Eat freely or hoard???
 

We now have a pretty good-sized stock of canned (heirloom) tomatoes such that we are able to use them freely, but we had to overcome old habits of hoarding them in case we ran out. Same with veggies in the freezer. I'd find myself holding back, but then would find I hadn't used everything when the next year's crop came in.

I'm thinking it's best to use preserved stuff freely and if you run out, you run out. And know to put more up next year. How about you?

it depends on how much i've got put up. if i've got lots, then i use freely. if it was a lean canning season, then i hoard. but like you said, then there's stuff left over because i was afraid to use it. i need to just get over my fear of running out and use the stuff. that's what i went to all the trouble for, after all. :lol:

Eat freely!!!!!

Worth

[quote=Worth1]Eat freely!!!!![/quote]

I am in large agreement !!

Except I would take 6 to 12 jars of whatever you've put up (especially maters & mater juice) and stash them in boxes labeled "car parts", "mower parts", "computer parts", etc.

This way when everyone else thinks you're really out, you can still have some goodness left for yourself!! :shock: [size=2]OK, so I'm slightly sneaky![/size]

Good question. This reminds me that I have lots of basil squash in the freezer.

I hoard and get frenzied when I run low...I like to make pickles every other year, as they last best and in the in between year I plant cucumbers and beets in less amounts...Tomatoes end up being every other year as that has been how the harvest goes...

I am sneaky though and often tell my mother I am nearly out of tomatoes , and she brings me her quarts to use and I save mine....Not really stealing from mom, as she is a notorious waster and rarely uses what she puts up and I am opposite...

Jeanne

Angelique...What is basil squash?

[quote=montanamato]
Angelique...What is basil squash?[/quote]

Oops. I meant to say, basil and squash (cocozelle and romanesco).

Oh great, just when I thought there was a basil sguash! :(

Worth

Me too...I was hoping for seeds....

Jeanne

Jeanne, maybe we need to have a little talk about you telling your mom you're out of tomatoes so she'll give you hers. :wink: :wink:

Honestly, I have seen her dump and throw away so much stuff, I have just decided to intervene...If she should ever run out, I would pay her back with mine...

Plus, she has a pretty warm growing area and really out produces me on the big slicers and longer season tomatoes...I think she harvested about 30-40 pounds off of a few Yates Beefsteak and County Agents...And I gave her the seeds...Plus, I taught her to can...Anyway, I really can't see her ever running out...

Jeanne

Sorry no seeds.

Tonight, I gave in and used 2 ice cubes of basil. Last year, I blanched then water shocked my basil. Then it was off to the food processor with a little olive oil and coarse salt. I made sure that I tightly packed the ice cubes.

I was really surprised at how good the basil still taste. I used the ice cubes to make a basil rice with diced dried tomatoes. Yummy.

I really was hoarding the basil. I think that i have at least 50+ more basil cubes. Time to use them now.

It's the freezer stuff that usually trips me up. With canned goods, I can eyeball amounts on the shelves and get a pretty good idea of how much I have left, but with freezer goods, it is way harder. I put stuff in as it gets harvested and processed for the freezer, which means a jumble of freezer bags in no particular order, and then it is impossible to know what you have left. :roll: This winter I--ta da!--organized the freezer using plastic grocery bags to hold bags of each type of vegetable. The grocery bags are easy to grab by the handles and lift out to get at stuff underneath and they collapse down as they are emptied so they don't take up as much room as, for example, a box would if used for an organizer.

Ziplocks are cheap, but I find that they can really waste space. For the few harvest items that I freeze rather than can (other than berries) I prefer to use the small disposable plastic containers. Those stack pretty well.

I actually freeze my ziplocks in the small tupperware then after it has frozen, upmold, then stack them up. Keeps them neat and tidy and I don't have to use up all the tupperware.;) ;)