Fruit Leather Weather

The days are long, the sun is warm -- and we've been have several sunny days in a row! It's fruit leather weather!

But what fruit is harvestable now -- other than rhubarb and strawberries -- in southern Ontario? Well, I'm using fruit that I harvested last year, put into fruit spreads -- and didn't use this winter. Now it's time to use up the odds and ends of the preserving shelves...

If the spread is chunky, I whirl it in the blender. Otherwise it goes straight on the silicon baking sheets (you can use parchment paper too) in the solar dryer trays. After a day or day and a half, I carefully lift the 70 percent or more dry leathery sheet off the silicon and flip it over to finish drying (the underside is the dampest part at this point).

In two days, maybe three, of sunny weather, I have fruit leather. I cut it in 3-4 inch strips and roll it up in wax paper, then stuff it cans or jars.

Week Eight: Eating Down the Pantry

Food eaten:
• leftover lentil soup
• leftover curried veg soup
• beef stew with local grass-fed beef, local veg, home-canned stocks (beef, tomato, and vegetable)
• beef with broccoli with more of the grass-fed beef and rice from last week's stir fry session
• stir-fried veg with shrimp and more rice

I really only cooked three things this whole week for us! We ate everything up with no waste.

I did spend some money on groceries: stock up on milk, sugar, bread, and shrimp and I got lots of remaindered produce: broccoli, tangerines, kiwi, celery as well as some root basics at the farmers market: organic mushrooms, parsnip, carrots, rutabaga, green pepper. Total spent: $25.29.

Now we'll heading into the two week stretch before we go away for nearly a month, so eating down the refrigerator becomes important!

Week Seven: Eating Down the Pantry

Food eaten:
• pulled pork with frozen roast and sauce compounded of preserved odds'n'ends on home-made rolls
• restaurant leftovers extended with pulled pork, shrimp, and lots of veg
• lentil soup (from mix) with tomato stock, stored carrots, dried tomatoes and red peppers
• curried veg soup with squash, broccoli stems, zucchini, tomato stock, garlic sauce, quinoa, dried red peppers

I bought some flax seed and remaindered produce, spending a total of $4.27 for the week!

Week Six: Eating Down the Pantry

Food eaten:
• remainder of adobe chicken in tostados and a soup using a number of home-preserved items: corn, veg and tomato stocks, squash, carrots.
• last of the fall apples and some canned fruit preserves in a fruit crisp
• last of the fall carrots in carrot salad and soups.
• pasta with home-canned sauce, frozen turkey sausage, fresh veg

This week was stock-up on a few items: makings for yogurt, brown rice, alfalfa seeds for sprouting; and I used a half-price voucher at a local butcher for some meat. Total spent: $37.82.
I really expect to spend a lot less next week.

Week Five: Eating Down the Pantry

We thrived so well on this last month that we're continuing it this month!

Food eaten:
• adobe chicken with stored potatoes, adobe sauce to be used up, frozen local chicken
• rest of the chili in quesidillas one night and over rice another night
• beef curry (grass-fed beef, canned tomato-curry sauce, various fresh veg on hand) with flat bread from artisan dough
• fruit bars with preserves, stored flour and oatmeal
• pasta with mixed veg, canned tomato sauce, stored pasta, frozen sausage

Stocking up on coffee accounted for most of the $16.11 we spent this week.

Week Four: Eating Down the Pantry

We had a last kick at a great dollar sale at one of our local grocers, so some money went for stock-up of Astro yogurt, frozen fish, oatmeal, soy milk, and bread. We also got some fresh stuff: regular milk, produce, ginger root, discounted wheat tortillas, and tea. I spent $34.30 for the week. Our total spent for the month was $99.87. So $100 to our travel savings for our next trip in March!

I finally got to the falafel and I'm glad I did: they were very tasty with some chutney and yogurt on tortillas.

Food eaten:
• chili with stored beans, salsas, stock, and home-canned chili meat
• oatmeal-fruit bars with canned fruit spread
• chili pie with made chili, pepper jack cheese, and cornbread topping from stored mix
• fruit crisp with canned fruit sauce and stored apples
• pasta with mixed veg, frozen turkey sausage, home-canned sauce
• frozen shepherd's pie
• pizza with home-canned sauce, artisan dough, mixed veg
• falafel from stored mix with stored chutney

Week Three: Eating Down the Pantry

We had a good food week -- sufficient variety and used a few more things that had to go.

Food eaten:
• remainder of lentil soup
• one frozen portion of lasagna
• canned pumpkin in pumpkin custard and pumpkin waffles
• vegetable soup with stored squash, dried red pepper, dried greens, frozen leek greens, dried zucchini, sun-dried tomatoes, canned tomato stock
• mixed-bean soup with ham stock, sausage from fridge, stored potatoes, carrots, and sweet potato, roasted red pepper spread, left-over rice, home-made hot sauce, fresh parsley growing on the window sill
• Algerian flat bread with hummus
• beef and broccoli in black bean sauce over rice: local grass-fed beef, local green pepper, broccoli, on-hand black bean sauce, stored rice
• sweet-and-sour pork over rice: frozen pork, cooked rice, fresh pineapple, vegetable odds-and-ends

The $1 sale was still on at a local grocery store, so a few more things got stocked up: soy milk, crackers for travel. I also used a half-price voucher at Almost Perfect for some hummus mix (great for travel!) and frozen asparagus and sweet potato fries. All told we spent $18.59 for groceries.

Week Two: Eating Down the Pantry

We finished sorting out the pantry: consolidated food items from the metal shelves to the wooden shelves (which, of course, had more space because of the clean-out last week), got rid of a few things, and stored like with like so things are easier to find. The double row of plastic storage has been reduced to one; a container of cloth went to its more appropriate place in the sewing/art room.

Food eaten:

• remainder of lentil soup
• began eating venison summer sausage
• one frozen portion of lasagna
• pizza with homemade sauce (tomato & roasted red pepper) and crust, venison sausage, mushrooms, peppers, cheese
• shepherd's pie: grass-fed beef burger, stored potatoes and carrots, frozen peas, canned cream corn
• homemade artisan bread
• vegetable soup with stored squash, home-canned tomato stock and veg stock, dried greens, dried zucchini, dried red peppers, quinoa, home-made hot sauce
  
• home-canned stew with frozen peas

There was a great $1 sale at one of our local food stores, so a few items that we like to keep a stock of were bought: canned tuna and salmon, canned corn, macaroni, bread and wieners for the freezer. Another store had my favorite yogurt on special, so I bought 3 containers of that. I can make my own, but it's not as yummy. We also got more frozen fish to last us through the winter. Of course the new stuff has been stored "behind" the older stuff. With the other usual dairy and fresh produce, total spent: $35.91

Week One: Eating Down the Pantry

My husband and I went through the bank of shelves in the pantry that is four feet high and eight feet wide. He moved stuff out to the kitchen table one shelf at a time and cleaned the shelf while I sorted. It took us a couple of hours but such satisfaction when it was done!

I was surprised how little there was that had to go: a couple of items past their expiry dates and a couple of pest-infested containers. I moved all of the pasta out of bags and boxes to sturdier glass, heavy-duty plastic, and metal containers. We've not seen any mice in the pantry this year (though a couple died in our trap under the kitchen sink), but this should protect some stuff that was pretty vulnerable otherwise. I consolidated a few packages of things. I also wrote on the kitchen white board things that are a priority to use up.

Food this week that used up some things:

• lasagna: I had the cook-before-use lasagna noodles so I made a big lasagna with tofu, cheese, grass-fed beef, dried veg, and -- of course-- three pints of homemade tomato sauce. We had two meals of it this week and one lunch for me; two containers for two more meals went in the freezer.
• corn-tomato soup: I had two lunches out of this using a corn chowder mix I had on hand with some left-over stewed tomatoes
• lentil soup: I had some mix I bagged up a couple of Christmases ago as well as some dry sausage and more dried veg. With this years tomato stock we got a very hearty and nourishing soup out of it. We have one more evening meal and couple of lunches left.

Groceries actually purchased this week: milk, half-and-half (I use it in making yogurt), organic mushrooms, red and green peppers, zucchini. Total spent: $11.53 The milk and mushrooms should last us two weeks.