Pantries and Preparedness. Lovely letters and brilliant ideas.

When I first started on building up my pantry I knew it is not an overnight thing. It is week by week, long term and a big learning curve. I would never have guessed I would make friends and get so much support! It has become a way of encouraging each other along which is just so nice.

Firstly, thank you to everyone who comments and contributes. Last week alone the comments were fantastic. We were talking about having back up plans and alternatives to things we really need or couldn't handle being without. 

Some wonderful tips that came in comments were:
Cathy and Cass reminded us to keep matches. These days many people have no matches! They are a basic necessity.
Jes added that a large bucket for washing and a clothes line (if you are allowed to have one..) prepare you for washing and drying.
Nanna Chel suggested a solar phone charger.
Lana got a crank up radio so they can hear news and warnings without batteries or electricity.
Cass said that a fondue pot successfully heats all kinds of things. Oh my goodness I never thought of that! How clever is this? She followed it up with the idea that if you lay a garden hose out in the sun and fill it up ie with a closed off nozzle on the end, it will heat up. Now I KNOW that because of all those times I nearly burned my fingers plus plants with that first minute of really hot water that you get! But I never once thought that I could use this if the power was out to wash, do dishes etc! How brilliant.  (Gold stars to you Cass, thank you!)
Denise suggested bug spray is an item not to be without. If we are cooking outdoors etc and in an area that mozzies etc are a problem bug spray can be a life saver. So true!
Joy suggested hand sanitizer and wet wipes for when both water is precious and hygiene is important.

This is a sampling of the good and helpful comments in ONE week. I am learning so much! Thank you all.

Now sometimes comments are not enough and also they don't allow photos. I love to see what you are doing! (FB allows photos otherwise if you have some please email me)

In the last week or so here are some of the emails I got...

Firstly, from Teri. You remember her free food coming in and it just kept coming! Well, here is an update...

I am still canning.  Tomorrow, I will have a big box of tomatoes from Jacob's garden, so I'm planning to make salsa.  I froze some yellow summer squash, unblanched, in hopes that we will like it better.  I also chopped some to add to sauces, stews, and soups.  I'm still picking a few green beans and those are for our dinner meals.  I will miss them!  lol   And we are covering the cucumbers each night in hopes of getting a few more to eat.  Then, I have chard to pick, beets and winter (acorn) squash to bring in and some green tomatoes to put in the basement to ripen.  And I still have a box of apples to can up.  The harvest is winding down and I'm thankful for all that we have gotten this year!  As soon as I have some jars available, I will be canning some of my dried beans.  We buy them in bulk and because they take a lot of water, I plan to start filling some jars.

Teri keeps working and food keeps coming in!


From Rosanne: (You might remember Rosanne from the free apples and her Grand children helping her preserve them a few weeks ago)

Annabel,

To truly have a well stocked pantry one must think 'outside the box". Thinking of what you use regularly and expanding the thought.

I am a coffee addict, I need my morning cup, or two. I stock regular coffee, not instant, but I do have 2 percolators, 1 French press and this plastic cone thing. I have shelf stable milk, shelf stable 1/2 & 1/2 and powdered milk, just incase I cannot get to the store, due to any reason, weather, finances or other.

I live in Upstate New York, my area gets hit by what they call Nor'Easter storms and storms out of the west, they tend to converge over me. makes for an interesting winter.

We did put a whole house generator in and it has been used more times than I can remember, but what most people do not mention is the cost of a unit ($5,000+ US dollars) And the cost of running one. We were out of power for 5 days one week in winter, it ran us an additional $300 in natural gas to power it. Also, stock some ear plugs, the constant (noise) it makes does wear on you, even though you have the blessing of power to heat the house, cook and keep refrigerator going.

I canned quick meals, soups, sauces, even sweet and sour chicken to have over rice, precooked rice is available in packets. I have canned pork roast, ground hamburger meat, cubed chicken, chicken breasts, easy quick meals to make in a pinch. Before we had the generator we had to cook meals on the outdoor grill when we lost power, so to conserve propane, we wanted to cook something that took less fuel. We do always keep 3 additional tanks of propane for the grill. A just in case.

I have bars of soap saved, I doubt we will ever run out. I even take the little slivers that are to small to use and transform them into liquid soap, we haven't bought liquid soap in many years.

Remember when you are stocking your pantry to always stock what you will eat and quick versions of what you eat. It might not taste exactly the same, but something is better than nothing.

I have been taking my grandchildren out during the summer to forage. They have heard the tall stories of their Father's youth, how his Mother would send him into the mosquito infested woods to pick blackberries and others. As I would sit there and hold back the laughter.

We have a "weed" called Golden Rod, it is a sign that Fall is on its way when it is blooming, It has medicinal uses, but my Grandchildren learned it's historic significance, It was called Liberty Tea, the Bostonians substituted it for tea after the famous, Boston Tea Party.  I also don't worry about them going without food, because they know, it can be found in the most unusual places.

You have met them with their Parking Lot Apples. We canned up 73 lbs, that were free, no one picked them, they just walked by, we picked and helped a lady pick some, giving her a bag to use and found she had never thought of picking them.

We pick Sumac to make lemonade with.

Remember all your food doesn't need to come from a grocery store or your garden. You would be amazed to find what is out there.

I have felt priveleged to have you post about the Grandchildren, they of course were ticked pink. I should add they asked today what we are going to go pick this week.

I stopped in at Aldi's, some of the ladies on A Working Pantry mentioned some good prices. I didn't find anything marked down like they did, but I did come home with a case of mushrooms. They were 8 oz each for 79 cents, my normal grocer has them on sale for $2 for 10 oz. As soon as I got home I was slicing. They were beautiful.

I was able to fit 11 cartons on 9 trays in dehydrator. They were dried in 9 hours. Yes I did put the dehydrator outside, my laundry room where I had first set it up, well it started to smell like an old worn pair of socks. But by 1/2 way through the smell no longer existed, so at 9pm I brought it in to finish them off.

Here are the trays of dehydrated mushrooms. 11 - 8oz cartons filled 2 qts and 1 pint. The one lonely carton left I microwaved for 3 minutes and placed in a freezer carton, it filled a pint container. I am thrilled to have added them to my pantry, whenever I want them in a stew, all I need to do is drop them in, in an omelet, all I need to do is pour some boiling water over them and wait a bit, now my husband has no excuse for not making a mushroom pizza.

Here is a picture of how I vacuum seal them, the foodsaver does have attachment to fit the top of mason jars, I always had a problem with getting them to seal, so all I do is pop any jar that does fit into the canister and seal it that way. So much easier for me to do.

The end result was 2 quarts and 1 pint of dried mushrooms, from 5 1/2 pounds of fresh and 1 pint of frozen from 8 oz of fresh.

Now when it is snowing and cold and we want a yummy stew, no worries about having to go out to pick up ingredients.

Rosanne you are so productive and it is wonderful!

And from  Vicky who has also been building up her pantry and you will remember her beautiful black and white food grade bins and pantry storage...

What I gleaned from my Uncle's garden:

6 small heads of cabbage

15 green peppers

22 banana peppers

a bucket of tomatoes

1/2 bucket of small potatoes

A few people have asked me if I grow a big garden why would I get more produce when I have my own? Well they are obviously not gardeners or canners. Some of the obvious answers are if I am getting produce and it is ripe and ready to be processed mine will be coming on later and later may be a disaster. Too much rain or heat for examples. Or maybe I didn't plant as much as I would have liked too and this will add extra to the larder. Or maybe that big ol' whistlepig decided my garden is great and destroys half my stuff! So just in case I never turn down free produce and if I end up with a bumper crop in my garden I return the favor. It is part of my just in case plan. And having extra is a big help because I never know how many I will be feeding at times or unexpected things come up and I need to send hospitality food. So here is what I have done with the free produce.

Stuffed peppers ready for the sauce and to be frozen for dinner later. I will put half of these in another pan. Plus I had a pan full of diced, but I lost the pic. Part of them went into my tomato juice and the other part in the dehydrator.

The Banana Peppers deseeded and will be stuffed with spicy sausage and go into the freezer then when we have a football party or other party I will put them in the crockpot with onions and tomato sauce. Yum!

And from the 6 small heads of cabbage I got:

A pan of cabbage to fry for cabbage and noodles for dinner later.

A pan of vegetable casserole to put in the freezer. It has some of the green peppers I diced, onions, celery, shredded cabbage, cooked burger, sliced carrot, banana pepper and rice. I will put the tomato sauce on it when I put the sauce on the stuffed peppers.

6 quarts of kraut ready to put in the closet to ferment.

And 12 quarts of tomato juice. One of the things I love about making tomato juice is you can use up some of the vegetables that maybe are not so great to can that you don't want to waste like peppers that are a little soft, but still good or carrots and celery that are in the fridge that are on the limpy side. I used some of these in this juice plus I had onions in the freezer that I froze last year, but will be getting a bunch of fresh ones soon so I put them in too. I cook it all and then juice it and boil down a little and voila tomato/vegetable juice!

And that is what I did with the free food I got this week.

XOXO Vicky

And to top it off this is Vicky's garden...

Thats the capsicum section! To the left is the cabbage section and to the right tomatoes!
I need a rest just looking at this!

And her capsicums as she harvests them...

And tomatoes made into sauce...

And I nearly forgot! Her husband then had a chance to be paid to cut down some trees and was also allowed to keep the wood. So now they have a fresh supply of wood for their fire...

Can you believe Vicky's vegetables!? This woman doesn't stop!
Everyone is busy as a bee!

These kind of letters are a joy to read! And there are more... like Kaye is getting a shelving system set up for her pantry supplies... I am trying to get her to take photos!

All of this is just wonderful. And inspiring. I thought to share it as if it motivates me and makes me happy then I am sure I would not be the only one.

I always say make hay while the sun shines and to make the most of what you have where you are right now. These ladies all have things in common. They take every opportunity to build up their pantries and homes.
Thank you to everyone who reads, shares their ideas and experiences and sends in photos.

This week I added a LED lantern to the cellar and placed it on the top step. Vicky suggested that my wall that has nothing on it (shelves would be in the way of the steps) would be a good place to hang wall pockets ie the ones made for shoes or storing small things. I got one and it fits, is not in the way and will hold all kinds of things. I will label the pockets also. These over the back of a door such as the pantry door will hold things like soup mixes, small packets, plastic bags and so on. Very handy!
I also added hand warmers that you activate and get ten hours heat from.

How did you build up your pantry this week?
Every bit helps and adds up to a lot! xxx