Pepper Harvest and Stocking your Pantry

good morning my wonderful friends.          I hope and pray that this post finds you doing well and excited about the day ahead of us.       I was just out looking at my fall garden with lettuces and radishes and beets and carrots.        I plant the seeds and God does the rest.          I must say that He is a wonderful Gardener because He's really doing some great work with my little garden so far.        I truly believe it's all Him and nothing I am doing.         

last evening I went out and done a pepper harvest.         to be honest with ya, pepper is all I have left in my spring/summer garden.          I still have strawberry plants, but I don't know if going to go thru another season with them or not.        I'm not thrilled with having 70 or 80 plants and not harvesting any more than 10 or 12 strawberries at a time.        so, I'm seriously thinking about getting rid of all of them and having more space for stuff that produces more food.        oh, they're pretty, but pretty doesn't put food in the freezer or pantry.        so I got some thinking to do.     

about my pepper harvest, I got it all washed and cut and on my dehydrator last night.    I ended up with 3 trays of my homegrown peppers.       and I got it going for 48 hours and it may need more time, I don't know.          not only did I put my home grown peppers on the dehydrator, but I had some store bought snacking bell peppers, so I cut up a few of them and put them on a tray.         I cut up some of my grape tomatoes from the store and put them on there and I also cut up a tray of grapes to make more homemade raisins.        so with my produce from the store, I got another 3 trays of produce.         the most important thing is to try to fill your dehydrator to make maximum use of the the time and the electricity used.   

I always like to have a full dehydrator when I start, so if I have produce in the fridge, I'll put some of that on my dehydrator.        I have a bell pepper jar that I like to keep full and this is a good way to work on it getting it back to the top.        the little grape tomatoes can be dropped in soups and stews or powdered and make tomato paste or sauce.        there is always something that can be done with all of it.        

for my own homegrown peppers, I like to keep some in the split and dehydrated stage.      I'll take some of it and crush it have crushed pepper to use like bought crushed pepper.        and then I'll take some of it make ground pepper like store bought ground cayenne.        we have decided that we prefer the taste of the pepper itself over being pickled.          so I dehydrate it and we have just the pepper flavor.       I have green and ripe peppers of all my different peppers.       some of the ripe peppers are purple and red and yellow and orange.     you get the picture.        I just love colors and the colors are gorgeous.

well, I've been trying to add pictures to this post and no matter what I do, it won't let me.         I'm frustrated with it now.        hahahaha          I don't know what to do.         blogger has all but given up the ghost and it's not what it used to be.         I have no desire to go to another format, so I don't know what I'll do.         keep trying, I guess.        hahaha

so I mentioned in the title about "stocking your pantry".          you know as well as I do that this can be a hard thing to do this day and time.        in reality, it's always been hard to do.         but with prices today, it's even more difficult.         plan your list.      stick to your list.        but......be flexible.       there's things that's always on my list, not because I necessarily need it, but because I want to keep a good supply of it.      for instance, I use a lot of onions.      onions are always on my list.        I use a lot of bacon bits.        bacon bits are always on my list.       same with eggs.        same with butter.        same with our favorite lunchmeat.        ok, so you get the picture.

now, this is where being flexible comes in.        some of those items are always on my list.      but......if I get to the store and something is on a great sale, guess what, I can back off of what's on my list that I always get just to stay stocked up and I can take advantage of a sale without having to really spend money I don't necessarily have.        there's several items on my list at all times that are flexible.       so, if there isn't anything I want that's on a good sale, I can always go ahead and get my usual stock up foods.    either way, I'm stocking my pantry or freezer with each shopping trip.       

if I don't spend my allotted grocery money, I save the unspent for a meat sale.       I may get to the store and there may be a sale on chicken that I wasn't aware of and with some of the items I don't necessarily need and with a few dollars saved from other shopping trips, I may be able to get 3 or 4 months worth of chicken or ground beef or what ever the food may be.

if you just buy an extra can of rotel each week, or an extra can of chicken broth or just something extra, it will help you and give you incentive to look for ways of being able to stock up more each time you go shopping.        maybe a bag of dried beans every shopping trip for the month.        maybe a can of chicken stock every shopping trip for a month.        or coffee creamer, or a bag of sugar every shopping trip for a month.         there are lots of ways to help stock your pantry that is less painful if we make plans and then make sure we can be flexible.   

I see sometimes, some of the youtubers going out and spending hundreds of dollars on a shopping spree and to be honest with, most of us can't do that.      so that's basically why I wanted to share a tip or two with y'all to give you some realistic ways of stocking your pantry, slowly but surely.  

as I think of more, I'll share more.        of course, I do a lot of stocking my pantry with the produce I try to grow in my little deck garden.      that's fun and it gives me something to do and I feel like I am doing something.

one more thing about stocking your pantry.  don't be afraid to use it!!!!!         I think sometimes when we get stocked up we think we're not supposed to touch it.    that's not so.     we get it to be used and that's what we should do.        but just remember as we use it to put that on the list and make sure replenish as we use.     also keep the older food pulled to the front and just purchased to the back so you won't end up with a bunch of expired cans.       and a little bit about that.       unless you see a bulging lid or rusty spots on cans that say they are outdated, unless they are 10 or 15 years old, I would probably open them.      if the lid is bulging, DON'T!!!!!         if it's rusty, DON'T!!!!!!!      otherwise, give it a try.        the use by date is a suggestion.        and they want you to toss it and  buy more even though they know it's still good.    

well, I guess this is where I'll call it quits.      kinda makes me ill that I can't upload pictures today.       I'll keep trying when I think of it.

I hope y'all have a wonderful day today and just enjoy the day that God allowed you to be a part of.  blessings and love be yours today and every day.  you are loved!!!  big hugs and love, patty