What could be better???

[lesa]

Crazy day at work today... running late by dinnertime. This is when I really love gardening. Ran down to the basement and grabbed a jar of canned fingerling potatoes, a jar of green beans and a jar of applesauce (our first made with our own apple harvest.) Popped a ham steak on the grill, and warmed up the canned goodies. A wonderful meal! We truly enjoyed the fruits of our labor tonight... What could be better?

 

[thistlebloom]

That sounds delicious Lesa! Nothing like getting to eat from your garden when the snow is laying deep over it!

 

[Ridgerunner]

You put some effort and time in up front, Lesa, but it is really nice to enjoy the fruits of your labor like that. And it does make a quick but delicious meal real possible.


When I butcher my chickens I save certain parts for chicken broth. When I make the broth I pick the cooked meat off and freeze that in serving sized portions. Then I use that chicken broth when I make vegetable soup. I grow practically all the herbs and veggies that go in the chicken broth and I grow all the veggies that go in that vegetable soup.


Our quick meal for two – open a quart of vegetable soup, add some cooked chicken and heat it up. Get some cheese and crackers. Now that is a quick meal with very little effort or mess preparing it and it cleans up really easily.

 

[lesa]

Ridgerunner- I love making soup from my freezer camp chickens...I have tried to freeze some of the cooked meat, as you suggest. It seems to get freezer burned awfully quick? I haven't canned soup yet. That is definitely on my to do list. Your "meal for two" sounds perfect!

 

[Ridgerunner]

I vacuum pack the meat. It's the only thing I've found that works. Those zipper bags don't last long.

 

[journey11]

I love my vacuum sealer! Stuff lasts nearly *forever* if you get all of the air out. I found some red peppers in the freezer from 3 years ago, still perfectly good, no freezer burn at all.

 

[baymule]

lesa, sounds like a wonderful meal after a trying day! You are right, what could be better than that?

 

[thistlebloom]

lesa, sounds like a wonderful meal after a trying day! You are right, what could be better than that?

Ummmm...maybe a big bowl of Espresso Madness after dinner in front of a cheery fire? Oh wait! I don't mean better than that, I mean to complete a perfect meal.

 

[greengenes]

I love my vacuum sealer! Stuff lasts nearly *forever* if you get all of the air out. I found some red peppers in the freezer from 3 years ago, still perfectly good, no freezer burn at all.

It might be time for me to get a new sealer. Mine is 25 years old and I never really liked it. Maybe they have improved a lot. (Or maybe it is operator error :/)
What kind do you have? Mine would lose the seal and I would have to slip them into ziplocks anyway.
I find I freeze less and less stuff and can more and more.

 

[journey11]

Mine is a Foodsaver, Model# 750, bought maybe 8 years ago. I'm sure the newer ones are even better.

There's a lot of stuff that I used to freeze that I now sometimes can (now that I'm more proficient with my pressure canner.) But for bulk meats and certain fruit/veggies that don't hold up well to canning or I couldn't otherwise get the desired consistency (i.e. for stir-frying) the vac is fast and easy.