Thursday, April 26, 2012

Winter Food Storage Update

The shelves are a little sparser than they were back in the fall.  We survived the winter with only a few quick trips to the grocery and one real grocery shopping spree.  I was trying to make do, but it got to the point that it seemed I was out of everything and making me a little crazy, so a big shopping was in order a couple of weeks ago.


What we ran out of...  pasta sauce, pasta noodles, flour, rice, catsup, pickles, mushrooms, cooking oil, mayo, potatoes, potatoes, potatoes, carrots, apples, beans, corn starch, honey.  A lot of it repeatedly.  I cannot believe how many potatoes we went through.  9 50 pound bags and counting!

What's left:
18 quarts beets
17 quarts 2010 beets(I fed a lot of the older stuff to the poultry)
15 tomato juice (how is that possible?  I don't remember buying any, and I know we used some.  Must have counted wrong in the fall.)
7 pints salsa
8 quarts watermelon rinds
1 quart blueberries
1 quart applesauce (was hidden at the back, missed the fall count)
53 pints assorted jams
4 pints dandelion syrop
2 beet juice
1 pints rose hip syrop
6 pints stew
2 pints tallow (don't bake with it.  It makes beefy cookies.)
28 pints raspberry sauce
21 pints blueberry sauce

9 peanut butter
2 bbq sauce
1 catsup
2 mayo
8 pasta sauce
4 pickle
6 mushrooms
6 salmon
18 tomato soup
1 onion
1 potato
2 rice
1 flour


I had to toss one of my big pumpkins that started to rot, and we tossed a lot of carrots before winter set in, due to the cold room being too warm in the fall.  Everything else has held up well.  I only made one small batch of apple sauce.  The boys ate nearly all of them! 

Still a ways off from starvation, but pushing my comfort zone.  Here's hoping Husband has a busy summer with big pay cheques so I can restock!

3 comments:

  1. i'd say you did pretty good what with the time of year it is - good job Wendy! but i also understand that you're pushing your comfort zone and looking to re-stock. do you grow your own potatoes??? you could save a ton of money if you did and if you keep them in a cool basement, barn, root cellar made out of hay bales - they'll last right up until you can start harvesting baby potatoes. anyway - let us know when you do your re-stock!

    your friend,
    kymber

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  2. Do you feed pumpkins starting to rot to the hens? Mine love a good pumpkin. Of course, by "rotten" I don't mean moldy, just going bad, a little soft.

    I wonder if there is a way to keep the cold room a bit cooler if there are other warm falls to spoil your food.

    Do you ever set goals like a jar of whatever each week or two each week when you home can? Or, when you grocery shop? If I have 50 qts of home-canned tomatoes on my shelf, I would consider turning my efforts to canning something else unless I had it in the garden. Now, mind you, I never have an abundance of anything since a few tomato plants is all I have ever had. Just curious.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, the chickens love pumpkin.

      No, no goals like that for me. I rarely buy anything to can, so it's just whatever I can pick or grow around here. I pick as much as I can while it's in season and preserve it. I did buy strawberries last year, for jam, and probably will again this year. I haven't had much luck growing strawberries yet. So that's pretty much it exactly, they're in the garden or the yard or the bush, and I need to do as much as I can while they last.

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