Well, I suppose we must mark the bad news: It is the day the world lost a great lady. Queen Elizabeth II passed today. I am sure she had her faults--we all do. But she was an example of duty, service, steadiness, and much more. I admired her. She was rock solid. She has gone through many tests, tragedies, losses, etc., and, she did so always in the public eye. And, it seems every tragic event had to be marked by a speech. I am of the belief that she would have felt she HAD to retain her composure while the public watched. I could not have done that. Thank heavens, I did not have to do that. I would have embarrassed myself and everyone around me. I am sure many in Great Britain feel, today, as if the entire fabric of life has changed. Seventy years as a symbol of British life has gone on to her reward.
Very early this morning, before sun up, I completed another canning run. I had some yams that were about to go south. Something had to be done with them or it would have been like throwing money away. So, I have another 15 jars of yams canned for future use. So, my current inventory stands at 40 jars. I filled out the canner load with 3 more jars of canned beans. My stash of jars is going down fast...........I shall have to carve out the funds for more jars from of my grocery budget somehow. Not sure how..........
I'm trying to work out how I'm going to keep myself fed, prices being what they are. I know I have to use what I have carefully and wisely. Every little packet of meat is going to have to make multiple meals. For example, I recently made a batch of unstuffed cabbage soup. I ate some for my dinner and put away 5 single-serve packages for "tomorrow"--all from 1 pound of meat, 1 head of cabbage and a couple of cans of tomatoes. The meat was canned months ago, at lower prices, so I am estimating that cost me less than $5.00 for 6 meals. I like those numbers! That's something less than $.80 per meal. Yesterday I opened a frozen packet of veggie soup. It made dinner last night and will give me lunch today and I still have 4 more packets in the freezer. That was made from 2 cans (15 oz) of store brand tomatoes, a 2# bag of mixed vegetables (store brand again), and a couple of small-dice potatoes, and some dehydrated onions. Very simple and cheap and yet really tasty with lots of vitamins and minerals. Next up, I think, will be some bean and bacon soup. Fortunately, bacon is on sale this week..........That recipe calls for an entire pound of bacon, but I am not planning to use more than half that much. Plenty of protein in the beans. The bacon will just be for flavor.
I tried my hand at making some homemade dog food yesterday. I used some scrap meat, some yams that wouldn't fit in my jars, some sliced broccoli stems, some leftover chicken "juice" from a jar of home canned chicken, some rice, and I broke an egg over the whole conglomeration. Funny thing: the dog licked it all up but seems to have spit out the yams. I find that a bit mystifying in that sweet potatoes are supposed to be wonderful doggy treats. My silly dog won't even eat them..........Of course, all of this took time and I was surprised that what looked like a lot of food ended up gone in minutes. Anyway, I'm going to start a container for bits of this and that in my freezer for future use as dog food.
We seem to finally have broken out of the 3 digit temperatures around here. Two digits only in the forecast from now on. There ARE always things for which to be thankful!
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