One Hundred Dollars a Month

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other people’s pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all find unique ways to save, show off our chickens and have a rock star gardens. Keep them coming!

Hi Mavis,

I can A LOT! I steam can and pressure can. I have most recently gotten in to canning ready to eat meals. So, for example, I have a jar that is a full pot roast dinner. Ground beef was on sale for $1.79 a pound, so I canned about 40 pounds of it!

I made tavern meat, taco meat, sloppy joe meat and then chili. I found a great way to cook the ground beef! I put 10# in a big pot. Fill with water, just over the meat and boil it! Works like a charm and it breaks up so nice!! After all the batches, I just drained the liquid in to a big plastic container and refrigerated overnight. The fat separated and I skimmed that off to use later. The “meat water” I used to make my chili!

Also, if you still use the old fashioned water bath canner… you have to switch!! Get a steam canner! So much more efficient.

Here is a sampling of my jams. One pic is of apple butter, which I found is so much easier to do in a crock pot. Just let it go on low until it cooks down to your liking. (Usually takes all day or overnight..)

Then I have my cherries. Whole cherries, cherry jam and cherry juice with a simple syrup.

And then a few jars of strawberry/rhubarb jam. You see my old fashioned cherry pitter on the table outside. My son was helping me that day. So easy a 4 year old can do it! HA! You just put a handful of cherries in the top and turn the handle. Cherries come out the bottom and pits in the front. I almost hate to tell people about the cherry pitter, as prices for the old pitters will probably sky rocket… 🙂 Then lastly, my daughter loves rhubarb, so I made her a rhubarb jam.

Here is my son admiring the new pressure canner, so we can have two at a time going now! Saves so much time! Since quarts take a minimum 90 min processing time, you can imagine the time it takes if you have several batches to do! They only hold about 7 quarts at a time. Then you see my pot roast dinner jars (pretty aren’t they!).

Then some stews and pot roast dinner. So easy on a busy night!! Grab a jar, warm up and throw in to your taco shells! Done! (And I do can beans, so I have a jar of Mexican beans I serve with).

Here’s my son helping me make pickles. He helps his dad around the farm place too, so he will be a well rounded little boy!:) Pictures of the many jars of pickles I did this year. Our cucumbers went crazy! I think we must have harvested minimum of 200# worth of cucumbers this year! In fact, I didn’t know what to do with them after canning about 90 jars of pickles.

All different kinds, of course. So my husband found a recipe for cucumber wine. So we have about 10 gallons of that in the basement fermenting. It takes about a year to finish.. but that’s another story all together. (It has other stuff in it, like orange and lime in one and pineapple and pear with the other.)

Along the pickle subject though… Have you ever made lime pickles? Not like the fruit lime. But powdered lime (food grade). My mother in law told me about it. I’m telling you, they are the crunchiest pickles you will ever put in your mouth!!

Pickling lime went out of style in the 70’s and 80’s because of the natural food rage. But it is said that commercial food processors never stopped using lime. They use it in many canned vegetables. The worry it that people don’t rinse the lime off properly and because it is alkaline, it can lower the acidity in your jars and possibly cause botulism. And BTW.. you can use it on any fruit or veggie you want to keep crisp in the jar!

Here are some pickled radish in my steam canner. Steam canners have been around a long time, but there has been little research on the safety of using one. Now there are a couple Universities that have done research and can say outright that they are safe for canning specific things. (Mostly those that you can water bath can.) I have been using mine a year and have had no trouble with spoilage. Anything that can be water bath canned, I can in the steam canner for same amount of time.

Then you see my salsa, taqueria style salsa, and salsa verde (made with the tomatillos I grow).  Made with tomatillos. You can make enchiladas with them.. chilaquiles, or other Mexican dishes.. Heck, you can put it on eggs if you want.
Here is my taco and tavern meat.

Then I tried watermelon rind pickles, since we harvested a 65# and 70# watermelon this year! They are kind of like those fruity gel candies coated in sugar with a salty bite.. A little strange. But I could see them being a treat in the old days. I used food coloring to make them that color which seemed to be traditional. I guess you could go without for the food coloring adversaries. 😊

Anyway, I think that’s it. I hope you can use some of this stuff. Mind you, my husband and I only moved on to our 3 acre farm place two years ago. I had never even gardened before that and I’m 42 years old! My husband, on the other hand is very handy and farm place savvy!

I do a lot of online research and look at blogs like yours. I also have a few good books. As for recipes, I only started canning about 4 years ago and mostly follow recipes. I am self taught, so don’t feel comfortable sharing any recipes I have tweaked. Seems like the canning police are everywhere. 🙂 I have my hands full trying this or that. I try about anything.

Take care,

Jenny

Find More Mavis Mail Submissions HERE.

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop, pantry or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

• Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so,  show me some picture of how you are going about it.
• Your Pantry Pics – Submit at least 5 HIGH QUALITY pictures of your pantry/fridge/cabinets, as well as a short blurb {at the very least} about you and your food habits.
• Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
• Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
• Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
• Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.

You’ll need to send in a Minimum of 5 HIGH QUALITY pictures and the stories to go along with those pictures. Please do not send in a couple of grainy photos and a sentence about them. I can’t post that. It doesn’t make for an interesting or informative story.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com. You can send your submissions to me at onehundreddollarsamonth @ gmail.com {spaces removed}and be sure and put Mavis Mail in the subject line. Thank you. I’m looking forward to your submissions.

Go HERE for the official rules.