One of the cool things about being a blogger is that everything is a blog post. Whatever you do, wherever you go, pretty much anything can be photographed and turned into a post.
The problem is, sometimes the process of taking the pictures and writing about it takes more time than the actual doing–and sometimes there is just too much to do. The last couple of months have been that way-I’ve been working myself half to death harvesting from the garden and “Putting Up” food, but I have barely mentioned it here on the blog.
I’ve meant to. I’ve wanted to. There have been many times I’m elbow deep in a project and thought “Dang, this would make a great post!”. But there is only so much of me, and I’ve only got 2 hands (which makes it hard to, oh, let’s say peel apples and take pictures of the process at the same time. And yes, I know that there is such a thing as a tripod, but setting up the shot takes 3x as long as just doing the task & skipping the picture).
So there is a lot of stuff I’ve done this summer which were really frugal, sustainable and homestead-y that I really wanted to share with you all but haven’t.
Ahh, you say, but you manage to get up all those Walmart posts and giveaways! Well, yes, I did. Those are sponsored posts and the money I earn from those are what enable me to have the luxury and joy of working from home so that I CAN do all the other stuff. And just be forwarned–there will be more sponsored posts leading up to the Holidays. I try to tweak them all as much as possible to highlight the frugal aspects of anything, or to teach you a skill you might enjoy, give away something that is of decent value to you all or even just share an interesting story with it. I do actually refuse a lot of them that I don’t feel fit–like credit card offers, luxury products, etc.
But back to the topic at hand–just how much DID I put away?
I borrowed an Excalibur dehydrator from a lovely church friend and then, with the free apples I picked from a couple of other friends trees, I dehydrated 4 bags full of apple rings and made about 20 sheets of applesauce leather (which the kids have eaten almost all of!). I had a vine of winter squash die in the garden-the squash were ripe, but the rinds weren’t hard enough to cure for long term storage so I diced, steam blanched and then dehydrated a couple of those (that’s the big jar on the right-yeah, 2 squash only filled it about 1/3 of the way up) then I baked two, mashed the squash and dried it in a flat sheet. I also did a small bag of summer squash as an experiment-then, in those other jars, I dehydrated a bunch of frozen vegetables I got on sale-corn, peas, pepper mix, and mixed vegetables.
Why did I dehydrate frozen vegetables? Well mostly because I wanted to experiment a bit this fall with using dehydrated food. I wanted to see how I would use it so I could decided if it really is worth my while to spring for that Excalibur Dehydrator that I really, really want. They run about $260 for the big 9 tray version. . . so I have to be really sure before I spend the money. I’ll write more on why I think a dehydrator might be a worthwhile expense in the future.
Then of course I canned. This is my main shelf of canned items. At the top are mostly jams, jellies and canned rhubarb. Then you get into salsa and chili sauce, pickles, apple butter, canned beans, green tomato salsa, tomato sauce & carrots.
Then I’ve got this other small shelf (ignore the junk on the floor please!) That’s a ton of applesauce and canned apple slices on the tops, then tomatoes, green tomatoes, spaghetti sauce etc.
Next we move to the freezer. Most of the items in the freezer were frozen and then sealed with my foodsaver. (note: I’ve been offered the chance to review a newer foodsaver-mine is 12 years old. You’ll see that sometime in the next month or so-I’m anxiously awaiting it!) Things that are wet like the corn & broth you see on the right get frozen in a rigid container and then the block ‘o food is sealed. That’s sqush, beans, corn etc you are looking at.
Down further I’ve got chard, lambs quarter, dandelion, squash, kohlrabi, apples and other unidentified items. (Hey, they are labeled with permanent marker on the package, I just can’t tell in the photo)
On the door up top there I’ve got blocks ‘o tomatoes & zucchini, down further I’ve got more squash.
I’m still not done though. I dug up all these Jerusalem Artichokes a couple of days ago. I have to get them packed in a box in damp sand today for storage in the basement.
I also needed to make some more room in the freezer, so I pulled out a bunch of the fruit I have had stored to make jam “later”. I guess today is “later. That’s 2 gallon bags of strawberries, a pint of blackberries, a pint of blueberries, and a big bag of mixed wild blueberries, currants and a few black raspberries.
Out in the garden I’ve still got about 9 chard plants, a couple of New Zealand spinach that never did much, around 8 butternut squash, carrots, 4 cabbages, 3 brussel sprouts and a summer squash vine that just decided to put out 3 new little squash (who knows, they could make it). I’ve also fall planted some turnips, tat soi, beets, mizuna and kale. The bunnies decided they needed the beet greens and kale more than I did, but the Mizuna is nice and bushy-we’ve been eating it fresh in stirfries, and the turnips are big enough to thin–the thinned greens will make me a nice pot of turnip greens here soon.
That’s what I’ve been up to, so what do you think?
Jen, you HAVE been busy!
I’ve been looking at getting a foodsaver system myself but I’m wondering at the prices of the rolls/bags. Do yo have any data (or guestimates hehe) on how much each package worked out to cost-wise for the foodsaver plastic?
Merlene~I’ll be looking at that as part of the foodsaver post when I do it. One thing though, if you are looking to seal items like leftovers, lunchmeat etc that you will be opening up soon but just want to make last longer, there is the canning jar attachment. Basically you can buy this gizmo, use one of the flat canning lids (and for this purpose you can reuse those over and over unlike real canning) and suck all the air out of the glass jar. Viola, whatever you put inside will now last about 3X as long in the fridge. And anything that is already shelf stable (crackers, dehydrated food, pasta etc) will last a super long time!
Thanks Jen – love the canning jar attachment idea.
Can’t wait to read the foodsaver post – I keep going back and forth over buying one.
Well gee whillikers, Jen, now we know you’re not perfect. You’re beating yourself up more about not posting in detail, detail, detail — your loyal readers (like me) are ok with realizing that you lead a zany life, too. No worries. Really. Just pass on the info when you can. And frankly, I’m not bothered by your Wal-Mart references; I’d assumed you would make them.
I laughed to myself about your squash reference — we were supposed to have a freeze a few weeks ago, so I picked the heck out of four pattypan squash plants, and got 20-some ‘babies,’ along with the larger squash. We did have snow, but the plants never froze. (Go figure.) Last night, we had another freeze scheduled, so I went out to pick more. In two weeks, those silly plants had started up another 54 baby squash! (I counted.) If they ever figure out how to vote (or run) for President, we’re in big trouble.
dang, and here I wanted you all to think I’m perfect! And yes, those squash don’t want to give up the ghost when they should! But hey-I’ll take the extra harvest 🙂
Wow, that is a lot of food you’ve put up! Did all of that (except for the experimental frozen veggies) come from your garden?
Well the fruit was mostly from friend’s houses or “pick your own” type places. My corn harvest was pretty awful-it just wasn’t a good year-so the corn was from a roadside stand. I did get a few yellow squash from a friend who had them going nuts-most of that was made into relish although a few made it into the frozen squash bags. Otherwise everything else was from my garden.
I’d love to read what you do with Jerusalem artichoke. I’ve been wanting to try it, but I’m just not sure how.
Well so far I”ve just buried it in damp sand to store it. When I cook some up I’ll let you know what I do and how it tastes. Most likely on Facebook-so if you haven’t liked the Frugal Upstate FB Page you might want to. 🙂
We got an Excalibur last summer to deal with an excessive plum harvest. We discovered that my son adores dried plums and dried apples. For that alone, the price was worth it for us.
I never thought to dehydrate frozen vegetables. That would certainly free up some freezer space.
Questions about two things: what will you do with the dried, mashed squash amd what do you do with Jerusalem artichokes?
Well, for the squash I can either rehydrate it back into mashed squash and use as a side dish or it in recipes like my Black bean, beef and tamale pie (link below). Another idea is to take the sheet ‘o squash, tear it into pieces, pop it into my food processor and pulse the heck out of it until I have squash powder. Then I can use that powder as an additive in anything-I can make squash soup, I can add a bit to batters, breads or even mashed potatoes for extra nutrition. Now do keep in mind that this is my first time doing this-so I can’t vouch for any of it. I’m learning too!
http://www.frugalupstate.com/recipes/recipe-pumpkin-black-bean-beef-tamale-pie/
What great ideas! Thanks.
Wow, what an impressive stash of veggies and fruits saved for the post-garden season! I’m especially looking forward to your thoughts on the dehydrator because I’ve been considering buying one. During the summer, I was thinking of trying the dehydrating technique you employed in the past with a screen in a hot car, but I didn’t get to it. Have you ever made a fermented vegetable, such as sauerkraut?
I’ve had better luck growing kale in very cold weather, even peeking through light snow, than in warmer weather when cabbage worms were a problem.
I think you have done and amazing job of putting up food for your family. You have a nice variety, I am sure you will enjoy the “fruits” of your labor all winter:)
I’m exhausted just seeing what you put up! You were super productive! Love the real life photos. Good job 🙂
I love it! I just yanked out my dehidrator from storage I got for a wedding present years ago and never used. 🙂 How did you dehydrate the frozen veggies? did you thaw them first or just put in frozen? I like the thought of canning and dehydrating better then freezing because of power outages. hopefully you can make something soon and let us know how it tastes. The girls and I are going to a orchard tomorrow were we can pick as much as we want. Dryed apple slices here we come. 🙂
Kimberly-I’m so glad to have inspired you! And that’s my exact though regarding the dehydrating. . . I have a huge freezer (obviously) but if we have a longer term power outage I don’t want to loose everything! Plus dehydrated food is so compact-you can fit a ton in a little bit of space.
When I did the veggies I just placed the frozen stuff right on the sheet in the evening before I went to bed and let it run all night. It works best with items that are all the same size-the mixed veggies probably had the carrots & peas a bit longer than necessary to let the green beans catch up. . .
That is what i was thinking. My aunts house they seam to have 1 a month recently. made me start thinging more about it. we have a large freezer as well, but we lost power this summer and almost lost everything. we didn’t open it and kept it closed and it was just under the 24 hour range and everything was still cool enough to be good.
Do you have a recipe site you go to or something else you use? i lost my diections to my dyhidrator.
I just have to get more canning jars for storage. i just bought a bag of beans i need to move into jars. 🙂
Kimberly-You know, for everyone that asks a question I always figure that there are several more folks who are wondering the same thing but just don’t comment–since your question is a good one I’m going to pull it out and do a reader’s question on it this evening. I needed a post for today anyway 😉
Glad to help. lol 🙂
What I find interesting is that you mentioned freezing greens, and no one has commented on it. Have you covered it in a previous post? (I’m new to this blog–looks very interesting, by the way–so I wouldn’t know.)
Do you just freeze greens for cooking? I can’t imagine greens being good for a salad after being frozen and thawed. Can you only freeze certain kinds of greens? Is there anything special you need to do–blanching, maybe?
Lilah–the greens are cooked greens-anything that is eaten similiarly to cooked spinach. I usually have some chard, dandelion greens, lambsquarters, kale etc in the freezer. I steam blanch them and then freeze them. Actually I freeze them in sandwich sized plastic containers and once they are solid I pop them out and put them into foodsaver bags and seal them for long term. You defrost and then serve them boiled or cooked, again like spinach. Unfortunately you cannot freeze greens to be used in a salad later–that’s a fresh only type use. Although i have heard of a freezer cole slaw recipe (it’s vinegar and oil based rather than mayo).
help! i doubled a recipe and spilled to much cider vinegar into the plum sauce. i am just storing this in the fridge. do you know how i can save it? it is really sour/tart. thank you
You can try adding more sweet to counteract the acid, or you could actually run up a second batch and try combining them together. . .