30 Day Preserving Challenge: Day 24, Bananas!

We went in a local grocery store for a particular item and found these bananas on sale for $.35/lb.

30 Day Preserving Challenge: Day 23: Candy ... Say What!!!!

Yes ma'am and sir, you read it right!  I'm going to share how I preserved candy today …

Summer Series 2019: Week 6

This week’s topic/question comes from 2 different people …

My major problem with pantry building is motivation. I will be motivated for a month then forget to do anything for a couple of months. (Like I didn't shop for the entire month of February, so nothing got added, only subtracted. Sigh)

How do you keep motivated to keep your pantry filled, inventoried and rotated? (I work full time, so that is part of my problem. But I USED to do "it all" and now find very little motivation to do ANY of it. That doesn't negate the need to have enough food to feed those I love however.)

Sometimes we have to do things we don’t feel like doing.   The key is to set up a doable plan that is realistic for the season of life we’re in, and that will help us tackle those things we know we should do, but don't feel like or have time to do.  Two tools that I use are my $5 weekly pantry challenge and another one is my weekly goals.  These are small things, but they help keep me motivated to keep on keeping on.  

After you set your goals/make your plans, find a way to be accountable to someone to if you think you might have trouble sticking with them.  My accountability comes from sharing both of these goals here on my blog.

Another motivation for me is the high prices in the grocery stores.  It brings me great pleasure when I can wait for sales instead of having to pay regular price for items we use.

Not having to worry about how we’re going to eat when we have to use grocery money to pay unexpected expenses, is also motivation for me.

The first two are small things that are doable and don’t have to require a lot of time.  

The second two are constant reminders that fuel my motivation.

What about you, how would you answer these questions?  What motivates you to keep working at having a well-stocked pantry and how do you do it?

Until next time, 

patsi      

Sharing 42 years' experience of frugal living and pantry building (if you include my frugal childhood, well that would add a few more years to my experience!)

A Working Pantry

My second blog:  From This Heart of Mine 

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

A Working Pantry is a way of life, a lifestyle if you will!

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 Instagram for more of our daily doings!

You can view my privacy policy HERE. 

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.

Breakfast Cookies

Let me say up front that I do not know where I got this recipe!  (I've had it a long time.) I know that it came from somewhere online and that I have tweaked it a bit!

I also know that it's a delicious and healthy 'grab and go' breakfast food/cookie!

Breakfast Cookies

1 and 1/2 cups oats  (I ran the oats through my food processer) 

30 Day Preserving Challenge: Day 22 ... Elderberries

Our elderberries are ripening, (yes, we intentionally planted and grow elderberries on our property) and it's time to harvest and preserve them.

Let's start at the beginning …

30 Day Preserving Challenge: Day 21 ... Preserving Flour

How do you preserve flour and why would you want too?

There are several ways to preserve flour …

in mylar bags with oxygen absorbers in 5 gallon food grade buckets with lids …

in jars using a vacuum sealer …

in the freezer …

and the method I used …

What method did I use?  I oven-canned it!!!

Something New ...

I'm checking out MeWe as a possible social media platform.

Do you have any experience with MeWe?

So far, I'm liking what I'm seeing.

You're invited to come check out A Working Pantry on MeWe …

A Working Pantry  on MeWe

patsi

A Working Pantry

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

My other blog:  She Hath Done What She Could 

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.

Summer Series 2019: Week 5

I hope you're enjoying this summer series, here we are at week 5!

Here’s the question/comment we’re addressing this week …

It would be great if you could cover the differences of building a pantry for a single or couple, versus one for a family. Also, how to have a smaller pantry without the items going bad or out living their shelf life (effective storage ideas?). Thanks.

30 Day Preserving Challenge: Day 20, Zucchini

In this post, I told you that in addition to my little student having her sewing lesson this week, that we were also going to do some preserving.  Here's what we did before her sewing lesson began!

We washed, cut in chunks and ran the zucchini I had harvested before she got to my house, through the food processor.  I let her feed the food processor and she thought it was the 'greatest' thing!  After the zucchini was chopped, we put it in a colander/strainer to drain off as much of the liquid as we could. 

We got out the hand mixer and I set her up with a big mixing bowl along with the mixer.  She wanted to hold the mixer and do the mixing for the zucchini bread we were going to make.  She ran the mixer while I added the ingredients one at a time.

When it was all mixed up I set her to greasing the loaf pans with shortening and then we poured in the batter.

30 Day Preserving Challenge: Day 19 ... Pepper Relish

Our peppers are doing really well this year, we planted almost all of them in our container garden or in raised beds and they have exceeded our expectations.

I've been harvesting the cayenne and putting them in the greenhouse to dry.  I've purposefully left the most of the bell, jalapeno, hot banana and sweet banana on the plants until there were several of each.  This week we harvested them and I made pepper relish.

This pepper relish has been in our family for a very long time and it was in my husband's family before that.

Weekly Goals: 7/14/2019

It’s the beginning of a new week and time for our Just One Goal check-in … 

What was your 'one' goal for last week?  

Did you meet it? Tell us if you did or didn't, we get encouragement both ways.

What is your 'one' goal for this week? 

Last week my 'just one' goal was to preserve the 25 lb bag of flour I had purchased a while back …. well …. I did NOT meet my goal!

I've had a lot going on and it just didn't get done!  I thought about it several didn't times, but that was all I did!!!

So, can you guess what my just one goal for this week is???

Yep, I'm going to aim to get that flour preserved!!!

What about you, how are you doing with your 'just one' goal?

What is your 'just one' goal for this week? 

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

My other blog:  She Hath Done What She Could 

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.

Summer Series 2019: Week 4

Previous entries in this series can be found HERE!

Last week we talked about why we wanted a well-stocked pantry which should have answered a similar question, how much should I stock?  If you know why, then you know how much! 

 If your why is a month’s supply of food for your family because you get paid monthly, then the 'how much' is a month’s worth.  If you want a little more food security and decide on a 3-month supply of food, then your 'how much' is 3 months.

30 Day Preserving Challenge: Day 18, Okra

Over the weekend my hubby was offered the chance to harvest okra by a neighbor.  Since our okra has not done well thus far, we were excited to be offered this opportunity.  Off my hubby and our neighbor went.  A little while later my hubby came home with this …

30 Day Preserving challenge: Day 17, Kosher Dill Pickles

Our cucumbers are almost through bearing due to the heat and humidity.  We've been sharing them with others, enjoying them fresh, in salads and today I'm making kosher dill pickles …

Summer Series 2019: Week 3

In week one we talked about getting over the ‘fear and perfection’ of wanting/having the perfect pantry.  

In week two we talked about where to put your pantry items.  

This week we’re going to talk about why you want a well-stocked pantry.  What are your reasons for wanting to keep a well-stocked pantry?  When you answer this question, then you’ll be able to answer another question, how much should you stock?  How big of a pantry do you want?

30 Day Preserving Challenge: Day 16: Chicken

I needed to free up some space in the freezer so took some chicken out, that we had gotten on sale last fall, and canned it …