This year, perhaps more than ever before... we have realized the importance of clearing out,
using things as much as you can (and in new ways)... and of salvaging and fixing things up.
To this end, I thought I would do a series of posts on clearing out and organizing, and living a simpler life.
I hope to do one once a week (Check out previous posts on Thursdays!)
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Yesterday I cleaned out my mother's freezer (just a little one at the top of her fridge)
... and it got me thinking of how we all save food.
We have a "normal" American freezer (ie: on top of the fridge).
There are times I really wish I had a freezer that was larger, because we freeze lots of veggies from our garden and such.
That said... I do not want a big old chest freezer like my grandmother had.
Truth be told, she had several. She had the one in her fridge. She had a chest freezer and an upright freezer on her back porch. And she had another chest freezer in a room that was politely known as the "sewing room". Why she had so many, I do not know. But I do remember helping clean them all out after she passed away; and I will say now... food is not meant to be kept for more than a year.
Even in a freezer.
There, I've said it. And I will not go into detail about the fish I found from the 60s.
Lots of folks save food by freezing it. I think the goal here, is to have food on hand during those seasons when fresh isn't as available or affordable. You have fresh frozen berries and such during those winter months, and come summer, you clean out your freezer and get ready for this season's worth of produce. They also come in very handy if you are able to purchase meat in bulk from local farmers.
Living in rural PA, one of the "perks" is that there are folks who sell 1/2 a pig's worth of meat, or 1/2 a cow's worth of meat. You get a good, fresh food source -- and you know what's in it. You know how the animals were raised, fed, treated... and how the meat was processed and preserved. You can't ask for better.
Anyway. My mom has a little freezer above her fridge, and she also has a large chest freezer in the garage
that currently is housing food for my niece's family... and some of my food.
Having only a little one at my house, it is nice to be able to store some things at my mom's.
That said, if we get the opportunity to have extra funds, a nice upright freezer would be awesome.
I take great care to "rotate" the food in her freezer so that the "older" stuff is in the front ... so it's used first. I also make sure to clean it out completely at least once a year so that it can defrost and we start again. It helps to keep track of what foods you have on hand, and what you potentially need to pick up. I've seen lots of folks who use dry erase marker's on their chest freezers to catalog what is inside... and that is a handy tip as well. If you buy a freezer, try to get one that is an energy saver.... it does make a difference.
There are lots of foods you can freeze.
Here is a great site that lists them: HERE
See you all tomorrow.
Yesterday I cleaned out my mother's freezer (just a little one at the top of her fridge)
... and it got me thinking of how we all save food.
We have a "normal" American freezer (ie: on top of the fridge).
There are times I really wish I had a freezer that was larger, because we freeze lots of veggies from our garden and such.
That said... I do not want a big old chest freezer like my grandmother had.
Truth be told, she had several. She had the one in her fridge. She had a chest freezer and an upright freezer on her back porch. And she had another chest freezer in a room that was politely known as the "sewing room". Why she had so many, I do not know. But I do remember helping clean them all out after she passed away; and I will say now... food is not meant to be kept for more than a year.
Even in a freezer.
There, I've said it. And I will not go into detail about the fish I found from the 60s.
Lots of folks save food by freezing it. I think the goal here, is to have food on hand during those seasons when fresh isn't as available or affordable. You have fresh frozen berries and such during those winter months, and come summer, you clean out your freezer and get ready for this season's worth of produce. They also come in very handy if you are able to purchase meat in bulk from local farmers.
Living in rural PA, one of the "perks" is that there are folks who sell 1/2 a pig's worth of meat, or 1/2 a cow's worth of meat. You get a good, fresh food source -- and you know what's in it. You know how the animals were raised, fed, treated... and how the meat was processed and preserved. You can't ask for better.
Anyway. My mom has a little freezer above her fridge, and she also has a large chest freezer in the garage
that currently is housing food for my niece's family... and some of my food.
Having only a little one at my house, it is nice to be able to store some things at my mom's.
That said, if we get the opportunity to have extra funds, a nice upright freezer would be awesome.
I take great care to "rotate" the food in her freezer so that the "older" stuff is in the front ... so it's used first. I also make sure to clean it out completely at least once a year so that it can defrost and we start again. It helps to keep track of what foods you have on hand, and what you potentially need to pick up. I've seen lots of folks who use dry erase marker's on their chest freezers to catalog what is inside... and that is a handy tip as well. If you buy a freezer, try to get one that is an energy saver.... it does make a difference.
There are lots of foods you can freeze.
Here is a great site that lists them: HERE
See you all tomorrow.