Homemaking Mondays: Putting Things By

 

Hello!
Do you enjoy putting things by?  I do! 

There is a joy and satisfaction of having food put up for your families needs. 

Food that you know what is in it, and food that is healthy for them. 

I have been making lots of jam.  Some for us and some for our community market. 

I know jam isn't considered healthy...but it is a great ingredient to homemade meals. 

I use the recipes on the Bernardin Pectin wrapper most of the time.

Although I combined a couple recipes for the new jam I made this year for the first time. 

It's blueberry/nectarine and it's SO good!

I would have made more, but my kids and I have been eating

 too many of the nectarines that were leftover from this. :)

 

 I have also been grinding up some pork loins that I found on sale at the grocery store. 

I look forward to this sale that comes around every few months.  

Just $1.99/lb for this meat!  

I pull out my meat grinder...and this time my girls helped me grind it up. 

Some will be used for sausage, some for tacos, some for chili and anything else I can think up. 

I also put some into chops to enjoy as well.  Our new favourite way to eat them is diced with Jill Winger's maple glazed pork chop recipe.   (Prairie Homestead Cookbook)

Pictured below is some of what we did today. 

So a little bit of effort and a great savings! 

I have been blessed with a nice freezer where I can freeze lots of food. 

We have rhubarb, blueberries, strawberries, herbs/onions, vegetables, 

and some meat in our freezer. 

What kinds of things do you have in your freezers?

 

Then with an abundance of fresh dill and cucumbers around we made some refrigerator pickles.  

I haven't combined enough ingredients for making dill relish..but that will come soon. 

I've never made refrigerator pickles before but oh they are so delicious and easy! 

 

If you've never tried refrigerator pickles I encourage you to try them!  

I made some with regular vinegar and some with apple cider vinegar. 

Both were delicious!

 

 I love being able to take the abundance of food available and stash it away for later. 

In a world where people take some things - like getting food for granted 

I want to make sure that we have what we need.  

We do live in the Yukon and there are times, especially in the winter where we can't always just go to town...and we live a ways out of the major city. 

Thank you for dropping by!
Love and Prayers,

Jennifer