#249329 - 08/01/12 01:01 PM
Got any food projects going on?
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Old Hand
Registered: 06/24/12
Posts: 822
Loc: SoCal Mtns
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One thing we do is make our own breakfast sausage,I can make Jimmy Dean style for 99 to 1.69 a pound depending on pork sale prices. And it isnt chock full of preservatives. Nice money saver and better quality and quality control too IMO.
Other thing we recently learned at the SMF Forum was how to make buckboard bacon,since Ive made that again I will never go back to commercial,cheaper and better.Its made from a shoulder roast and very close to what pork belly bacon is,now we like it even better.
Then learned how to smoke cheese at same forum,just buy the cheap on sale cheese at 2.99/lb,and smoke it 2-4 hours,gourmet cheese,gotta love it! Pack it with the food saver,should store a loooong time.We use it as a trading item and for goodwill at the thrift store,a happy Joanie means great deals for us,win-win!
Today a local Mexican chain store (Cardenas) has pickling cucumbers for 50 cents a Lb,Mrs is going to whip up a case full of pickles.Pickles took us a few times to get right,again,wonderful product on the cheap.
And Ethnic markets have good sale prices,the Mexican here are great for produce on the cheap.And buy em from the refer by the case and they havent been sitting out,drying out,and getting jostled around by customers,last case we bought was zucchini,right from box the were gorgeous,in the bin all beat up. Just asked produce guy for a case.(40 lbs or so?)
You all got any food projects going on you find really exciting?
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#249332 - 08/01/12 02:38 PM
Re: Got any food projects going on?
[Re: spuds]
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Carpal Tunnel
Registered: 03/11/05
Posts: 2574
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Growing peppers and tomatoes
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#249337 - 08/01/12 05:06 PM
Re: Got any food projects going on?
[Re: spuds]
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 07/11/10
Posts: 1680
Loc: New Port Richey, Fla
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got a dehydrator and pressure canner... haven't used the canner yet...
built a couple of DIY "Earth Boxes" earlier in the summer for some peppers and garlic (don't use SteriLite containers, they are disintegrating from UV at 2 months... the 5gal buckets are OK)...
built a set of sprouting jars from the Ball jars I use for vacuum sealing... rims and small section of screen to have a continuous batch system if needed for "greens" from great northern, and pinto beans I've stored... I think this is a better solution, than try to grow in Florida soil, other than the Earth Box method... you get results in about 5 days
In 08 I put away some canned goods (Dinty Moore, Campbells chunky etc) that I normally don't eat (bad planning on my part prior to viewing Wendy DeWitt) for use in hurricane power outage... have been eating them up... most a year after "best by" date... so far no issues...
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#249349 - 08/01/12 07:29 PM
Re: Got any food projects going on?
[Re: spuds]
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Old Hand
Registered: 06/24/12
Posts: 822
Loc: SoCal Mtns
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Sprouts,very good,I like the alfalfa,good substitute for lettuce. OH,and the radish,nice flavor.I like a lot of the beans too,that sprouting is a great thing,and easy to store a lot of seed.Mail ordered some in bulk a while back,cost 140 bucks but its a lot of fresh nutritious food.And foolproof,its a guaranteed crop for sure,and as you said,fast too. Les,have you ever pressure canned? I think its easier than waterbath tho it takes longer waiting for the canner to cool,we are on about our third year doing it,learning curve is very rapid/easy. Garden just doesnt do well here,have high hopes on the tomatoes this year,so far they are looking good,hope they ripen in time. I just picked up 72 cans of corn for 50 cents each on sale at Cardenas,their store brand is top notch,want a LOT more,and need oil.Heard soybeans way up,corn futures jumped 60% in just a few weeks. Time to buy is now,prices will be going way up soon. Geeze,beef prices sure are up,chicken and pork on sale still good here.
Edited by spuds (08/01/12 08:00 PM)
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#249358 - 08/01/12 08:43 PM
Re: Got any food projects going on?
[Re: dougwalkabout]
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Veteran
Registered: 12/14/09
Posts: 1419
Loc: Nothern Ontario
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Very nice Doug. No oil wells in the background to spoil the view!
_________________________
Earth and sky, woods and fields, lakes and rivers, the mountain and the sea, are excellent schoolmasters, and teach some of us more than we can ever learn from books.
John Lubbock
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#249363 - 08/01/12 08:52 PM
Re: Got any food projects going on?
[Re: spuds]
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τΏτ
Old Hand
Registered: 04/05/07
Posts: 776
Loc: The People's Republic of IL
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Nothing special really, just another season...
We have about 1,100 sq ft of vegetable garden. Tomatoes and beans are starting to come in now. I expect we will be canning this coming weekend. Beans just get frozen and vacuum packed. Since we can water, things are doing really well.
The orchard is doing super this year, thanks again to our honeybees. They really make a big difference in production.
We just picked about 50 lbs of peaches last weekend. There should be lots more this weekend. Apples still have a little while to go before harvest, but the trees are heavy with fruit. The dogs have already started in on the ones on the ground.
We are also picking up our half-cow a little early this year. Farmer is sending it to slaughter early due to drought conditions here affecting his pasture in a really bad way.
Had a good honey harvest this Spring too. Everything is coming in really early this year.
_________________________
Gary
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#249383 - 08/02/12 04:14 AM
Re: Got any food projects going on?
[Re: spuds]
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Pooh-Bah
Registered: 07/11/10
Posts: 1680
Loc: New Port Richey, Fla
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Spuds.. no on the pressure canning... I'm single, and have decided to put away some meat and meat sauces in pint and half pint single serving jars...got one of the All Americans...
I've been working on the generator which was a gift... 30amp 250v breaker installed in my non attached garage to back feed the house, but the generator is not running right...trying a smaller 8hp engine tomorrow, to see if it will pull the load
the heat has been pretty serious on the plants... the beans did not do well in the Earth boxes... peppers, onions, and garlic did...think I'll concentrate on the peppers, and dehydrate them..dehydrated garlic and onions are too reasonable at Sam's to duplicate
the sprouts are amazing...should be part of every prep plan....
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