproot and plant in a better area. If we don't we will just have a mass of tree, thorns and lemons.

These are big size variety. Each one is usually as big as a pint jar and many are larger.

Our best year is 3 crates of lemons. We have picked a crate already this year and have several more to go. So it should be a banner year for us.

Its snowing here. A friend was going to come and help me with internet stuff, but he's an EMT and got called into work. Dh was plowing snow till midnight and the roads are still bad.

Since my friend is not coming out today, I plan on starting Christmas treats. Renee - could I sweet talk you into your shortbread recipe? The variations sound delicious!

It's snowing here too which is a good excuse to catch up on my neglected housework. Folded and put away laundry. Ran the dishwasher and unloaded the clean dishes. Dusted, which is a waste of time here in dry dusty Colorado, but the buildup of dust can easily get to outweigh the furniture it's on. And vacuuming. Blah!

We;ve had three beautiful mild days but rain is coming later today and cooler weather.

I've not been to the store in a good ten days. I have ordered a few things online.

I'm deep into getting things organized. Last night I jarred up a case of crackers, just need to get them vacuum sealed and on the shelves in the she shed. The she shed is semi climate controlled. I'm also working on an inventory of what I have and where its stored, long way to go on that. But a little here and a little there and it adds up.

I've cut back on my allergy meds and I'm feeling more like doing things.

God is good all the time

Judy

nomifyle said:

We;ve had three beautiful mild days but rain is coming later today and cooler weather.

I've not been to the store in a good ten days. I have ordered a few things online.

I'm deep into getting things organized. Last night I jarred up a case of crackers, just need to get them vacuum sealed and on the shelves in the she shed. The she shed is semi climate controlled. I'm also working on an inventory of what I have and where its stored, long way to go on that. But a little here and a little there and it adds up.

I've cut back on my allergy meds and I'm feeling more like doing things.

God is good all the time

Judy

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Yeah, we've had some warmer days lately here, too. We had to let the wood heater go out. Tomorrow, rain will be coming back in with colder temps to follow, though. Today, Cary is finishing up on bringing the rest of the wood he has cut back to our house. He had to make an addition onto our wood shed for it all to fit. I guess we've got at least 3 years worth of firewood under roof right now. That's if we continue to have winters as usual.

It will be a few more weeks, before our next shopping run to Dollar General, but am still ordering online from Sam's. Ya just can't beat the price of their Folgers coffee. Since I order the coffee, I always add a few more items to the list. We get free shipping with our membership.

I'm trying to ween myself off one of the prescription meds I take, and it seems I have more energy during the day, too. I'm only taking half a dose each day.

Some of you are picking lemons and some are shoveling snow... I love seeing what you all are up to

moldy said:

Since my friend is not coming out today, I plan on starting Christmas treats. Renee - could I sweet talk you into your shortbread recipe? The variations sound delicious!

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Moldy, I think this is the correct recipe:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup soft butter
1 cup chopped nuts - I chop 'em fairly fine, not flour stage but not chunks, either.
1 cup shredded coconut
12 oz jam or fruit style ice cream topping

Preheat oven to 375*F. Grease and flour a 9x13 baking pan (I use Pyrex). In a large bowl blend flour, sugar, salt, baking soda and butter at low speed until it forms crumbs. Stir in nuts and coconut until well mixed. Set aside 3/4 cup of crumb mixture. Press remaining crumb mixture firmly in to the baking pan. Spread jam or fruit topping evenly over the top of the dough; then sprinkle the reserved crumbs over the topping. Bake 23-25 minutes or until light brown. Let cool before cutting in to squares. These are pretty rich, so you will want to make your squares fairly small - I cut 5 width of pan by 6 length of pan, or even smaller.

This last week I have gotten a few things done.

I got new wipers for my Jeep. Added a couple more things to the pantry (continued slow and steady) and went to Walmart today and treated myself to a few pairs of new pajamas and sports bras. I joked with hubby I’m prepping for another lockdown.

Moldy, I changed the baking time on the recipe - somehow I had 23-35 in there. I use the Pyrex pan so that I can make sure the bottom and top are browning to the same stage.

Did some more canning today. Another 14 pints of chicken that we can use either for us or for the cats.

I love saving some cash.

Though I do need to get more propane next week.

Practical question (or so I think) regarding canners.

I realize now that I am canning more than in the past (which was none two years ago) that the nice large presto canner we got is not really big enough. When we can we usually do 12-24 pints or quarts. Depending upon what we need to do. Right now it is more pints (14+) than quarts but that does go back and forth.

So my question is what would be a decent canner that I can use if I wanted to do 12 quarts at a time. I can read specs but I often find they may tell you 10 can fit, but in reality 9 fit as the 10th leaves such a small gap that you can not remove anything or something like that.

Also, how many of you use two different canners at the same time?

Thank you!!

20Gauge said:

Practical question (or so I think) regarding canners.

I realize now that I am canning more than in the past (which was none two years ago) that the nice large presto canner we got is not really big enough. When we can we usually do 12-24 pints or quarts. Depending upon what we need to do. Right now it is more pints (14+) than quarts but that does go back and forth.

So my question is what would be a decent canner that I can use if I wanted to do 12 quarts at a time. I can read specs but I often find they may tell you 10 can fit, but in reality 9 fit as the 10th leaves such a small gap that you can not remove anything or something like that.

Also, how many of you use two different canners at the same time?

Thank you!!

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All American is top of the line.

John Deere Girl said:

All American is top of the line.

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Will it hold 12 quarts in one shot?

20Gauge said:

Will it hold 12 quarts in one shot?

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There are different sizes, but one of them should.

My friend runs her canner and her mom's on the other burner a lot in the summer.

My All American 930 model will hold 18 pints or 16 quarts. Check out www.Redhillsgeneralstore.com for the best prices (and service). They have a handy chart that tells you how much each model holds.

Now, this is pressure canning. I don't stack jars for water bath processing.

Summerthyme

Digger said:

My friend runs her canner and her mom's on the other burner a lot in the summer.

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That makes a lot of sense to me. I will be able to run two at the same time and if one goes bad, I can still go forward.