Question on Food Storage
- Thread starter Hound dog
- Start date
SRL
Active Member
The USDA sets the safety standards for home canning and freezing. Here's the USDA guide with recipes:
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/
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HaoZi
Guest
Anyone tried this? http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitche...s___Oven_Sun_Food_Drying_Rack___431189?Args=#
Not sure how well it works, but if it works well it would add some variety to your preserved food cache.
Not sure how well it works, but if it works well it would add some variety to your preserved food cache.
H
HaoZi
Guest
Interesting stuff certainly. The microwave is way overpriced (I think all the appliances are) considering that other than that olden look I have the same microwave from WM for $40.
H
HaoZi
Guest
The olive oil lamps caught my attention.
Easy way to get all the air out for freezing in freezer bags: Seal it up with a straw through the seal, then suck the air out through the straw, pull the straw out and seal that tiny area fast. It works great. IF you buy bread at the bread store and freeze it, do this with the bread bag and it won't get freezer burn.
Those vacuum sealers can be nice. I find the bags to be very expensive though, at least for our budget. Keep an eye on yard sales - got mine for free at one. Lady died suddenly and her place was filthy. Family sold things for whatever people offered and when I offered $5 they thought I was nuts and tossed it in free with something else we bought.
You might ask on free cycle for a vacuum sealer for food, several have been given recently around here.
You CAN use any big pot for canning, does NOT have to be a special canning pot as long as you have the rack and the jars don't touch. I remember canning tomatoes with my mom and aunt one summer. My aunt had a canning pot but used three other big pots too because her husband planted over an acre of garden that year.
As for squash/zucchini, if you like zucc bread go ahead and grate them and freeze them grated. Don't bother blanching or anything. Just grate and freeze (food processors are awesome at this, salad shooters are helpful if you have a lot and can hold it and don't have a food proc). Freeze in 1 cup portions. When they thaw there will be a bunch of liquid. Cut the liquid you add to the recipe and use the liquid from the frozen squash/zucc. It adds a LOT of nutrients that way. They can be added to pancakes, muffins, quick breads, etc.....
MANY things are easy to freeze in 1 or 2 cup portions. I use plastic cups for drinking and freeze portions. Once frozen I put them into freezer bags and suck the air out. Then I take out what I need and reseal the bag. It is FAR easier than freezing a big bag and then figuring out what to do with it. For things that you woudl use smaller amounts of, like leftover wine, freeze in ice cube trays then put in bags. Just be SURE to put the trays onto cooke sheets or you will have frozen whatever all over the freezer.
If you have a big batch of things to freeze in portions, consider using some plastic or paper cups, the kind you buy for picnics. I do that because one time I used every drinking glass and jar in the house and husband got pretty upset, lol.
To freeze things like cherries, cut up chicken for recipes, etc...., freeze them on plastic or wax paper on cookie sheets. when frozen solid put them in freezer bags and suck the air out. This again is esp handy if you cook for 2 because you don't have a whole bag of thawed stuff to use up. Instead of buying plastic or wax paper to line the cookie sheets, take the bags from cereal boxes or bagged cereal and wipe them clean. Line the cookie sheets with those. They are thicker and food doesn't stick nearly as bad as it does to plastic wrap or wax paper. Plus it would just be trash so you spend nothing on it.
Meat that is uncooked can be frozen but MUST be cooked when thawed. It can be frozen AFTER it is fully cooked, but cannot be frozen again thawed. You run a high risk of food borne illness if you re-freeze thawed meat. Took three times for my husband to grasp this - I refused to eat the meat or let the kids and he insisted it was fine. He is a slow learner sometimes.
Those vacuum sealers can be nice. I find the bags to be very expensive though, at least for our budget. Keep an eye on yard sales - got mine for free at one. Lady died suddenly and her place was filthy. Family sold things for whatever people offered and when I offered $5 they thought I was nuts and tossed it in free with something else we bought.
You might ask on free cycle for a vacuum sealer for food, several have been given recently around here.
You CAN use any big pot for canning, does NOT have to be a special canning pot as long as you have the rack and the jars don't touch. I remember canning tomatoes with my mom and aunt one summer. My aunt had a canning pot but used three other big pots too because her husband planted over an acre of garden that year.
As for squash/zucchini, if you like zucc bread go ahead and grate them and freeze them grated. Don't bother blanching or anything. Just grate and freeze (food processors are awesome at this, salad shooters are helpful if you have a lot and can hold it and don't have a food proc). Freeze in 1 cup portions. When they thaw there will be a bunch of liquid. Cut the liquid you add to the recipe and use the liquid from the frozen squash/zucc. It adds a LOT of nutrients that way. They can be added to pancakes, muffins, quick breads, etc.....
MANY things are easy to freeze in 1 or 2 cup portions. I use plastic cups for drinking and freeze portions. Once frozen I put them into freezer bags and suck the air out. Then I take out what I need and reseal the bag. It is FAR easier than freezing a big bag and then figuring out what to do with it. For things that you woudl use smaller amounts of, like leftover wine, freeze in ice cube trays then put in bags. Just be SURE to put the trays onto cooke sheets or you will have frozen whatever all over the freezer.
If you have a big batch of things to freeze in portions, consider using some plastic or paper cups, the kind you buy for picnics. I do that because one time I used every drinking glass and jar in the house and husband got pretty upset, lol.
To freeze things like cherries, cut up chicken for recipes, etc...., freeze them on plastic or wax paper on cookie sheets. when frozen solid put them in freezer bags and suck the air out. This again is esp handy if you cook for 2 because you don't have a whole bag of thawed stuff to use up. Instead of buying plastic or wax paper to line the cookie sheets, take the bags from cereal boxes or bagged cereal and wipe them clean. Line the cookie sheets with those. They are thicker and food doesn't stick nearly as bad as it does to plastic wrap or wax paper. Plus it would just be trash so you spend nothing on it.
Meat that is uncooked can be frozen but MUST be cooked when thawed. It can be frozen AFTER it is fully cooked, but cannot be frozen again thawed. You run a high risk of food borne illness if you re-freeze thawed meat. Took three times for my husband to grasp this - I refused to eat the meat or let the kids and he insisted it was fine. He is a slow learner sometimes.
Not in this lifetime, sweetie! While there are things I LOVE about the Cincy area, I just could not live there again. I LOVE where I live now and have since I moved here as a young teen.
Pressure cooker warning: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not use an old pressure cooker unless it is in PERFECT shape. You also MUST get a brand new seal (the rubber ring thingy) for it. ANY dent, knick in the rim of the pan or lid, or other defect makes the pressure cooker incredibly unsafe to use. Explode and ruin your kitchen and self type unsafe. Do not ever buy one from a thrift store or yard sale unless you are super familiar with them and know what to check. And then get a new seal for it before you use it.
Check out The Wheat Guy's channel on youtube for some great tips to help save money and preserve food around the house. They are wehre I got the cereal bag tip. Also where I got a totally DUH! tip for getting the best buy on bagged fruit like apples. (Apples/oranges are things where one apple is a serving. To get the most servings for your money, count the number of apples in the bags and get the bag with the most apples. Then you instantly get more servings for your money!! getting the heaviest bag gets more ounces but usually you get fewer pieces so you are just eating larger servings each time. This is so obvious once you actually THINK about how you use the fruit, like for snacks and lunches, but until I was told I had never thought of it!)
Also, you, easy child and Nichole all NEED NEED NEED copies of The Tightwad Gazette!!! I have written about it before and it is incredibly amazingly fantabulous!!! The prices they quote are out of date, of course, as it was written in the 80s or early 90's, but it is amazing at helping save major $$ in ALL areas of life. It was originally a newsletter that was then published in a series of 3 books, each with totally new stuff, and then a version with all 3 books in one volume was published. After having worn out the three indiv versions I had, I used some xmas $$ to get the 3 in 1 and in a year I figured out it had saved me more than ten times the price ($20 or $25 back about 8 or 10 yrs or more).
It is still in print and right now amazon has it for $15.45 new and as low as $4.85 used from the amazon marketplace. Abe Books has it (The COmplete Tightwad Gazette - the 3 in 1 version) under $10 shipped - one seller has it for $1.36 with $4.95 shipping!) - http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=The+Complete+Tightwad+Gazette&x=44&y=16
This has great stuff for food storage, awesome cheap recipes - even that MY picky eaters and pickier me like!, and so many cool ideas to save money on almost everything that it is just astounding. It would be the PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT gift for easy child and Nichole for xmas if they don't have it. I have a LOT of books on being a tighwad/frugal/cheap but this is absolutely the best and most fun of all of them and has saved me the most of all of them.
Pressure cooker warning: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do not use an old pressure cooker unless it is in PERFECT shape. You also MUST get a brand new seal (the rubber ring thingy) for it. ANY dent, knick in the rim of the pan or lid, or other defect makes the pressure cooker incredibly unsafe to use. Explode and ruin your kitchen and self type unsafe. Do not ever buy one from a thrift store or yard sale unless you are super familiar with them and know what to check. And then get a new seal for it before you use it.
Check out The Wheat Guy's channel on youtube for some great tips to help save money and preserve food around the house. They are wehre I got the cereal bag tip. Also where I got a totally DUH! tip for getting the best buy on bagged fruit like apples. (Apples/oranges are things where one apple is a serving. To get the most servings for your money, count the number of apples in the bags and get the bag with the most apples. Then you instantly get more servings for your money!! getting the heaviest bag gets more ounces but usually you get fewer pieces so you are just eating larger servings each time. This is so obvious once you actually THINK about how you use the fruit, like for snacks and lunches, but until I was told I had never thought of it!)
Also, you, easy child and Nichole all NEED NEED NEED copies of The Tightwad Gazette!!! I have written about it before and it is incredibly amazingly fantabulous!!! The prices they quote are out of date, of course, as it was written in the 80s or early 90's, but it is amazing at helping save major $$ in ALL areas of life. It was originally a newsletter that was then published in a series of 3 books, each with totally new stuff, and then a version with all 3 books in one volume was published. After having worn out the three indiv versions I had, I used some xmas $$ to get the 3 in 1 and in a year I figured out it had saved me more than ten times the price ($20 or $25 back about 8 or 10 yrs or more).
It is still in print and right now amazon has it for $15.45 new and as low as $4.85 used from the amazon marketplace. Abe Books has it (The COmplete Tightwad Gazette - the 3 in 1 version) under $10 shipped - one seller has it for $1.36 with $4.95 shipping!) - http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&tn=The+Complete+Tightwad+Gazette&x=44&y=16
This has great stuff for food storage, awesome cheap recipes - even that MY picky eaters and pickier me like!, and so many cool ideas to save money on almost everything that it is just astounding. It would be the PERFECT PERFECT PERFECT gift for easy child and Nichole for xmas if they don't have it. I have a LOT of books on being a tighwad/frugal/cheap but this is absolutely the best and most fun of all of them and has saved me the most of all of them.
