WHAT ARE YOU CANNING TODAY?

[Finnie]

That deer container is cool

Ha ha thanks! That came with some Swiss Miss cocoa in the grocery store several years back. One of my favorite Christmas/winter decors.

 

[Finnie]

@Mini Horses I have read you and @baymule and others talking about canning beans without soaking. I looked it up before I did mine, and none of the dry bean methods are tested approved recipes. So I decided that I would stick with tested recipes for now and hold off on branching out (rebel canning, lol) until I am a more experienced canner.

Ok, so today at Aldi they had lemons 2# for $3.49. I don’t think that’s a great price, but that’s inflation for you. I felt them all over and I think the peels feel thinner than my cheapo ones did. So I bought 6 pounds, and I’m going to give the lemonade concentrate another try. Plain this time. The peach was fine, but I think DH and I both prefer plain and strawberry to peach.

If I get enough juice, I will do both plain and strawberry. But they also had pineapples on sale and we both love them dehydrated so I don’t know which one I will do first. And all my non food chores are starting to pile up.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

And all my non food chores are starting to pile up.

You have been on a roll with all your canning!

 

[murphysranch]

She has! And I love that it gives me some inspiration!!

 

[Finnie]

So the yield from my lemons was better this time. 5 cups of juice from 6# of lemons. (As opposed to the 4 cups I got from 10# last time!) Translated into 3 pints of concentrate, which will make 3 half gallons of lemonade. Oh, plus a half cup leftover that made about 2 cups of lemonade in the fridge.

The rinds were definitely thinner. Which also made them easier to press. Something I will definitely be paying attention to in the future.

Now I’ve got a canner full of hot water on my counter, and I wish I had more stuff to put in jars. I know I have a lot of frozen fruit in my freezer, but not the time for it today. Today is clean the basement day. Yesterday we bought and assembled some wire shelving to store all these jars on. Today we need to shift everything around so we can get the shelves where we want them and transfer all my canned food from the ping pong table to the new shelves.

 

[Mini Horses]

Ya know, storing all this stuff we can is a real space consideration!! I fit the 5 pints of jam & 3 cans of pumpkin from this week and it was tight! There goes another closet, I guess. I need a cellar.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Ya know, storing all this stuff we can is a real space consideration!! I fit the 5 pints of jam & 3 cans of pumpkin from this week and it was tight! There goes another closet, I guess. I need a cellar.

I couldn't do it without one! The wife never had one until she moved up here

 

[flowerbug]

basements are fairly common in this area but they have their issues (swampy area originally so don't put your footings too far below grade or you'll be perpetually pumping water - aka wasting energy for no good reason). we use the front closet as a pantry, it's not big enough, but we manage (with some grumbling).

 

[Finnie]

Front closet would make an excellent pantry! Probably not too far from the kitchen. Nicer than going up and down the stairs all the time.

Of course, the trade off for most people would be, would moving all the regular stuff people keep in their front closet end up being more of a hassle than it’s worth. All depends on you, your stuff and your house.

I hate getting my vacuum cleaner in and out of my front closet. But I have no clue where else I would store my vacuum.

 

[murphysranch]

I don't know if you get earthquakes in Indiana, but we do out west. I braced my racks and then also put "lips" on the front of some of them. Hoping to save alot of my jarred goods when the next one hits.