I’m posting a little late this morning. Bruce and I are getting out early for our morning 2.5 mile walk in order to beat the heat. Walking later is not a good idea as the temperature has been nearing 100. I’ve been planning as much inside work as I can. One of the big jobs I’ve been wanting to tackle is cleaning the kitchen.
It isn’t just the cleaning but the organizing I need to get to. One of my big problems is that I am a non-electric gadget girl. I collect things like spatulas and spoons, dishes and tins. If it has an old-fashioned feel or promises to do a job easier (I have about 10 can-openers) I can not resist it, especially if I find it at a tag sale or thrift sale. That’s fine except having too much stuff gets in the way of easily finding what I need when I need it. It’s also important to weed out the old spices and outdated baking powder and replace them with fresh supplies. I keep my dried food in a cabinet in the corner of the kitchen and now that my Excalibur is running full time, I needed to empty that out. I find that this humidity affects the seals on the jars I use my food saver on. I also found that some of the food had fully dried (or had picked up moisture over the course of a year) and had become moldy. Dried foods are the only thing I never keep longer than a year. I use it up or throw it out. My cabinet now feels like an empty canvas. I can’t wait to fill it with the colors and aromas of summer. I pulled out trays of mints for tea this morning and I’m waiting for the cucumbers, celery and mushrooms. I didn’t grow any of this. I found it at a farm stand. The price was right and I dont’s grow celery.
I have cleaned out my baking cabinet, my container cabinet and the large space I keep the supplies for cheese making, soda bottling and wine making. I found I was out of ginger and had a jar of something I couldn’t identify. That kind of thing just robs me of energy. I hate getting in the middle of a recipe and realizing I don’t have an important ingredient. I don’t have the space to waste on some crumpled thing that has no value beyond compost.
Today I hit the food storage areas. What I really want to do is can up some dried beans. I only have 6 cans of garbonzo beans and we eat tons of them. It’s just too darn hot to pull out the pressure canner today but the empty spot will call to me and there is always next week.
Keeping your space organized will save time, money and aggravation. It’s worth the investment of time.
July 22, 2011 at 7:55 am
Been having a similar morning. Though not as productive, I’m afraid. We’ve been traveling and not only brought home (I’m proud to say, only useful!) souvenirs but also I had ordered some chocolate making and toiletry making supplies while we were away that arrived when we did. So this morning I spent putting things away and finding new things homes. I, too, need to get to the reorganization of my cabinets, but not today I’m afraid as we have had to squeeze 2 weeks of appointments into 2 days. But soon!
July 22, 2011 at 8:57 am
Kathy,
Can I ask you what you do with the dried cucumbers? I have had lots this year out of the garden, and thought about drying some, but what would I use them for? Also, my condolences on the heat and humidity!! That is what we deal with every year here in the south, and it can make it hard to dehydrate most anything.
July 22, 2011 at 9:03 am
good work for a too hot day!
July 22, 2011 at 9:42 am
At night, put about 1/4 cup of dried cukes in a jar and cover with boiling brine. In the morning you’ll have nice crispy pickles. You can also serve them as chips with a cramy dill dressing.
July 22, 2011 at 10:30 am
Kathy, I crumble my dried cucumber chips into small pieces and use when I am making cheese balls and spreads. Comes in handy in the middle of the winter when you can’t find any or the price is just outrageous.
Could you tell us once again the amount of dried beans to can in a pint jar and how much water? I need to do this and was uncertain about the measurments. Thanks, Patti
July 22, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Kathy – thanks! I never would have thought that the cukes would rehydreate into anything close to being edible by themselves! Also, thanks, bantybellePatti! I’ll try them that way too. It sounds delish.
I am trying my hardest not to let anything out of the garden go to waste. I have made so many different pickles and relishes this year, and still have lots more cucumbers and peppers….
July 22, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Kathy, will you please tell us how you do your canned beans? I recall that you mentioned something about filling the jars 1/3 full with dried beans, not soaked or pre-cooked.
I canned up some soaked-overnight beans last winter, and they came out great, but I’m always game to try something new!
July 23, 2011 at 6:30 am
I have always canned presoaked beans but as the beans are pressure canned it isn’t really necessary. I just put the beans in a jar with some salt and follow the canning directions. I do them at 10 pounds of pressure for an hour and a half. This means doing it as a cold pack which isn’t my favorite. I’m doing a load today and I think I’m going to do a 2 hour soak, then simmer for and hour and can. I’m a bit concerned about doing the cold pack because these are OLD beans and I want to be sure they’re cook enough.
July 24, 2011 at 1:43 pm
I read this Friday thinking it was timely because I had already resolved to do the annual fall clean-out/stock-up of the pantry shelves early this year. we are helping to support a college student neice who has not been able to find a job this summer, feeding her out of our pantry. So off to the grocery I went where I loaded up on sales of whole wheat pasta, cereal and her favorite boxed dinner among other items. I simply dropped the bags on the floor in front of the pantry shelves in the basement. I had paperwork that was more pressing.
24 hours later we got hit with a huge storm that flooded my dry, finished basement an inch deep. Most of the groceries I purchased friday are now in the trash bin all because I had allowed the pantry to get messy enough it wasn’t possible to simply throw every thing up on the shelves.
All for the lack of spending a few minutes here and there to neaten things as I went…….*sigh*
July 24, 2011 at 2:07 pm
I am so sorry!!!! What a dreadful thing to happen.
July 25, 2011 at 7:01 am
Kathy, I’m not familiar with your area of MA and live in West Brookfield. Are there no large stores near you to get that coffee, salt, sugar, etc.? Sam’s Club, for example?
I’m a coffee lover and addict, so I tend to buy it all the time and hoard it of course.
July 26, 2011 at 5:04 pm
You can your own garbanzo beans? Are they higher in quality or considerably cheaper? Or did you grown them yourself? – Just curious as it never crossed my mind to can my own. I do though soak and cook them occasionally. I don’t find them yummier, it’s just avoids packaging and saves a few pennies (or dimes) but for some reason I find black beans more rewarding… Mostly I wanted to say hello and great blog!
July 28, 2011 at 12:51 pm
Organization is a key to success. It amazes me how many people have their preparedness supplies “somewhere around” but it would take some time to find. I know where my supplies are and, by and large, exactly what I have. I’ve even gone so far as to track it using an Excel spreadsheet. Guess I have too much time on my hands!