More frozen veggies

Well that took care of two of the items we had, now for the rest of them. Since we didn't have the abundance of the other vegetables, I was able to finish nearly all of it the next day. The other time saver was that I was only blanching these vegetables and not fully cooking them like I had to do with the potatoes.

We had a significant amount of carrots and I wanted variety like I did with the potatoes. I ended up dicing some for salads and soups.

 I chopped some and kept them round for similar recipes, but to also just steam for a side dish.

 The last variety was large chunked carrots and roughly cut for roasts and stews. 

I froze them the same way I did the potatoes, again, to have more control over how much I wanted to thaw at a given time. 

I'm not a huge celery fan, but they come in recipes every once in a while, especially soups, roasts and such, and that's the season I'm preparing for. I figured since I'm not likely to have them fresh on hand, this would be a nice way to have some of those occasional dishes that call for them. I also froze leeks (not pictured) for making potato leek soup. 

We made cabbage rolls with a large portion of the cabbage we picked and then I chopped the rest for coleslaw and an asian coleslaw (also known as ramen salad) I make. We ended up with some steamed cabbage left over too, which is now in the freezer to be added to a stew or something. (I'm still open to ideas on what to use that for--anyone?)

Finally, I wrapped it up with the beans. Plain and simple just blanched them and froze them just like the rest before putting them in the bag to keep in the freezer. 

The corn is still waiting to be eaten in the fridge and the peppers are for another post! This is why I NEEDED a freezer!! We had so much great food and I'm so thankful we'll have this to get us through the winter months with such limited produce options and higher prices. 

Washing, chopping, cooking, storing

...and repeat! That's what two days consisted of around here. I'm so thankful for all that wonderful produce we got at the farm, but it was a lot to deal with all at once! The funny thing is that during it all I was really loving it and enjoying it, so I guess it wasn't bad, it's just tiring to remember! ;)

So here are a few things I learned and I'm happy to be passing these tips on to you now:
-Take care of the large amount of vegetables on days when you do not have to see any other people. Unless you really could use some attention and a lot of people asking you questions like, "Is everything okay?" or "Are you alright?" because you look like you've been crying (which you have over the onions), not because you're having an emotional meltdown (well you  might be having that too, so you could use the onions as your excuse). Or unless orange hands are the next big fashion statement you're looking to debut! :) Yes, my hands turned a slight orange color from all the carrots I peeled!
-A food processor comes in really handy, if you have one.
-Get a good audio book/podcast to listen to while you chop--it helps to have something to listen to.
-Feed your kids a lot of snacks so they don't constantly ask you if you're making them their next meal--all day--just the sight of the food makes them hungry!
-Have a lot of freezer space available
-Stock up on freezer bags to get the job done

The first day I tackled the potatoes and the onions, since we had so much of each of them, I wanted to get the bulk down right away. This explains the reason for my puffy red eyes:

I forgot to get a picture of the end result, but it was amazing! By the way, the food processor was a life saver with all of these onions. All I did was cut them into quarters and let the machine do all the chopping. They turned out great too. After all was done I ended up with over 30 bags of chopped onions, 2 large bags of onion/peppers/potatoes seasoned and ready for grilling, another 6 or so bags of onions cut for fajitas/stir fry, and 2 large bags of onions for onion rings. These alone are taking up about 1/2 a shelf in the new freezer. We're pretty sure we won't be needing any onions for a while. :)

While I took a break from the runny nose and tears caused by the onions, I got to peeling potatoes and then I peeled so more. The potatoes were actually really fun because there were ways to be creative and make a variety of choices. I did most of them into diced potatoes (cooked to about the tenderness needed for a potato salad--a little firm), lightly salted. The idea with these is that they are ready to be mixed up as a salad right away, or they can be cooked a little longer and made into mashed potatoes in about 5 minutes. They can easily be seasoned and thrown on the grill or baked too. The other great thing about having them diced is that they can be added to a soup/stew towards the end of the cooking time and/or added to a potato casserole dish. There are so many options and it makes the prep time next to nothing with these potatoes. I loved thinking up all the things I could do with them! In order to make it possible to get just the amount I needed for the meal I was making, I froze them on a baking sheet first so they'd freeze individually and then added them to the freezer bag for storing. 

This way you don't have to thaw the whole bag if you only need a few. 

Mmmm....then I decided to make some seasoned and ready to just broil for an extra easy meal. We really enjoy these garlic and rosemary seasoned red potatoes and it gave me a break from peeling too! :) I did the same thing I did with the diced, but I added the seasonings to them before freezing them on the baking sheet.

French fries, my husbands favorite and probably one my daughter's too. I'm not much of a french fries maker, but I thought this would be a fun treat to have for days that we grill up burgers or other meals that fries just seem to go well with. Again, same process, just cut lengthwise for fries and salted. I didn't cook them very long because I wanted to have a little bit of crisp to them when I bake them for dinner.

And that's not even the end of it! I have a whole lot of potatoes in the freezer and I still have a 10+ lb bag waiting to be finished. I decided to put off the rest since they'll keep just fine for a week or two and it'll give me a chance to have a little break from making potatoes! ;) My plan for the rest of them is to make more diced, since those seem to be the most versatile and some shredded hash browns. 

Last night we enjoyed an incredibly quick dinner from all this hard work and it was lovely! We enjoyed grilled chicken (from the food delivery service that didn't work out, but we still got free food!), rosemary potatoes (from the freezer), steamed brocolli (from the farmer's market) and a salad (from all the veggies we've got!). I think from start to finish it was only about 20 minutes and it was so easy and hassle free. Very little dishes too, since most of it was already cooked before hand. It was very convenient, without the price tag! :) 

Cars...

Ugh! There is nothing like them to set you back on your financial goals. Thankfully we have an emergency fund for such things, but seriously?! Could've gone a few more months without having to use it already, especially on a car. Seems that around here that's what the emergency fund usually goes to--ugh! :-/

**These such moments are apparently one of the biggest set backs on people getting out of debt. They use their credit cards to bail them out of the pinch and it perpetuates the problem, according to Dave Ramsey, that is! ;) Let our car troubles serve as a nudge to get an emergency fund in place for your family! D.R. recommends having $1,000 set aside for such occasions as this...

Freezer Hunt--Success

Today we found a great deal on a newer upright freezer for extra food storage. We've already filled a large portion of it between the two refrigerator freezers we had. The transferring into the new freezer also gave me a great "inventory check" to see what things we can or should use soon. More bulk cooking days ahead, I'm sure! A regular clean out/sort through kind of day is helpful and I'm sure we'll benefit in our meals this week from having a better idea of what we currently have on hand. Yay!

Farmer for a Day

We try to have a family day once a week and just enjoy each other. It's been a wonderful tradition and helped us spend a lot of quality time together. It's not a day for running errands, house work, projects pertaining to any job or obligation. It's just about family and fun. Some of our fondest memories come from those days, such a treasure, and probably a whole blog post of how it's the essence of simplicity, avoiding-- or at least trying to keep from--running the rat race.

This week we thought it would be fun to go spend the day at a local farm that we had heard about. We looked into several that have all kinds of fun harvest festivals and fall activities, but decided on one that on top of all the farm-fun, allows you to pick your own vegetables with the price of admission. Remember the deal-seeking think I have going! ;) I thought, what better way to get some produce then to include it in our family day and make it a learning and enjoyable experience as well! Brilliant, I know! ;)

Wow! I had NO idea how great it would turn out. First of all, we had an absolutely wonderful day together. The kids LOVED the farm activities which included a petting zoo, jumping balloon, hay bale towers and slides, tractor trains, and all sorts of great things. We packed a picnic and the kids hardly stopped playing long enough to eat even a half of a sandwich.

Then, we went on a hay ride, pulled by a tractor, into the fields to pick our vegetables. Each person was entitled to six 10-lb produce bags for the $15 adult admission price. Our kids were still free. As we were observing the group before us get off we noticed a lot squash, pumpkins, onions and corn. Not super thrilled by the choices we were seeing, we hoping for better results then they had, but were intending to make the best of it.

We get going and our first stop was at the tomato patch. Most of them had obviously seen better days and it was starting to look like slim "good" pickings, but there were a lot of them! Since our main goal was to use them for canning, they didn't need to be pretty and a few bumps/bruises wouldn't hurt. We tried to find as nice of ones as we could without being terribly picky and came back to the tractor with 2 1/2 bags worth! We were off to a great start and we were getting excited! The kids really enjoyed it as well. Our oldest was busy picking as quickly as she could and very proud of each one she found to put in her bag. Next stop onions. These babies were HUGE and every where. Three 10 lb bags were filled in no time. Then, potatoes. Our driver dropped us off in what seemed like an empty field until he came around with another tractor that suddenly made all kinds of potatoes come popping out of the ground. We all scrambled to gather them up and fill another 3 bags worth. We were loving this, what a great way to teach our kids about where food comes from and for them to be part of the picking it. Such a great experience. The next field had a whole variety of vegetables ranging from beans to celery, leaks, eggplant and cabbage. There were other things too and we gathered up all that we wanted again. We gained a new appreciation for bean pickers, that is a time consuming and tiring job. I'm certain we'll enjoy our bag of beans a little more this year, knowing how much effort went into gathering them. Back on the tractor again and we had a lot to show for our work! We couldn't believe they would let us take this much produce for $30 and it wasn't even over!! :) We came to the carrot patch, 2 more bags. Corn, we went light on knowing that processing it wasn't necessary worth our time and we had already gathered plenty to work on! Then we got just one little pumpkin that our oldest chose for herself. Finally we stopped at the pepper patch and again, 2 more bags were filled with some peppers that were also nearing their final days, but will be perfect for roasting and canning. This picture was taken before we were finished:

 Here it is all loaded up in our car:

This is why I've been busy in my kitchen this week! :) 

Can you tell how excited we were?!?! It was a great day. We spent about 1 1/2-2 hours picking a crazy amount of vegetables after spending a wonderful time playing and enjoying the fall on a farm. It was a wonderful family day. It was extra great because not only did we get to have a bunch of fun, but we got to stock our pantry and freezer in the meantime. 

The Food Update Begins

After all that, you're probably getting anxious to hear about my week. Well, maybe not, but you're back to read some more, so I'll share with you while you're here! ;)

It all started on Sunday afternoon when we went to one of our local farmer's markets which I had been planning on doing for a while and it finally fit our schedule. I knew there was a farmer there that sold large bags of produce for $10 and I had intentionally planned on getting the ingredients we'd need for canning salsa for that price. I was a little disappointed to find that they didn't really have all the things I'd need, but I still took advantage of the offer to get as much as I could and also get a large amount of higher priced produce items. Around here, bell peppers aren't very affordable, but they seem to go in so many recipes. I loaded up a bunch of peppers to begin with (some of them would be used for the salsa too), then I got some onions, tomatoes, more bell peppers, green beans, lettuce, poblano peppers (for the salsa), more tomatoes, more peppers, and broccoli until the bag was full. When we got home and unloaded my bag this is what we ended up with:

I think we counted up 15 bell peppers (I found one more after I took this picture). Those alone around here would have cost me more then $10 at the grocery store and I got all the rest of it too! Just thinking about it gets me excited again. I love a good deal, it's like my "drug"! ;) 

I instantly got busy getting these things ready to be stocked up and ready to be used later in the year. I chopped some of the bell peppers up to be used for the salsa and other recipes, then I cut a bunch of them lengthwise to keep for fajitas. I blanched and peeled all the tomatoes, cored and chopped them for salsa or other canning recipes, chopped the onions either for the fajitas or diced and ended up with: 

Each of these items was in smaller freezer bags, stored in 1 Cup measurements for easy use for future recipes.

The "fajita packs" have two different kinds of peppers and onions chopped and ready to be added to the meat we chose on fajita night. All I'll need to do is add it to the pan after the meat is cooked, add the seasonings and dinner is ready. I could easily use it for a stir fry or other meal too if I wanted to. It's so convenient for the dinner-in-a-hurry-nights. 

This got me started on what would turn out to be a deal-seeking, convenience-making week that hopefully will help me beat even more odds at the grocery store this winter! 

Beating the Odds

I mentioned in a post about the grocery delivery program not actually being honest about their products and therefore needing to cancel the service. It was a bummer, for sure, but thankfully we discovered some of their hidden tactics and poor selling schemes before it was too late. The bonus is that part of their tactic is to get you to schedule a meeting with them and if you do, you get a bunch of free meat, just for listening. So, that was a nice perk and helped relieve some of our frustration of wasted time dealing with them.

THEN, the dreaded "we are canceling" phone call had to happen. We sent in the "cancel my order" paperwork as required by law to get our refund, and tried to go about it the passive way. No such luck though. Of course, since it was dealing with food/groceries they had MY phone number. They called me to welcome me to the program the next day and I had to say, "thank you, but we're actually canceling." Which was followed by a series of reasons for why canceling was a bad idea. (Remember I told you earlier, I don't have a problem saying no to high pressured people when I don't really want what they are offering...this conversation will give you some insight into how these things go for me!) So, I kept saying, "NO!" in a very nice, polite, politically correct way. She (the sales representative) was not giving up so easily and thought she could convince me to see the "light" if she discredited what I was spending for our family grocery budget. Uhm...she didn't have a leg to stand on! She just got me that much more riled up and determined to get my money back and say no to their program. It went something like this...first she's telling me that I'm probably not actually sticking to the budget amount I was telling her. Oh yes I am! She challenged me again, telling me that if I added up my receipts it would probably be more then what I thought. Try again, girlfriend, cash budget doesn't lie--I can tell you to the penny how much I spend each month just by looking in my envelope. (Can you tell I'm getting riled?) So then she tried to tell me that statically it's practically impossible for me to be feeding my family on that budget--and here's the stinger--unless I'm only feeding them rice and beans. Uhmm...I'm really getting ticked now. So, I as politely as I could, explained to her that as a matter of fact we are actually eating extremely well these days. We're eating hormone free, antibiotic meats fresh from the local farmers, all local and fresh produce straight from our garden or area farmers, our dairy is also coming from a local farmer who has raised their cows free of hormones and antibiotics as well and our eggs are from free range, local farms too. Does that sound like a junk food or rice and beans diet to you? (I didn't ask her that...I was polite, remember?) As a matter of fact, the only meal we've had with beans in the last two months was the chili I made a couple weeks ago and was DELICIOUS! Yes, I was extremely irritated and insulted. Then her next question goes like this, "so you mean to tell me that you're feeding a family of four for about $2/day per person?" "Yes, ma'am, that's what I'm telling you." (I hadn't done the math, but it sounded good to me, so I just went with that) "Well, that's statistically impossible, we have been researching for years how families can eat of less and we've developed a program that saves people money. I'm not sure how you're able to do this and still eat high quality food." Apparently she wasn't listening to the great foods I just listed off to her. Anyway, yep, that part of the conversation is where today's title comes from. After taking a moment to calm myself down from this completely irritating and insulting conversation, I saw it from a whole different perspective. Rather than being offended by her obvious insults on my ability to do math, my ability to feed my family anything other then rice and beans on a tight budget and my inability to see the savings in their program (which wasn't going to be so for us, since we don't fit the "norm" & I've gotten a handle on how much I'm spending on everything thanks to the cash budget), I chose to see the compliments.

I know this might sound a bit proud and I don't mean for it to be so. I'm really just looking at it from a different angle and it's exciting. Here is how I'm choosing to see it: She was so taken back by my ability to consistently stick to the small budget we have set and be able to buy fresh, local and great quality food that she had no choice but to try to make it sound impossible. Quite frankly, a lot of people don't do what we're doing so I'm sure it was out of the norm for her. My favorite part was when she tried to tell me it was statistically impossible. That just makes me all the more proud, knowing that we are doing it and apparently beating all the odds too! :) How cool is that, to be working so hard at something and doing so well that you're even surpassing all the "norms", "averages" and "stats"! I was also glad to know that I'm only spending about $2/day per person on food...thanks to her quick math skills she figured it out for me! ;) Since then I did figure it out and it comes to $2.20 per person per day. That's awesome!! :) All of this just makes me more motivated to see how far I can push that limit. Can I lower my budget by $15/month and still do it?!?! or maybe I should try $30 less per month?

As you can gather, her methods did nothing to help her cause, but rather got me more motivated to see how many more odds I can beat.

Are you beating the odds in your life? What are you doing that to others appears to be ridiculous and impossible to make your goals happen? Stretch your limits today and see how far you can excel above "average"!

Freezer

ATTN: FREEZER
Status: URGENT!

Dear Craigslist,

We have been great friends for many years and I've introduced you to a lot of wonderful people. As a thank you for my loyalty, I'd really appreciate a favor--maybe two, actually. First, could you please sell the things I have listed so I can get them out of my garage! :) Thanks so much.

Second of all--this one is extremely urgent--could you please have an amazing deal on a great upright or chest freezer today? Again, thanks so much. My refrigerator also thanks you since it is currently overflowing due to the gigantic amount of vegetables we are freezing this week.

Please keep me in mind for any and all great freezer deals you find!!

Thanks,
A loyal customer