It's Been All About the Food

It's Wednesday already and I have yet to look at one drawer, cupboard, or shelf for my on-going organizing.  This week it has truly been about food.  This is the year where I am determined to be a better steward of our food.  I have been checking expiration dates on everything and once again looking in the fridge and freezer to see what I can make my menus with based upon whether or not I need to use things up.

One thing I'm doing more of lately is dehydrating (the above photo).   We bought a dehydrator a couple of years ago but have not been using it the way I should so I'm at least starting.   A friend had told me about dehydrating frozen vegetables so I did that with a package of corn last week.  Today, in about an hour, I can take our dehydrating frozen mixed vegetables out and store them:

And yesterday I noticed that the box of spinach that I bought last week for salads was about to expire, so I dehydrated that yesterday (again, in the above photo).  These can be used in soups, stews, and casseroles at a later date.  With the little oxygen absorber packet in each jar, these can stay on the pantry shelf for a long time.  A very good (and frugal) way to store food.  A dehydrator isn't all that expensive and might be worth your money if you want another way to store food without a big freezer or canning.  It sure does come in handy.  : )

When checking the freezer, I noticed that I only have a quart jar of chicken broth left so into the crockpot goes 3 lbs. of chicken legs (VERY inexpensive), 1 quartered onion, 1 quartered clove of garlic, 2 celery ribs cut into large pieces, 2 carrots, cut into large pieces, a tsp. of Kosher salt, a tsp. of freshly ground pepper and water to cover.  It's adding a wonderful aroma to the house and will be done this evening ready to pull the meat off the bones for another use and then to skim the broth, strain it, and pour it into freezer jars.  

I bought fresh ginger root last week, so I peeled and minced that and froze it in little mounds equal to about a teaspoon.  I know that I use fresh ginger quite often, so this is a time saver.  Next week I need to buy a bunch of onions and fry them up and freeze them as well.  I read that if you put them in a freezer bag, spread them out in a thin layer and then when you need some for a recipe, you will be able to just break a chunk off.  Love ideas like this!!!!  Makes prepping meals so much faster.

Not everything has to be fast though.  I admit that there are evenings when I have time that I don't mind doing all the prep work for a meal - dicing an onion, mincing garlic, measuring everything out - it makes for a very calm and peaceful time.  But when you've had a full day and still want a healthy, homemade supper on the table, these other ways of having prepared food already for you, is a great blessing.  : )

I think that about does it for today.  Thanks for your visit!   Love it when you do.  : )  God bless.