A Productive Day Of Winter Preparations Part 1

 

It had been a long time since I'd done any really big grocery hauls or stocking up and even longer since I'd done any canning or meal prepping either.  In 2020 I did a lot of stocking up and built my first ever prepper pantry.  I invested in a dehydrater and we dried a lot of vegetables and some fruits.  I invested in a pressure canner and we canned a lot of other stuff as well.  It was hard work, but well worth it in my opinion.  Plus I really enjoy doing things like this.  We still have most of the things we canned and dried last year and it has been really nice having all of that on hand.  I plan to use more of it this year and well into the next.  This year my goal for preparing for winter has been to fully stock the chest freezer in our garage and use the kitchen freezer for meal prepping and storing small items as well as odds and ends.

My youngest was super excited to spend a day with me doing some winter food preparation.  I was up before sunrise on a Saturday two weeks ago with a cup of hot coffee, dressed and ready to go.  She, not so much.  That was totally fine because I had plenty to do to get ready so I let her sleep.  The first thing I did was to wash up a huge package of bone in chicken breasts and get them into my largest slow cooker.  I set it on high and let that get to cooking.

 

I watched Youtube videos while I processed my cheeses

Next I set up our dining room table as a cheese prep station with scissors, Ziploc bags, a Sharpie marker, a measuring cup and fourteen pounds of cheese I'd acquired over the course of a week of bargain shopping.  I got that all processed and ready to go into the chest freezer.  Click here for more details about how Istore cheese.  I cleaned up the table and then moved on to a large package of pork chops and two of the rolls of pork and Italian sausage I'd bought that week as well.  Click here to read about that process.

 

I went out to the garage and literally pulled out everything that was in our freezer from last year and reorganized everything I have bought this year including the cheeses and pork.  Then  I placed what is left from last year on top so I am sure to use it first and not allow it to get lost and freezer burn.  Next I did the kitchen freezer pulling everything out and wiping the inside clean.  I grabbed a small empty bin from the garage to use to corral all of the things we want to use up soon and filled it up placing it on the top shelf so we see it every time we open the freezer.  My daughter and I agreed to check the bin first before we go get whatever it is we think we need.

I didn't let this go to waste

As I finished up the freezers my daughter was up and ready to join me.  I mixed a quart of whole milk with a quart of filtered water and placed it in the freezer as well.  We had some extra and I didn't want it to go to waste.  I want extra milk in the freezer this year going into winter so we plan to do this and put up some more containers.  Then I filled up the vegetable bin with bags of frozen fruit and veggies I had pulled from the garage freezer and that task was complete.

 

The girl and I each got out our vintage pots and got to cooking!

Ta da!

The next thing on the list was to make up a big batch of homemade salsa.  Since we didn't have fresh tomatoes I decided to raid the pantry and put together a big batch of City Dweller Salsa.  While shopping I had picked up fresh onions and bell peppers and we had the rest of the ingredient we needed already on hand.  I made a batch and my daughter made a batch and then I showed her how to can salsa using our pressure canner, pint jars from the garage and lids I had leftover from last year.  We were able to put up nine pints of salsa with a half pint left for us to snack on.

 

Once the salsa was done the chicken had finished cooking.  I removed it from the slow cooker and let it cool.  I filled the slow cooker with another package of chicken and set it to cook while we cleaned up our dishes from canning and waited for the jars to finish processing.  After a much deserved break I deboned the chicken setting the skin aside for the kitties.  I cut up some of the chicken and made my aunt's recipe of curry chicken salad.  It was so good and I ate some right away for my lunch.  The rest of the chicken was package up and put in the kitchen freezer to use for quick meals after work and school.

 

This has been one of the best things I've invested in

Once the kitchen was tidied up and back in order we relaxed and watched a movie before we got ready for bed.  Needless to say I was a little bit tuckered out, but very happy with my progress.  Stay tuned to hear what I did the next day.