Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Prepping tip (sort of?) Pre-packaging veggie mix for stews or soups

I'm sure you've experienced what I have.  You buy celery carrots onions and such for stews and only get through maybe half the packages before they wilt or start to rot.  Money down the drain.  For us it takes on an even bigger dimension because I only do a shopping trip into the big city once a month. So I buy several packages of each to get us through. We have only one refrigerator so it is full to bursting with all the food we can use in a month  The only foods I go to our little (and much more expensive market) is things like milk bananas and the occasional loaf of bread.  By the end of the month those packages of celery are unusable, but going to the big town takes allot of gas.  Plus I could use that room in the fridge for other items that have a longer storage life.

So my solution has been to buy several bags of onions, carrots, celery, and corn and then wash/dice/and vacuum seal them and then put them in our huge chest freezer.  We have two big freezers so this makes more room in my fridge.  Also it makes meal prep for soup or stew (which we have once a week) much simpler.  I just dump the pre-measured frozen veggies in the crock pot or stew pot and add my liquids spices and meat and vuala!   I'm done and can move on to other things.

Now I know many people here ask "why don't you can them up?"  Well for those who don't follow my blog I just recently went through a pretty bad health event.  The result being I didn't can anything this summer.  I'm hoping to can up some applesauce this fall because my family rebelled when I tried to serve them store bought.  Be warned that home canning your own foods can lead to your family becoming picky because the homemade stuff is so much better!


I also diced and packaged up bell peppers and onions that I use regularly in recipes because right now the price was so good at 43 cents a pepper.  You can bet they will be over a dollar come winter.

3 comments:

  1. How about dehydrating them.That way they take up less storage space.

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  2. We just bought a bag of red peppers at 3 for $1. Now I just have to chop them and dehydrate or freeze them. Good tip.

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  3. Good for you! Looks like you are saving money and making your life easier. The kittens look like they have a good canine babysitter in you last post. Wish I could find a good deal on peppers...

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