THE SQUIRREL CHALLENGE: Want to join?

[noobiechickenlady]

I'm game, but does anyone have any good ideas for storage in a small place? PM ME!! I've got stuff crammed wherever it will fit, but I still don't have a "real" pantry or any place to put one. I'm in 1000 sq ft, with tiny closets & ill-designed cabinets. I simply do not have the room for lots of long term storage. I want one of those TV organizers to come to my house! Maybe they could find the space

This is what I have stored thus far this year.

I've got the top freezer in my fridge filled with veggies bought on super sales. My deep freeze is full of deer & raccoon havested off my land or given by others, plus assorted beef, chicken & pork products bought on sale. The cabinets under my stove are filled with canned & dried goods bought at the "bent can" store (green beans, rice, dried beans, tomato products, corn, pasta, tuna) They only have damaged labels, I don't buy actual bent cans. 2 other cabinets filled with boxed goods bought at the same place.

All this is about 6-8 weeks worth of food for my family of 4. I might have to cook & dry the meats, or can them if the lights went out for more than a week.

Got 10 cases of bottled water from work for 9 cents a bottle. They're in my broken standup shower. I can't find the faucet to fix it for a price that I will pay, and it was really too small anyways, so now its a closet! I have other bottles of water stored in totes in the bottom of my closet. Plus we have access to a semi-clean creek. Okay for bathing & washing clothes, but I wouldn't drink it unless it was filtered/boiled/distilled.

Was given a like-new kerosene heater and a "defective" wood heater from work. It has a small hole near the top at a weld. Not structurally defective. These are in my mom's shed cause they're fairly large. I'd really like to get the wood heater installed before winter.

I mentioned on my journal that I might get my mom's old wood shed. If we can move it or disassemble/reassemble it, we'll have another 200 sq ft of storage (thats floor space, not including shelving & ceiling hanging.) I could cram a LOT in there.

 

[Tallman]

My deep freeze is full of deer & raccoon

How goes it with the raccoon? Every once in awhile I trap one around the chicken house. Should they only be processed for food during the fall and winter? Do you have any special recipe?

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Tallman, I have no idea as to the time of year. If we catch one, it goes in the freezer or oven. We have fairly liberal laws on "nuisance" animals here, so we are legal in trapping in our garden year round, as long as we don't use bait. Scent lure is okay. I usually cook it like a roast. I posted a recipe somewhere on this board, but I can't find it now. Maybe it was on BYC...
Anyways, take your favorite cream soup (mushroom, celery & chicken all work well), add a jar/can of diced tomatoes. Cut up some taters, onions & bell peppers & put them in the bottom of the roasting pan or slow cooker. Rub some salt & pepper all over the skinned, cleaned carcass, inside the cavity too. Put some onion chunks & some of the soup/tomato mix inside the cavity. Bake or cook on low until done. We usually put it in the oven for a couple hours on 300 or on low in the slow cooker all day. Its done when you can pull a piece off without cutting it. I usually wiggle the back leg. If it moves easily, almost like it will come off, I'll pull it out and cut into it. Don't let it too far past this point as it will toughen back up. The taste is like roast beef, the texture is tougher, sometimes the older ones will be stringy, but still tasty!
The only special thing you have to do is make sure you get all the musk glands out. Makes it taste

 

[freemotion]

Noobie, do you use under-the-bed storage? You can use all kinds of boxes that you cut down and slide under there, just put a piece of cloth over the contents to keep too many dustbunnies out if you have cats.

Consider going UP for storage, too. High shelves that need to be reached with a step stool are fine for things you don't use everyday.

Look for skinny spaces, like between the stove and the wall, where you can make a skinny box with shelves that slides or rolls out for access.

Don't stock up on anything that is bulky and comes on sale often, or that you don't save a significant amount of money on. You need the space for more valuable things.

Use decorative storage out in the open. I have bookcases filled with jars of stuff, and baskets for the smaller items, and also those pretty cardboard boxes for photo storage that craft stores sell for $2-3 on sale periodically. You can label those, and they add a decorative touch to the shelves, too. I love the look of shelves filled with dry goods and labelled jars and pretty boxes and baskets. Cover of Martha Stewart Living magazine last year......looked like my kitchen bookcase (only neater!)

 

[BeccaOH]

I'm very late to the game.

I have quite a bit of food stuff (and other) squirreled away. My problem has always been in getting it used up before the cans get too old or the frozen stuff freezer burnt. I keep buying new and pushing the old out of sight. I need organization and a real PLAN.

Still have 2008 winter squash in the garage I never used.

I've watched this blog site, but haven't really followed her process. Some of her recipes aren't "healthy" in my book, but there are some good storage ideas here. http://everydayfoodstorage.net/

I planted garlic for the first time and it appears about ready to harvest and dry. I can try braiding some of it with instructions I found here http://littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/category/gardening .

Looks like I'll get a good bit of potatoes from my garden this year. I actually have 2 sweet potato plants growing. I also planted a few yellow and Egyptian walking onions.

Planning to:
Plant rhubarb and blueberries
Start an asparagus patch
Can tomatoes, pasta sauce, salsa, green beans, beets
Dry tomatoes
Make and can jam from blackberries and zucchini
Freeze corn, green pepper, summer squash, okra
Make refrigerator pickles and sauerkraut
Find acorns and make flour
Harvest some chicken, turkey, and possibly geese to freeze

 

[Farmfresh]

Becca - I tried braiding my garlic at first, but now I spend one stinky day peeling those cloves and running them through the food processor then I dehydrate them. It takes far less storage space, they don't go bad so none is wasted and the dehydrated garlic is fast to use when cooking. I usually leave mine in little chunks but you can process it again after it is dry and make garlic powder very easily. Or add it to salt for garlic salt.

 

[BeccaOH]

Becca - I tried braiding my garlic at first, but now I spend one stinky day peeling those cloves and running them through the food processor then I dehydrate them. It takes far less storage space, they don't go bad so none is wasted and the dehydrated garlic is fast to use when cooking. I usually leave mine in little chunks but you can process it again after it is dry and make garlic powder very easily. Or add it to salt for garlic salt.

I have bought the canned minced garlic. Not sure what it is packed in and how good that really is for me, but I do like the convenience.

Thanks. The garlic powder I buy always seems to get moisture and harden to a rock.

 

[Farmfresh]

Adding it to the salt will keep it flowin' best.

 

[big brown horse]

Adding it to the salt will keep it flowin' best.

Good tip!! I was just pounding the canister to get the last of my garlic powder ball to break up! Thanks!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Thanks free! I've got a few of those ideas in use. All my lawn gear is stowed way up top in the utility room until summer hits. Then of course it explodes around the house.

I'm like Becca, I need organiziation. That is my main problem, in addition to lack of space. Prob 1 would solve the other most likely.

One thing I found to be great idea: Those soda dispensers for the fridge. You can use them for canned goods too. Drop in the new goods at the top, grab the older ones at the bottom. Works for store bought cans, not so much for jars *crash*

Told DH last night that I needed a long, tall, narrow bookshelf for the spot we have the chicken box in. When Staley gets moved in with the girls (another 3 weeks!) we'll have that space open and it'd be perfect for a bookshelf for canned goods. I just realized though, that I can use the open area above my cabinets for practical storage instead of just my vases & pretty stuff. Duh moment!

ETA: You can also put a small amount of rice in your powders to keep them drier.