Canning and Freezing

I love summer harvest time!  We can and freeze a lot around here.  We go to local farmer's markets or pick-your-own farms and stock up on fruits, berries, and veggies.  Whatever we can't grow ourselves, we buy locally.

Freezing: Most fruits and berries freeze wonderfully!  Wash them, slice them (for fruits), put them on cookie sheets, flash freeze them, bag them in freezer bags, and stick them in the freezer to have all year long!  (Don't forget to mark the year you froze them, things can get lost in those nice chest freezers.)

Green beans and peas freeze wonderfully too.  These have an added step of blanching them.  That's cooking them just slightly (don't cook completely or you'll have mush) before flash freezing them.

Canning:  Some day I will get a pressure cooker to can more items.  For the moment we use a boiling method to can.  We make our own jams, jellies, and sauces.  I haven't had to buy any of those items since we started making our own.  We also like to give them as gifts.  (Remember my post about gifts?)  You make a small investment in jars and lids and then you need pectin for stability (for jams and jellies).  You can make jams and jellies from just about any fruit or berry you want.  We also use our homegrown tomatoes and peppers to make salsa.

My Grandma first showed me how to can when I was little.  I'd help her pick the berries from Grandpa's garden, wash, mash, strain, etc.  It was wonderful!  (Although I'm sure I was a messy little "helper.")  She never minded, just cleaned up afterward.  The best part was that she would talk me through the steps and explain the why of everything.  I loved this special time with Grandma at the end of summer.  I have several canning recipes from both my Grandma and my DH's Grandma which is a great treasure.

Buy Bulk

I buy just about everything I can in bulk.  I can get organic flour for less than the prepackaged regular stuff.  You can invest in some nice canisters or just have bags in your pantry.  My DH found some great glass canisters on a great deal for flour and sugar so I don't have to haul out a huge bag every time I want to bake.

Some of the regular grocery stores are getting into bulk items.  Just be savvy about it and know if you are actually getting a good deal.  Just because it is in the bulk section doesn't mean it is automatically less expensive (especially if you're considering upgrading to organic).  I have noticed that my local co-op and natural foods stores have more bulk items and for less money.  I can get just about anything bulk.  Dried fruit, protein powder (great for shakes), pasta, flour of every type, cereal, granola, etc.  In fact, I have shopping list for the three stores I visit based upon where I can get the best deal.  They all have bulk but I can get flour cheaper at one place and another has dried fruit for less.  Being organized helps me save money.


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Word to the wise about flour, put bay leaves in it.  Don't eat them, but they will keep bugs from visiting, living in, and eating off your flour (more common in spring/summer).  I don't know about you, but I have a hard time eating that flour once bugs have been eating it.  Bay Leaves.  Works every time.

Ethnic Foods

Shop your local ethnic food store if you have one.  You may be surprised to see how close one actually is to you.  The foods there cost MUCH less than at your regular grocery store. 

If you do a search and can't find a local grocery store, ask someone at your local ethnic restaurant where the store is hidden.  Chances are they buy from somewhere local and can help you out.

We make many Asian and Mexican dishes and I buy what I need at our local ethnic stores.  My son loves these outings as well as he usually gets a bag of his favorite Korean snack.  ^_^

Dollar Store

A word about dollar stores.  They are not all created equal.  Some are, what I refer to as, the dollar plus store because you may be hard pressed to actually find anything in there that is a dollar.  In fact, the only thing that I like from our local "dollar plus" store are the baby wipes.  Cheapest around.

One dollar store will not be carrying what the dollar store down the street is carrying.  So check them out and see what they have.  I have found that a store tends to carry a "theme" of items.  Perhaps they specialize in crafts, or greeting cards, or house hold items, or car gear, or groceries, etc.  I know which dollar store I need to go to for certain items.

Also, if you're going to a dollar store or a big lots or whatever type of discount store is by you, don't assume it's a good price!  Know your prices.  And if you buy food there, check the expiration dates.

Inexpensive Decorating

I felt like decorating my kitchen.  So I headed to one of my dollar stores, and I picked up some wall decals.  For $3 I got a great looking kitchen!  And I can change it whenever I want.

 

I have also done stenciling in my house.  This was fun to do and all I did was simply talked around and made it known that I wanted to stencil.  I then got offers from people "oh I have some stencils you can borrow."  Which is great, because the actual stencils are expensive.  So I got to stencil for next to nothing.  I gave the person some money to pay for the paints I used.  No overhead cost to me!

Darn those socks

No really, darn them.  I think this is a lost art.  We throw socks away when they get a hole, we don't sew them back up or darn the holes.  You don't even need fancy equipment, if you don't have a darning ball/mushroom, use a lightbulb.  Then stitch up that sock.  I got many a wary eye in college from people passing my dorm room but I had hole free socks!  If you aren't sure where to start, this video shows the basics.

Juice

As we've had a number of illnesses running through our house, we've gone through a fair amount of juice.  So let me tell you about juice!

I first off, love the V8 and Ocean Spray fruit and veggie blends.  I find that Ocean Spray is generally cheaper but sales and coupons sometime make V8 win out.  I have declared this juice "hands off" to everyone but our son.  Super picky eater toddler and this is a way to get some veggies in him.

For the rest of us in the house, we get the frozen concentrate.  Because really, many of the pre-made juices are from concentrate but cost 2-3 times as much.  I stock up when they have them on sale and keep a stash in my deep freezer.  When mixing it I have found that adding 1/2 cup extra of water will make it go a little bit longer.  But generally I can't go a full cup extra as then it looses it's taste quality.  (Again, going to cheap and not staying frugal.)  Unless you like watery tasting juice then have at it!  ^_^