Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: April 8 ~ 14, 2018

[ReneeT]

Good Morning, All!

My little guys are still asleep, so I decided I'd better get the thread started before they got up and things got busy!

I forgot to post last week that I'd picked up 10# of IQF chicken breast on sale for $1/lb; chunked it and added some broth from the freezer and ended up with 16 pint jars to add to the pantry. I need to keep my eyes out for a sale on beef roasts over the next few weeks, as I would like to add some jars of chunked beef to the pantry as well - I cut it in to largish chunks, dip the chunks into a hot broth made of onion soup mix diluted in water called for in order to 'seal' it, then put the chunks of beef in pint jars, add the onion soup mix broth to cover and pressure can at 10# for 60 minutes. We use the canned beef for veggie soup, beef stew, beef bbq, beef hot-shots (Manhattans), beef sandwiches a jus, and - my favorite - beef stroganoff, just to name a few dishes it can be used for.

The tooth fairy made a visit to our house last night as older grandson lost a 2nd tooth - one on the bottom this time. The tooth fairy had to struggle to stay awake long enough to find some fairy dust (glitter) to sprinkle on his dollar bill - boy, the price of teeth has sure gone up since I was a kid!! - and daughter has embellished her delivery system - fairy dust, snort!! - but I managed to outlast the boy at staying awake and got the switch made

It's chilly here this morning at 27*F - and I forgot to bring the hummingbird feeder in last night so will have to make a new batch of feed as the feed that is in it has frozen twice now. Haven't seen any hummingbirds yet, but want to have something out for them in case they show up hungry Hopefully I'll remember to carry it in this evening - maybe the inch of snow that we are supposed to get this evening will remind me... We are supposed to have temps in the 70's this week (tornado weather) so I don't think it will be too long before the first scouts show up. The boys and I also need to fill all the birdfeeders; got huge flocks of red-wing blackbirds coming in now. The finches are also starting to gain their summer coloring - only gold, purple and house finches seen so far; I'm looking forward to seeing my indigo buntings and scarlet tanagers back. Saw a fairly good size flock of wild turkeys - several toms with their tail feathers fanned, plus a bunch of hens - in our farthest east field as we were on our way home from the pool last week, and male pheasants are thick in the fence rows in certain areas as well. I put a few baubles out on the picnic table as a thank you for my crows - just bits and pieces from a broken costume jewelry bracelet; the crows and the blue jays are my early warning system!

Since I have to go back to work on Tuesday (only 15 weeks until my next vacation, but who's counting??) (ME! I'M COUNTING!) I guess I need to make these next two days count. I need to make a run to Rural King to stock up on bird feed and maybe a few bedding plants, plus hit the chain grocery store in that town to pick up a few loss leaders before the sale ends today; and we need to take a load of recycling in to the bins. I'd also hoped to get a load of mulch at the yard waste site but co-worker Buddy reconnoitered it this morning on his way to work and it still has a lot of water on the ground - which means it would be very messy, plus the mulch will be heavy to load by hand, so I will wait until Thursday. That town got 4" of rain in a short period of time last week; there was 3-4' of water in some houses in a lower lying area. Hubby had to stay in town late that day as his Mama's basement was flooded.

Starting tomorrow, our local independent grocery store has whole top sirloin on sale for $4.99/lb; not sure how big they are but I will pick one of those up for daughter this week, then help her package it for her freezer. They also have top sirloin already cut into steaks on sale for $7.99/lb, so it is worth the effort of cutting it yourself. The same store has the rolls of ground turkey and turkey sausage on sale for $1/1# roll, so I will try to pick up twenty of those for her as well.

And now the boys are up - guess I'd better go put some sausage in the pan and mix up some pancakes for the griddle - I'm cheating on the pancakes - did you know that the little envelopes of muffin mix that make 6 muffins also make good pancakes? Just gotta thin the batter down a bit

Take care all; wishing you all a wonderful week!

 

[Barb]

Thanks for the muffin mix tip. I will be sure to try it.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Planted some more early season vegetables. I'm not sure exactly where. When I finished, I turned around and our young dog had diligently pulled up the stakes marking the plantings.

 

[ivantherussian03]

Weather is gorgeous. I opened the windows and let in the fresh air. I let the fire burn out and cleaned the wood stove ash, and climbed the roof cleaned the stove pipe. Then I took a nap listening to the church bells. A glorious Day, and restful indeed.

 

[ivantherussian03]

Well update.....water is flowing normal again.Nothing wrong I was told. It felt good to shower and the washer was humming.
We started a spring clean as all was on hold.

I went out to my camp, spent a day cutting down five trees to make yard area bigger. I got the wood thrown in a pile where it can get good sun. I will go back out when the river clear, and stack that.

Today I cooked chili in the slow cooker. Most of it will go in the freezer, just eating it now ....tasty. Pretty economical I bring in dried kidney beans, spices, canned tomatoes, everything else is local: moose meat , onion. We try to cook several meals for the week ahead.

We worked on my girl's home school work in the early evening.

Started reading about harvesting birch bark to make fire starter and develop a new skill. It will be weeks, as many as six before it greens up here. I am thinking about how to make or preserve them as packets.

 

[prudentwatcher]

It has been busy around here. Only one week left in tax season, so it is crunch time at the office. My freelance job has also been keeping me busy, which is good, as it is helping pay bills and bulk up the ROTH IRA a bit.

Better half ended up with a new right hip rather suddenly when the surgeon had a cancellation. Got in for surgery in four days rather than the normal four to six months. Doing great and should be off the walker and just using a cane by mid-week. Used some of our medical supplies and we couldn't find our two boxes of tegaderm the inventory sheet said we had. Had to buy a total of three boxes (expensive stuff!!) and will get another box to stash in the storage closet. Also managed to stock up on pain pills as they were not needed after surgery. Always good to have some on hand. And found out the fiber pills I had were six years out of date and better half refused to take them, so I spent $28 on a BIG bottle of Miralax this morning Something we never have used before, but needed now. Live and learn.

Used some old home canned chicken (2006) to make chicken and rice. Looked and smelled fine and cooked up great. At it for lunch for four days with no ill effects. Need to finish up a few more cases, so probably a lot of chicken and rice for lunch this year. Then I will can up some more chicken in the empty jars to keep my count up.

Terrible sales here and no coupons to speak of. We are desperately low on kitty litter. Will probably have to make a Walmart run later this week to get some big buckets. With four cats we got through a lot and I like to keep around 400 lbs on hand. We have about 45 lbs right now in the garage, not counting what is in the refill bins by the boxes. I'm about ready to freak out!

 

[Digger]

I have not posted here much, but here is what is up.

Our bees are doing good. We should have a nuc ready to add a second hive late this month or early May. The girls did great last summer. I even sold some pints a few weeks ago. We have a third hive ready to put a swarm in if needed.

Our gardening is behind. We keep our grandbaby while his parents work. They get off at 10 pm or a bit later. But being behind this year maybe a good thing. Saturday night we got down to 27*. We don`t know how much damage there is to the fruit trees yet. Another day or two will tell. The gardens are mulched to save weeding and water. We added more asparagus and some black berries. I really feel the need to get our food production up as much as possible.

FYI I found a 10 year old jar of home canned peaches. The peach halves had darkened a little, but still made a yummy cobbler.

Hubby found a slightly used diesel generator that he bought. It is much better than the gas one we have had since just before 2000. This one came out of a fire truck. They used it to run work lights.

 

[ivantherussian03]

Scored some Dreft laundry soap bottles, regularly 16.50 for 3.99. Bought four bottles. Enough for two years I bet.
I can't buy it cheaper much less and ship it in for that.

 

[Barb]

Gosh, i didn't know they still sell Dreft. I used it for baby clothes about fifty years ago.

 

[ivantherussian03]

Scored a case of Bushes Bake Beans for half price....very nice.

 

[ReneeT]

Sound like folks are finding some great deals out there - way to go!!

Grocery store sales this week meant stock up time! Added the following to my pantry/freezer:
Spaghetti sauce - 25 cans
Spaghetti noodles - 10 boxes
Salmon - 12 cans
Ketchup - 16 bottles (I use it when canning pork and beans)
Peanut butter - 9 jars
Pork sausage - 6 rolls

Added the items I'd mentioned in my first post to daughter's freezer, so they are set for meat for a bit. Just need to find a sale on chicken

I'd also picked up a bit over 7# of the Yesterday's Fresh Ground beef at the store - 85/15% @ $2.39/lb. Used about 4.6 # to make up meatloaf mix, which I vacuum sealed in 6 pint bags and put in the freezer. Browned the rest of the ground beef and used it to make taco meat, sloppy Joe meat, and stroganoff - I am set for for work lunch/dinner this weekend! (And so is Hubby, I guess )

I went up to the pool this afternoon, and hit the store to pick up the sale items on my way home. As I was headed out of town, I went past the VFW - and promptly turned around - Friday is fish day and I hadn't eaten breakfast or lunch, so I stopped by and picked up a couple of dinners. I'd also found a marked down container of sliced Brussels sprouts when I was shopping. so steamed them until they were tender, then added butter, onions, garlic, and seasonings and sauted them until done - YUM! I guess I'm going to have to share my leftovers with Hubby since I can't take 'em to work - heating up fish or any member of the brassica family in the work microwave will get you threatened with death and destruction (of course, if they hurt me tooo bad, I might get the rest of the weekend off.....)

With the warm weather the past two days, perennials are jumping up from the ground, and Dandelions are blooming along with the spring bulbs, so the bees are finding at least a little nectar. The weeds are coming up as well, so I am hoping for a dry spell next week so that I can get in and till the in-ground gardens before they get too overgrown! We had a couple of thunderstorms blow through today, but I managed to hang out two loads of laundry long enough to get them dry in between them - it's going to be so nice to crawl in between crisp, line dried sheets and blankets tonight! And speaking of laundry, I guess I'd better get it folded and put away, and get my work clothes ready for tomorrow...

But before I go, I want to share something that I hope will brighten some of your day - I am so proud of older grandson (7yo) - today I saw several photos that were taken at school - they were of him and three other children in his class learning to properly fold the US Flag! We are so blessed to have a school system where they teach the children to honor and revere our Flag! It gives me hope...

 

[SAPPHIRE]

way to go, Ivantherussian03........front range CO food is steadily climbing...though I know your area is really pricey and I hear the deliveries can be precarious.....stock up all you can....Syria kick-off may affect much in days ahead...........

 

[ivantherussian03]

I just made a yearly food order with trapping money. I like a years supply of most things, but when it is cheap I buy more.

Ordering two more camp stoves, also silver. Decided to save chunks for various long term goals, new vehicle fund , daughter fund , and house fund.

Now waiting for tax money.

Getting antsy anticipating summer. Spring still 6 weeks away.

 

[ivantherussian03]

I was thinking about my birch bark project. I could make baskets to sell, and have another source of income.

 

[Melodi]

I picked up the second knitting machine for larger yarns (for a hobby now but could be a "means of production" later even if just for the household and trade, and yep I have spinning wheels and I can make my own yarn if I need to).

Got about 12 pounds of sugar on sale (German housemate thought I was nuts) I may go back and get later; sugar is useful for food preservation and medicine even if one doesn't eat a ton of it normally.

Also trying to use up old freezer meet and clearing the kitchen so we can have it fixed and use my dehydrator for leftover stuff from the farmer's veggie box scheme.

My handy-man just brought his two pregnant mares over today to keep our elderly gelding happy and eat down the grass, not a lot but some progress this last couple of weeks.