From My Home to Yours: 7/4/26

 From My Home to Yours

7/4/26

~  Blueberries, Peaches, Sunflowers and Extremely Hot Weather! ~

We've had heat advisories and warnings for a good part of the week because of temperatures nearing 100 degrees and over each day.  (The 'feel like' temperatures put it at or around 105 - 110 degrees.)  So, we made it our aim to have all our outdoor chores done by 8 a.m. every day.  It made for having to get up earlier than we normally would, but it has been worth it to be able to escape the heat and humidity.  Sometimes we have to make sacrifices don't we, and for us this week it was giving up a bit of sleep in order to make it possible to escape the heat and humidity!

I spent much of the week preserving blueberries ... 7 gallons of blueberries.  Hubby made a blueberry cobbler that was delicious, we ate some fresh, and the rest, I flash froze, bagged and added them to the freezer part of our pantry.  This amount will be enough to last us until blueberry harvest next year.

I could have made syrup, jam, jelly and even canned some, but none of those ways are ways we will use, so I chose to preserve them in the way we would use them ... freezing.  It's pointless and a waste of resources if we preserve something in a way our family won't consume.  We're smarter than that!

Hubby got a phone call from the person we got the blueberries from asking if we wanted any peaches.  The peaches had been fresh picked that morning and were $14 for a half bushel box.  We said, 'yes' and a box was delivered to us.  A couple of days later, the same person called again with the same offer and again, we said, 'yes.'  Another box was delivered to us.  I am in the process of peeling, flash freezing and adding them to the freezer part of our pantry just as I did the blueberries.

Again, we could have canned some, made jelly and or jam, but just as with the blueberries, we opted not to as neither of us need the added sugar these products would have.

Look at this beautiful scene that I get to enjoy every day right now just by looking out our door!  Can I just say, that we are so very blessed!

I made 'ginger concentrate' this week.  I took fresh ginger, peeled it and cut it into small chunks.  Next, I added a few chunks to my Nutri-bullet along with about a cup of water and whizzed it all together.  I strained out the ginger pulp and added the ginger concentrate to a jar.  I continued this process until I had worked my way through all the fresh ginger.  Pictured is what I got.  My next step is to pour it into ice cube trays, freeze it, pop the frozen cubes out, bag them up and put them back in the freezer.  When I get ready to use, I'll pull out one cube, add it to a glass of water, tea or other beverage and enjoy!  Ginger has many health benefits and to me, taste good too!

We spent less than $20 at the grocery store this week, we just didn't need anything ... oh my, it's so good to be in the driver's seat when it comes to grocery shopping.  Having and maintaining a well-stocked pantry has put us in the driver's seat, and with food prices the way they are now, I can't think of a better place to be!

Here's a heads up ... our local big box store is putting out the 'back-to-school' supplies.  This is the time that I purchase enough paper, pens, markers, etc to last until back-to-school shopping comes around again next year.  I will be inventorying what I have on hand, looking at my needs for the upcoming year along with gift giving needs, making a list and doing the shopping.

Here's something I've been contemplating ... I'd like your input ...

It's been a while since I've done a $5 weekly pantry challenge.  The last time I did one food prices were lower than they are now.  Recently I found myself wondering what such a challenge would look like with our current food prices.  Would $5 a week make a difference?  Could I build up my pantry and or restock it with just $5 a week?

This summer, I'm thinking about taking up that challenge, what can I add to my pantry that we will eat and or use that will build it up and or restock it.  Here would be my guidelines ...

Total must be $5 or less each week not including taxes.

Must be a separate purchase ... in other words it cannot be hand-picked items from a weekly grocery haul that totals $5 or less.

All items must come from a grocery store, farmers market, etc.  In other words they must be purchased.  No running out to the garden and putting a grocery store price on items harvested or shared with us.  This challenge is meant to stretch us in utilizing a small amount of money to help build up or restock our pantry.

Must be items we regularly use.  This will keep us from seeing a good deal on something 'we might like' and spending our 'challenge money' only to never get around to trying it or finding out we don't like it at all.  This challenge is for our tried and true pantry building basics.

This challenge includes all things in our pantry:  food, toiletries, cleaning supplies, etc.

One more guideline ... no rolling money over from week to week.  We have to spend it or lose it!

What do you think?  Would this be helpful?  

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.  If there is little to no interest, we'll move on and forget it.

One more thing ... it's July and that means it's time to start thinking about and planning for Christmas.  Consider this your wake-up call!  It's time to start seriously planning for the Christmas holidays!  That's all I'm going to say about that right now!

Psst!  I'm watching a Christmas show as I work on this post.  I'm a great fan of all things Christmas, including Christmas in July events!

I continued reading book 7 in the Bregdan Chronicles, Glimmers of Change, by Ginny Dye.  I have much more listening time than reading time right now.  I can listen to audio books while I work, but alas, I haven't found a way to read from a book while working.  I finished listening to Tomorrow's First Light by Naomi Rawlings.   (All the audio books I listen to come from Libby the library app.)

That's it for this week, I hope you've found something in my ramblings that will help and or encourage you in the upcoming week.

Until the next time ...  

mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry  

~ quietly holding the home front ~

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

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