Friday, March 5, 2021

Free Kindle Books for Today and Using Up the Weird Stuff in the Pantry!

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I don't know what ran into our thoughts that day.  It was the morning of the lockdown and the Governor said she was going to lock down our state.  Well what in the crap what did that mean?  We didn't have a clue.  Somehow we knew we'd better get our storehouse more stocked up than we had.  So, we went that morning (lockdown was at noon) to the Amish store and stocked up everything that we thought might come in handy.  Just let me say that was a big bill. This included like 15 cans of evaporated milk, cause like we could make half and half if needed.  We also bought some Folgers in a can just in case because like you can't do with out coffee.   We had plenty of TP.

So, we are down to the last 9 cans of evaporated milk that sit behind the chef Boyardee that the kids won't eat.   All those cans bought at once is not a good thing.  There is no rotation because they are just about the same date. Now, they are either just expired or ready to. Yesterday, I made some up and used it in the cheeseburger helper and also put it in the cornbread.  I plan on doing this until it's all gone and stock up a few at a time to replace.

As for the coffee, Folgers is not something we like so it just sat there expiring on the shelf.  Then the living room was painted and the smell was over powering.  We opened up windows when it was warm enough but we live in Michigan so we didn't want to freeze.  I looked up solutions on the internet of course and clapped when one said to place coffee grounds in bowls around the room or lemon water.  I did both and the house smelled better the next morning.  Then the coffee grounds went in the compost bin.

I'm a believer in a fully stocked pantry and I'm still stocking up on food but I'm buying more of the things we will use. For instance, I just bought 11 boxes of cereal yesterday on sale at Meijer with coupons I found in the paper in my daughters driveway.  Now that will be eaten in a heartbeat!  


Did you guys do this?  Tell me you did.





A Good-Hearted Man 


Burgundy Gloves (Mighty One Book 1) 


5 Ingredient Slow Cooker: 15 Amazingly Simple Slow Cooker Recipes (Healthy Recipes, Crock Pot Recipes, Slow Cooker Recipes, Caveman Diet, Stone Age Food, Clean Food)


35 Healthy Chicken Recipes For Your Slow Cooker – Easy Chicken Recipes For Dinner (The Slow Cooker Meals And Slow cooker Recipes Collection Book 4)


Making A Home in Times of Uncertainty: A Gentle Guide to Home Management 


Rommie's journey: an amazing adventure of a little caterpillar 



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20 comments:

Belinda said...

We didn't go to any stores once schools closed last March 13th. And at the time we could not get groceries delivered. So, we ordered from places like Target, Amazon, and Walmrt.com.

In the last year though, that changed and we can now get groceries delivered here. So, we didn't have the chance to stock up back then, but if I had known ahead of time I would have done some stocking up.

I think your doing the right thing with the evaporated milk and you will be able to use it up before the expiration date. That was good way to use up that Folgers too.

Chef Owings said...

Make sure you are not confusing best used by date with expired date. My ground coffee sits for a year and is just fine. I stock once a year. Usually the dates are a year out, but I know what I use a year. This year has been way off... kids wiped us out to a 3 month supply. I restocked thinking they would need help again. Only Daughter 4 has and not as much AND we quit eating like we should. One meal a day for me and two for Hubby when we were eating 3 meals and 2 snacks.

Kathy said...

Oh yes, we stocked up some too. With us it was maxwell house coffee. I don't drink coffee, and hubby hasn't been drinking it. I may turn it into iced coffee this summer or something mocha flavored. With sugar and milk, it would taste ok. :) Oh and hubby came home with 20 pounds of chicken leg quarters which I divided up and froze. They are still in the freezer. I really should thaw and cook them but bleck.
Hope you have a great weekend.

Cheryl Kimbley said...

Use the evaporated milk in anything that you would use milk in - just add a bit of water. Pudding, ice cream (that is what I always use), smoothies, baking, ect.
The Chef Boyardee can be added to chili or added to casseroles. Mix it up.

Coffee - freeze it. You may come to a point in time when you have none - you never know.
Just remember those items DON'T EXPIRE - those are best by dates. They are good for a long, long time.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

I'm so glad you can get your groceries delivered now. I bet a lot of people will use delivery now pandemic of not. you know it's great to be prepared but we kind of went crazy on certain things.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

So funny about the chicken quarters. I guess if we didn't have any other coffee we would have finally drunk it. Just so glad it didn't come to that. LOL

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Good way to think Chef to stock once a year. I hope both of you will get back to eating more. You are such a caring parent and I know your kids loved that they had someone they could come too.
I usually stock when it goes on sale like the cereal. I think a year ago we thought too much along the lines what if we can't get out to get food and we need this. Of course that never happened but supplies did dwindle quite a bit for somethings.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Good ideas Cheryl. It's great to think of ways to use it up. We are too much of coffee snobs around here but I think if we had froze it that I could have used it Like Kathy for Iced Coffee. You know though it soaked up the smell so I guess that was good. I used it for something LOL!

Jenny said...

I actually did this before things began to shut down thankfully. I read a few homemaking blogs in Australia & New Zealand. They were about a week or two ahead of us as covid swept around the world. After reading what was happening there I decided to do a few big shops.

I've struggled using up some canned fruit & beans I'd bought. We just don't eat those. I also bought some shower gel I absolutely hate....thankfully my husband is going to use it up. We've always used evaporated milk well so I've been using it & buying it all along. I just pour a can into a canning jar, add a lid & keep it in the fridge. We use it as cream in coffee & tea. I put a tsp or two in baked eggs & I sometimes use it when I make homemade ranch dressing. Yours should be good for a long time still but I would try to use it up in things you're cooking first.

Nancy said...

Oh yes, we did that too! There are only 2 of us here and we have at least 15 pounds of different pastas, fruit cups (because what if we can't buy fresh fruit?), 10 pounds of oatmeal, etc. Not worried because they wont' expire (well, we'll have to start eating those fruit cups). We have been using up the meat we froze too. That was a scary time and can't say I regret buying all that but still!
PS-I have been looking for weeks for canning lids I have a few boxes but need some more before canning season. Anyone else having trouble??

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

You know I was watching all those vlogs on youtube and stocking up for what I thought was going to be a food shortage. In a way it was!
Now though I'm going to go through some of this stuff and never buy too much again!
That's great you will use up the shower gel. I love that stuff is not going to waste.

jane said...

Evaporated milk makes the best Mac and cheese!

Anonymous said...

We did stock up. Starting in Feb since I had been reading some "stuff" that was concerning about what might be ahead. We did buy more than usual of some things and it was a good thing we did. There were some very real shortages in my area of certain things. Still is to be honest but nothing major. Ann

KayM said...

I did stock up on more canned vegetables and fruits, because I didn't know if I'd be able to get fresh ones. I need to make a point to use them. I have a well stocked pantry and what I've been doing as compared to pre-COVID is to immediately replace what I've used, rather than to wait for stuff to go on sale. It does consistently give me more choices as to what I might cook. My granddaughter gave me a whole bunch of canned goods that expired in 2019 and 2020 (she was moving and couldn't take them with her), so I'm going through those. The only item that I've found that doesn't do well after a couple of years past the date is evaporated milk. It separated and didn't really blend back together well. It wasn't spoiled though and I used it to cook with.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

I bet Jane..it mad the hamburger helper so good and creamy!

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Yep there are still holes in the shelves here and there at the grocery stores but like you say nothing major. We are getting better that's for sure!

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

I haven't seen any at all..I mostly have small mouth but wide mouth is kind of low. I hope the supplystraightens up soon.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

I'm glad I'm making sure to use that evaporated milk now then. It pays to keep ahead of these things doesn't it Kay.

Anonymous said...

Most of what we stocked up on, we use. But, I keep the local food pantry in mind for the overstocks before their expiration dates. That way someone else can enjoy it, and I don't feel bad about having bought it.

Vickie @Vickie's Kitchen and Garden said...

Yep that's a great idea. Great way to reduce waste and be giving at the same time. You know, I remember when the kids were at school they used to have these competitions to see which school gave the most to the food bank. I hope things get back to normal soon and we can do this stuff again.