Thursday, September 14, 2017

Frugal bomb...

It's only Thursday and I am going to start this because I know I won't remember much by Sunday when I usually write due to a family reunion that is 3 hrs away one way on Sunday and I will have to drive as Hubby works Sunday night.

Daddy gave me 800 jars, about 100 of them is old glass mayo jars that I won't can in but will put dry goods in so I can free up my canning jars. I'm down to about 50 jars to can with.

My new dehydrator, about half the size of my Excalibur in 2015 , this new one that I got on sale...well I got what I paid for. It either over dries the bottom and everything on top molds, OR I am rotating trays ever hr and the food falls off and it still won't dry what ever is in the middle . I decided to send it to the craft room and maybe when I get around to making something like ornaments it will work well there. So we ordered another one just like I have and it has replacement parts so if something goes wrong I can buy the parts, or strip it off the other one.

My old pressure canner needs new seal and gauge...so it's now a water bath on the stove, but the new one is doing okay still.

Meantime 2 of the 3 turkey fries that I was using for the water bath (aka Cold packer) ...are out of commission. One died completely and the other is struggling to heat up correctly. Hubby is going to replace 1 as we need 2 for when we deep fry turkeys for the ham radio group at Christmas and see if he can take the bad two and make one working one. Figures when I am starting back up on tomatoes.

I've dump hot coffee all over the kitchen floor and was thankful I hadn't put the sugar or milk in it. Tripped over a metal trunk that has been sitting at the end of my bed since 1985. Nice bruise on the shin now , along with catching myself with the arm that had surgery so I wouldn't bash my cheekbone on the corner and have to have that repaired again. Then took Rascal out to play 10 (ball) and hit the ceiling of the porch with the ball and beaned myself in the head....all of that was from 5:15 to 6.A,M.

Next day I went out with Rascal and went to kick the ball off the stoop for him...bent all 5 toes to my shin by kicking the stoop instead and falling because of it, it's not as smooth as the porch as my shoes slide very well when I kick the ball off the front porch.

Today I ran the knife through the tip of my thumb working on bell peppers.(50 lbs plus now roasted and skinned). I've yet to figure how I did that but I can tell you that bell pepper juice BURNS on open cuts.

Good thing Hubby is an EMT because we saved a small fortune on me getting medical care this week from HIM instead of the Doctor's office or ER.

Went an hour away to pick up 400 lbs of potatoes. Got 100 lbs of what they call 2nds..green spots, nicks , weird shapes LOL (18¢/ lb) I will sort through these tomorrow and the nicked ones will be used to make mashed potato granules. The rest will be split with family that only wanted 5-10 lbs. I have 2 daughters that wanted 100 lbs each for storage along with my in laws wanting to split a 50 lb bag between their family  (24¢/lb) I got 50lbs of "chef" potatoes...more like what we would buy for baking potatoes (30¢/lb)...so I walked out with 400 lbs of potatoes that averaged at a bit over 23¢ a lbs. FRESH POTATOES that have been cured by people I know as our kids grew up together and Hubby played baseball on the church baseball league with the Dads.

 I did get a couple more shelving units clean, straightened and  inventoried.
This is pretty full, there is one spot that it looks full but isn't and that is where the Miracle Whip is...Hubby won't eat mayo . That's the last jar from last year. Need that refilled.

This is chips of different flavors, marshmallows of different sizes, choc condense milk, caramel condense milk, condense milk, evaporated milk, coconut cream, coconut milk, instant milk, powdered white sauce and powdered sour cream.It also holds the majority of the appliances that we use for our family meals that are of about 50 plus people.

and last but not least...the last of the canned butter. I will use this for our "eating" butter, the dried powder butter will be for baking and the stick butter will be for cooking, mostly for pancakes or French toast. That should get us through until the cash flow starts back up.

Prayers for everyone to stay safe. Including MYSELF LOL

Blessed Be