Fast, Cheap, and Good is a philosophy of homemaking. I believe that we can care for ourselves and our families by adopting simple lifestyle habits and techniques that will improve our health, our connection to and stewardship of our world, and our finances, all without depending on a larger organization to help us through.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Food Waste Friday: How Many Pickles Do We Need?
I often enjoy reading the posts from The Frugal Girl, who includes a regular column called Food Waste Fridays in which she chronicles her food waste for the week, often in the form of tiny pieces of lunch meat or a half an onion that she forgot to use. Other bloggers have followed suit, and it is fun to cheer their efforts to use all available food.
I have never tried to do that with this blog, partly because I don't like a regular schedule of column topics, but mostly because I don't clean out my fridge that often. (Hey, at least I'm honest!) But yesterday I cleaned out the canning pantry, and I had to share with you the massive amount of waste I am about to send to compost.
Apparently, in 2005, I had a bumper crop of cucumbers, most of which I preserved in the form of dill pickles. I do remember making a lot of dill pickles early in our garden expansion efforts, but clearly I way overshot the mark, especially considering that I'm the only one in the house that eats dill pickles, and I go through maybe two jars in a good year. Seriously, there are enough dill pickles here to feed an army of pregnant women in a bad 1960s sitcom, and, since I preserved them as spears rather than whole pickles, they are sure to be mushy as all get-out. While they technically might be OK to eat (the seals are all still good), the quality is sure to be marginal, and I'm ready to let them go.
Sigh. OK, I learned my lesson. I know now that two jars of dill pickles per year are the max (I have two jars from 2010 in the canning pantry right now); the rest of the cucumber excess needs to be made into bread and butter pickles (a favorite of both families, so a good gift any time of year) and cucumber relish (the base of tartar sauce). Last year, that is just what I did, along with eating so many cucumbers fresh that I actually got sick of them, which is hard for me to do.
Anyway, there is your bonus lesson for the week: when you are setting your canning goals, lean toward products with multiple uses, like canned fruit (pies, cobblers, yogurt toppings). Hold back on those single-use products. After all, there are only so many meals that are improved with a dill pickle spear.
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That is how one learns how much one needs to can for their needs and likes.
ReplyDeleteVery good post and the picture is still pretty. :)