IN the pantry

Not sure where I got this from, I used to have it hanging from my frig in the fall. This year nothing got hung but I have been stocking the pantry.

I made pear butter out of the pear's the neighbor's 4 yr old helped Hubby pick up off the ground while 4 yrs old dad put roof on the neighbor's garage. She had told the child he could have all the pears on the ground or that his dad or Hubby could help him reach on the tree. We got 2-5 gal buckets. Hubby helped him take 4-5 gal buckets home while his dad finished the roof. Good thing as the freeze came in a couple days later.

I am pretty much stocked with meat for a year. I would like to have a couple pork butt roasts or loins maybe one of each instead of two of each but if I don't get them on sale for the right price I will pass. We now have 18 months of main dishes in the pantry... 2 main dished per day. Though I image with a little bit of this and that I could turn it into a 3rd dish if needed to stretch the main meal part of the pantry for 2 yrs.Which would be great as the next 2 years are going to be very thin on the income with the outflow of the house and truck etc.

Last Wednesday Hubby picked up 2 turkeys for 48 cents/ lb if you spent $25 for Daughter 4. He got her  beef roast (buy one get one) and potatoes. I picked up 2 turkeys for us (same price) and beef roast (same deal) for us and onions for Daughter 4. 

Thursday, I run to store for dairy items, and grab 2 more turkeys and found hamburger marked down, hot dogs and smoked sausage also marked down.Got home and found out that Hubby had went to the store when he went to town to run an errand for the neighbor and got 2 more turkeys and 2 more roasts(buy one get one) and coffee as he had checked his coffee before he went to town.He had 2 coupons for the coffee and it was on sale.

Spent the weekend dealing with the food etc.

Sunday we meet son 2 and our friends over at Hong Kong to celebrate Vet's day Son and friend are vets) and since friend wants us to deep fry turkey for Ham radio Christmas dinner we went to Kroger's there so he could pay for them and we just bring them home. They had turkeys for 38 cents/lb limit 2 so we picked up 2 more (total is 8 just FYI)for us AND they had brisket for $1.99/ lb while it's running $5.99 at our Kroger's. I picked up 2 briskets.

The next day we had eye appointment back over to the other Kroger's (my steroids has cause my astigmatism to change) so we stopped at Kroger's.  I got 4 more briskets, brats that was marked down, hamburger that was marked down, 2 large containers of oats and a bag of potatoes.

I cut the 6 briskets in four pieces  to make 24 roasts (that's one every other week) or one once a month for 2 yrs.Vacuumed they will hold good.

Turkey 1 was roasted, deboned, ate and the remaining part vacuum packed (6 meals)and in freezer and carcass is been turned into broth which is now in frig to let the fat come to top and be able to remove fat and can tomorrow.

Turkey 2  was roasted today, is now deboned , I ate it tonight for dinner (Hubby working parade)and carcass is in pot simmering as I type this for broth to be defatted and then canned.

Turkey 3 is thawing. Actually I had no choice as I now need that space for the briskets LOL. But that's okay. We figured we would cook 3 turkeys this month to get the broth back up as I was low and I vacuum the meat in 3 cups packages as that's what I use in most of my casseroles, noodles etc.

We decided on our basic once a month perishable list. I will go to Save A Lot here (don't have an Aldi's) to get what I can BEFORE going to Kroger's. Walmart here does not have the choices or smaller sizes that I use. It's $125 IF I go to Kroger's a month .... but with the understanding I might have to buy something that isn't on the list but needed for a meal if it's something we agree on. I set that amount as $25. When we don't use that money or there is some left, it goes back into the stock the pantry envelope. Any of the $125 not used also goes into stock the pantry envelope.

There are a couple stores in the next town where our parents live that I would like to do a price check when we are over there. They have an Aldi's.

I pulled some different breads out of the freezer trying to use that up before I baked another loaf when the neighbors down the road brought a loaf of bread they bought from the Amish bakery around the corner so we are eating that as well.

We talked about things we were no longer eating...cold cereal for Hubby as he used to eat it in the mornings when he got home from work before going to bed.
Apples, he used to eat one either at work or before work with peanut butter...not happening. I used to eat cottage cheese, pickled beets and applesauce for lunch  and a yogurt for 2 pm snack with fig newtons or cookie, not doing that either.

I already need 25 lbs all purpose flour, 25 lbs sugar, and peanut butter and choc chips... not out but lower than I usually am at this time even without baking cookies or making candy for the kids for Christmas. IF they come on sale cheap enough I will pick them up.