Last week The Girl was here and so we made up a bunch of freezer meals and we ate all sorts of delicious meals including this meatloaf with roasted fingerling potatoes and steamed broccoli.
Steak and potato stew with rosemary focaccia bread. {I’ll share the recipe tomorrow}
We even had a weenie roast!
And made our favorite creamy scalloped potatoes with ham too.
And then there was all the food we bought for the pantry.
Costco $577.28 {Holy cow man, prices are creeping up!}
- I don’t think we have enough cheese
- We’ve turned into butter snobs
- 1 serving of canned peaches has 80% of your daily vitamin C
- You can use evaporated milk in your tea/coffee in a pinch {it makes it super creamy}
- I’m so glad we bought an additional chest freezer
- I need more cheese
The Girl came for a visit and she asked if there was anything I wanted her to pick up and so I gave her a list. 🙂 Back in the old days you’d have your kids plow a field, these days they run errands for you. 🙂 Ha Ha Ha.
Market Basket $11.96
We got these for the 8 can taco soup. {Have you tried it yet? It’s awesome. Plus, you can make the recipe with Costco canned chicken breast.}
Stonewall Kitchen $76.23 Free shipping and 20% off with code FLAVOR21
We first tried the Bada Bing Cherries this past January and they are absolutely wonderful in Shirly Temples. I was thinking about them recently and when I noticed I could get a deal on a case of 6 jars, plus an additional 20% off I went ahead and splurged.
This winter I’d also like to try them in a puff pastry tart with cream cheese and to try and make a chocolate cherry ice cream with them as well.
The HH loves pickled veggies and so I grabbed those for our pickety bits platters this winter and to have on hand as a quick gift if needed. Buying the grouping of pickled veggies as the Bloody Mary gift set is less expensive than buying the jars individually. Next year I’ll probably can all those things myself for our pantry shelves, but this year I just didn’t make the time.
Rancho Gordo $30.75 {plus I ordered some more for gifts so I got free shipping}
My next “luxury food items” splurge came from Rancho Gordo. One Hundred Dollars a Month reader Mel has mentioned the Rancho Gordo company several times in the past and so when I needed a gift for a friend recently, I decided to try them out and get a few bags for our winter stockpile as well.
I choose bean varieties that I didn’t already have {or that weren’t typically sold in stores} and sounded interesting. We haven’t used any of them yet, but I’m excited to see if there will be any bean varieties that will be a must have in the years ahead.
And, as an added bonus, while these beans are not grown as “seeds” they can be planted in the garden and grown and harvested as dried beans if you want.
Farmstand $26.50 for 50 pounds of white potatoes.
I wasn’t planning on buying a 50 pound sack of potatoes, but I just couldn’t resist. I mean, we love potatoes… so why not, right? And if my whole plan for this winter is to avoid going to the grocery store, then shouldn’t stocking up on all the locally grown produce while we can be part of that goal?
After all, it’s what a lot of people around the world still do today.
And anyways, I think it will be fun to see how long it will take the two of us to go through a 50 pound sack of spuds. Who knows, maybe we’ll go through them faster than I think.
How to store potatoes for winter.
Farmstand $21.78 for 21 pounds of Macintosh apples.
I was going to hold out to see if the bushel prices were going to be less, but decided to just purchase a half a bushel now so I could at least make homemade applesauce and pop a few apple pies in the freezer this week while I can.
Hopefully I’ll have enough. If not, I’ll go back for more before the end of the month.
Farmstand $13.25
$6.00 for the Hubbard squash, $3.25 for the Kuri squash and $4.00 for the eggs.
I am currently on the hunt for a few more varieties of winter squash from our local farmstands. We should have at least 6 butternut squash, {hopefully more} 2 spaghetti squash and a delicata squash or two from our garden, but I NEED MORE! 🙂
Free eggs from a friend.
Farmstand $5
Rosemary Focaccia bread $1 each, 6 chocolate chip walnut cookies $3.
Farmstand $17.25
Sourdough $5, roasted corn salsa $5, chocolate cheesecake slice $5, 3 acorn squash $2.25
******
What a week! So much food. If you didn’t believe me when I said all I wanted to do this winter was hangout by the woodstove and work on rug hooking projects and not leave the house…. I bet you do now. 🙂
Yep. I think with the exception of dairy products and another trip or two to the farmstands before they close up for the season, we’ll be fine in the food department until next spring.
The Girl is planning on coming out again at the end of the month, so in the meantime I’ll go through all my recipes and work on meal plans ideas just in case there is anything I forgot. If there is, I’ll have her bring it with her when she comes.
After that, I’ll be in hibernation mode for the next 6 months. Yee-Haw!
How about YOU? Have you been stocking up on anything lately? Curious minds want to know.
Have a great Monday everyone,
~Mavis
*****
Total Spent This Past Week on Groceries and Bakery Treats We Brought Home $780.00
- Total Spent in September on Groceries and Bakery Treats $1007.99
- Total Spent in August on Groceries and Bakery Treats $675.99
- Total Spent in July on Groceries and Bakery Treats $1037.79
- Total Spent in June on Groceries and Bakery Treats $297.1
- Total Spent in May on Groceries and Bakery Treats $323.38
- Total Spent in April on Groceries and Bakery Treats $352.64
- Total Spent in March on Groceries and Bakery Treats $712.01
- Total Spent in February on Groceries and Bakery Treats $230.98
- Total Spent in January on Groceries and Bakery Treats $128.60
- Total Spent on Groceries and Bakery Treats We Brought Home in 2021 $4826.10
Connie says
Oh yes. Even though our climate is mild I do this too. Just so I don’t have to go to store. And so easy . Years ago I read the blog of woman who did a yearly pantry inventory and then restocked her pantry before winter. Brilliant.
I am trying to be more intentional this year. Am going to look at my recipes before we hit Costco in the city. We only go a few times a year so have to make it count. There are no farmstands etc here except for few that sell melons in summer. I do freeze lots of green chiles in the fall.
Paula says
Impressive food Haul! I am going to check out the stonewall farms deal!
Melissa says
I would love if you’d share the freezer meals you made and how you go about making your menu plan for the winter so you don’t need to go to the store. Thanks!
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes, I will later this week. 🙂
marlene p schroeder says
I am interested in how you freeze your apple pie. Do you put it all together and freeze it ready to bake? Or do you make the filling separate and freeze it? Please let me know!
StephanieZ says
We picked thousands of apples and plums this weekend and had 8 families from my gardening group fetch a few thousand as well.
I love to share my bounty with the community.
Cindi says
We purchased 50 lbs of potatoes last October and they lasted until June for the two of us. I only had to throw out one.
Diana Kirwan says
Cindy please could you tell me how you stopped the potatoes from sprouting.
Meg C says
I’m curious regarding how you will store your potatoes so they won’t go bad before you have a chance to eat them? It seems as though whenever we get potatoes from the store that 1/2 the bag goes bad before we can eat them all. I’m hopeful I can learn a better storage strategy to cut down on the waste. Thank you.
Mavis Butterfield says
Hi Meg, here is a link: https://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/how-to-harvest-and-store-potatoes-for-winter/
Annette says
Mavis – So you will transfer your potatoes from the bag to a box with newspaper?
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes. 🙂
Margo says
My husband built me a small storage pantry from an extra closet we have. We keep it up for disaster planning, but when covid hit, it was great to not have to rely on multiple extended trips to the grocery store. Love being able to shop my pantry. Between that and a small freezer we are good. Need to really work on our meal planning and keeping an inventory of what’s on hand, though. I hate waste. For example, yesterday I tried to brown up some ground turkey for taco salads with turkey that had been hiding at the bottom of my freezer for God only knows how long. Blech! Freezer burned taste and out it went. Still craving turkey taco salad….we will try again today.
MamaHen says
It’s that time of the year when we naturally start thinking about putting away and storing more in our pantries. My climate is much milder than yours, but I love the feeling of knowing we have what we need to make warm comforting foods in the winter.
Lissa says
Feels like you have enough for 2 winters :). Are you expecting something more than just a blizzard or two and your need to hibernate?
Jenn says
I am curious as well!
Heidi P says
Holy Cow Miss Mavis 🙂 That’s a lot of spuds. Do you mind sharing how you will store all those taters so they last longer?
MEM says
Thanks for the Stonewall Kitchen code. I love their Tangerine marmalade and its not easy to find, even here in Greater Boston. My husband is originally from Philadelphia and loves his jam-and-cheese sandwiches (I don’t judge). I bought him some Bada Bing jam. DD25 is not a teetotaler but she does love her Shirley Temples so she is getting a jar of the Bada Bing cherries. Your Costco haul looks eerily similar to the way DH shops – he puts the jarred peaches on his cereal – and always buys way too much cereal. You now have me hooked on the Kirkland canned chicken – at least for chicken salad as I hate lunch meat.
Melissa says
Hi Mavis,
Have you been to Stonewall Kitchen Company Store in Rochester, NH? Highly recommend. Great sales on their products.
Mavis Butterfield says
No, just the ones in York and Camden. I love their jams and mustards.
Linda says
I plant Kennebec potatoes each gardening season and store 2 bushels in our cold cellar. They store thru spring. When they begin to sprout, I make lots of potato and onion pierogi for the freezer, we have room for them then. I also mash them as usual, scoop 1/2 cup servings on a cookie sheet and freeze them.
HollyG says
We harvested about 60 pounds of volunteer potatoes from the garden. They’re in the garage curing for a week or two before I layer them away with shredded paper into a wooden crate lined with hardware cloth.
The carrots and beets are trimmed and packed away in damp pine shavings in galvanized buckets with lids.
The garlic is cured (the onion crop was a bust after 115 degree temps) and in a basket in a dark cupboard – some will get planted in October.
Herbs are hanging in bundles or in the dehydrator to be dried and packed into canning jars.
We stocked up on some extra sugar and honey – that’s also packed away in canning jars.
The freezer is pretty full of and now we have a little gas generator to run that in case of emergencies (just ordered 2 replacement air filters for it).
We also stacked about 4 cords of wood in the shed. We may need one more for the winter but are waiting to find some at a reasonable price.
We also want to pick up a few more pounds of coffee (I think we’re down to the last three packages), dog food, cat food and high protein feed for the hens.
Carole Parker says
I love Rancho Gordo beans, I have tried several and am on waiting lists for a few others. The quality is fantastic and their list of heirlooms is impressive. Definitely will order again from them.
Jamie says
Thank you for the Stonewall kitchen code and suggestion of the cherries! I just ordered some for our winter drinks with the applied discount code! We added peanut butter and cheese powders from Hoosier Farms to our supplies this weekend, and we started foraging black walnuts to beef up our nut supplies. In the process of…. well… processing the nuts I realized that the rinse water I used during hulling would make a great natural herbicide as black walnut trees and hulls include a plant toxin called juglone. I am testing this theory on a patch of poison ivy by our house now.
Mavis Butterfield says
Hoosier Farms powders are great! We have a few.
OregonGuest says
Totally off topic, but I got stuck on the “I just didn’t make the time” comment. I love this!! Far too often, I tell myself that I didn’t HAVE the time to exercise or clean the house or whatever I should have done, but I always have the time to sit on my hind end and surf the internet for 2 hours, etc. I need to start being more honest with myself — that stuff just wasn’t important enough for me to do it. We all get the same 24 hours. When I finally crawl into bed at night, I never congratulate myself for having undertaken the big task of surfing the internet for 2 hours….!
Geunita Ringold says
Have you heard of dry canning your potatoes? The Rebel Canning group I’m in talks about doing that. You do have to have a pressure canner though. You could do some of that after you shut down for the winter.
Mel says
I wasn’t initially planning to stock up, but I started a few weeks ago and am almost set. I took care of baking stuff, canned goods, and pet food most recently, and I just have one more grocery trip (mostly for dairy and the last round of freezer meals), and then we shouldn’t need much except the occasional carton of milk. I’m debating ordering a couple of other things online, but I think what we have should get us to about February. It’s been a rough year, and it has actually been good to have a reason to think more long-term, and I feel more relaxed being all stocked up and not having to figure out dinner every night.
I have tried the vaquero beans and the Christmas limas; both were great, but the Christmas limas were just phenomenal. They have kind of a chestnut flavor. I used them for this recipe but used bacon instead of ham and did the crockpot method:
https://thesouthernladycooks.com/lima-beans-with-ham-over-rice/
I just ordered some of the Christmas limas from Rancho Gordo since they weren’t in stock last time I ordered, and I bought some popcorn and chili lime seasoning as well for fall movie nights. I also got pinto beans to make drunken beans, but I keep forgetting to buy beer.
Marcia says
Ooh wow, that was a big haul this week. I kind of like holing away in winter, but with global warming and a multi-year drought, we don’t even get much rain in So Cal, so no real winter…
Ashley Bananas says
Whenever I see grocery hauls this big it seems people are preparing for the apocalypse….or another shut down, or some kind of war, plague, who knows. I have been reading the news and have seen multiple news stories about consumer commodity prices continuing to rise. I dont think stocking up on something if you have a feeling that it will be harder to come by or more expensive is unwise. But when I see a trend of people stocking up, it reinforces my fears of what could happen in the future.
Mel says
I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, and I can’t speak for others, but if it helps your fears, I’m personally just stocking up because I’m too lazy to go to the grocery store on a regular basis. I usually just do freezer meals but got a late start on that this year, so I’m doing some pantry items as well.
Christy says
How do you freeze your pies? Uncooked? Cooked? I like this idea, more details please.
Mavis Butterfield says
Uncooked. I’ll share some pictures and info on Wednesday. 🙂
Tracey says
Mavis
I have had a bean membership with Rancho Gordo for a few years. I love their Caviar Lentils and Royal Corona beans best. That being said all their beans are so fresh they are all spectacular. Their recipes in their website are fantastic too.
Laura L. says
Macintosh apples are by far, my favorite variety but I’m having a very difficult time finding them. I like my apples on the juicy and tart side so, any suggestions?