#everybitcountschallenge Week 8.
My garden is exploding and it has been easy to bring food in every day. I invested in a food processor. It took me a while to decide on this and watching a lot of you tube videos! Finally I decided and it arrived this week. I cleared my kitchen bench as I want it out ready to work and work hard!
I studied the instructions and picked a big bunch of Celery to have a test run. My Celery was chopped so fast and I spread it thickly on my drying racks... (after a few hours in the dehydrator it is not longer too close together) and it was dry much faster than usual. When hand chop I am not very even so there are always thicker and thinner bits... which I realise now holds things up as far as drying time goes. This was so quick! Also the end result was such a good and bright green.
This week I have my Granddaughters coming to stay so I'm doubting I will get much food preservation done! Next week I have big plans though as I want to shred zucchini and carrots and test out everything my food processor can do! So excited!
I made a big batch of Chicken Enchilada sauce...
This batch was the best ever, it was so delicious! It got me four trays of Enchiladas and I froze two trays.
In our supermarket chicken from the deli department is miles cheaper than from the meat department. Plus it was on special. I got enough for the Enchiladas and enough to repackage into meal size portions and freeze. In Spring and Summer I often do a warm chicken salad or chicken wraps so I am set for a while.
I dehydrated another batch of Parsley and vac sealed last weeks as it was conditioned and ready to store. I keep my dehydrated goods in a dark cupboard.
I added extra raw sugar and butter to my grocery order, enough to fill several jars of sugar and freeze two 500g blocks of butter.
Finally I made two dozen muffins, I gave some to Mum and froze the rest. Because I eat gluten free I always keep things on hand.
So that gives me Celery, Enchiladas, Chicken portions, Parsley, Sugar and Butter put away. That is 6/7.
It does not matter at all how you build up your pantry, a good deal on canned goods, portioning up meat for the freezer, dry goods, freeze dried, frozen... as Patera says there is no shame in the game! Do what you can. Sometimes we are time poor. Sometimes there are no good deals to be found! But when an opportunity strikes then we grab it! Sometimes a little thing can lead to a lot. You know how I love to say that. One of these for me this week was I planted out some of my Zucchini seedlings that came up. As I did that I saw that loads of very tiny little tomato plants had self sown in that bed. On closer examination there must be fifty of them! Today I dug up a few and potted them up. As they grow I will move some and create a fresh row of tomatoes in the kitchen garden. Others I will grow up in pots as gifts and something to take to the swap tables. They might be tiny now but these could give me so many tomatoes, gifts and trades!
What did you add to your pantry and supplies this week? Did you find ways to turn a little into a lot? xxx
You will LOVE your food processor. I have a Kitchenaid food processor and stand mixer and love them to bits. They get used at least three times a week each and they are workhorses that have never let me down. They save so much money, time and energy, and for me, make working in the kitchen possible on the days my hands don't want to work or I can't stand to chop and slice. Have fun learning what it can do (even makes dough for bread or pizza bases).
ReplyDeleteThank you Cath! I am enjoying learning all the functions and so glad I took this step! I think sometimes we dont even realise what help we could have until we watch someone else in action. Learning learning! xxx
DeleteWhat a lovely lot of food you have put up. It just gos to show what a bit of planning can do. The enchiladas look amazing and good to have meals ready to heat up.
ReplyDeleteThe food processor will save you so much time, mine is in a cupboard and it’s a pain to get out, maybe I need to think about letting it live on the work top. Have another great week. Denise
Our food processor and Mueller chopper are in constant use. I would get much less done in the kitchen without them!
ReplyDeleteYou achieve so much each week. I admire your energy! I have celery in my garden but have never dehydrated it. I must try that. Your enchiladas look delicious and that's a meal I could make batches of for the freezer the next time I can get some chicken on special. I put rolled oats and quick oats into my pantry this week.
ReplyDeleteMeg
If. I ever get better I think I would like a food processor. Keep praying for me. I cannot walk by myself yet. doing Pt and OT at house. Thanks. Love your posts. Nancy
ReplyDeleteOh Nancy, I pray that you get better soon and that you return to full health. Jennie🙏🏻❤️
DeleteThank you
DeleteIt's a busy time right now, but I've been looking at items for long term storage, things which won't need refrigeration or freezing as we get cyclones here and the power can be out for a long while. This week I bought a number of items in bulk - 2kg potato flakes, 1kg peanut butter powder, 1kg coconut milk powder (hubby cannot have dairy), 2kgs raw local honey, 1 litre coconut aminos (I can't have soy sauce and this is a healthier alternative).
ReplyDeleteToday I have baby beetroots from the garden (weather has gotten too hot and they are roasting in the soil so must pick them) to wash and pickle; plus strawberries are very cheap again where I am so I'll be stocking up my jam supply with strawberry, apple and vanilla jam.
I've also been reorganising every inch of storage space in our small home, and have made more room for food items that need to be stored in a dark place. It will still be hot here in the tropics, but keeping things down low and in the dark will help.
You had a great week, Annabel! Thanks for the inspiration.
Oh, I have a Magimix food processor (bought it after my KitchenAid died) and have never been happier. It's brilliant. Enjoy your new food processor.
Jenny when we lived in Humpty Doo, just out of Darwin, I found that under the bed was often the coolest place to store the extra foods. It was also a good safe place when the storms and cyclones rolled in. We had a tree come down on the house one year. It happened during the day thankfully. The bed was destroyed but the goods were still safe.
DeleteHello Jenny! Where do you buy potato flakes and powdered peanut butter from? All of those staples you have mentioned sound like a wonderful addition to your pantry. Both you and Annabel have made me see just how valuable it is to dehydrate food for the pantry, so much easier to store and not having to rely on electricity to store it. Would love to get a dehydrator and grow lots of food to put through it! Still too cold here for growing much veg. Love, Jennie from Queanbeyan❤️❤️
DeleteYour KitchenAid looks beautiful! They certainly know how to design attractive workhorses! And I really love that gorgeous bench top! Is that Caesar Stone or Marble? I don’t know where you get your energy from, Annabel, I’m in awe of it. How fabulous to find volunteer tomato plants growing in your patch, I would love to find some of mine from last season. Though I have had some teeny volunteer lettuce seedlings come up. Have a wonderful week, love from, Jennie from Queanbeyan💚💚
DeleteDear Jenny,
DeleteYou made great stock up purchases! I cant have soy sauce either thank you for telling me about an alternative. I agree with you that food stored down low, in the dark is good. I remember when we were kids in a heatwave we used to sit on the laundry floor. The cement floor somehow was always cool! The beetroot will be beautiful and how fantastic to have such a good deal on Strawberries! I noticed earlier and commented on your blog... the food containers on your shelves looked so beautiful. I have adopted a food in plain sight is beautiful and this idea gave me a lot of extra storage space. Under the bed space is fantastic... most beds now only have a very small gap between the bottom mattress and the floor... however homemade bed risers that lift the bed one or two inches instantly create a ton of space. Low plastic tubs or trays then push in and pull out like drawers. Nicely hidden too! You had a beautiful week! With love Annabel.xxx
Hi Jennie from Queanbeyan (we lived there in 2003!) - I bought the Maggi potato flakes from Amazon Australia, along with the Knorr coconut milk powder. The peanut butter powder I bought from Marmadukes (an Aussie company).
DeleteI researched the potato flakes for flavour and the Maggi brand was highest rated.
Hi Jane from Humpty Doo! We're definitely making use of our under the bed space. The floor is concrete in the bedroom (carpets lost in the Townsville floods of 2019 and we've only had rugs there ever since). Best place for storing food on the cooler concrete. :-)
DeleteAnnabel, the coconut aminos is delicious - much nicer than soy, and I can enjoy regular recipes that previously had soy sauce as an ingredient. It was game changer for me!
DeleteYou are going to love your processor. It cuts jobs in half, I would never do without one.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Thanks so much Jackie! xxx
DeleteWe have an old Black and Decker food processor. We got this as a Wedding present back in 1988 and it is still going strong. It doesnt do anywhere near as much as the modern processors, but it still helps with the chopping slicing and grating.
ReplyDeleteThis week Bluey got a great deal on a rump roast. He ended up putting it through our electric mincer(we love this tool) and we ended up with premium mince that cost $6/kg instead of the $12 in the supermarket. He also experimented using the potatoes that I had recently harvested from the garden. He put the potatoes, cheese and onions through the mincer. He mixed some eggs in and then baked the mix in muffin trays. These potato muffins will be a tasty extra on the dinner plate. Some have been kept for dinner and the rest frozen.
I mended a cardi for our Katie and washed up some old baby knits for her to put away. I baked some choconana muffins for us. I had intended to freeze some but Bluey gave those away to a neighbour who has been poorly. He is a widower and loved the sweet homemade treats.
I added more pasta and sugar to our long term storage. I found this on a good deal
Dear Jane, What a good week! The food processor has done well! The rump roast was a great deal. Also the potato muffins! Very nice to give some muffins to the man who hasn't been well. The pasta and sugar are good to have in your long term storage. I love things that basically keep forever, they are good to have put away. Mending for Katie is very handy too plus the baby clothes washed up and ready! With much love Annabel.xxx
DeleteWhat will you use the processed celery for? Just curious - soups, I am guessing?
ReplyDeleteSoups and stocks but especially chicken soup which I make a lot especially if anyone isn't well. And also to give Mum as celery is a main stay food for her so a big jar of dehydrated celery is about two whole heads fresh. While I have so much to harvest this means I am ahead by several years.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteYour new food processor is a gem. I use mine for nearly everything, including cookies, cakes, and kneading dough. It saves so much time and energy!
To my freezer meals 2 large meat loaves were added. We harvested give more pounds of sweet potatoes giving us a total of 25 pounds that we harvested in total. I found a recipe for gluten free crackers using only three ingredients using cassava flour and the dough was a batter, being poured rather than rolled out. They turned out fabulous and I made more today topping them with everything bagel seasoning. We continued to soft our container garden soil and burying kitchen scraps and ash from the pellet stove on the sifted soil. I added more cards to the gift closet and took out the springs that were cut out and got them ready to be sewn. Wishing all a good productive week. Cookie
Thanks Cookie! Meatloaves are delicious, so good to have them in the freezer. The crackers you made sound fantastic! What a great sweet Potato harvest you had! A very good week! You added to the gift cupboard as well... It is so wonderful to be ahead on all of these things! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteKohl's had the KitchenAid food processors on sale this week, and I had a gift card, so I got a really good deal on the 9-cup one with the dough blade. And it is red to match my decor - Yay! I hope to get as good use out of it as you do!
ReplyDeleteKathy that is fantastic! How exciting! I have Spinach to process today. I found getting it set up and the test run took time but now I can quickly get it working and I cant wait to have more produce to put through it! I really want to be able to shred and freeze zucchini, carrots etc to daily add to sauces. We have sunshine today and I see a lot of growth in the garden, I think we are heading in the right direction! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteCongrats on the new tool! I shared that my husband bought me a food mill last week. Well it has proven to be a game changer. I save so much time not peeling my apples for sauce. And it makes good use of the smaller fruit that I would just toss to the chickens.
ReplyDeleteAs for the challenge, I'm putting up applesauce or tomato sauce every other day. Plus I'm baking breads and making pie crusts to freeze. God is good!
Blessings, Leslie
Dear Leslie, That is just fantastic your food mill works so well! I can see you will have a lot of help now with that! The apple sauce and tomato sauce are so good to have! Your beautiful breads too. I LOVE the idea to freeze pie crusts!! That is fantastic! You have been busy and adding to your shelves so well! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteI went to Scotland with my daughter-in-law and was gone for 8 days. When I got home and looked at my pantry, I realized how low we are in some areas. I hadn't really noticed this until I was gone for awhile. I had been waiting for sales to stock up, and sadly we haven't had any.
ReplyDeleteTwo stores here have had case lot sales...such as they were. Many fewer products were offered. The only fruit at either store was mandarin oranges for .50 can. I bought 2 cases, or 48 cans.
We harvested one of the "mystery" cantaloupes and it wasn't quite ready. Sweet and juicy, but a little "crunchy." I'm checking for ripeness every day, but with the cooler fall weather, it's slow. I picked three tomatoes of what will probably be the last of the Early Girls. However, the volunteer tomatoes, which I think are Big Boys (they certainly are big!) are still ripening.
The comment about power going out really hit home for me the value of dehydrated foods...which I have honestly never considered before. Thank you! I love reading about the Bluebirds' adventures!
Maxine here again. This blog gets me thinking more and longer than any other. It occurred to me that the grocery store where I shop the most (Winco) has a large bulk foods section. This means you bag your own and buy as much or as little as you wish. I always buy hot cereals, rice and sometimes dry beans this way. As I was thinking about the pathetic case lot sales and weekly specials, it occurred to me that I could go to the bulk foods section when I'm at Winco today and really stock up...and not just on the usual things that I buy. I'm going to take the time to look at everything they stock and see what I can get to help restock my pantry. Obviously, it will be foods that we routinely use. Thank you again for jogging my brain.
DeleteDear Maxine, What a wonderful trip you had! Great buy on the cases of mandarines! I do think dehydrated goods are amazing for both space saving and storage if power is out. I prefer dehydrating to canning now although both are fantastic. Thank you for the compliment that you get ideas and get thinking because of the blog. I would love to see the bulk food section at Winco! I hope it works well to give you cheaper ways to buy dry goods. That would be fantastic. If you vac seal them they will keep so well.
DeleteI feel, in general, stock well now because the current prices will seem like great deals a year from now. I know people who have low stock because they believe prices will go back to "normal" but no they wont. As many areas have reduced supplies and fuel prices are high, fertiliser prices are higher.... prices will go up. Some dramatically if you can get them at all. My family are farmers so I see and hear some things and the world is so connected. The worlds staples.... Rice, Wheat and Corn are all low. So stock up as much as you can.
Thank you for your kind words Maxine! With love Annabel.xxx
Annabel, you are exactly right that current prices will seem like great deals a year from now. I've been through inflation before. Prices never really go down...they level off and wages eventually go up. Fasten your seatbelt because I think we are in for a bumpy ride.
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