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

Saturday, January 15, 2022

What's That In Your Hand?: 1/15/22

Inspiring you to focus on what you have to work with, not what you wish you had or hope to have in the future, but what you have right now … ‘in your hands.’ ~ A Working Pantry

I had some shallot blades in the freezer and decided it was time to get them out and get them dehydrated. I did that and then turned them into powder for use in seasoning food and or making seasoning blends.

My parsley needed harvesting, so I did that and then dehydrated it.  It too got turned into powder and I used that powder in making the garlic salt spice blend I mentioned in last week’s post.

This is the time of year that I harvest and preserve collards.  

That’s been my big project this week!  

I'm happy to be able to restock this yummy food in our pantry.

I finished dehydrating the turmeric I harvested last week.  

It is all dried now and the plan is to jar it up today and add it to my pantry.

I'll use it for cooking purposes and in herbal remedies.

I found wrapping paper at that 90% off Christmas sale I mentioned in last week’s post.  The original price for each roll was $9.99, since it was 90% off I paid $1.00 per roll for it.  We don’t use much Christmas wrapping paper so why would I buy it if I don’t use or need wrapping paper?  Because I can use it for another purpose, of course, which is to make pattern pieces when sewing.  This wrapping paper is of good quality and works just fine for pattern making purposes … and you can’t beat the price.

We are preparing for a possible winter storm, we're on the line of maybe we will or maybe we won't get anything from it, but just as a precaution, we are preparing.  Right now, it looks like, if we get anything, it will be ice ... I do not like ice storms, they almost always mean loss of power for several days!  I looked at what we have on hand and at what we could possibly need if we lose power and decided that we would be fine.  Then I asked myself if we had to help others meet their needs or even possibly house someone should our area lose power, would we be prepared.  The only thing I could think of that we would need was milk, so hubby picked up a gallon at the store.  I have been praying for all those in the path of this big storm, it looks like it is going to be a doozy!

As part of preparing for a possible winter storm, I headed out to the garden and harvested everything that I could:  Leeks, more parsley and rosemary.  Sometimes we can winter over our rosemary and sometimes, due to freezing temps we can't.  I tried to harvest as much as I could to tide us over until we could get a new start should we lose it during this storm.

That's it for this week for me, what's in your hand, what can you do with it?

Until next time,

patsi

A Working Pantry

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

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Items I use in keeping my pantry well-stocked:

Dehydrator

Dehydrator Teflon Sheets

Dehydrator Cookbook

Food Saver Vacuum Sealer

Herb/Coffee Bean Grinder

Manual Food Chopper

Pressure Canner

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14 comments:

  1. The storm will be bad here so we have been prepping for a few days. I am thankful to have my well stocked pantry as shelves were cleared on Thursday here. We were laughing with another customer at the discount grocery yesterday about sitting home in an ice storm eating all the gourmet food we bought cheap there yesterday. The other guy had a heaped cart and their carts are huge, and only paid $58! Many items were $1 a case yesterday. All the stores are out of water but they had cases of Perrier for cheap. We did not need any water but we were all amused by sitting at home in a storm sipping Perrier. I guess it does not take much to entertain us!

    I am hoping that storm bypasses your area since our son over your way still has a sick baby in the hospital. They are going back and forth several times a day learning how to feed him and care for him once they take him home on Monday. He is doing much better but he is off meds as of today and they are monitoring him to see how he does. We put him in God's hands for care and healing.

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    1. Lana, your little grand has been in my prayers, it's good to hear that he is making some progress.

      I had to chuckle at the idea of you sitting at home in a storm eating gourmet food and shipping expensive water. That's the result of keeping a well-stocked pantry and shopping smart! Please keep me updated on your little grand, we will be praying for him and that the weather is not a problem for his mama and daddy going back and forth to the hospital.

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    2. Our baby went home from the hospital today! They are first time parents so they could still use some prayer.

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    3. Lana, that's wonderful, I will continue to pray for them and the little one.

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  2. We're in the storm's path too with a prediction of snow, then ice, then a wintery mix and then snow again. This is all to take place tomorrow and Monday. Thursday we went out to the farm store to get some fresh vegetables, chicken and turkey. Yesterday I started the dough for English muffins for my husband and let it rise overnight. I made a quadruple batch so he's well-stocked for his favorite breakfast food. I figured as long as everything was out, bake in bulk. I had a freezer full of bones so into the Instant Pot they went to make bone broth. Organizations that we support send us packets of greeting cards for our own personal use. I will be using them to make journals and boxes to be added to the gift closet. We harvested an abundance of sweet potatoes and I found recipes for savory waffles that are made from just grated sweet potatoes and eggs and tortillas that are cooked sweet potatoes and cassava flour. Both are now residing in the freezer for future meals. Just as an aside, our rosemary gets overwintered in the garage and taken outside on days that are at least 40 degrees. The rosemary is in a container. This is this is its third year of overwintering.

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    1. Cookie, Your response about moving your rosemary inside the garage when it got cold gave me the idea to dig up some and put it in a pot and bring it inside. The pot it's in is a 25 gallon one, so I can't move it! My other planting of rosemary is in the ground, but I can repot some ... thank you for the inspiration! I don't know why I haven't thought of that before!! It sounds like you've been busy prepping for the storm too! Stay safe and warm!

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  3. I love your idea of using "what is in your hand." I am going to be implementing this as I am challenging myself to do just that need to use up lots of odds and ends in my freezer and fridge.

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    1. Patsi, I, too, love the idea of using what's in your hand. I'm not knocking you for buying gift wrap for drafting patterns, but I iron the long sheets of brown paper that sometimes comes in delivered packages. It is the right weight and usually it is perforated--I fold the paper on the perforations for storage.

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    2. mikemax, I love that idea and will use it the next time we get some in delivered packages! That's a perfect example of using what's in your hand!! Thank you for sharing!

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  4. I did use what was in my hand when I needed to make a pattern. I had paid a quarter a roll for Christmas gift wrap. I took the least favorite roll and used that for making patterns that day. It is not as messy as newspaper and was on hand.

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    1. Practical Parsimony, Yeah!!!! That's cheap 'pattern' paper!

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  5. Well done as always. I worked a substitute teacher job yesterday. I have started doing that a few times a month. Today I mended a bath towel to make it last another year. I am planning to start my thrifty week posts again, so I'd better get busy! I hope you have a wonderful productive week. The wind is blowing hard here, and it is supposed to get down to 8F tonight.
    Blessings from Harvest Lane Cottage,
    Laura

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    1. Laura, I'm glad you're starting your thrifty Thursday posts again. They are inspiring to me.

      We are under an ice storm warning with the potential for power outages. We're batting down the hatches and doing what we can to prepare.

      Stay warm!

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