This morning, I came across a fantastic sale on bi-color sweet corn, which I am going to freeze and use through the winter. Five dozen ears were bagged and selling for only $10. That same market also had large, meaty tomatoes marked at .50 lb, or 1/2 bushel for $10. I bought the 1/2 bushel, and will be canning tomato-basil sauce this week :)
This evening, I met with a sweet lady who used to sell her homemade granola in local stores; now she is closing her business and sold me some items for much less than I'd pay in the store, and they are better quality, too... Here's what I purchased from her:
Raisins @ .74 cents a pound (I bought 30 pounds!!!)
Brown sugar @ .50 cents a pound
Chopped walnuts @ .14 cents an ounce
The most wonderful milk chocolate chips EVER @ $1.50 a pound
As much as we love our Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread, it will still take quite a while to use all thirty pounds of raisins, so I put them into several gallon freezer bags and will store them in our extra freezer.
All that, and I still haven't mentioned the peaches we canned on Monday. Last week, a local supermarket had a loss leader sale on free stone peaches... only .58 cents a pound.
A sweet lady from church came over and helped me can ten pounds of these peaches. I don't have much experience canning, and had never canned peaches before. She has been canning for over forty years so I was fairly confident that, with her help, the canned peaches would be perfect. We had a wonderful time, great conversation, and I was so proud of the finished peaches! Beautiful!
Here are a few photos from my peach canning "debut" ~
Are you preparing your pantry for winter? What do you do? I'd love to know!
Warmly,
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Just stopping by from Real Food Wednesday. Love your canned peaches!!! I canned some last summer after we bought a bunch in Michigan while we were vacationing up there. I am getting ready to host a "Canning Week Blog Party" on my blog next week. We will be posting lots of tips and recipes to try and encourage and educate others on canning. We will also be having linky parties and give-a-ways. HOpe you can stop by and participate as it should be a lot of fun!!!
ReplyDeleteHi! Good for you getting all those bargains! I've kind of slacked on our winter prep and am trying to frantically make up for it! So far, all I've done is freeze some basil and make some berry freezer jam. I've got the basil tutorial up on my blog already:
ReplyDeletehttp://bloggingwhilewaiting.blogspot.com/2010/08/how-to-freeze-basil-easy-tutorial.html
and will be putting up the jam one tonight. It's really easy...no boiling...no canning supplies required!
Have a great day!
Sarah
Wow, What a great bargain. You had some blessings!!! Those peaches look beautiful.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great deal!!! You can make pesto with walnuts instead of pine nuts and then freeze it too.
ReplyDeleteI canned peaches all day. Yours are much more neatly cut; I got sick of it and just started hacking away after a while. I do it every year!!
I froze blueberries, and sadly, missed strawberries because we were on vacation and the season was like 4 days here.
I'm doing corn (freezing) tomorrow, and soon tomatoes and apples. I love canning and freezing!! It's the best when it's February and you get something you did months ago. Very satisfying.
I'm not a canner (I wish I was) but I am a big believer of stocking up when stuff is at the cheap, especially seasonal stuff. This time of year I am freezing up loads and loads of fresh herbs, strawberries, blueberries, and bell peppers. When fall is here I will stock up on super cheap sales on canned pumpkin.
ReplyDeleteStop by and visit me over at Free 2 Be Frugal sometime soon...we are back up and running once again!
Good for you!!! I want to do some proper canning this summer, and so I'm hoping to pick up some fruit on sale at a market in the next few days, as well as canning all the stuff we have growing in our backyard!
ReplyDeleteYou are doing a great job! :)
ReplyDeleteI have done peaches this year, as well. Also have canned a lot of green beans, corn, and peach jam! :)
Thank you so much for visiting my blog and for your thoughtful comment. It is wonderful to *meet* you! :)