You CAN Do It!
What’s the one thing we need and cannot live without for too long? FOOD!!! With today’s rising costs, we need to find every way possible to make our money stretch and the food stretch even further.
Our families are hungry and we are in crunch time to get something tasty on the table in faster-than-the-speed-of-light time…..or else we have “hangry” people on our hands….lol
Summer is the time for tons of fresh fruit and vegetables and there are many ways to save these goodies for future eating by way of canning and freezing. Yes it involves some hard work and time, but the satisfaction is knowing you made that YOUR OWN BAD SELF! You rock!
I had been wanting to learn for such a long time and finally I just took it upon myself and read some instructions and gave it a try…..I got lucky and everything I made turned out fine…..a little confidence in your own abilities goes a long way….I will share my Spaghetti Sauce recipe here with you:
1 Peck (32 cups) of chopped, peeled tomatoes (I core and freeze my tomatoes and when they thaw the skins fall off 1 tsp nutmeg
6 large peppers chopped 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
6 large onions, chopped 1 ½ cups vegetable oil
1 small bunch celery, chopped ½ cup sugar
2 tbsp parsley flakes 1 ½ tbsp oregano
1 tbsp pepper 3 bay leaves
4 tbsp salt 1 tbsp sweet basil
4 (12 oz) cans tomato paste several shakes of Tabasco
1 tbsp Garlic salt
Cook together tomatoes, onions, peppers, celery and parsley flakes for 1 ½ hours. Put cooked mixture through blender or I find it easier to use a stick immersion blender (just watch for splashback because the mixture will be hot.) Blend in the remaining ingredients; mix well and simmer for 1 hour. Remove bay leaves. Put in hot sterilized jars and cold pack for 20 minutes. (Cold pack means boiling your filled jars with the lids on for the time mentioned) Makes 16 pints or 16 500ml jars.
* If you have any questions, email me at chishon@gccrc.ca.
Something else I have learned over time is to not waste anything if you can help it. At the Centre Reception desk (where you will find me) is a monthly handout stand where I post some tidbits of information I think may help you along the way or just a recipe. Please drop in and pick one up and we can chat about it also.
My Great Aunt taught me some things that I have carried with me about stretching your food dollars. She never wasted anything…..if she had some leftover vegetables from a meal, she didn’t throw them out because there wasn’t enough for another meal….she simply added them to a bag she kept in the freezer and when she was making soup or stew she just added whatever was in that bag….you have some eggs that are coming up to expiration but you don’t need eggs for anything right now….did you know you can freeze them? Bit of block cheese left over…..grate them up and put them in a bag in the freezer and use them for home made pizza or a casserole for the future. Buying larger packages of ground beef or larger packages of chicken are less expensive in the long run and when you get home you can separate the quantities into smaller freezer bags so you don’t have to thaw and cook the entire package at once…..and the ideas keep coming.
I am a huge Pinterest person and have many pins in my virtual filing cabinet. I cannot stress enough how wonderful this site is. Once you check it out, I think you too will be hooked….PLEASE CHECK OUT THE CENTRE’S BRAND NEW PINTEREST PAGE:
https://www.pinterest.com/glencairncommun/
I am sharing a few pins here that I have found to be extremely helpful and I hope you enjoy them too!
If you want to chat, drop into the Centre. I am usually found behind the front desk.
Happy Summer everyone!
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/nov/23/what-food-freezes-well-and-what-doesn-t-freeze-well
http://www.sixfiguresunder.com/can-you-freeze-that/
http://www.simplemost.com/cooking-cheat-sheets-you-should-keep-in-your-kitchen/?source=WPTV&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=WPTV
https://onceamonthmeals.com/blog/series/get-started/what-you-can-and-cannot-freeze/
http://premeditatedleftovers.com/naturally-frugal-living/a-list-of-foods-that-freeze-well/
