This Is A Stockup

[dymphna79]

I assume that in general the idea of stocking up and storing foods for the winter (like in the wonderful, wonderful first parts of Little House in the Big Woods) isn't necessary anymore, because we can pretty much go to the store whenever.  (Is that true?)

I used to think it was funny in Betsy's Wedding when they're stocking up on foods and Aunt

Comments

[satyridae]

One of the first things Dan did when we moved into the Dream House was excavate & floor a huge pantry. Dan's criteria for "full pantry" are the stuff of Laura Ingalls Wilder & Aunt Ruth's fever dreams. We don't stock up more during the winter. To the casual eye, I'm thinking our pantry likely appears to be administered by an LDS member

[dymphna79]

I've had mixed results with glass jars. I'm not sure how they get in there, but they seem to; there's also the distinct possibility that they keep coming in with the grains from the co-op bulk bins. I did an experiment once where I took a jar of infested rice and ran it under water in the sink. There were dozens of larvae inside, and yet no WATER could get in.

[satyridae]

I think they come in with the food, and if one uses the food promptly, one ingests the eggs and renders them useless. It's the storage that lets them hatch out, so the problem is one of isolating each food to minimize contagion. I don't think it's a problem that can be fixed, only minimized.

[kmcdade]

Giggle...picturing Melody in an LDS church.

[irihs]

We don't really stock up on things differently in the winter, but I have been thinking about snatching up a whole bunch of bags of whole cranberries, because they are seasonal, and I can never find them frozen around here. I love them in baked goods, and I might just throw several bags in the freezer. Maybe I'll see if they're on sale the day after Thanksgiving, and snatch up a year's supply...

[delphica]

Two weeks ago, when I was up at the cottage, I put in what I call our "winter stores," which means food that is there in case we are at the cottage and there is a blizzard or big snow storm. The area where we are is pretty rural and our road isn't paved, so we could end up there for two days or so. The trick is to include enough food that you don't need to cook in case the gas is out. So our list is a few cans of tuna, canned vegetables, peanut butter, jelly, and saltines. I will also put some butter, some granola, and some meats in the freezer -- the nice thing about a blizzard, in terms of natural disasters, is that you usually don't have an issue with food going bad even if you lose electric because you can move it outside.

The funny thing is that we need to rotate this stuff, so at the beginning of the summer, our first few meals are always whatever I can figure out to make with the winter stores, so peanut butter and jelly on saltines with (canned) three bean salad.

[brierbrier]

The only thing we intentionally stocked up for the winter this year was apples which turned into dehydrated apples. I'm hoping to make those last until (somewhat affordable, localish) fruit starts coming in again around May. My winter stock up wish list for next year includes dry beans & vegetables to dry or freeze. As it is, we make one big grocery shopping trip every six weeks or so and even with our rather spacious (for an apartment) kitchen, I don't think we could stock up much more and keep all the bulk bin items we buy (or even most) in containers & stored with any degree of organization.

[kmcdade]

Well, I did the applesauce...I froze some garden tomatoes, but they're gone already. I just put up a bunch of turkey stock from our Thanksgiving turkey carcass. I don't so much do seasonal stocking as much as I try to stock as much as I can of staple items when they're on sale and/or when I have money. So, rice, whole chickens, ground beef, stuff like that. Sometimes canned goods.