Best laid plans of mice and men.....
I'm gonna stop planning
Went to the farm market and got my green beans and a few other things, then went to the orchard and got a half bushel of peaches. So far, so good, right? And then I got home and found the upright freezer's door standing open just a bit. Don't think it had been like that for very long as some things were still frozen solid; and some were thawed but still fridge temperature cold. Had to toss some things - the stuff in the door was toast, and a few things up close to the front. At least it's a small freezer - heck, it's not much taller than I am!!
A dozen bags of meatloaf mix were rough crumbled into a roaster pan and put in the oven; I just took it out and we are having meatloaf chunks for supper, along with corn and peaches from the freezer. I'll probably make a large batch of Manwich with some of it for either lunch or supper tomorrow; and may try to freeze the rest.
A dozen bags of ground beef were dumped in a pot and browned on the stove. There are 9 jars of ground beef veggie soup ready to go in a canner shortly; Hubby is going to make a giant pot of ground beef veggie soup tomorrow to freeze for his lunches (guess that 5# bag of frozen veggies is gonna come in handy lol!) If there is any left, I'll probably just freeze it for fried rice or spaghetti or something.
One canner load of chicken and one of chicken veggie soup are currently processing in on the stove, but the rest of the chicken got tossed way down in the gully - I just didn't trust it as it was close to the front of the freezer. I have a pot of chicken broth that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with - maybe just can it as is.
There are 3 bags of ground beef and one of meatloaf mix in the fridge that I'm not sure what I'm going to do with yet - may dump it on daughter to use; she can fix something for her brother and step-son; those boys can chow down lol!!
The hamloaf that had been in the freezer went into the oven; the one I had thawing in the fridge to fix for supper tonight was shoved into daughter's hands when she came by to drop the boys off. Some of the one in the oven will be served for either lunch or supper tomorrow, some will go in my work lunches; the rest might go back in the freezer for heat 'n eat meals.
There are still a few bags of peaches - ones we had jut put in the freezer. I may just turn those into jam and be done with them since I can fix up more for the freezer from the ones I just bought. The bags of unpitted cherries could just be tossed; they would be mush by the time I got them pitted in the pitter; and I'm not doing it by hand. Maybe I'll have Hubby get my steam juicer off the top shelf in the pantry and run them through there; bet I can find a recipe for cherry jelly somewhere; or maybe he can turn it in to wine...
There are also some mostly still frozen crappie fillets; those might be supper tomorrow. I'm trying to decide what to do with the two chuck roasts - grind 'em for burger? Cut 'em up and use 'em in soup? Got too many things ready to eat to make anything for the table from them so they will likely be canned in soup.
I think the chicken broth has cooled enough to decant it in to half gallon jars and put it in the fridge - not taking the scraps out to the compost pile tonight 'cause I'm not in the mood to hear the coyotes and raccoons fighting over them - my bedroom window is on the same side of the house so I would hear them for sure!
Well, dang - I just went to check the coolers to see how the ice was holding out and and found 3 bags of chicken cut in to strips - guess I'll be making one more canner load of chicken veggies soup. But not tonight; Hubby has a shoot tomorrow and he doesn't need to try to go to sleep by the hiss of the canner. I'll get it going first thing in the morning.
Gotta go run a couple of boys through the tub and get 'em headed toward bed. You folks take care; stay safe out there!