Preparing for this summer's production

Shelba
Shelba Posts: 13 ✭✭✭
edited November 2020 in Vegetables

Every year I spend winter taking a look at what I grew the previous summer. Some foods are meant to be eaten the day they are harvested, while others are grown with the intention of eating year 'round.

But today, as I was digging through the pantry area of the kitchen, I realized it had been a while since the cupboards were REALLY sorted out and cleaned. It did not take long, it was a matter of doing it. I was procrastinating another chore, so it was easy to get started.

You can learn a lot about your family's eating habits cleaning a pantry. I learned that our family does not like Chow Chow. I really already knew this when the 4-H Domestic Exchange kids proudly presented a pint of it from their mom's garden. 12 years ago. Other odds and ends, about half a 5 gallon bucket of things, went to the compost pile. I will not be tempted to can, dehydrate, or purchase many of those items since our "family of 2" no longer enjoys what we consumed as a family of 4 plus all of the neighborhood kids.

Now is a great time to clean out the pantry in order to make room for the "new things" you will be preserving. And we will be using up the last of a package of lentils, home canned tuna from a few years ago, and baking Kalamata olive/rosemary/sourdough bread with some of what was found!

Comments

  • LaurieLovesLearning
    LaurieLovesLearning Posts: 7,576 admin

    Great advice @Shelba. Welcome to the forum!

  • Shelba
    Shelba Posts: 13 ✭✭✭

    Thank you for the welcome. I have been replying to and reading various posts, and decided it was time to bring up this subject.

  • Torey
    Torey Posts: 5,679 admin

    Welcome @Shelba It is supposed to rain for the next two days so a good time to get the pantry cleaned out. Thanks for the suggestion.

  • Paradox
    Paradox Posts: 187 ✭✭✭

    Great suggestion. Also good for when the little cereal moths have found their way home from something you purchased. (Gag)

    I haven't done ours in a while, but I really should. Maybe next weekend since I'll have a day off on Friday. but more likely it'll have to wait until winter, to be honest.

  • Shelba
    Shelba Posts: 13 ✭✭✭

    Hi Paradox! One local grocery has moths in their cereal section. Not just at the closest store, but at the two stores in the next town south. I do not shop at grocery stores very often, but I made note of this and while they have good prices, I seldom go to this chain. Another store has an issue with little wild birds flying in and going to the produce section, but I have never seen droppings on anything. I figure the birds know the place to go.

  • Paradox
    Paradox Posts: 187 ✭✭✭

    So frustrating, isn't it? And you don't know, usually, until you get home and they've established a foothold in your pantry.