Can you show us some of your stored foods?
These photos are a part of our bulk food storage and canned goods. I keep a pantry upstairs that is smaller with food so I don’t have to run up and down stairs while I’m cooking. We also have a couple of freezers full down there and more shelves filled. We eat what we store, so it’s a continuous process, hence the mess. This is in the basement, to keep the food in optimum conditions, it’s the coolest and darkest place in our house to store it.
To have my pantry filled, I also needed to tackle the issue of dried goods. I could purchase in bulk, but how to preserve the food so it didn’t go bad? More research needed. I discovered that oxygen is the major culprit in food degradation. A solution I found was to buy Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers to repackage the food for longer storage. We only purchase what we use and my list isn’t for everyone because it’s what we use and others may not. I keep flour, sugar, oats, jasmine rice, and dried beans in Mylar packaging and have found it all keeps well for when we use it. We purchase those items in bulk about twice a year. The beans are used for canning as we run low. Buying in bulk costs far less than smaller packaging and I rarely need to run to the store when baking because we’re out of an ingredient as I make sure to have all the necessities on hand.
How does doing all this help your family?
I think what I’ve found through out this are the benefits that I didn’t anticipate. First would be the amazing amount of money we save. We are purchasing the bulk of our food in season when the costs are lowest for the year and don’t get hit as much with inflation. If an unexpected bill hits us, not a problem because we don’t have to purchase food if we need the money for something else. Having a full pantry also means we only shop at grocery stores for sales so it’s rare to need to pay full price for much. Another big benefit for me is peace of mind. One time my little grandson was watching a news clip of grocery stores with empty shelves as a hurricane approached near where one of my sons and family live. His eyes got huge watching, it had never occurred to him until that moment that stores could be empty. He said, Grandma, if anything bad happens here I’m coming to your house. It was wonderful to reassure him that he didn’t have to worry.
In my granddaughters first year of college she was required to purchase a meal plan, huge numbers of dollars for food she didn’t even like! She asked me to teach her to can her own food to take for the following year as she would have her own apartment. She did a wonderful job of it and we told her to take whatever she needed from our pantry to be able to cook her own meals. We visited her over the weekend and took her grocery shopping in case she needed anything. I asked her if she wanted a loaf of bread and she told me no, she preferred to make her own. This journey has provided a means for me to teach self sufficiency to my grandchildren with skills they can carry throughout their lives.
Oh, I thought of some other benefits that I should have added. With canning, I’m able to put a full meal with main and side dishes on the table in five minutes. Just dump and heat, real fast food. Far less waste of food to throw away because I use the size of jars to can for what we will actually eat. Far less trash to put in a landfill because the jars are reusable and not thrown away. I also know what is in our food as it’s real food, chemical free from farmers that care about food safety since that is what they feed their families too. Another benefit that is very important to me is I don’t have to worry about checking my cabinets for food that has been recalled. I know who grew my food and how I processed it.
Have you got a song that's an anthem for your life, or this season?A song for my life? That is a tough one! I’ll have to go with My God is an awesome God. He is, has always been and will always be. Our life on planet earth is getting so much more difficult in today’s world and I can’t imagine not having God’s love and guidance to navigate through it.
Thank you so much Kathi for sharing all of this information about food storage and canning with us
No comments:
Post a Comment