Its March....How does your pantry look?

[Jamsoundsgood]

I feel like such an under-acheiver. Except my jam. I still have lots of jam.....of course we are just down to plum jam, but we have lots and lots of it.

 

[Ldychef2k]

I have a lot of plum as well. Got two full brown grocery bags of plums from FreeCycle last year, and made it all into jam. My favorite of all jams, though is the Welch's grape. I am not a fan of purchased grape jelly; it seems to need more flavor. When I use the frozen juice (not cocktail) concentrate, I can use a bit less water to reconstitute it, and it's just awesome.

I think next Christmas I will make all kinds of jellies from frozen juice concentrate. Cheaper than fruit...unless the fruit is free of course. But you don't need to add much sugar to the concentrate.

I hope we have good strawberries this year....my grandkids are eating them as fast as they turn red, so I know I will have to end up buying some.

/hijack

 

[SKR8PN]

The only thing we have had to buy, was milk. We could actually go without planting a garden this year if we had to.

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What's in the buckets? Pickles? Sour Crout? Lard?

Two of them contain salt, 2 sugar, 2 rice, 2 beans, 2 flour, 1 honey. In addition to the 2 freezers you see in those pictures, we have a third one out in the shed full of nothing but beef, that I just bought last fall. Oh, and that is not counting the refrigerator/freezer in the kitchen. We are just now getting them to the point that we have space to add stuff if need be. Now you can see why I just bought a SECOND 500 gallon propane tank, that I am going to use to supply just the back-up generator. A truly extended(over a month long) power outage could ruin a lot of food. With the second tank, I would be good to go for 6 months if I run it properly.

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

So, SKR8PN, any houses available by you?

 

[justusnak]

So, SKR8PN, any houses available by you?

getting packed now...waiting for a reply! LOL

 

[hoosier]

I grew spaghetti squash for the first time last year, and I am stunned that I still have several in great shape.
I am also surprised that my lettuce survived and grew (slowly) all winter long in my cold frame even thought we had two 2 week periods where the temp never rose to freezing. I just pulled it out and gave it to the chooks to make room for my spring plantings.
I also still have plenty of greenbeans and tomatoes, and some corn remaining.
I didn't preserve anything else. I tried pickles one year, and could have given Aunt Bee a run for her money!

 

[modern_pioneer]

I am sure if I were without power, I would have better planned to food storage. So as it is, I think we did pretty well this year. Although I still have some deer meat to can, I have enough jam to barter or sell this spring.

Would you pay $5 for a HALF pint of jam? I know some folks that do.

 

[SKR8PN]

So, SKR8PN, any houses available by you?

As a matter of fact, there are a couple re-po's in the neighborhood. None have very much land, probably an acre or less.

 

[Bettacreek]

I am sure if I were without power, I would have better planned to food storage. So as it is, I think we did pretty well this year. Although I still have some deer meat to can, I have enough jam to barter or sell this spring.

Would you pay $5 for a HALF pint of jam? I know some folks that do.

I like the cinder block shelving. We have plenty of scrap boards and cinder blocks downstairs to throw one together for canned goods. Brilliant.

 

[Kim_NC]

Holy Smoke, SKR8PN, you have been busy, busy! Very impressive.

Maybe I can get some pics later today. We could make it quite awhile. We still have plenty of these canned items and will make it through on most of them

- jams/jellies (we sell those, I *might* make it until fruit season starts)
- pickles/relishes (sell those too)
- tomatoes
- tomato sauce
- tomatoes/okra
- tomatoes/peppers/onions
- enchilada sauce
- hot mustard, ketchup
- snap beans
- potatoes
- veg-all mix
- pintos, kidney beans, black beans, garbanzo beans, navy beans
- hoppin' john
- sauerkraut
- chicken, turkey, stocks of both
- beef stock
- apple, blueberry pie fillings
- cherries, maraschino cherries
- pears, peaches, citrus fruits

We raise and sell pastured meats so there are 5....yes, 5!......freezers here. The 2 largest (a 6 ft chest model and an upright) are getting low as we'll be butchering beef and pork in April.

The smaller chest ones are 7 cubic ft each - I'm working on clearing out the fruits and converting them into jams. That leaves these...just enough of each to make it to Summer. They would probably actually fill 1 of the 3 freezers. As I empty up the fruits, I'll be defrosting and cleaning each freezer in prep for Summer season.

- field peas, crowders, purple hulls
- butter beans
- corn
- brocolli
- peppers - bell, anaheim, banana

We grow, dry & sell herbs too. So I have quite a selection of those as well.