WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

theOEGBman

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My grandma and I canned 9.5 pints of Plum Jam yesterday. They're from her Mariposa tree. She said that's what the store said it was, but she's not positive its true. She has another tree, I believe Elephant Heart or something like that, ripening now. So we'll be making jam from that tree as well. It sure is fun, and its deeeelicious.
 

Ldychef2k

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No, No No.....don't encourage me ! A woman with ADD and no way to feed her obsessions is not a pretty thing.

punkin said:
Edited for spelling.

What's a squirrel challenge?
 

onebuggirl

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I canned 14- 1/2 pints of apple butter. 7 Quarts of beans & 7 quarts of corn!
 

Farmfresh

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What a beautiful kitchen! Ldychef No wonder you like to spend your time in there. A cutie patootie grandchild as well!

You seem to be a little like me. When I first learn how to do a new SS activity I am so totally obsessed by it - at least for a while. :p

All of your stuff looks like it turned out GREAT! Where did you get the chicken breasts?

Do you have a good place to store all of those jars? A big old pantry?
 

Ldychef2k

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Yes, I think we ARE the same in that way. I tend to focus pretty intensely on something once I find out I can do it !!!

I just got interested in both preparedness and self-sufficiency a few months ago, as I watched what was happening to the country. So basically I have just started to do what I think I need to do in order to make sure my family is provided for. Daughter and her husband -- she is 30, he's 50, been married 3 years, and he was just diagnosed with parkinson's. They have 3 kids at home (3 and 10 are my daughter's, 13 is his), he has two married kids and grandchildren. Mom and dad are 82 and 84, and dad is very, very ill, but a super tough man. I help them as they need me, so part of all of this is to be sure they are cared for.

Thank you for the compliment on the kitchen! It has been pink since a year after I bought the house in 1988. I did some of the remodeling myself, added cabinets, moved things around a bit. Up until recently, it was themed Mary Engelbreit, but after a real spiritual awakening in my 40 year Christian life, I added purple and changed to butterflies for the reasons I mentioned before. Thank you for commenting on it, it does indeed make me really want to be in it !

The chicken breasts were on sale at Winco for 99 cents a pound with a coupon, limit three. I hounded everyone I know for their coupons, and have canned 2/3 of the breasts so far. The rest are in the freezer waiting.

No, I don't have a pantry, but I have a coat closet in the entry. I have built shelves in there and it holds mostly commercially canned goods. I believe I have about 200 cans of beans, fruits, veggies, and pastas for the kids.

I started in late May/early June with dehydrating and vacuum sealing. I have a four bedroom home (low income housing, 1400 sq ft, small rooms) and one of them is my home office. One wall is stacked pretty much to the ceiling with 12x12x8 USPS outdated priority mail boxes (used to send gift boxes to the troops before they changed the sizes). These contain bulk amounts of certain staples, dehydrated fruits and veggies, and my own version of the MRE. I have more than 100 meals prepared, and ingredients for another 200.

To store my jars and keep them out of the light, I have emptied all my hall cabinets. I have cheap wire cube shelving at the end of the hall, which now holds my linens and the other things from those cabinets, and the cabinets are now overflowing with canned goods. After yesterday's count, wash and photo session, they are organized very well. Previously, they were just chronologic, and that wasn't working.

Because I am really trying to prepare for any eventuality, my bedroom closet floor is stacked with bottles of water, and another closet contains food dehydrators, supplies for making about five years of laundry soap, camping and cooking gear, including buddy burners (tuna cans with cardboard and paraffin), hobo stoves (#10 cans pierced for circulation), the makings of my solar cooker, and egg carton firestarters, as well as a couple of hundred candles.

I have a freezer that is filled with veggies and a huge stock of 99 cents a pound hamburger chubs that I found at Winco.

I don't keep much of value in the garage, as my house is on the cusp of gang territory and we have a crime problem. So pretty much everything I need is inside.

One thing I want to mention, in case anyone reading this thinks they cannot afford to store food and live a current life. My income is just a hair above what is considered the poverty level in California. Part of being self sufficient is making your financial situation work for you. For the past three months, in order to do my dehydrating and canning, I have been living on $35 paycheck for all expenses, including food, gas, and personal items. It CAN be done, but you have to be committed to it. I know this is preaching to the choir for the most part, but I thought I would toss it out there anyway.

I just keep on talking, don't I? Long after anybody is reading !!!!



Farmfresh said:
What a beautiful kitchen! Ldychef No wonder you like to spend your time in there. A cutie patootie grandchild as well!

You seem to be a little like me. When I first learn how to do a new SS activity I am so totally obsessed by it - at least for a while. :p

All of your stuff looks like it turned out GREAT! Where did you get the chicken breasts?

Do you have a good place to store all of those jars? A big old pantry?
 

Farmfresh

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I am still reading! :gig

Wow you do certainly seem ready for anything! I am not as "stocked" as you are with the MREs and everything. I do have water stores and mostly a knowledge store. Tons of books on this subject and have been trying to use them all to learn. I think you just might win the "squirrel challenge" on the other thread!
 

Ldychef2k

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I read that thread and was totally intimidated. There is just no way I could afford all of that stuff, but I have to remind myself that I am just starting, only a couple or three months into this.

Sorry the last post was so long. Mornings are good times to write. Nothing to clutter the mind yet.
 

HiDelight

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I will step right in here and say

I may have enough figs to make my first batch of fig jam :)
happy fig dance :weee
 
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