An experiment that actually works.
While browsing through videos, I found one at "The Purposeful Pantry" about dehydrating canned vegetables. Darcy, the lady who puts out so many helpful dehydrating videos, was using cans of vegetables from the grocery store. As most of mine are home canned in jars, I thought I would try dehydrating some of them that have been on the shelf for quite some time.
I dehydrated one pint each of corn, carrots, green beans and diced potatoes. Then I tossed the dry veggies into the crock pot along with a handful of dry onions, 4 chicken bouillon cubes, a half teaspoon of garlic powder and 2 quarts of water. About an hour before suppertime, I added a pint of shredded chicken and 1 tablespoon of beef bouillon, as I thought the broth could use just a bit more flavor.
The result was a really good chicken veggie soup that went well with some cornbread.
I have some home canned veggies that have been sitting on the shelf for several years. I think I will dry them and store them with the bouillon, onions, garlic and maybe a handful of dry parsley to make a soup mix that needs only water and canned shredded meat to make an easy meal.
It is really nice when a plan comes together. :)
Good plan, and then you will have more empty jars to fill, hooray!
ReplyDeleteYep. Bonus! Works for me. :)
DeleteGlad you are feeling better!
ReplyDeleteThanks, sbrgirl...I seem to be back to whatever passes for normal these days. :)
DeleteWhat a great tip... never thought of doing that. Duh!
ReplyDelete~hobo
hobo...I hadn't thought about doing this, either. But I think it will work for having easy meals and these days, I am all in for easy. :)
DeleteThat sounds like a great way to avoid waste and make something tasty too. Thank you for that great idea!
ReplyDeleteI can't take credit for the idea, CW...but I think I will be making up several soup mixes just to have an easy meal on hand.
DeleteThat is a great idea. I'll be checking my canned veggies. Red
ReplyDeleteRed...This is a great way to use up canned veggies that have been around for a while. And free up some jars.
DeleteI happened upon the same idea, Vicki, but in my case I freeze-dried the canned veggies. I was tired of throwing away or giving away good money! The veggies have a shelf life of a couple of years in the can, but once they're freeze-dried, they're good for about 25 years! Dehydrating or freeze-drying frozen veggies works as well.
ReplyDeletePete...I wish I had thought of doing this, but I can't take credit. A freeze drier is not within my budget, but I do have a couple of dehydrators so I go that route. Quite a bit of my dehydrated veggies were frozen first. Right now I am drying some of my home canned veggies and putting together soup mixes. Works great in a crock pot. These days I go for easy meals. :)
DeleteYeah; I wouldn't have the freeze-drier if I hadn't STUMBLED upon a sweet deal on one. Those things list WAAAY too high for the likes of this aging telephone man! As it is, I have to think long and hard about using it these days, thanks to Nanny Newsom's "green" polices which raised my electric rates SIXTY PERCENT!!!
Delete
DeletePete...I had actually looked into getting a freeze-drier. The price aside, I live in a three room apartment where I am hard pressed to find space for my food and supply storage! I kinda doubt the machine would fit in here. :)
I know that your Nanny Newsom has a very special kind of stupid, but the inflation has hit here in Minnesota as well. My rent went up $100 pet month. My building is all gas and my landlord controls the heat. On cold days my apartment is several degrees colder than last year. He apologized but said he didn't know what else to do to keep from raising rents more to cover the cost of gas and electric, both of which he pays. So I am investing in sweat pants, sweatshirts and wool socks. We do what we can. :)
when i lived up north I bought an electric lap blanket made by Sunbeam. As I remember it was $35 canadian. It was the perfect size. And meant i could stay cozy without heating up the room. just a thought...SJ now in California
DeleteSJ...I have seen the bed size electric blankets, but not the smaller ones. Will have to see if I can find one. Good idea!
Deletewe will do what our parents and grand parents did--less bathing in winter as heating water and the bathing room use fuel; along with this, less laundry.
Deletemy european mother had to get heated water from the kitchen each morn for her wash stand. [she admits to giving only a quick lick and promise to essential areas on the coldest days.]
baths were literally saturday night in front of the fireplace
first mum, then granny, then her dad in the same water--no water heaters then! so maximum use for each gallon of hot water.
we will wear multiple layers, a thing which i do due to needing more warmth as my arthritic corpus ages.
you see ma in her kerchief and i in my cap because of the house being so cold at night that all exposed parts were covered.
bob cratchitt wore those mitts all day for warmth but left fingertips free for working, and we may have to do the same.
a few years ago a reenactor had my daughter knit him a couple of pairs of men's mitts for historic accuracy.
get your long johns now before the rush!
SJ has the right idea there. I found one of those blankets at a yard sale and my wife loves it. If you look it up on Amazon or tell "Santa" you want one for Christmas, it's usually listed as a "throw" blanket.
ReplyDeleteI had the same issue with the landlord when I was in the Coast Guard in Alaska. That guy would actually come into my apartment while we weren't around and TURN THE HEAT OFF!!! My wife and I would come home to a 40* space that would take several hours to reheat. Thank God we were young and in love!!! That ended abruptly... the landlord intrusion... not the love... when he came into the place and my wife walked out of the bedroom with her nightgown on. She read him the riot act as only a Mexican-born woman can, and I laid on another coat of hate and discontent, Czech style, when I got home!
Several years ago I rediscovered those 70's era kerosene heaters, and squirreled away a few of them that I found at yard sales. We have one in the living room and one in the bedroom. We set the house heat at 68* during the day, and use a kero heater to heat only the space we're using. The kero heaters are pretty efficient. They save me a lot on gas, electricity, and wear and tear on the furnace. With even one of those heaters going intermittently during the day, the entire house usually stays above 68*. We turn on the one in the bedroom about a half hour before turning in, and rely on an electric blanket for the night after shutting the kero heater off. A really small one of these would probably do the trick for you.
Yeah... We do what we can... So do the folks down in Venezuela...
Pete...I love the picture of you and your wife reading the riot act to that landlord. He deserved that and more! Fortunately, I have an excellent landlord. I usually only see him when he comes by to pick up the rent check (he calls first to make sure it is OK for him to come by) of if I need something repaired in the apartment.
DeleteThe apartments have thermostats. I can control the settings - heat, air or off - and he controls the temp settings. He explained that due to high natural gas prices, he had two choices - turn the heat down a few degrees or raise rents. He pays all utilities except phone and cable and I don't have cable - or a TV. I can live with temps a bit lower.
I do have a small propane heater and a couple of cases of the small propane canisters for emergencies. I haven't had to use them as yet. The few times when the power has gone out, my apartment took a long time to cool down. The building was built in the late 1800's and has very thick walls.
I may look into getting an electric throw. Sounds good to me.
I have a couple of those small propane heaters as well, also yard sale finds. Those things actually work GREAT! You should be good to go with that!
Deletemy sister in law gave me an electric heated pad for use on the floor about 40 years ago
Deleteit is a korean invention
they got it when bro was deployed to korea
was great for small kids playing on floor
wish i could get another one
it was about 5' by 6'.
And if things get really dicey, move your recliner into your 'storage' room so you have less square footage to heat? Perhaps an option with help to move the furntiture. At my old place up north, most of my time there was spent in the smallest room with the door closed. I essentially only heated that one room for comfort - the rest of the apartment had enough heat to ensure the pipes didn't freeze, LOL. Or the dog's water dish. YMMV.
DeleteCheers, SJ now n California
kitchen bouquet is excellent flavor adder
ReplyDeleteused to come in larger bottle but now only a small bottle
a little dab'll do ya
deb...I will look into getting an electric blanket of some sort. So far the green fuzzy blanket my kids gave me is working well. I also have quilts to use on really cold nights.
DeleteI hadn't thought about kitchen bouquet. Thanks for the suggestion. I will order some on my next grocery order.
SJ...Your idea of moving the recliner and heating just one room is a good one. However, that room is full of shelves and boxes of food and supplies. I can barely walk through any more. :) But I should be able to block off my living room if need be.