Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: March 18 ~ 24, 2018

[ReneeT]

Sorry for the late start to the weekly thread; had a hard time dragging myself out of bed this morning and didn't have time to get it started before work. No time to check out the ads at work today - it was a beautiful and sunny 54*F so I spent my 20 minute lunch break taking a walk; good thing lunch was a portable peanut butter 'n jelly sammich

Off work the next three days - well, except for a staff meeting Wednesday morning, anyway. Plans for tomorrow include getting mulch put down in the flower beds, going to the pool with the neighbor lady, conning Hubby into putting a fresh coat of paint on the porch rockers, running another couple loads of canning jars through the dishwasher, and getting some yard work done. Tuesday is yard and porch cleanup, and likely another trip to the pool, followed by dropping off the boxes at the thrift store. Wednesday is the staff meeting, followed by breakfast with some of the crew, after which I will load my trailer with free mulch from the yard waste site across the street from the restaurant; I will empty the trailer by finishing mulching the flower beds once I get home. Back to work Thursday and Friday, then I'm on vacation for two glorious weeks Oh Boy!! Spring cleaning time!!

Off to see if I have energy enough to climb the stairs to bed; take care all; stay calm if you can!

 

[Zahra]

Local store had 5# bags of red potatoes for .99 cents so I bought 4 of them and spent the weekend quartering, boiling, flash freezing, then packaging them into serving size portions, vacuum sealing & freezing them. Corned beef was decently priced as well so I cooked and turned some into home made corned beef hash. Going to run back to the store today to see if they're marking it down any since St Pat's is past now and they had a lot on hand, and if it's marked down I'll do a lot for corned beef hash & then freeze it in portion sizes.

 

[ReneeT]

We watch for marked down corned beef after St. Paddy's day as well, Zahra. We cut most of the fat off, then cut the brisket into chunks and place them in pint canning jars, add a pinch of the seasoning that comes with it, cover with boiling water, then pressure can for 75 minutes. Good for corned beef and cabbage for 2 to 4, or to chop a bit smaller for a big skillet of corned beef hash. I'll be stalking the grocery store tomorrow after the staff meeting to see if they have any on sale; think I'm down to 2 cases in the pantry.

Spent most of yesterday on the couch/in bed - I don't know where my immune system took off to, but I wish it would come back home!! Felt better today; enough so to go to the pool with the neighbor ladies. Stopped by to vote on the way home - mine was the 16th Republican ballot out (3 Democrat) at that time; then ran to the store to pick up some frozen ground turkey and turkey sausage for daughter - the 1# rolls were on sale for 99 cents so I snagged her 5 of each; will try to pick up another 10 tomorrow if they have enough. Might even pick myself up a few rolls to try Once home, I loaded 2 boxes I'd packed for the thrift store in the van, then headed to daughter's town. Dropped off the donations (limited myself to picking up a half dozen $1 shirts for the clothing pantry at work), dropped off the meat for daughter, hit Wal-Mart for spray paint, the foo-foo bakery for Strawberry pie - hey, it's the first day of spring, I couldn't resist!! - then headed back home. Luckily, I had old shoes, jacket and heavy gloves in the van as there was a tree from a fencerow down across a bit more than three quarters of one of the roads I take to get home. I would have had to back up over a quarter mile to get to a different road, so I just got out and dragged brush while the guy in the truck in front of me - who handily had a chain saw with him! - cut up the larger portion of it. I helped him by loading the smaller pieces of wood in the back of his truck which thoroughly relieved any strawberry pie guilt I might have otherwise had

Better go fill the birdfeeders - I've got nuthatches and chickadees perched on the windowsill looking it at me - it's the one where I usually put out chopped peanuts for them and something tells me they are all gone!

Take care all; have a blessed day!

 

[moldy]

Sorry that I"m reading much more than posting - it will probably be that way till July. Worked the weekend, a flower essence training on Sunday (left work at noon, drove 2 hours for 3 hour class, then back home), then class MTW, work TF, then DH and I are going shopping Saturday. We havent' gone thrifting in a while, and I need jeans and to be looking for stuff for my apothecary. Another TB2Ker and his lovely wife came to visit on their way thru. I learned so much about beekeeping! They brought us honey, lemon juice from their trees, and some delicious gumbo!! We had a great time.

I"m a little worn out - the drive 3 days a week is getting old. I just have to make it thru July.

 

[ReneeT]

Prayers for safe driving for you on your trips to school, Moldy... I miss you, but have to admit that I am eagerly looking forward to reading about the things you have learned

 

[anna43]

I have only grocery shopped three times so far this year. I have plenty of food on-hand plus shelf stable milk so meal prep continues without any hitches.

I've tried a couple new recipes one of which was a hit. It is Cherry Rice Pudding (I used cranberries) made in the crockpot. I think next time I'll use the oven as it was extremely difficult lifting the hot dish out of the crockpot. Anyway the recipe uses 1½ cups milk, 1 cup cooked hot rice, 3 eggs, beaten, ½ cup sugar, ¼ cup dried cherries or cranberries, ½ teaspoon almond extract and ¼ teaspoon salt. I'm think that powered milk and eggs would work to make this 100% from food storage. I'm also thinking this would be good with dried blueberries, strawberries or peaches. Another plus is this is a healthy and economical recipe.

 

[Old Gray Mare]

Went to buy some dried lentils. Wow. The price has more than tripled in ten years. While I did get some it was not a significant amount, still it was something. A little bit of something can be better than a whole lot of nothing.

 

[ReneeT]

A little bit of something can be better than a whole lot of nothing.

You said it, OGM!! Even one extra can or bag of something per shopping trip can help create food storage! Do you have a lentil recipe you'd care to share?

Anna43, that sounds like a good recipe! I may try it on Monday with some diced dried apricots. I've only purchased one container of the shelf stable milk as it smelled weird to me (no one else noticed, so it's likely just me lol!); instead, I keep a good stock of evaporated milk on hand for cooking.

2 more boxes dropped off at the thrift store this morning when I went in to town to pick up the grandsons - I unearthed a tote of 2T clothing when I was moving totes around in the closet; I thought I'd already passed all those down, but guess I missed one. It was pouring rain so the only shopping I did today was grabbing some chicken tenders for the boys, and picking up 5 more 1# rolls each of the ground turkey and turkey sausage that were on sale for 99 cents each for daughter.

Once home, I started working on clearing the kitchen table - I swear I don't know where all that stuff comes from, but I'd like to have a place for folks to sit and eat on Easter Sunday! I accidentally pulled three starts off my corkscrew spider plant when I moved it off the kitchen table, so went out to the shed and found 3 red pots I'd bought when Dollar General had their summer stuff 75% off and potted them up in one of them; there are at least 8 more starts I can pull off and pot up in the other two red pots but I'll need to get some more potting soil first. Then a couple of loads of laundry got ran through the washer/dryer, 2 loads of towels were folded and put away, younger boy got a bath after 'going to the mailbox to get the mail'; I swear he jumped in every puddle on the way there - and twice on the way back! It was still raining pretty hard, so I just hung his britches and sweatshirt over the porch rail after I got him in the tub - the rain did a pretty good job of rinsing most of the mud off them.

Pulled a size 6 hoodie out of the closet for older grandson to put on as he was chilled...ended up getting out the 7/8 size tub to find him one that didn't show 2" of arm and belly, then pulled everything off of his closet rod and carried it in to the couch to sort through and pack away - guess when I carry the size 6 winter tote upstairs, I'll carry that size 6 summer tote I got out last week back upstairs as well, to swap for a 7/8 summer one

Older grandson decided he wanted to make cookies, so he read the recipe to me and found all the ingredients he could reach; then I let him do the measuring. Didn't feel like cleaning the walls and ceiling, so I handled the part that required a mixer! The dough is chilling in the fridge; we will bake the cookies after supper - hope that they will settle for just rolling the balls of dough in colored sugar rather than messing about with icing!!

And speaking of supper, the boys have decided they want breakfast for supper this evening, so Papaw is mixing up pancake batter while the sausage links are starting to sizzle - reckon I'd better get in there and help!

You folks all take care out there; stay warm and dry!

 

[Old Gray Mare]

You said it, OGM!! Even one extra can or bag of something per shopping trip can help create food storage! Do you have a lentil recipe you'd care to share?

lentil soup
1 pound lentils (cleaned of grit, stones etc. & washed)
1 small onion diced
2 or 3 carrots cut in bite sized pieces
2 or 3 stocks of celery diced or sliced into small pieces
Salt, pepper and spices to taste
1 or 2 bay leaves
3 to 4 inch link of smoked sausage (take off skin and dice)*

I cover ingredients with a few inches of water and simmer until lentils are tender. I usually add the meat a few minutes before veggies are totally done.

The smoked sausage I get comes in long links. They get cut into about 4 inch lengths and are kept frozen them until needed. This is a premeasured size that I like to use.

 

[ReneeT]

That sounds yummy, OGM; Thanks!