When you put all that hard work into your garden it can be really depressing to watch the fruits of your labor rot away. With some planning and a bit of work, you can preserve your garden harvest and have fresh from your garden fruits and veggies all year long. These three easy ways to preserve the food in your garden will do the trick.
Three Easy Ways to Preserve the Food From Your Garden
Freezing to preserve your garden
Freezing the produce from your garden is the easiest way to preserve your harvest. Wash your fresh produce and lay it out in a single layer on a cookie sheet in your freezer. This will allow each piece to freeze individually making it easier to get the produce from the freezer bags that you will place them in after the initial cookie sheet freeze. A great way to save time later is to prep your fruits for your favorite smoothies and freeze in single serving packs. Chop your veggies for soups and stews, freezing them together and label well so you can grab and go for a meal on a busy weekday. A food saver is a great way to prevent freezer burn and make your frozen produce last longer.
Drying to preserve your garden
Drying produce takes up less space than the other popular preserving options. when drying your fruits and veggies you are taking out the water and much of the bulk of the food. A good dehydrator is a great way to make your food last longer, make treats for your family, and prep for long term storage. Fruits make a great snack dehydrated while veggies reconstruct better for soups and stews than eating as a side dish. It is vital you are sure all water is out before storing. To check this, place in a plastic baggy and let it cool. If there is condensation in the bag, your food is not ready to store.
Canning to preserve your garden
Canning is one of the most traditional ways to preserve food from your garden. While it takes up more space than drying, canned foods have a longer shelf life than frozen foods. Many of us have fond childhood memories of watching our grandmothers can produce from the garden but never really thought about doing it ourselves. The good news is, canning is easy to start, inexpensive and costs less with each round you do when you reuse the glass jars over and over. Quality jars are a great investment.
Which method should I use to preserve my garden?
When choosing which preservation method you must consider:
Space you have for storage.
What the end use of the food will be.
How long you need to store the food.
Supplies you have on hand.
Protecting your food storage from pests and environmental issues is vital to make preserving your garden worth your time and money. Make sure all stored food is air tight and sealed in rodent-proof containers. For most families, combining these methods of food storage gets the best results across the board and leads to more stability. Canning fruits and veggies so they are ready to go, freezing produce prepped for meals, and drying fruits and meats for snacking is a great way to balance it out.
I’ve been posting a bunch of life happenings over on Instagram, if you care to follow me over there! Often pictures are better than words, especially when life is just the ins and outs of daily life!
Here are the interesting links I came across on my travels around the web this week! Enjoy and have a great weekend!
I'm always looking for great dollar stretcher tips for our grocery budget and thought I'd share some of my favorites with you. These are great ways to make simple grocery items go further, therefore saving you money on your grocery budget. I love being able to feed my family great meals they love, but still stay on budget and meet our financial goals. 🙂
Dollar Stretcher Tips For Grocery Budgets
Add powdered milk to your milk.
If you're feeling more adventurous this idea may be for you! (However, you may find you get used to the taste pretty quickly.) Split your 4L jug of milk into two cartons. Prepare a gallon of powdered milk and divide between the two now half gallons of milk. Mix together and use as normal. Powdered milk is much less expensive and mixing like this will still taste the same while saving you money on one of the most often purchased and used items for a family budget.
Add beans to more than just soups and chili.
Dry beans are always super cheap and easy to cook in a slow cooker or Instant Pot. I love making large batches of pinto beans, kidney beans, black beans and garbanzo beans then putting them in 2-cup portion bags to use in everything from soups and chili, to mashing into my ground meat for spaghetti, tacos or casseroles. They take on most flavors they are seasoned with, and their texture is great for all kinds of dishes. This can make one pound of ground meat go twice as far in a casserole or soup!
Don't fear using carbohydrates.
Starches and carbohydrates tend to have a bad reputation, but as long as you are including a lot of great nutrient-dense vegetables into your diet as well it's not a bad thing to include things like rice and potatoes as a base for casseroles. Rice and potatoes are a great dollar stretcher for almost any meal. In fact, roasted potatoes, green beans, and roasted chicken is one of the easiest and cheapest meals you can make for your family. It's healthy, satisfying and easy to manage. The potatoes add bulk to the meal without being high fat or unhealthy, and they are so cheap it makes your meal very affordable.
Batch cook your meals.
You may wonder how or why this can be considered a dollar stretcher for your grocery budget, but it really is a great way to save. When you buy larger quantities of meats and produce, you often save a significant amount of money. Next time you find chicken, pork or beef on sale in large “family sized” packages don't hesitate to grab them, then cook in simple ways and portion to freeze. Chicken can be roasted and cubed for everything from salads and soups to casseroles or fajitas. Pork shoulders can be roasted and pulled for use in BBQ, casseroles or tacos. Batch cooking meats, produce and even whole meals and freezing for future use saves you time, money and tons of frustration each evening when you need to throw a simple meal together fast.
These are great dollar stretcher ideas for your grocery budget. Just a few simple changes can save you hundreds of dollars in grocery expenses over the course of a year.
How do you make ordinary grocery items stretch further? Let us know in the comments below!
As the saying goes, ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’. So while this is true, it can also be the least expensive and easiest meal to make of the day. With using items like sausage, veggies, eggs, and other ingredients that are easily accessible, you can easily make breakfast for the whole family for under $5.
Here are my favourite Healthy Breakfast Ideas for under $5:
Greek Yogurt and Fruit – You can usually pick up a tub of Greek Yogurt for under $4. Use some frozen fruit and maple syrup for a topping and you have a delicious breakfast.
French Toast – One of my family’s favorite meals is French toast… for breakfast or dinner ;). For some reason, we can’t get enough of it. I don’t mind because using whole wheat, I can make the French toast semi-healthy! We add fruit topping or peanut butter instead of real maple syrup sometimes.
Banana with Peanut Butter – Is there anything more delicious than bananas and peanut butter? I think not! It also makes for a very filling breakfast for little ones. If your child doesn’t like bananas, try cutting up an apple for them. Delicious, healthy, and simple!
Breakfast burritos – Using low carb or whole wheat tortillas, mix up eggs, salsa, and cheese to make a yummy breakfast concoction.
Fruit salad – One of my favorite healthy meals for under $5 is taking all the leftover fruit in the fridge and mixing it together to create a fruit salad. Sometimes I add a bit of yogurt on top. Yum!
Veggie omelet – A dozen eggs can be bought for a little over $2. Make a yummy veggie omelet to feed your family a healthy meal for under $5.
Sausage and Eggs – Keep breakfast simple by making sausage and eggs for your breakfast of choice. My family never complains about this meal.
Homemade banana muffins – If you have old bananas in your possession, make some muffins out of them. A simple breakfast that will save you money! These are my most favourite Banana Chocolate Chip muffins.
These 9 healthy breakfast ideas for under $5 will help you stay on budget and keep you feeling great all day long. It’s easy to swing through the drive thru and get caught up in a $20 breakfast for the family. But instead, it’s just as easy to make your own breakfast at home for $5 (and stay in your pajamas!).
What healthy breakfast ideas do you have for under $5?
Happy Canada Day! How/where will you be celebrating?
Well, I’m about to embark on my two month hiatus. I’m not quite sure how I’m feeling. Excited for all the time I’ll spend with my family and all the projects I will be able to finish. Yet, daily posting has been such a huge part of my life for the last 8 years that I’m not quite sure if I’ll know what to do with myself! It’s silly really. 🙂
Anyways, here are the interesting links I came across on my travels around the web this week! Enjoy and have a great weekend!
Get the VTech Busy Learners Activity Cube for only $15.99 from Amazon.ca! (reg. $26). Here are some details:
Kids learning toy has 5 sides that encourage exploration; 4 light-up buttons introduce animal names, animal sounds and shapes
Pre-K learning toy has 14 interactive features that develop motor skills; music cube assists babies with sitting up to play
Motion sensor activates fun sounds when the activity cube is moved to attract attention and encourage crawling
Early learning center has 25 playful songs and melodies that keep toddlers 6 month to 3 year olds engaged and entertained; comes fully assembled
Block toy is made of BPA-free plastic and has adjustable volume, auto shut-off; 2 AAA batteries are included for demo, use new batteries for regular use
doesn’t like bananas, try cutting up an apple for them. Delicious, healthy, and simple!
