Garden Harvest

This has been a busy week!  I was asked to help with an Enrichment activity on Gardening (in particular, Harvesting) to be held in my yard this past week.  I have spent the several weeks putting together this spreadsheet with a lot of information on what to do with the yummy vegetables that we grow.  Hopefully this will be a good reference!  Note: This was made for my altitude (4000-6000 ft). If you use this as a reference, and live at a different altitude, you would need to adjust times, and pressures.
Garden Harvest 4000-6000 ft
Happy Harvesting!

Freezer Inventory Sheet

When cleaning out my freezers, all items were taken out, organized, and then put away.  Before putting away, I wrote each item down (what it was, how many pounds it was, and the date I froze it- if I had that info).  Today, I put all the info onto a Freezer Inventory list that I made.  This is now on my freezer door with a wet erase marker attached to it.  Each time something is added or taken from the freezer, I update the list.  I use a wet erase marker- the dry erase comes off too easily.  This sheet is a tally sheet, so I can know what I have just by looking on it.  I will use this list before I buy more-  Do I have room for it?  Do I need it? I will also use this list as I plan my menus.  I want to use up everything that I have stored first, before using something I just bought, to make sure everything in my freezer is rotated.  For the freezer inventory list (.pdf) click here.  For the freezer inventory list (.doc) that you can make changes to, click here.  Make sure to print on cardstock and then laminate.  This way the wet erase marker will work!
Happy organizing!
Freezer Inventory

Time to Clean the FREEZER!!

We all know it.  Food costs a lot of money!  I think most of us are very conscious about our food budget.  We try to save money by shopping sales, using coupons, etc.  Think for a minute- how much food has your family thrown away over the past month?  Year? I hate to say it, but I have thrown away quite a lot (leftovers that didn't get eaten, vegetables that went bad... etc).  Just this week, I sent my daughter to the freezer to get some pork chops.  She came back in with frostbitten hands (well, almost), and no pork chops. I knew we had pork chops somewhere buried in the freezer.....  Well, I found them, buried, and much to my dismay, they were old & freezer burned.  I try to be so frugal- and when I calculate how much money that I waste from discarded food, it made me think-  What can I do to make sure this doesn't continue?  I came up with a couple of ideas that I hope will help me:
1.  Clean the Freezer
2.  Inventory the Freezer
3.  Continue to use a shopping list
4.  Plan and stick to a menu
5.  Have a "leftover night" once a week

So, lets get started. 

1.  Cleaning the Freezer:
I should have taken a before picture (honestly, I was too embarrassed).  Over the past several months, our garage freezer (we have three freezers: Garage, Kitchen side by side, and downstairs side by side) has had to be locked because it was so full that it wouldn't close tight. The overwhelming task to clean the freezer was managable with the following steps.

•  Wear gloves.
• Get 7-8 bins or laundry baskets to put the food into: 1 bin for chicken, 1 bin for pork, 1 bin for beef, etc.
  
• Start at the top shelf and separate each item into the bins, continue for the rest of the shelves, and the door.  Now, all like items should be together in the bins.
  
• Using hot soapy water and a scrubbing sponge, start with the door, top to bottom.  As soon as each shelf is clean, quickly wipe it dry with a dry towel. Any moisture left will quickly turn to ice.
• Continue with each shelf, and the walls of the freezer.  
• Lastly, do the bottom.  This is a bit tricky since it is so cold.  I put my hot soapy water down, scrubbed, and quickly dried again.  If it turns to ice before the scrubbing is finished, use a spatula to remove all ice.  Once again, make sure everything is completely dry.
• Assess your food- What do you have the most of?  What space would it fit in the freezer best? I had the most chicken and beef- so those went into my two big drawers.
• Put like items together: I put the pepperoni and pizza sauce in its own bin, since the kids make pizza every Friday night. 
  
• As you put your food back, write down what you have.  This will go onto your freezer inventory that remains on the outside of the freezer.  
• I labeled each shelf.  When my kids help with things, everything goes a lot smoother when they know where to put (and to find) things.  To get a copy of the labels, click here.
  

Now, as I plan my menu shopping list, I can quickly look at my freezer inventory and use first what I have.  If you have a deep freeze as well as a side by side with your fridge, you may want to consider this.  Why not use your kitchen freezer only for the items you will be using for the next 2 weeks-1 month?  Every two weeks when you do your menu, bring in the items from the freezer you will use next.  Then, everything gets rotated, you know exactly what you have, and where, and things are a bit more organized. 

Watch for the next post: Freezer Inventory 

Canning/Freezing Corn

Last week my sister and I decided to preserve corn. After tasting the delicious corn at the local farmer's market, we decided to give it a go! Wow! We learned a few things:
1. It is a lot of work.
2. It is delicious! See the bottom of this post for our "taste test" of both.

The process of preparing the corn is the same for either canning (raw pack), or freezing:
1. Select fresh corn. The sooner you preserve it after it is picked, the better. The grower I bought the corn from said that is should be started within 6 hours of picking.
2. Remove the husk and silk from each cob.
3. Blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes.
4. Immediately put in ice water to stop the cooking process.
(The picture to the left is the corn after it has been blanched and taken out of the ice water.)





5. Cut kernels from cob. I thought an electric knife was easiest. TIP: If you put the cob in a bundt pan, the kernels fall directly into the pan.










For canning:

1. Put kernels in jar, leaving 1 inch headspace.
2. Add 1/2 tsp salt to pints, and 1 tsp salt to quarts.
3. Add boiling water to jar, once again leaving 1 inch headspace.
4. Put prepared lids and rings on jar.
5. Process in PRESSURE CANNER for 55 minutes for pints and 85 minutes for quarts. (Corn is a very low acid food, and must be canned in a pressure canner for the specified amount of time at the correct pressure!)

Use the pressure below:
0-2000 ft: 11 pounds pressure
2001-4000 ft: 12 pounds pressure
4001-6000 ft: 13 pounds pressure (Utah County)
6000+ ft: 14 pounds pressure

It took about 4 ears per pint. Each ear yielded approximately 1/2 cup of kernels.

For Freezing: (The grower gave me the recipe for the syrup to put on it. He said it would be the best corn you've tasted. After tasting it, I have to agree!)
1. After corn is off the cob, fill quart size freezer bags (I put 2 cups per quart bag, even though it could have held more. I wanted to pack it in portions my family would use for 1 meal).
2. Make a syrup of 1 cup water, 1 TB salt, and 1 TB sugar. Boil together.
3. Add 1/4 cup of syrup to each bag.
4. Freeze.
5. When you are ready to use the frozen corn, there is no need to add any additional liquid to heat it up. The syrup you put in gives it a wonderful flavor as well.

Taste comparison: The canned corn is better than any canned corn I have bought. With sweeter varieties of corn, the canning process tends to turn the corn a little brown. The frozen corn was even better than the canned corn, and kept its bright color. I want to have both in my food storage, but the frozen was definately the overall winner! It tasted like it came right off the cob.

Tip for Freezing Chicken

My friend gave me this great tip for freezing chicken this week (Thanks, Kristen!). She buys the very inexpensive fold over sandwich bags. She puts a single chicken breast in the bag, and folds it over. Then, she puts the full sandwich bags into a large Ziplok freezer bag. This way the chicken doesn't stick together, and you can pull out just what is needed for the meal. Also, a great way to save money since you don't go through nearly the amount of freezer bags. Fabulous!