Sunday, August 27, 2017

Can I do any more at one time?

Yes I have 3 cold packers aka water bath canners with food being processed at the same time, I also had the pressure canner in the house going along with 2 other burners with food being cooked to be canned AND it's been like that for the last 2 days. I could easily see a couple more of those days this week depending on the rain that is forecasted to come in Monday around noon.

I met my swag bucks goal one time this week. The other's I just did what I could, I figured 3 pts a day is more than what I was doing.

I usually catch a couple surveys but since I don't have a DVR I'm getting bumped out.We have an antenna only.

We saved gas with Kroger points, Speedway, Wagner IGA points and Gasbuddy. Hubby has been riding the motorcycle to work. Have used almost 15 gal. of gas in the lawnmowers this week. Had to move twice and haven't had the issue alls summer.

We shopped Menards for sales and household items to score on the 11 %  rebate and got additional rebate from Whink rust remover.

I washed the insert to the cold cereal that Hubby used to make a trail like mix to carry when he is working SCARES ( group of radio operators that would with Homeland security)

I got the stain out of Hubby's dress shirt FINALLY after 4 different washings and different soaps.

I did laundry with cold tap water and homemade laundry soap. Still can't use clothes line due to surgery.Used my stain remover that came with my home dry cleaning kit.

No AC or furnace...open windows , let sun shine in. close up before it cools off. Wear shawl in mornings and evenings.

I harvest cherry,Roma and regular tomatoes, green onions, green tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers,2 thumb size cucumbers, a single green bean (thank you to the birds that ate the blooms) and surprise oregano and rosemary that the Bunny family didn't eat.

I battered and slightly deep fried eggplant and green tomatoes for the freezer . I will either bake or finish deep frying them when I serve them.

I froze sausage grease and beef grease and 1 pint of blackberries this week.

I canned 14 qrts beef vegetable soup, 16 pts of zesty chili, 21 pts mild chili,10 qrts. blackberry pie filling,14 pts blackberries, 14 pts bread and butter pickles,8 pts peperonata, and 8 -1/2 pts of caponata.

I dehydrated 6 dozen eggs, 2 lbs of carrots, 1 bunch of celery, 9 pints of blackberries, and Roma tomatoes sliced and sprinkled with seasoned salt.

I've used whatever I was canning that day to make something for dinner




Oh yeah, we went to the produce auction. I now have mums that the people parked next to us ran out of room in their SUV and couldn't find anyone to buy them from them so I bought them for $2 each which is what they spent. The big mums Hubby bought for me for $4 each. Also go pumpkins $3.50 each for the large ones and  less for the others, storage onions (half go to a friend that will pay us back when they get home from vacation)colored bell peppers , roma tom, yellow roma tom, yellow tom, sweet potatoes, beets (for Hubby's mom) 50 lbs of red onions (behind pumpkins), apples, pickles, maple syrup , blackberries  etc ... I priced against what we would have spent if we had bought from store... we saved $640. We picked up some peaches at the produce farm down the road from the auction. I just wanted some to eat this week.

Hubby asked where Brandy (The Prudent Homemaker) got dried cheese sauce from. I went to her Bulk food and grains page, clicked on the Walton food link that cheese was listed under and it took me to Rainy Day Foods website which is Walton's food subsidiary and it was a good thing stuff was on sale because we definitely placed a big order. Still it was under budget for our stocking up AND the sale actually covered more than the shipping costs. Hubby figured out if we didn't go to the store every week to get dairy products we would have the money back in gas with in 3 mos.

We ordered dehydrated sour cream, something I use regularly but Hubby doesn't like so it sometimes goes bad before I get a large container used up but the small one doesn't last long enough. Hash browns, diced potatoes and sliced potatoes means we won't have potatoes going bad in the root cellar or have to eat them ASAP. Never had that problem when the kids were home. Butter powder for making cookies at the holiday so I only have to stock for our usage which is 1 stick a week unless Hubby makes pancakes, then he greases the skillet with butter. Clear jel that I just used the last of it with the blackberry pie filling. Golden raisins that I struggle to find around here, and mango that Hubby requested. Dried sweet Garden peas and dried carrots so I am not taking up freezer room with them and we only need like 1 cup of at a meal and that leaves an open bag in the freezer that half the time get's knocked back open and dumped in the freezer.Instant milk, that should stop the extra trip for milk especially during the winter. Hubby can get it at the local store on his way home IF he heads home 2 hrs after he gets off work, If he doesn't work out at the wellness center then it is go without or make a trip back to the store using a gal of gas.Shortening powder.. sugar cookies call for this and I get it as I have a granddaughter that only eats sugar cookies and I bake everyone else's favorites at Christmas but because I don't use shortening for my cooking, I end up throwing part of it away. I hope this works for us. Teriyaki sauce mix...my fix...HA HA... I crave this about once a week, okay daily but I limit the salt intake by not eating it daily AND FINALLY the cheese sauce that started this to begin with.

The dryer just buzzed and I am tired, still working on rebuilding my strength with my arm and it wearing on me.

Tomorrow is another day.... and for one last thought. I bought this painting and showed it to Hubby and told him it was the house I wanted...with a walkout basement and 1-3 acres of land because I want fruit trees, berry bushes and maybe a cow or couple pigs so we needed a barn and grazing area.


He thought it was a great looking home.