~ from my home to yours, living the Working Pantry lifestyle ~ surviving today's economy ~ a can-do spirit and attitude ~

Sunday, December 17, 2017

More From My Gift Trunk!


I'm popping in to share these little gifts I made up this afternoon ... 




These little containers were in my gift trunk. I purchased them at the after Valentine's day sale in February. The ribbon was purchased on clearance after last Christmas. 

 What's inside and who are they for? 

 There are 6 pieces of red or gold wrapped candy inside each container and they're for the kids in our kidsing class at church! 

(Psst!  I purchased the candy at the after Halloween sales the first of November and it's been waiting patiently to be used, vacuumed sealed in quart jars, ever since!)

Yes, I'm still on Christmas break, I just wanted to share another benefit of keeping a gift trunk!


Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!


A Working Pantry is now on Instagram.  Come follow me THERE! 

A Working Pantry has a page on Facebook that can be found HERE.

patsi
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means. 

Thursday, December 7, 2017

How To Dehydrate Carrots

I had carrots left over from some Thanksgiving baking I did (as in left over from baking a carrot cake).  We used some in a meal and this is what we had left.  It was not enough to do a canning and I didn't want to freeze them so I dehydrated them.


Carrots before peeling and chopping.


Chopped using a chopper like this one.


Steaming for 3 minutes ... I had a lid on it but took it off to get the picture.
After the 3 minutes were up I ran cold water over them to stop the cooking.  I cooled the carrots down by running water over them in the kitchen sink while they were still in the colander.

Please note:  This carrots are steamed, not put in boiling water.  I never let the carrots touch the boiling water in the pot, they sit suspended just above it in the colander with a lid on them.  The steam from the boiling water gets to the carrots through the holes in the colander.  I steam the carrots instead of dropping them in the boiling water for 3 minutes because I don't want to lose any of the nutrients that would leach out into the water if the carrots were actually in the boiling water.

I used the same metal colander throughout the whole process.  It fit nicely over/in a pot I have while keeping the carrots out of the water in the pot.  The pot lid covered the carrots perfectly while they were steaming.   


Spread out on the dehydrator sheets.


Vacuum sealed in a jar and ready for my pantry!

Update:  A reader shared how she dehydrates carrots that I had not heard or thought of and I asked her if I could share it.  She agreed so here you are ...  (Thanks Penny!)

Cubed, sliced and shredded for cakes and muffins. Shred carrots in food processor. Place in large zip lock bag with some water . Microwave one minute each side, drain and dehydrate.

That's certainly a lot less messy isn't it and quicker too? I'm going to try Penny's method the next time I have carrots to dehydrate!

patsi

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can follow A Working Pantry on Facebook and Instagram. 

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.


Tuesday, October 10, 2017

How to Freeze Ground Beef to Conserve Freezer Space

When we buy ground beef, we usually buy it in bulk which means it has to be divided into meal size portions and frozen.  

Sometimes I will make meatloaf and freeze it before cooking ...

Sometimes I will make meatballs and freeze them before cooking ...

But most of the time, since conserving freezer space is important in my freezer, this is the way we do it ....



My husband usually helps me and we divide up the portions and vaccum seal them.  Notice that it is just a lump of ground beef in a vaccum sealed bag at this point. If this was put in the freezer like this it would take up unnecessary space and be hard to reposition after it had frozen solid.

But wait, it doesn't have to go in the freezer like that ...


Here's my secret weapon ... my rolling pin!  I take that rolling pin and flatten out each package of ground beef by rolling it back and forths until the bag is completely filled and ground beef is evenly distributed.


The finished product labeled, flat and ready to be stacked neatly in the freezer!
Which would you rather work with in your freezer, the lump of ground beef in the first picture or this flat package?

patsi

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can follow A Working Pantry on Facebook and Instagram. 

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Monday, October 9, 2017

The Ways of My Household ... 10/9/2017

The past two weeks have been extremely busy and while I didn’t get everything I wanted to do done, I did get a few things …

We always check the marked down produce section when we go grocery shopping and this week we found bananas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, nectarines, avocadoes, key limes and apples. I dehydrated the bananas and the rest we’ve enjoyed in meals as there were not enough to preserve.

My husband juiced the key lime lemons and I made this low-carb key lime pound cake.  

I also made this low-carb granolaI eat it over yogurt.

I chopped and dehydrate turmeric root.

I finished dehydrating the two #10 cans of mushroom pieces I had left to do.

I purchased Carolyn Ketchum’s new book the Everyday Ketogenic Kitchen and made the Easy Taco Pie on page 218.  It was GOOD!  My husband gave it a ‘thumbs up’ so I added it to my low-carb ‘tried and true’ recipe collection.  I’m looking forward to trying other dishes from the book!    

I needed some new socks and while shopping for them I noticed something. The store I was in had their women's socks beside their children's socks. I got to looking at and comparing the children's socks and the women's socks because the children's socks were $3 cheaper than the women's socks for the same number of pairs in a package. Same style, different colors but otherwise nothing was different. I compared the length and the width, they were the same. I compared the quality, they were the same. You know what I did??? I bought myself some children's socks and saved myself $3.

We found Boston butts on sale for $.99/lb and purchased two to add to the freezer part of our pantry.  We'll get several meals out of these.

My husband changed the oil in our vehicle instead of paying to have it done.

That's it for me, what have you done to save money, stock your pantry or live frugally?

patsi
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27
My other blog:  She Hath Done What She Could

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders.  I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay.

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means. 

Thursday, September 14, 2017

The Job of Stretching and Saving!

For the purpose of this article, I’m speaking to wives … some straight talk if you will … some laying it on the line, telling it like it is kind of talk.  

I hear more and more people talking about how hard it is to make ends meet … and I agree with them.  With everything going up except wages, it can sometimes be overwhelming trying to figure it all out.

We all know that women set the tone in their homes, so ladies listen up.  You may be a middle age or older woman who has no marketable skills.  You may be a young mother at home with her children or a woman who is knocking on the door of retirement age.  You may be a woman that is disabled or have a home situation that prohibits you from bringing in any extra income or you may be a woman that prefers being a homemaker at home.   Whatever your situation, there is still something you can do, embrace the job of stretching and saving your family's income!

Change your attitude from ‘we don't make enough money’ to that of a frugal zealot and a savings guru.  Make it a challenge to see how far you can stretch your family's paychecks and don’t forget to involve the whole family.  Make stretching and saving your income your job!  If you do and stay the course, you will reap some very pleasant rewards, both financially and in your relationship with your family, especially your spouse.  

Below, I’m sharing some things that can help if you chose to take on the job of saving and stretching your family's income. The first few are about our attitudes …

Realize you cannot have everything you want when you want it.  That’s just being an adult.

Don’t depend on others to take care of you.  Occasional help from others is fine, but when we start to EXPECT others to meet our needs long term, something is wrong with our attitude.  (‘Expect’ here is the key word.)

Don’t spend money you don’t have. When you spend money on things you can’t afford using money you should have paid bills with don’t expect others to clean up your mistakes.  The ‘I deserve this’ mentality is not adult!  The ‘entitlement’ mentality is not adult!

Don’t play the victim card.  We are all victims of our choices and circumstances.  What we do with them and how we choose to react says a lot about who we are.

Doing without is not a sin!  It won’t hurt you or your children or your spouse.

Know and accept that this will be hard and not fun at times!  It’s called sacrifice!

Realize that your attitude will set the tone in your home about your new job.

Please understand that it is not my intention for this to sound harsh, but in today’s society, these are attitudes and mindsets I see on a regular basis.  (I overheard a conversation in a public place just a few days ago that smirked of an attitude of ungrateful “entitlement”  between 2 women talking about their husband's income.  That's what prompted me to write this article.) News Flash … The Calvary is not coming; there comes a time when you have to be your own Calvary!  Don’t waste your life expecting someone else to fix your problems.  Get busy and figure it out!

Now, let’s talk about some practical ways to implement your job of stretching and saving should you choose to take it on …

Stay away from online shopping as much as possible.  It is the worse place possible for impulse buying.  Think of it as something temporary if it helps, make a game out of it, but stay away from online shopping if you have a tendency to spend more than you should.

Learn how to coupon shop and how to shop loss leaders.  Don’t buy stuff you wouldn’t normally buy just because you have a coupon.   That’s throwing away money you wouldn’t have spent in the first place.

Slowly build a well – stocked pantry so that you will have the option of shopping when you want to and not when you have to.   See this post for some ideas on how to get started building a well-stocked pantry.  

Plan your menu and stick to it as much as possible.

Become a DIY person.  If you don’t know how to do something … learn.  There are tutorials for learning how to do just about anything online.

Know how to substitute and make do.  If you don’t have something, let your first thought be, ‘what can I use instead and get the same results’ not ‘I need to go purchase’ whatever it is that you don’t have.

Recycle and Repurpose.  One example is outgrown clothing and hand-me-downs.  They can be turned into new clothing or household items.   Don’t know how?  Search online for what you want to do.

Stay home as much as possible.   This will cut down on fuel costs as well as wear and tear on your vehicle.

Plan your free entertainment.  Entertainment doesn’t have to cost lots of money … just saying!

Cook from scratch.  Purchasing prepackaged foods, heat and eat foods as well as ready-to-eat snacks are much more expensive than cooking from scratch.

Use cash when you go shopping.

Never, ever go shopping without a list. 

Explore ways to bring in a little extra income from home.  Doing Swagbucks will generate you some discretionary income.  I know of someone who has a goal of earning $100/month through Swagbucks and is using it to help pay off debt.  Can you sew?  Do you blog? What can you do that can be turned into an income source?  

Make a budget and stick to it as much as possible.  Include in that budget, if at all possible, savings and a personal allowance for you and your husband.  You may need to start out with as little as $5/month for savings and $5/month each for personal allowances.  You will be amazed at how you will come to look at your own ‘I can spend it on whatever I want to without guilt’ allowance.

If you feel like your spending is out of control, have a ‘no-spend’ month where you only pay the bills and buy groceries, fuel … the necessities.

Make sure necessities are really necessities and not wants dressed up in camouflage fueled by desire.

Reserve eating out for special occasions.  Two or three times a week is not a special occasion.

When it’s Christmas or your birthday, ask for gift cards to places you would like to shop.

Get creative with your own gift giving.  Set limits on how much you will spend on each person and stick to that amount.  Whittle that gift giving list down to the bare minimum until things are better financially. Gift giving shouldn’t be about how big or how expensive the gift is.   When you are going through lean times, it shouldn’t be about how badly you want an item either if the cost is more than you can afford.

Accept things others don’t want when offered.  What can you do with it? How can you repurpose it into something useful for you? 

Shop yard sales and thrift stores.  Always take cash but don’t buy stuff you’ll be asking yourself, ‘why did I buy that’ the next day.

Don’t be wasteful!  Learn how to use up the last little bit of everything, especially food.

When friends want to meet for an outing you can’t afford, offer an alternative that you can afford or decline their offer.

Work towards getting out of debt and staying out of debt.  Debt is more than likely a contributing factor to your current financial strain.

Stop using your credit cards even if you plan to/think you can pay them off at the end of each month.   When finances are tight, sticking to the plan to pay it off at the end of the month doesn’t always happen.   You cannot borrow your way out of debt!

Be willing to settle for used items until you can pay cash for new items.

Put God first, tithe … even if it is only some change or $1 each week.  God knows your circumstances and what you can really give.  He doesn’t demand tithing; He wants our tithing to be given with a cheerful and purposeful heart.    

Don’t blame God for your financial situation.  He knows what put you where you are and if it was choices that you made, realize that He didn’t make you make the choices that landed you in this situation.

Ask God for wisdom, guidance and discernment in your quest to live happily and graciously on your family's income.

Don’t blame others for your financial situation.  Own it and move forward.

Don’t dwell on past financial mistakes, yours or your husbands.  Own it and move forward.

Determine to do better in the future starting now.  You can’t change the past; you can only change your future.

Don’t be prideful.  Accepting help from others on a temporary basis is not sinful nor does it make you less of a person. 

Don’t poor mouth your husband or make him feel less of a man because he isn’t earning what you want him to earn.  This attitude will severely damage your marriage.

Don't walk around with a 'poor me' attitude.  

Don’t set yourself up for failure by expecting perfection in your efforts.  You will make mistakes, give yourself some grace. 

And finally, be thankful for what you do have!  Develop an attitude of gratitude!

Until tomorrow!

Patsi 

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal, prudent living and pantry building 

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27 

You can view my privacy policy HERE

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

My Pantry Is ...

When we think of our pantries most of the time we think of using them to get through the 'here and now' ... the daily stuff ... getting the family fed and such.  But, my pantry is so much more than a means to get through the daily stuff, its ...

Our rainy day fund …
… it helps us deal with short term/temporary financial setbacks.  Setbacks such as unexpected medical bills, vehicle repairs, etc that use up the weekly or monthly food budget allotment.

Our insurance policy …
…  it has seen us through long term financial upsets like job loss and income reduction.

Our store house …
… it gives us the convenience of shopping when we want instead of when we have too. It allows us to be able to wait for sales and not have to pay full price which in turn stretches our food budget even more.

… it saw us through the aftermath of all the devastation of Hurricane Matthew last fall with ease and enabled us to be able to help others.  Enough said!

What is your pantry to you?

patsi

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can follow A Working Pantry on Facebook and Instagram. 

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Use It ALL Up! ... Fruit

Here's a timely post by Vicky from the Vicky Challenge for finding a use for fruit ... all of the fruit ... not just the meat part.  There's lots to be gleaned ....  (Thank you Vicky!)

Over to Vicky ...

Today let's talk about fruit. Summer many of us find that we have an abundance of it and of course we can and freeze the extra, but we can do much more with it and add variety to the weekly menu plan, use up some of the excess we have and in some cases use up some of the items in the pantry that need used and rotated and also have some gifts and add to the medicinals. Over the years I have strived to have as little waste as possible when it comes to food, but sometimes one does get tired of the same thing over and over. And the animals getting some and composting is a given, but we can do more! For some this may not be new information, but for some it will be so let's have a look.

A few sliced and frozen bananas and a couple of cups of frozen fruit blended in the blender and frozen in a container make a great sherbet.

No ice cream maker needed ice cream is a can of sweetened condensed milk and a few cups of whipping cream whipped(before it's added)  with a little vanilla and add whatever kind of goodies you like from chunks of fruit to nuts, raisins, chocolate, etc. If you have sweetened condensed milk that needs used up this tastes good.

With some fruit puree, juice and gelatin homemade fruit snacks can be made for the kids

Ice and fresh or frozen fruit pureed in the blender and topped of with 7Up, ginger ale or club soda is refreshing in the summer

Sorbet is easy to make and popped in the freezer even without an ice cream maker

Apple peels, peach and pear peels and cores can be used to make cider vinegar or any peels can make flavored vinegars or vodkas

Citrus peels can be candied and if someone likes them they make great gifts too

Citrus peels can be dehydrated and ground into powder and then dissolved in water to make homemade vitamin C powder

Citrus peels can be grated and frozen for zest

Of course citrus peels steeped in vinegar for cleaning

A few cups of whipping cream whipped, a little sugar and vanilla and pureed fruit makes a tasty whip (one of my favorites)

Some fruit in the crockpot topped with a cake mix and some dots of butter is an easy cobbler

Sugar cookie dough can have bits of fruit added

Add bits of fruit to pancakes before making them

And although not a fruit I save potato peels in cold water and then drain them really well and coat them in a little oil and seasoning and then bake them for crispy potato skins

I hope there are some ideas here that are helpful!
XOXO
Vicky

Can you add anything to Vicky's list of ways to use every part of the fruit?

patsi

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can follow A Working Pantry on Facebook and Instagram. 

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.

Thursday, June 15, 2017

Saving Space in Our Pantries!

Recently, a group of us Working Pantry folks had a discussion on condensing things down to save space in our pantries.  Everyone kicked in some really good suggestions and I thought you might benefit from reading some of the ideas everyone shared. (Thanks to everyone who contributed their ideas.)

Use baskets or plastic bins to store like items together such as pouches, envelopes, prepackaged spice mixes, bags of items, toothpaste that has been taken out of the box, razors that have been taken out of their box or container, etc.

Keep plastic lids in a plastic bin so they aren't all over the cupboard and in one spot.  Who among us hasn’t wrestled with plastic lids!

Take band aids out of their boxes and store them in a plastic container with dividers, dividing by size, etc or store them in plastic school pencil containers or take them out of the boxes and put them in plastic bags.  Label the bags and put them in a clear sweater box.

Plastic drawer units are good for storing tubes of antibiotics, creams, salves, etc.

Many times over the counter medications and vitamins come in a bottle that is not all the way full, combine multiple bottles into one.  Just make sure they have the same expiration date & lot number.

Use glass jars as storage containers.  It makes it easy to see what’s inside and how much. Old mayo jars are good for this as are empty gallon pickle jars.  Some things to store are:  herbs, beans, pasta, sugar, mixes, etc.  You can also repackage anything dry such as cereal, chocolate chips, etc. in jars.  (If you have a vacuum sealer to seal jars, that’s even better.)

Speaking of cereal, you can take it out of the box and put in a vacuum sealer bag, you should able to stack the sealed bags or store them in a basket or bin.  Make sure to write what kind it is on the bags.

Repackage pastas, sugar, rice, flour and other bulk stuff into 5 gallon buckets with gamma lids.

Take freezer and storage bags out of their boxes and store them in clear bins.  Be sure to label the bin with the size.

Repackage frozen foods such as pizza rolls, fish sticks, perogies, etc. Re-bag them and save all kinds of space. If you need the cooking directions, use a sharpie and write it on the freezer bag you re-bagged them in or cut the cooking instructions from the box and slip it inside of the freezer bag.

Cover mandarin orange type boxes with contact paper and store condiments, bbq sauces, soy sauce, etc.  You can put cases of canned goods under them to maximize shelf space.

What can you add to this topic of condensing things down and saving space in our pantries?

patsi

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My pantry is intentional, purposeful, simple, practical, frugal and what works for my family.  It’s the food items and household supplies that keep my household running smoothly ready and available when they are needed.  It’s my contribution to our family’s economy and my work-from-home ‘job.'

You can follow A Working Pantry on Facebook and Instagram. 

You can view my privacy policy HERE.

If you are encouraged by what you read here, please consider supporting this site via one of these ways. Your expressions of appreciation help me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me keep my pantry well-stocked!

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.