sorting out my dehydrated foods shelf and getting the stray bags into the proper boxes. I have more than I thought of some foods and less than I thought of others. And I need more boxes. I am concentrating on dehydrating right now and leaving the canning for later when the Farmers Market is in full swing or if there is a really good sale on meat to use for soup to can. I am pretty near capacity on home canned foods right now.
This is my week for grocery delivery, so I made out my order this afternoon. The packaged cole slaw mix of green and red cabbage and shredded carrots is on sale at 10/$10, so I am ordering 10 bags. Red seedless grapes are on sale and I am ordering enough to snack on as well as enough to experiment with dehydrating a tray or two of them. I'm not drying them for raisins but more as a dried fruit snack. I'm trying to get away from the Oreos and chocolate chip cookies (Not entirely, but cutting down on them.) and going more towards healthy snacks.
Roma tomatoes and onions are on sale too, so 10 lbs. of each are on the list, as well as 12 bunches of celery, all headed for the dehydrators. Looks like I will have enough to keep both running for a few days. Delivery day on Wednesday will be a busy one, I think.
Yesterday Youngest Son delivered my new bed. His sister came with to help haul it in and he set it up for me. He also had an early birthday surprise for me, which was a new comforter/sheet set for the bed, and a new pillow. I had no bedding the right size for a single bed and thought I would have to order some, but bless his heart, now I don't need to. So thank you, Son and family. That was a really nice gift that is appreciated. I tried out the bed last night and slept like a baby. It is comfy and I like it. Now I need to sort through my fabric stash and quilting supplies to fill the storage drawers in the base of the bed. I think there will be room there for extra yarn, too. I'm loving all this new storage space and it will make getting to my crafty materials a lot easier than digging through a closet for them, which is what I have been doing up until now.
Oldest Son came over earlier to help me change the bandages on my legs. I was pleased to see that there is no sign of infection. The weeks worth of antibiotics I took seem to have done the job. I added more antibiotic salve and bandaged them one more time just to be sure. I have all the patience in the world when a loved one is sick, but none when it is me who is ill. Odd, that.
So I think I have done enough for one day. Time for a little background music and another couple of chapters of my murder mystery book. It has been a good day.
The Last Gasps...
9 hours ago
Mom,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like the bed and comforter. And really happy that your legs are doing better.
Love, David
Son...The bed is really comfy and I love the comforter! Thank you so much. Legs are much improved and are healing well. Should be back to normal soon.
ReplyDeleteLove, Mom
Dehydration is fine for short term financial or infrastructure breakdowns or interruptions, but what about the entire grid going down for a while? If you don't already do it, you might want to consider some water storage to reconstitute the dehydrated stuff, for drinking and for cooking. If you have a nearby natural water source, you might also consider a Sawyer water filter to supply you with safe water. Also you might want some water stored to flush your commode for those times when your water is off, but the sewer still works. On the other hand, if the sewer quits working, and you're still on the third floor, you is in a heap a' trouble! (Thought you might need something to worry about!)
ReplyDeleteGeez, Gorges...You sure know how to cheer a girl up. :)
ReplyDeleteI have water stored in every available nook and cranny of my apartment with potential for more in Son's apartment next door. I live less than a city block from a major river, so a water filter is next on the list for purchases. I also have means of transporting two or three 5-gallon buckets of water at a time from the river to the house. If transportation is still available, there is also an artesian well about a mile and a half away, with some of the best drinking water around. There is a plan in place for sanitary disposal should the commode become unusable. Can't do anything about the upstairs accommodations, though!
I dehydrate foods because I don't want all my eggs in one basket, as they say. And dehydrated takes up much less space than canned. And if properly stored, they will keep darned near forever. I guess there is no one best way to do food storage, but I try to keep my options open. Good advice.
Thanks.
So, I'm curious how you keep track of your inventory of dried and canned goods and/or the freezer. I'm on the lookout for a better way to manage all this food storage. I currently don't have a system of any kind and it's starting to make me a tad crazy.
ReplyDeleteToday and tomorrow are my main shopping days of the month. Two grocery stores offer a 10% off day once a month. One store is on mondays and the other is tuesdays. The 'monday' store will also price match any local retailer. They also have 'this store only' sales so it pays to walk up and down the aisles. I try and get all of my non-perishables and frozen food purchased on sale and on a 10%off day. It's a challenge and is a tad bit tiring but helps the budget stretch.
Nice job on the sale cabbage! Cheers, SJ in Vancouver BC
SJ...I wish I had this really good tracking system, but I don't. What I do have are lists - one for dehydrated food, one for home canned food and one for store bought food. (There are others for medical supplies, things like paper products, batteries, etc., but right now we are talking about food.)
ReplyDeleteEach list contains the amounts I would like to have on hand. When I reach my goal of the amount I need, I check it off the list.
My dehydrated food is kept in freezer bags stored in those bankers boxes with lids and kept on a shelving unit behind my bedroom door. When I fill a box I check that food off the list. If I have a full box of say sweet corn and I remove a bag to use, I write that on a sheet of paper kept on the side of my fridge with magnets. That way I know I need to dry more corn.
The home canned foods work a bit differently. I have two large shelving units for the home canned food. The jars are sorted on the shelves into groups - meat, tomatoes, vegetables, fruit, etc. It just isn't practical to keep track of every jar opened, as I use them all the time. So I sort of eyeball the shelves often to see which food I am getting low on, and I then add that to my fridge list.
I have a fairly large closet that holds the food I buy at the grocery. I keep those items sorted as much as possible into groups - baking supplies, canned meat (Spam, tuna, salmon, etc.), condiments, etc. Sugar and flour are in 5 gallon buckets. When I see, for instance, that I have only 4 jars of peanut butter left, I add that to the fridge list.
My chest freezer is used mainly to hold food until I can get it processed, and to hold homemade bread, cookies, etc. The refrigerator freezer holds mostly meats that I will consume within a month or so. My area is prone to some nasty summer storms that have been known to knock out the electricity, so I don't keep much frozen meat - I usually just can it up except what I will eat within a month or so.
Because of physical limitations, I use a grocery delivery service that delivers every two weeks. I use the fridge list when making out my grocery order. The service shops at one of the big box stores in my area, and I use their weekly store ad for sales. I try to shop sales as much as possible to replenish my supplies, but I also order fresh fruit, milk, eggs, butter, etc.
This isn't much of a system, but it is the best I have been able to come up with so far. Sounds like you have access to some good sales. I'm not big into coupons except for the in-store ones. I was happy to see the cabbage/carrot slaw mix on sale again because I need to add more to the dry food boxes. Every little bit helps.
Sorry this turned into a novel. :)
Happy to hear your legs are healing! I would be lost without my dehydrator. Never tied grapes, though. Let us know how it turned out!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Chickenmom...Me, too! I love my dehydrators. Because my apartment is seriously lacking in storage space, dehydrating works really well for me in addition to canning.
ReplyDeleteI have never tried drying grapes, either. I have seen where some are into making their own raisins, but that wasn't a big interest for me. But the other day I saw a video about cutting the grapes in half and dehydrating them for more of a snack type food. I like other kinds of dried fruit, so I thought it might be fun to give grapes a go. I'll let you know how they turn out.
Thanks for the 'novel'. I really do enjoy learning how others do things.
ReplyDeleteI've been using the 'eyeball' method. I think what I need to do is reorganize and make sure like things are together. This was all brought on the other day when I discovered something I didn't realize I had.
I don't use coupons either. I just watch the sales and then try to match the sales with the 10% off days. That works best for me now.
SJ in Vancouver BC
SJ...Part of the aging process for me has been to come to the realization that if I have not been really well organized these past 70 years, it isn't too likely that I will suddenly become this well organized, efficient person. Not gonna happen. :) I have little surprises now and then, too, like a couple of jars of pepperoni I had forgotten about. Part of the problem is that my food storage isn't just food storage. I use from all of it nearly every day. So keeping accurate, up to date lists or spreadsheets just doesn't work for me. "sigh" For someone like me, the eyeball method seems to work pretty well. And you are right. It helps to keep like items together. I don't worry about having too much of one thing. It will eventually all get used up anyway.
ReplyDeleteGlad your better, nice late Mom's dad gift.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rob...I'm glad, too. Just an inconvenience.
ReplyDeleteIt was a nice surprise gift. I knew Youngest Son was bringing the bed, but the new bedding was a total surprise. :)