Monday, October 15, 2012

Fall Food Storage- Cold Room

I'm fairly happy with the state of the cold room this year.  Despite the lack of berries, I managed to fill it up with lots of other good eats, and even added two new shelves. 
The 'store bought' shelf has more home canned goods than ever before, and I'm hoping to knock a couple more things off the shopping list on that side yet.  Here's the breakdown...

salmon- 7
tomato soup- 10
cream of mushroom soup- pints- 9
mushrooms- 16
assorted canned fruit- 12
cream corn- 10
pasta sauce- 21 + 3 quarts
apple juice- 23
relish- pints- 16.5
cream of celery soup- 1 + 8.5 pints
pickles- 2
mustard- 1
hot pepper rings- 1
manwich- 2
zoodles- 2
ketchup- 3 + 8 quarts
BBQ sauce- 8
salad dressing- 4
mayo- 3
olive oil- 8L
vinegar- 1 white, 1 apple cider, 2 quarts raspberry
beet juice- 4 quarts
pickle brine- 4 gallons

assorted jams & jellies- 196 half pints
syrop- 9 pints
crabapple sauce- 8 pints

pectin- 12 half pints
ham and potato soup- 9 pints
stew- 3 pints
tallow- 1 quart
cabbage- 9 quarts
lemon curd- 4 pints
peaches- 2 pints
salsa- 49 pints
yellow beans- 15 pints
dog food- 12 pints (chicken noodle soup, not fit for humans)


grape juice- 12 quarts
squash- 5
pumpkins- 4
seed box

I had to buy 4 more cases of pint jars and 2 more cases of quart jars, in addition to whatever I picked up at the thrift stores.  I still have a case of quarts, but I'd need to buy more pints if I wanted to can anything that size right now.  I also used all but a few half pint jars.  Which means I'll need a bunch more before berry season next year.  Some will be ready to be reused, but most of the stuff we go through quickly is in quart jars, so it'll take a couple of years to get the smaller jars back.

dill pickles- 52.5 quarts
pickled beets- 60.5 quarts
blueberry sauce- 10 quarts
watermelon preserves- 9 quarts
lemon lime concentrate- 17 half pints
lemonade concentrate- 13 pints
tomato juice- 11
coffee- 7 x 2lbs
assorted pop and juice
potatoes- 35 lbs (I need to see the potato man)
water
a bit of lard
mangels- 10 gallons
rice- 4 x 8kg
flour- 7 X 10kg
carrots- 5 gallons
assorted pop and juices
onions- 10 lbs

apples (no pic)- about 5 lbs

I'm waiting for sales to finish stocking up on rice, flour, onions, and pasta sauce (we use a lot!).  I'm hoping for a big apple sale, but I have my doubts on whether it'll happen or not.  Otherwise, just a few things needed here and there to top off the shelves.


18 comments:

  1. This looks fantastic, Wendy! WOW! Look at your home canning!

    My dad had happy memories of his mother's raspberry vinegar which of couse made me want to make it. You are the first other person I've known who makes it. It was nice to see it on your list.

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    1. Thanks, Sue.

      What did your dad/grandmother do with the raspberry vinegar? I was looking for ways to make my own vinegar a few years ago, and found instructions for raspberry, so I tried it. It's quite mild- I don't think strong enough to pickle with- so it sits there untouched...

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    2. They used it for a cold summer drink served over crushed ice. I forget if they sometimes added soda or not. They may have. The vinegar does have its own effervescence though...time to ask my mom to refresh my memory. It's been a few years since I've made it and I forget the details.

      I wonder if it could be used to make a reaspberry vinegrette for salads. Have you tried that?

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    3. Oh, that might be interesting. Thanks.

      No, I'm a French dressing kind of girl. I've never liked oil and vinegar type salad dressings.

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  2. Wendy,
    That is impressive! Of course, that would be a good year's supply for me. With your hard-working crew, I am sure they can go through all that quickly.

    I had not read that you canned ham and potatoes. With the size of your family, does a pint at a time work? Or, do you take that and add it to tomatoes and other things?

    With all I hear about apples, I doubt the price is going to be low at all anytime this season. $1.99/lb was the price in the store for Red Delicious, my favorite. When I found them for $1.57/lb, the apples were about two inches tall, maybe near three inches. I am going to buy some jars of apple sauce to fill in when I have no apples. I have a hundred cans of apple sauce from the store, but I try not to eat canned food. Of course, I do and hate I do. I need free apples I can pick myself!

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    1. According to Canada's Food Guide
      http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/alt_formats/hpfb-dgpsa/pdf/food-guide-aliment/view_eatwell_vue_bienmang-eng.pdf
      A serving of fruit or veggies is 1/2 cup, and we should be eating 43 servings/day (family). In reality, we average 36/day. If I add and divide all of my canned fruits and veggies, I get 2414 servings (roughly), so 67 days for my family, or 344 days for 1 woman.

      That doesn't include potatoes, carrots and such, because even though I know we use about 4 pounds of potatoes per day, I've never measured it out in cups. Everything included here, I probably have 100 days worth of fruits and veggies stored, plus the freezer food (beans, cabbage, turnip, rhubarb, etc.).

      I canned ham and potato SOUP. That's mostly for Husband, for lunches.

      True, the apple harvest looks pretty bad across north America. Normally the grocery stores get 8 pound bags shipped in at harvest time for about $5. I'm hoping they still get them this year, even if they are pricier, because they'll still be cheaper than anything else we can buy this winter. A normal 3 lb bag of macs is $4 right now.

      Don't we all! lol.

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  3. Wow, Girl! I'm so impressed! I knew you were working your butt off but I think you've must have worked something else off too. What a great looking pantry room.

    Hubby and I have been putting in some last min. fishing. 100lbs king salmon and 300lbs albacore tuna. I'm on my 6th case of canning tuna pints. Of course, this week here in Northen Cal, the temp is a crazy 88 deg. (s/b 90 today).

    Sure wish I could send you some of my apples (and sunshine too). I've got about 50 lbs to do something with b/4 they get too mushy. Gotta finish up with the tuna first.

    Hope your winter is not too crazy this year! Stay warm

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    1. Thank you!

      Wow, you caught the fish yourselves? That's amazing. Congrats!

      That's the thing with apples- I'm hearing about good harvests from different sources, so I'm thinking the grocery chains should work it out and ship us apples from somewhere else.

      This week at the grocery store, red delicious were on, 4 lb for $3.88. I bought 20 lbs. Normally they're more expensive than macs, but not this year, not right now anyway.

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  4. wow - awesome job to you and your crew. I love to look at and drool over pics of home canned foods, weird, I know - but so true!!

    I tried looking around on your blog for an idea of how you ended up where you are and doing what you are doing, or if you have always lived/were raised that way, and couldn't find anything - did I miss it or is it not there? We're no where to the point that you guys are (not sure we ever will be), but we just bought raw land a year ago and are trying to become more self sifficient. Just getting housing in order has been our main focus for the last year though. We did get a small garden in and we got some goats to add to chickens, ducks, cats and dogs, but I got nothing canned this year - we were too busy working on housing. Anyway, I just thought I'd say HI:) Michele

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    1. Thanks, Michele! I know the feeling. I love pantry pics and food storage. I squint at the screen trying to figure out what's in each jar, lol.

      I think there's tidbits here and there, but I don't think I've ever written a real introductory type of post. I started the blog as a place to vent/journal/track what was going on in my life, after some relatives irritated me on facebook. I wasn't looking for followers or trying to teach anyone anything, or anything like that, so I kind of just started in the middle. I guess I should do a page about that.

      Thanks for stopping in!

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  5. Oh my gosh! What an amazing display. What a great feeling going into winter so well prepared. I am not nearly in your ball park with preserving, though I'm making progress. First time I've visited your blog - what a great find.

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    1. Thanks, sailor! Welcome! I've been enjoying your blog too!

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  6. Nice stock! Is your cold room in the basement or is it a separate building?

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    1. Thanks! The cold room is in the basement corner, insulated from the rest of the house.

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  7. Just found your blog. Your cold storage looks wonderful. I agree on the apple prices, last year I was able to pick them up for .49 a lb and canned for days..this year they are still 1.99 lb

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  8. wow what efficiency you show... it has always been my dream to have cupboards like yours, filled with produce from our garden, but it never happened when I had the five kids at home, and now its too late, as we are older now, and use much less, but what an inspiration for those who are thinking about doing it!!!... you talk about apples, how do you store them all winter, do you cook and bottle, or just leave them in a special place>? hugs from across the pond. Janzi

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    1. Thanks Janzi.

      The trick with apples (besides beating the kids off with a flyswatter) is to keep checking them. One bad apple really does spoil the whole bushel. I buy them in bags, bring them home and unpack them. Any with open wounds or deep bruises go in the fridge to use now. The rest go in the cold room in cardboard boxes with newspaper between layers. When the fridge supply is empty, I sort through the boxes and take out the next most damaged ones, soft spots, etc. They need to be checked at least every couple of months.

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