What We Did Today--Important, But Not Much in the Grand Scheme of Things

 

We manage to do a bit each day, somedays more than others. Today was not a stellar day for getting things done. However, I am pleased. 

Since I went to bed at 9 pm last night, I was awake at 12:30. I still felt ill. But, somehow felt better before I went back to sleep. By the time I woke at 11:30 am, I felt like I was well. I suppose it was a delayed reaction the covid vaccine. However, I did have Tommy get the specimen cup from the doctor, and we returned that to the doctor. I may still have a uti.

He made a return for me. I looked for a battery for his flip phone. I called a cell store and found a $25 battery for his $29 phone. Instead, I ordered one for $10 from Amazon. So, he won't have a phone until Saturday. I wondered why he kept his phone plugged up so much. Now, I know. 

I sent him into Publix for carrots and Lysol wipes. Publix sent me an email saying to clip a coupon and pick up a free Salsa bouquet. I did. He did. It is very pretty, festive, cheerful. 

My back is hurting worse today. His little finger has a huge, infected pocket behind the moon. He said he knew he hit his finger, but only until the day after did it hurt so much. Of course, then he looked at it and showed me. I will doctor it until tomorrow and lance it, clean it, medicate it with mupirocin, bandage it. I know it really hurt if he showed me and submitted to my ministering to it. Those things always hurt.

Tonight, I put six boneless, skinless thighs and six bone-in and skin-on thighs into a cooking bag with a whole pound of carrots and four huge potatoes and celery. The potatoes were cut into round pieces about an inch thick. Everything was seasoned with garlic powder and onion powder. I will freeze most of the meat, two thighs at a time for Tommy. We will just eat the vegetables and not freeze them unless Tommy wants some in with each of his thighs. He said he wanted potatoes and carrot in with each thigh, so he will have six meals in the freezer. 

If he has meat and vegetables, I can eat a grilled cheese sandwich for supper rather than cook. But, I won't offer one to him. When I offer him less than meat and vegetables, he sounds so sad but agrees to it. He is always willing to cheerfully help me to cook. Of course, something like taco soup that does have meat is okay with him. 

Just now, he searched for frozen chicken breast for me. He found enough for three meals for me. Plus, he took out two packages of raw, frozen breasts. So, I will cook those Saturday, probably alone. There is enough for meals for three days, protein and vegetables, but I will get this done, so it does not have to be done later. 

Sunday, when it is raining and we have nowhere to go, we have decided to try and sort part of the freezer and the little freezer in his refrigerator. We will get two boxes, one on his walker and the other next to freezer on the counter. I can pull it out. We hope to separate cooked meat from frozen meat. There is no way we can work on the lower two thirds of the freezer. We still need someone to get that out. 

I was looking in the freezer a few days ago, poking around and found two slices of bread frozen. I took that out and Tommy ate it. This was from back when the freezer was new and empty and I froze loaves of bread. Any bread I find will come out. Protein is more important! 

Just now, I remembered I have a huge package of ground beef that needs to be cooked. So, that will happen tomorrow. I really want spaghetti. I cook the meat with chopped onions. Tommy is really happy when he finds frozen package of ground beef. He eats it for several meals. I will freeze small packages for him and larger for spaghetti. Maybe I will make a healthy meatloaf. 

Last night, we put away a bit more Christmas. Little is left, just a small pile. 

Sign up for club Publix and click for coupon for Salsa bouquet. 

There were no grand plans or accomplishments today. It does work to keep us fed and not get too far behind. 

What are your plans for food this week or tomorrow? 

Are there any good ads in your area?

Anyone still have Christmas decorations out still?

All Dried Out

sweet potato, green beans, carrots, corn=8 lbs

The best part of dehydrating frozen vegetables is that the blanching is done by someone else. Blanching is not difficult, but it just more energy that I don't have. Seven of nine shelves are full. One shelf with onions is not showing, and I don't know why.

The other shelf is for some of the two heads of celery I bought for $.88/each. I was pooped and did not get to it today.

There are still cranberries to dehydrate. I want to see if they are good without added sugar. Craisins are great, but have added sugar. If I cannot snack on my dried cranberries, maybe I can add them to dressing, just like Stove Top Stuffing does.  I love that boxed dressing! However, I do make my own dressing from scratch at Thanksgiving.

Here are the results. Each two-pound bag of these vegetables was at least a half gallon.
The sweet potato medallions were too thick, so I sliced then in half. Two-pounds of frozen corn= two dehydrated cups. Two-pounds of frozen green beans=a dehydrated pint. Two pounds of frozen carrots=1 dehydrated cup.

The sweet potato medallions never did dry, so those will be cooked soon, but stored in the refrigerator. 

Okay, this was 1/3 of an onion that I put in there. It is stored in a 2-ounce pimiento jar. I imagine I will use this within the next week.





A snack; better than chips
Of course, as usual, I had to try everything. The sweet potatoes will take your permanent teeth out. I have another method of dehydrating next time. The corn is too crunchy and tiny. The carrots will break strong teeth. These are of jawbreaker hardness. Aaaaah, the green beans...sigh. They are a scrumptious crunchy snack, healthful and delicious with no seasonings. I suppose seasonings would improve these for people who need seasoning.

You have to understand:
I have never met a green bean I did not like.
These little babies were very crispy.
Yum! And nutritious.



High-end groceries sell clam shells of dehydrated vegetables, slice very thin with seasonings, oil, and preservatives added. Even after dehydrating, seasoning can be added to these vegetables.  The clamshells of dehydrated vegetables sell for an exorbitant price. Home-prepared vegetable snacks are cheaper and don't contain preservatives.

Your turn
Have you ever dehydrated frozen food? Do you think you would like dehydrated vegetables for a snack? How do you prepare dehydrated vegetable snacks?

Box of Plenty

8 lbs ready to dehydrate

For a long time I had thought of dehydrating frozen vegetables and wondered "why not?" I am always thinking of dehydrating. Angela's blog put the thought to the forefront of my consciousness. Why not? Well, I could not think of any reason why I would. She is an entertaining Mormon prepper with great ideas. Drop by her place some time.

I am just not going to have enough good reasons to take my frozen food and dehydrate it until I have the gamma lids and oxygen absorbers.  Angela wrote her blog post as a preparedness tip. My blog post about dehydrating nine lbs of half-frozen, quickly-thawing vegetables has its genesis in desperation and sheer panic.

Today, the need to dehydrate frozen food hit me like a ton of bricks or nine pounds of frozen vegetables. Let me digress.

I went to a food bank that was giving a food "basket" for Thanksgiving. Yes, it was a box. All the food will not fit into my already-full freezer over the refrigerator, even after all my bread dove right onto my foot. And, it was too dark when I got home and too spooky to go where the full-size freezer is located, way off in my sewing room that I cannot access for use, either.

Here is what I got at the food bank today:

12 lb frozen turkey (what a beauty it is, many meals)

8 lb frozen, boneless ham, not the mashed up kind of ham
1 lb cranberries
12 frozen biscuits
2 lbs frozen green beans
2 lbs frozen corn
2 lbs frozen sweet potato slices
2 lbs frozen sliced carrots
cheesecake, about 8 in across

All above is/was frozen.

2 brown gravy mixes
2 Idahoan mashed potato mixes
2 dressing/stuffing  boxes

I managed to get the turkey in the freezer. All my bread fell out on my feet, gravely wounding my toes. Mark loves bagels, so he can have the blueberry bagels. Is it wrong to feed bagels to your weight loss rival/partner?

 The boneless ham was thawing and lives in the refrigerator now. I will eat it and give a hunk to exbf when he comes.

The cheesecake is half-eaten.

(My freezer and refrigerator are so stuffed that I fear they will open as they often do if something shifts. So, I have Guerrilla brand duct tape, holding both shut.)
That leaves carrots, green beans, corn, and sweet potatoes to dehydrate. I may mix the corn, green beans, and carrots into soup-sized containers. I will freeze the dehydrated vegetables. Oxygen absorbers would relieve my mind about spoilage, but so will freezing. Now, where are the pint jars? I think a pint of dehydrated mixture of vegetables would be just about right for a pot of soup. Maybe a cupful/half-pint?

Tonight, celery was on sale for $0.88 per head. I bought two heads and now am going to dehydrate those. They are probably full of pesticides. But, until I see organic celery or can grow some, this will do.

I just won't inhale. 

Your turn
Have you ever dehydrated frozen vegetables for any reason? What were the results?