This year I had my own tomato transplants. I had forty plants that went in my garden. I was so excited to have a bounty for them. I planted hot house, roma and beefstake tomatoes. Out of all of my lovely plants I had ONE tomato that was beautiful. ONE. How sad. You see, blight hit my garden and I lost my crop. So much for me canning my tomatoes, making my own salsa and spaghetti sauce. I was depressed. My pantry shelves were going to be empty.
Thankfully, for the past several weeks, canned tomatoes have been on sale like mad. $0.99 for a 28oz can of tomatoes. That's up to half price depending on when and where you buy them.
This week they are on sale at No Frills and I added 40 more to my pantry.
That may seem like a lot to you, but we use at least one can a week and I would rather stock up now at a good price than have to pay double come this winter.
How did your garden turn out? Do you can your own tomatoes? Do you have any solutions for blight for me for next year?
Enjoy your day!
Frugality is being more economical and less wasteful.
Showing posts with label harvest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label harvest. Show all posts
Strawberry Time!
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Strawberry picking is one of my favourite summertime activities. My children and I head out to a local u pick site and pick till our hearts are content getting all of our berries for the next year. It's a great fun and frugal family activitiy and helps your children learn more about where their food comes from.
Looking for a place to go picking in your area of the woods? Check out this link to find out where they are located.
This year, my mother in law and mother decided I was a tad too pregnant to go picking and so both of them decided to pick for me. My mother in law came by the other day with 30lbs of strawberries for me already picked. It was so appreciated. Later in the day my mother showed up and she, my oldest daughter and I hauled and packed the berries away for the winter.
My biggest complaint about berry picking use to be that the jam always had to be made in the hot summer when the berries were picked. I then found a recipe in an old Canadian Living Magazine on making jam from frozen fruit and from that point on, the jam making took place on a cool day when I was ready for it instead of when the berries dictated they had to be done.
After washing and hauling the berries, I freeze 8 cups of berries in each resealable bag so they are ready to go for the winter. The 30lbs that I have currently will make 21 large jars of jam. In our home that lasts about 21 weeks. I figured out with the sugar, pectin and berries, each jar costs me about $1 to make (depending on the cost of sugar at the time) instead of the $5 it costs per jar for a smaller amount of jam with more sugar in it.
Want to try it out? Here's the recipe:
8 cups whole unsweetened frozen strawberrries
1 box of light pectin crystals (warning: DO NOT SUBSTITUTE THIS FOR ANY OTHER KIND!! trust me!)
4 1/2 cups of sugar
Thaw berries until just a few ice crystals remain. Drain, reserving juice; crush fruit. Combine fruit and juice to make 6 cups. Pour into heavy saucepan. Mix pectin with 1/4 cup of the sugar and stir into fruit. Bring to full rolling boil over high heat, stirring constantly. Add remaining sugar (4 1/4 cups). Return to full rolling boil, stirring. Boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir and skim off any foam for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, boil lids for 5 minutes. Fill sterilized jars (8- 1 cup jars or 4- 2 cup jars), leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe rims if necessary. Seal with prepared lids, screw on bands fingertip tight. Process in boiling water bath canner for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool on rack for 24 hours, inverting jars several times to distribute fruit. Check seal, wipe jars and store in cool dark dry place.
I have also used raspberries for this recipe and they turned out great! Let me know if you try it and what you think of it.
Enjoy your day!
It's Berry Time!
Do you ever feel like the ant from the ant and the grasshopper? That's how I feel especially during berry time!
Last week was the end of strawberry season here on our little Island. Talk about making it in by the hair of your teeth! I loaded up our van with my four children, met a friend with her four children and we headed out to the Second Wind Llama Ranch here on PEI. What a fantastic place to go picking. Lots of room, lots of berries, great owner and great prices ($1.25/lb) In two hours, and lots of talking later, my family picked 36lbs of strawberries and probably ate a pound or two along the way. We took them home, washed them, stemmed them and then bagged them for the winter. We make strawberry smoothies, rollups, shortcake and jam all year round from them.
* I have a fantastic strawberry jam recipe that I make from frozen berries when the weather is cooler and it only takes half of the sugar. Let me know if you are interested and I'll post it. *
This week is raspberry picking. We were going to head out tonight, but the beach called us instead. Hmm. Hard decision. Stanhope beach is our favourite here. Hopefully the rain tomorrow doesn't turn the raspberries mouldy and we will get them picked on Friday.
I have a great crop of black berries producing in the backyard this year as well. Pretty excited as this will be my first year making blackberry jam.
Blueberries I despise picking, could be because of the horrible poisoning experience I had when I was a small child. I just get them in a box from a friend down the road. It's my splurge.
Tell me, do you pick berries for the winter? What do you do with them? What type of berries are you picking?
Enjoy your day!
(http://images.craveonline.com/article_imgs/Image/strawberries_3.jpg)
* I have a fantastic strawberry jam recipe that I make from frozen berries when the weather is cooler and it only takes half of the sugar. Let me know if you are interested and I'll post it. *
(http://www.jonbarron.org/content/images/raspberries.gif)
This week is raspberry picking. We were going to head out tonight, but the beach called us instead. Hmm. Hard decision. Stanhope beach is our favourite here. Hopefully the rain tomorrow doesn't turn the raspberries mouldy and we will get them picked on Friday.
I have a great crop of black berries producing in the backyard this year as well. Pretty excited as this will be my first year making blackberry jam.
Blueberries I despise picking, could be because of the horrible poisoning experience I had when I was a small child. I just get them in a box from a friend down the road. It's my splurge.
Enjoy your day!
Buying Food for the Winter
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A wonderful way of being frugal with grocery shopping doesn't always come with coupons and sales (although those are great ways!). Sometimes it comes from buying in bulk. Going to a Farmer's Market or a local grocery store or a Farmer's Coop, can often help you in locating local produce. Buy a 50lbs bag of potatoes, carrots, or turnip. Buy 10lbs of onions, cucumbers, apples and other goodies. Buy a 1/2 cow, 1/4 cow. Buy chickens, or part of a pig.
Ok, so the animal thing sounds really strange and for those of you that don't know what this means you may be thinking that you will be getting literally a half of a cow and what do you do with it then? Once you track down a local farmer (try the newspaper as well as previous options), you place your order for the amount you want. When they do their butchering, they cut up the amount of meat you want in different cuts, wrap them up, and if you are really lucky, deliver them to your home! You can save a tonne of money on meat this way, but it's something you may have to plan ahead on for room in your freezer and the money to buy the product.
We just got our 1/4 organic grassfed beef this week. It was $2.90/lb or $6.39/kg and I was able to get cuts of meat that I have never before been able to afford! We also have 5 free range fed chickens coming to our freezer for the winter.
This cuts down on our grocery bill considerable. This along with our garden produce that we have been putting up in canning, freezing or the coldroom will help take the hurt off our grocery bill this winter. And it's local and organic!
We just got our 1/4 organic grassfed beef this week. It was $2.90/lb or $6.39/kg and I was able to get cuts of meat that I have never before been able to afford! We also have 5 free range fed chickens coming to our freezer for the winter.
This cuts down on our grocery bill considerable. This along with our garden produce that we have been putting up in canning, freezing or the coldroom will help take the hurt off our grocery bill this winter. And it's local and organic!
But, you say, I don't need that much meat or vegetables. It will go bad before I can consume them. Where's the deal?
Everyone needs to eat, there is no denying that. Tell a family member, friend or neighbour about the deal that you can get and ask if they want to go halves, or quarters with you on it. Pass on the savings. I find that 50 lbs of carrots gets kind of squishy when I get them on my own, so my MIL and I usually go halves or so on it. 25 lbs of carrots for $6 is not a bad deal.
What foods do you buy in bulk?
Enjoy your day!
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