Strawberry Freezer Jam

We had our jam session!  Naunee came over and we jammed our little hearts out.  The easiest, tastiest kind--strawberry freezer jam!  I love freezer jam because of the fresh taste.  Since it isn't cooked, it has the best just-picked taste, and is such a gorgeous bright red color.  Yum!  We made about 8 pints, and I am going to go buy some more berries and make more.  In quarts this time.  :)
Strawberries are only 99 cents a pound at the Ranch Market by me, and they are good ones.  Here is the recipe we followed:  (from Chef Tess)

4 cups crushed berries (used food processor)
1 1/2 cups honey
1 pkg freezer pectin

We used a gel kind of pectin and the powder kind.  The powder kind set up better.  I was going to add some Clear Jel to the runnier jam, but we are just using it on pancakes instead.

How do we like our jam?  Well, if it were proper I would eat it with a spoon out of the jar.  But, to be a good example to the children I try to use it on other foods such as toast, biscuits, pancakes, in yogurt (makes beautiful parfaits-just layer plain yogurt and strawberry jam), on ice cream, you name it!  I think I will have some for lunch on this lovely bread~

(see how pretty it comes out with good wheat?  yay!)

LDS cannery prices

Here is another good reason to be thinking food storage.  Prices are going up everywhere, including LDS canneries.  Here is a little article about it.  I have always wondered if there was going to be some kind of big natural disaster, or maybe war that would make it so we would have to use our food storage and not be able to get other food easily.  But lately I have been thinking more along the lines of financial disaster in our country.  It could be ANY of these things, or just hard times, that drive us to use our food storage.  For whatever reason I hope to be on the right track and at least be trying to get stocked up.  I believe that if we are trying, the Lord will help fill in the rest.

Load up the pantry

Gas is cheaper in Mexico.  The price hasn't gone up in years.  REALLY makes me wonder why it has gone up so much here...
I told DH I wished we could load up on gas there and keep a tank of it here at our house.  Sounds safe enough, yes?  (just kidding!)
Check out this article from the Wall Street Journal called "Load up the pantry".  They point out that it is a lot safer and makes more sense to keep a store of food instead of gas.  I guess so, but still...  ;)

Food Storage

My latest, and possibly the most beneficial, obsession I've had in a while! :)  I'm not sure what is in the air, but I know several friends who are focused on the same thing right now.  And this was even before the Japan earthquake.  (now that I think about it, I think it was prompted by Rhonda's blogging about her food storage...)  :)

I believe that as women we WANT to take care of our families, which (let's face it) means FOOD.  Food brings health, energy, brain power, and comfort.  There is not much better than opening the pantry, seeing lots of good food in there, and being able to fix something great for your family. I know you feel the same on this one.

I have also been doing some couponing in conjunction with food storage, because on a limited budget that is one of the easiest and fastest ways we are going to be able to stock up.  In the past month I have gotten more than 10 cans of pasta sauce FREE and over 20 boxes of pasta FREE!!  Among other free or seriously cheap food.
In fact, if you want to get pasta for free, you still can!  This week at Fry's.  Just print out these coupons:
http://ronzonismarttaste.newworldpasta.com/pasta_coupon.cfm
http://www.itpaystoeatpasta.com/
 (select American Beauty for the Quick Cook version)

At Fry's this week, this pasta is only 49 cents when you buy 10, so use 5 coupons and get 10 boxes of pasta for free!  You can print each coupon twice, so go ahead and get 20 FREE BOXES!!
Here are some FABULOUS websites/blogs I've been reading lately:

Everyday Food Storage  go to the blog for lots of great stuff.  I am LOVING this blog!!!  Tons of videos on how to make stuff from your food storage (even making yogurt from powdered milk!), how to store things...it is just AWESOME!!

Food Storage Made Easy

Deals to Meals  this is so cool-you can try free for 2 weeks, and if you want to subscribe, it is $4.95 a month.  This site tells you which ads are cheaper than Costco and Walmart, so you know what to stock up on at the store.  It does all the local stores, so you can just make your list of what you want from each store and price match it all at Walmart for one-stop shopping.  It also makes your grocery list and gives you a weekly menu from the stuff on sale that week.  Check it out! (only avail in some states)

Let's keep sharing our ideas and motivation, K?  This is an endeavor worthy of helping each other and plugging away at.  Fun, fun!