Starting to up the Anti

This is not the post I had anticipated posting this evening and I have therefore swapped some posts about and tonight's original post will now be posted tomorrow (all being well although the contents relate to today).  I ran out of time to do some things that I wanted to do to complete the original intended post.

I am starting to up the anti, just a little bit as I now have an appointment in about four weeks time for the new electric mains box to be installed.  That means a lot of clearing up, but it should give me time to get into some projects as well.  I feel better than what I did - the new routine with the medication, having earlier nights (for the best part) than I used to and being  up earlier in the morning seems to be working very well (especially with the change of routine at night means less stress before going to bed in respect I do not have to remember to take the pills then).  It is much easier to have them with my tea and fits in with the 24 hours clock much better.  My system seems to appreciate it.  This morning though we had a very upset Jack Russell predominantly going into last night  and the early hours of this morning who just would not settle. We had a few periods of howling not good when you live in a terrace and retired couple one side of us in their 80s and new neighbours with a young family - not impressed with them at the moment but that is another story).  I overslept as a result this morning as I needed the sleep.  I was really deep asleep when she started last night/early morning.  The sleep of the dead as I had just zonked and was a little bit disorientated when I did wake up in a hurry.

So today I have started the long tiresome job of trying to sort my kitchen out a little bit.  With me being unwell what should have been done has not been. In any event, I have preserving to do as well I am tidying so that I can get on with that in the first instance.  I will then do a thorough bottoming out of everything in there when completed.  

I will then tackle the Pantry for its clean out.  It is a year since we finished the complete bottoming out and it needs to happen again as some of what is in the dining room still needs to go in there.  I also have to sort out the plaster in the bottom of the cupboard, sand it and then re-paint so as good as opportunity of doing this whilst I am bottoming out.

So the preserves are on the list to get out of the way with and then to box them up out of the way until their relevant storage areas have been sorted out, this comprises the area where the new mains electric box is going in.

I was going to buy new jars this month but they will now have to wait until next month. Not that I have not got jars but I had promised myself to try and order a few jars each month in order to try and at long last build up my jar stocks.  It was five years ago that we had the fire and I still have not managed to replace everything that I had lost.  Ordering in the vinegar and the pickling onions and shallots was an unexpected expenditure this month but was needed as we do eat a lot of pickling onions and shallots through the year.  The cost of £4 for a miniscule jar is excessive in my book especially when we use a lot of them. I am waiting on delivery for those items - think it will be Monday when they arrive which will mean I will be able to get an early start on getting the pickling out of the way with. One batch is coming from Bedford way and the Shallots from Cornwall.  

Overall though and in the first instance I am aiming to make those preserves we do use and at some stage also empty the freezer of the fruit I have stockpiled within.  Jams etc. to be made now and later. The main reason for clearing this is that I would now like to start stocking the freezer for Christmas and into the New Year this is necessary as I just cannot squeeze anything extra in at the moment.  Running down and re-stocking the freezer is something I tend to do every year when I can (for the best part it happens unless I do not have a Freezer).  I object to paying through the nose for items in December when a premium seems to be stuck on anything "Christmas".  I am therefore starting early trying to get "all my Ducks in a row" without breaking the bank.  The way food prices are creeping up slowly I think this is going to be very necessary coupled with the fact that the Gas and the Electric are due to increase again from October. 

I want to start re-stocking the freezer primarily with meat again soon.  Food has always been a basic and an over-riding priority apart from paying the bills.  We might not be able to afford this or that (although with careful planning we seem to manage some things). My view is that I always have alternative things available for me to do inhouse and to to keep myself occupied when things are very tight. My view though is that Food for me is my over-riding priority at all times.  We need to be able to eat irrespective from the stockpile of food that I have available to me with the bare minimum being spent on those items all year long so that basic bills like Gas and Electric can be serviced and the other bills that come with everyday living

I have further jams and marmalades to make in October.  Sometimes you have to space things out a bit.  

I have a net of onions and will get another net as I also have some Pantry preserving in the forms of soups, marmalades and chutneys to make with them as well. I really have gone to town on the onion front. 

I will also need a couple of small sacks of Red skinned potatoes (which I prefer) and some white skinned potatoes for fresh using and also potentially putting more supplies on the Pantry shelf.

A couple of trays of eggs are also needed one for using and the second for pickling.

May I ask a question please of the more experienced gardeners out there.  Silverskin onions are these purely the ball type of Spring Onion or is it another type of onion completely?  If anyone could help and offer advice that would be very much appreciated.  If it is straightforward next year would like to add some of these to the Pantry shelf.  G likes these and more often or not I end up buying a couple of jars but it would be very nice if I could grow them myself and then preserve them.  Any help would be gratefully received!

I also have plans for preparing swede, parsnip, sweet potato, potato,(both as whole small potatoes, Chips, Scallops and chunks (for roasting) and carrots for the Pantry shelf as well .  I also want to put up some jars of mixed carrot and swede, a mixed base soup mix,  French Market Soup, Chicken Soup, Butternut Squash soup, Chicken Pot Pie Mix of as preserving Confit mushrooms and storing them in the fridge.  The first time I made them I used ordinary jam jars which work very well for small pieces of mushroom. This time though I intend to source and preserve Oyster, Shitake and Woodland mushrooms and they will need a wider mouthed jar as the mushroom will be in bigger pieces.  I am therefore going to use some of my smaller Le Parfait gasket jars for this purpose.  Will be ideal and I will be using Lard again rather than Duck or Goose Fat.  Preserving these Mushrooms means that I always have Mushroom to cook with available to me, but what is more towards the end of the month if pennies are sparse G will still get his Mushrooms.  The fat does not go to waste either as it is a good base for frying other foods in.

I would also like to get some different flavoured soups such as mixed vegetable, tomato, pumpkin and French Onion as a starting point and also put up and away some Ratatouille and I was thinking of Meat Balls in homemade Tomato Sauce.  Thus far I have not tackled any meat  preserving by heat processing.  I also have plans to replenish my stock situation as I am completely out at the moment and as the colder months in my household require a minimum of one hot meal a day homemade stock gives you a lot of options on the cooking front as well as a lot of flavour.

I will post  up in a separate post the preserves I manage to make.  Not as many as I would have hoped but will get there.

Have a lovely evening everyone.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

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