Time for a Blogging Break ...

I'll be back the first week of May.  In the meantime you can keep up with me and my pantry in our A Working Pantry Facebook group.

 

 

Meet you back here in the merry month of May!

 

patsi

A Working Pantry

Christmas 2014: Week 13

Previous weeks can be found here.

This week I took inventory of what I've accomplished thus far, I have gifts for 4 people on my list tucked away in my gift trunk and 2 more are partially completed. 

We cleaned out our pockets, my pocketbook and scoured the house for any loose change that might be lying around.  As a result we added $2.55 to our 2014 Christmas Fund.  Updated Christmas Fund 2014 amount: $51.92. 

That's what I did this week, what did you do?

patsi
A Working Pantry

Spring Cleaning 2014: Getting Started

I've started my spring cleaning for 2014 ... follow along with me as I clean and get rid of winter's footprint in my home ... HERE!

patsi
A Working Pantry

Multi-tasking this Morning!

I've set aside this week and next to get my spring cleaning done, but before I got started this morning I washed, chopped and filled my dehydrator with the celery I found on sale last week.

While I'm working to declutter, clean and get my home ready for spring and summer, my dehydrator will be working to help fill my pantry!

Multi-tasking!

patsi
A Working Pantry

Pantry Challenge #11 ... 2014

Here’s my to-do list from pantry challenge #10:

Shop sales and loss leaders.  Done!  We were asked to go pick up a couple at an airport in a neighboring state and while we were there we did some bargain shopping at Kroger (there are no Kroger’s in the area where we live).  We purchased 2 lbs long carrots ($.89/lb), 2 lbs celery ($.99/lb), 5 bottles of Kraft salad dressings ($.99/16 oz. bottle), 2 lbs vine ripened tomatoes ($.99/lb, 2 (8 oz) containers of Parmesan cheese ($1.49 each) and 15 lbs of chicken leg/thighs ($.59/lb).  It has been a long time since I’ve seen chicken leg/thighs at that price so we took advantage of it.

Can water to add to our water storage.  What can I say, didn’t get done this week either!  Don’t give up on me though, I intend to get it done asap!

Vacuum seal seafood breader.  I managed to get it in the freezer this week.  After it’s been there for a couple of weeks, I’ll take it out and vacuum seal it into quart jars.

Continue to work on dehydrating the garlic and making garlic powder and minced garlic.  Done!  I was able to add 1 pint of minced garlic to my pantry.

Continue dehydrating mushrooms.  Done!  I added 1 pint of chopped, dehydrated mushrooms to my pantry.

I have another box of powdered milk to vacuum seal and would like to get that done.  Didn’t get done!

Finish making bread crumbs.  Done!  I added 3 quarts to my pantry.

Order hawthorn berries to make hawthorn tincture.  Didn’t get done!

In Addition:

I washed the chicken we purchased really well and vacuum sealed it into meal size portions for our family.  As a result I added 9 packages to the pantry part of our freezer.

I made 99 capsules of turmeric.  Turmeric is supposed to be really good for arthritis/inflammation so I am going to give it a try.

I started restocking my laundry detergent making supplies and purchased Zote soap and a box of borax.  I need to purchase more but this is a start.  Our grocery budget will only allow me to add to our pantry in small increments, but that’s okay … every little bit adds up!

I added 2 bags of pool shook to my ‘when the electricity goes out’ preparations.  When we lose electricity we also lose access to water so I’ve been preparing like crazy for that scenario since our last ice storm.  The pool shock would be used to clean up dirty water in a worse case scenario and then the water would be boiled and run through a water filtering system before using.

I added another gallon of tap water with a few drops of bleach to the emergency water supply part of my pantry.

Here’s my to-do list for this week:

Can water to add to our water storage. 

I have another box of powdered milk to vacuum seal and would like to get that done.  

Order hawthorn berries to make hawthorn tincture.   

That’s what I’ve done, how about you?  What have you added to your pantry this week?

patsi

A Working Pantry 

 

A Little Spring Time Beauty to Enjoy ...

One sure sign of Spring is the blooming of peach trees ... I thought you might like to take a peak at what we're enjoying!

 

One of the peach trees in our small orchard!

 

 

A closer look!

 

 

A little bit closer look!

 

 

An up close look! 

Let's hope all these beautiful blossoms turn into delicious ripe peaches later this year!

 

patsi

A Working Pantry

 



Gardening Journal Update 2014 ... 3/22/14

It's Saturday and time to check in on what's been noted in my gardening journal 2014 for this week ... you can go take a peek HERE!

patsi
A Working Pantry