Living the Pantry Lifestyle - This and that from the pantry

The aroma that is filling the house right now reminds me that we are once again in soup weather.  As part of checking some food I have had for awhile, I found a few packages of beef bones that I had planned to use for making three different bone stock recipes.  I decided to make one larger stock pot batch with all three packages of beef bones, carrots, celery, a couple small onions, and a couple bay leaves.

I will use a third of this batch for soup on Monday and freeze the remainder.  I've never done it this way before with beef bones but I have with chicken.  I have one quart of chicken stock left in the deep freeze that I plan to defrost next week and use to make a chicken pot pie. Our weather is to turn even colder next week, time in the kitchen will be welcome after such a hot summer.

Sometimes we have to let go of food items we have been holding onto for too long.  Did you know there is something called the summer fruit syndrome?  When I read about it a few years ago, I knew I was guilty of doing the same thing with my frozen cranberries.  

It seems some people hold on to the fruit they have frozen instead of using it because they did not want to use it up too soon.  We should remember that we freeze food to be used and not to throw it away with freezer burn months later.  ;)

I also do that with food I buy in bulk, like rice or beans. I should have learned by previous mistakes.  Recently I watched a YouTube video about cooking with rice.  I think it was from America's Test Kitchen but I cannot remember for certain.  In that video, she says the common teaching that white rice has an indefinite shelf life is not correct.  It actually begins to lose flavor and nutrients after a year of storage.

I had a large bag of rice that I was storing in a medium size Rubbermaid container that I took out and put on a shelf while I decided what to do with it.  I broke my own self-made rule about stocking my pantry and that was not to buy a food product in bulk that I don't use very often.  

It has worked out much better to purchase the smaller bags of rice because I will open them up when I didn't want to open a 20 or 25 lb. bag.  I keep the different kinds of rice I use now in half gallon Ball jars.  In the Rubbermaid container that was now empty, I was able to put a couple of the small bags of rice that I had not put into jars, my bag of potato flour, a bag of potato flakes, and what is left of a bag of potato starch.

That container now sits on a garage shelf since it is cooler weather and by moving those small bags, I was able to reorganize my yellow pantry so everything in it is where it belongs. It is so much easier to find everything. All of that by removing one large bag of rice from a container.  I probably won't purchase any really large bags of rice, anymore.  Lesson learned this time...

 

Did you know that matches have a shelf life?  I learned that long ago but I was still surprised when the matches from my large box I keep in the kitchen didn't flame up last week.  Time goes so fast that while I thought they were only a couple years old, they could have been there for many years.  

I now date matchboxes when I buy them so they were purchased before that time. The matches usually will still burn but they will no longer flame up by striking them against the matchbox.  That is good to know if you plan to use matches to start a fire, even if like me... it is only to light a scented candle in the kitchen.

I didn't shop much for groceries last week but I did a trip to Meijer for a few items.  While walking through an aisle toward the back, I stopped and checked their non-food clearance section.  They must have just put a lot of garden items on clearance for I found four long horizontal vinyl flowerpots for a dollar each.

I found very nice stoneware pots for $3.00 each.  I bought two of them to use on the porch next year.  The long horizontal flowerpots can be used for growing greens like lettuce or kale on the deck... or pretty flowers.  All of the flower pots were 90% off their original price.

It pays to check the clearance section of stores, especially during seasonal changes.  I heard online of someone getting bags of indoor potting soil on clearance at Walmart for I think (it was a few days ago) $1.00 each.

That is part of living a pantry lifestyle, buying on sale or clearance whenever possible.  I found two throws and a queen size set of flannel sheets really cheap this spring at Meijer.  I still have the sheets put back for when new sheets are needed but the throws were washed along with the others last week and all were ready for cooler weather.

I bought two large warm blankets on clearance last spring, too.  I remember how hot it was that day I bought them!  While we didn't need another blanket for our bed, they will be good to have should we need to keep the house colder or for the sofa bed.

 

Regarding the Amazon links, I loved when I could keep Amazon widgets on the sidebar all the time.  First they took away the widget that let bloggers keep a running list of favorite books, etc.  Then recently, they took away the simple Amazon widget that was on the sidebar.

At least the new method for creating a link within the body of a post is quite easy and quick once you get used to it.  However, to do anything else requires more time and energy into creating advertisements than I am willing to put into it these days.  It also takes away from the simplicity of the look of CTB&Me that I prefer.

So, I will try to remember to link to a book or something else each Saturday.  You can enter to do any Amazon shopping by clicking on a link.  You don't have to purchase what you are linking to, it is just an entrance into Amazon using my Associate's coding.

I think I will share my most recent Amazon purchase for the kitchen.  I haven't ordered much lately, even with the lure of Amazon Prime sales.  However, I have been seeing these kinds of bowl covers on various cooking shows and thought I would try them.  

There has been a serious (to me) shortage of plastic bags in my area.  I only recently was able to purchase two boxes of my favorite Meijer plastic bags with twist ties after they have not been on the shelf for a couple months.  Ziploc bags were available but in short supply.

Using these instead of plastic bags or plastic wrap should be helpful and good for the environment.  There is too much plastic making its way to our rivers and oceans. Besides, if you like the look of vintage fabric like I do, they are cute.  Cute can be very important.  ;)

Mentioned in this Blog Post

Pretty 10 Piece Reusable Bowl Covers... here.

Disclaimer:  Most links to Amazon.com are Associate links.