From My Home to Yours
8/1/25
~ August is my month for a big winter pantry restocking push! ~
This month, all month long, I will be joining in with Jessica at Three Rivers Homestead and participating in her #everybitcountschallenge that she does every August. I will be intentionally focusing on doing something every day to get my pantry ready for winter and will share it all on my weekly post here. Why the push this year ...
It's been a challenging gardening year for us. Hubby's medical event earlier this year changed everything for us and when things started settling down into a new normal and I thought I might get some gardening done, excessive heat and humidity arrived early along with drought and then rain, rain, rain. Between all of it, this gardening year has been as close to a complete failure as we've ever come. However, the pantry still needs to be restocked for winter and so I've gotten real creative in using all avenues available to me to do just that.
My rules for the challenge: If it restocks any of my pantries in any way, no matter how small the amount, it's allowed.
Some ideas are:
freezer meals
cook ahead and freeze meal ingredients
seasoning, tea and other types of mixes
anything from our garden ... produce, herbs, flowers (yes, flowers ... rose petals fall under the category of flowers and they are used in some herbal mixtures and teas.)
herbal remedies
anything we glean, are given and or can barter
loss leader deals from the grocery store
non-food thrift store finds for our non-food pantries
and more!
It's going to be an exciting and busy month starting with today ...
I still had some peaches that needed preserving, so I finished those up ...
That's all for this week! It's one of those weeks where I've worked and worked but the finishes are yet to be finished ... if that makes sense!
I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.
You might be interested in my other blogs ...
Jael is my favorite Biblical woman, so I look forward to your study!!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I hope you enjoy the efforts! She was a gutsy courageous godly woman!
DeleteIt sure has been a tough weather summer. You are going well inspire of the setbacks. I am so glad your Hubby is going well.
ReplyDeleteWe added more ice cream to the freezer for only $1.10 per carton. I have to have oral surgery in a couple of weeks so I am well stocked for milkshakes. Today I restocked my freezer with biscuits, too. We call it money in the bank! It also used up some old milk. When milk goes out of date I pour it into a small glass bottle and it keeps for a good bit to use in baking. We are still more in the place of needing to eat down the pantry rather than stock it. In the interest of being good stewards this is the best plan for now.
We have been so blessed to have help with cleaning our home. But it has come to light that those two young women need encouragement. Both came and had a conversation with me about something on their minds and some struggles. What a blessing to be able to be the older woman and minister to them both.
Anonymous, I hope your oral surgery goes well and that you make a quick recovery. I'm so glad that God used your need for help to meet the needs of the two young ladies who are doing the work. If you stop to think about it, God does indeed move in mysterious ways. Sometimes, we just can't see any good that comes from our trials, but this is an example of how it can and a reminder that God sees the bigger picture!
DeleteLana
DeleteI learn so much from you. I was wondering if you could post your angel biscuit recipe. They look so delicious. I have to admit I've never made biscuits and am trying to cook more from scratch.
ReplyDeleteDiane, thank you for your encouraging words. I've added the angel biscuit recipe to the post.
DeleteI've given up the ghost on summer gardening of any sort, though my efforts are always far smaller than yours. The intense heat wiped out the last hope of any sort of harvest. Of course now it's super cool and rainy...Weather! God knows what we need best in that department so I'm not complaining.
ReplyDeleteI went on Friday to take advantage of the sales on cereal. I made sure that what I bought would reach far out and not expire any time soon. I added six very large boxes to the pantry, along with six cans of dried beans that were on sale. I also added notebooks, folders and glue to our home supplies while the school sales are on.
I've added tuna, coffee, peanut butter and oatmeal to my Amazon cart with the reservation that if I find a better buy on any item I will purchase it from mainland stores rather than online. So far the online store is winning the price war and has netted me the absolute best buys.
I'm not planning to add every single day unless opportunity presents itself in that way but I do plan to be pantry focused this month, all month long, because #everybitcounts!
Terri, I love it that you are going to be 'pantry focused' this month. I just bet your pantry will get a good boost as a result!
DeleteThose peaches look delicious. I do love peaches and nectarines. I think I will cut some herbs from my garden for drying this week. Somehow I just haven't got around to it yet this year and my stocks are getting low. I know exactly what you mean about the finishes are yet to be finished. I have proof of it in my ever-growing mending pile!
ReplyDeleteTracy, I'm so glad you understood what I was trying to say about the 'finishes.' I am notorious for having lots of things going at the same time, including mending!
DeleteOh yes, the garden is always a challenge. Sometimes it's too hot and dry, sometimes too wet and too cold. Recently, we've had a lot of new (introduced) insects that are destroying entire harvests. It's a struggle. I've built myself large planters with built-in water tanks. The plants grow quite well in them, even at 90°F.
ReplyDeleteI'm also in the process of stocking up the pantry. Besides the garden, I have the opportunity to gather wild fruits in the area. This helps a lot. The new harvest will taste great in the winter and save us money.
I currently have an abundance of zucchini, which I can and dry. You can even bake pies with them. I've frozen some of them.
The tomatoes just aren't turning red because it's so cold right now.
Best, Sibylle
Sibylle, the drought along with intense heat wiped our zucchini out along with pretty much everything else that had survived up to that point. I managed to get about 4 zucchini total ... the plants were so beautiful and full of blooms until the heat destroyed the plants.
DeleteI hate to hear that about destructive insects being introduced!
I agree, this year has been a bust - weather wise in the Pacific NW. We've been without sun 90% of the time so far. My tomatoes and peppers are inching into growth...literally. Not sure if they will ever mature with the lack of warmth and sun. GRRRR. So, picked up a case of peaches at the farmers market. Yes, it was a splurge - but it was turned into beautiful half pints of Peach jam & I made a freezable batch of peach cobblers (6 - mini's all in freezer containers big enough for the 2 of us to share). I didn't consider freezing & vacuum packing peaches - next week at the farmers market I'll pick up a few for that purpose! I love your idea of taking each day and no matter how small - get the pantry ready for fall/winter. I have a feeling we are all going to be hit with massive prices hikes with the way things are going. We've already seen the grocery store pricing has started to creep up when looking at our staples. I'm in the game for August with everyone! Let's do this.
ReplyDeleteRebecca, I would love to have your recipe for freezable peach cobbler if you're able to share it. Welcome to the challenge!
DeleteYou never know if the gardening season will bring feast or famine. It's been a mix for me this year. I'm not sure I can do something every day for this challenge, but I'm setting a goal to do something five days a week. I will post my results on Friday.
ReplyDeleteWendi, welcome to the challenge. I will look forward to your post on Friday!
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