How to Can Applesauce

Tattler Reusable Canning Lids

In the video I mentioned using reusable canning lids. I gave a more in depth review of the lids a few weeks ago in my post about canning peaches. They are awesome and I can’t wait to get more. Yay!

You may have noticed that the videos we embed on our website are hosted by YouTube. This is a way that is easy for us to get videos online for our blog, but it’s also a whole little community over there. If you are already have a YouTube account, we would love it if you would subscribe to our channel, check out more of our videos, and become our “friend”.

Visit our channel http://youtube.com/user/FoodStorageMadeEasy1

If you don’t have a YouTube account, here are the benefits of getting an account and subscribing to our channel:

• Get instant notification when we upload new videos
• View ALL videos we create, even if we never post them on the blog
• Leave comments on our channel and/or individual videos
• Become “friends” on YouTube in order to better interact with each other
• Upload your own videos and share them with us and our other subscribers
• Leave feedback (thumbs up or down) to let us know if you like a video or not
• “Share” your favorite videos via email, Facebook, Twitter
• Keep track of all your favorite YouTube videos and channels all in one place

I made a quick little tutorial video to show you some of the features of our YouTube channel (to make sure you don’t miss out on any of our great stuff). Then after that I walk you through the process of how to register for a YouTube account and give a little but of guidance on how to start taking advantage of the benefits mentioned above.

Want to check out some of our videos?

We have organized our videos into categories or “playlists” to make it easier to find the content you are looking for. Check out some of these great topics that we cover over on YouTube. You don’t have to subscribe to view and enjoy the videos

• Online Powerless Cooking Class
• Summer Powerless Cooking Adventures
• How-To Video Tutorials
• Food Storage Calculators
• Cooking With Your Food Storage
• Extreme Makeover – Food Storage Edition

Hopefully this is helpful to you and we hope to see many of you around on YouTube and see what you are up to with your food storage, summer cooking adventures, gardening, and more!

A few months ago when Julie’s baby started on baby food, she had a “WELL DUH!” moment in the grocery check out line as the cashier was ringing up jar after jar of expensive baby food. She realized it was ridiculous to pay so much for squash and bananas filled with tons of water. She asked some of our facebook readers how they made their own baby foods and got TONS of suggestions. Now that Jodi has a baby old enough for baby food she’s showing her some of the tricks she’s learned.

If the baby is old enough to eat the food, you can use that food. Some of our favorites are yams, squash, carrots, peas, green beans, apples, pears, and peaches. Some foods aren’t recommended for younger infants, so make sure you consult with your doctor. We use Deals to Meals to find the best price for produce and cook batches of what’s on sale.

Cook the vegetable or fruit either by pressure cooking, steaming, baking, or boiling. Pressure cooking or steaming maintains the most nutrients. Doing it this way, you can prepare large batches at once.

Remove the water and save it. Take the cooked vegetables or fruits and put them into a blender, food processor, or bowl in which you can use a hand held processor to puree the foods. Add back the liquid you saved to get to the right consistency. You may also thin the food with formula, breast milk, or plain water if you don’t have enough saved.

Once you have a nice liquid baby food puree you will then transfer the puree into containers. You can use freezer jam tupperwares, or any other container that can go in the freezer. This allows you to make weeks of food at a time at a fraction of the cost of store-bought food. Another way is to use ice cube trays for freezing/storage. Fill each tray with the puree then cover the tray with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer. Once the cubes are frozen, you can place them in ziploc bags for single servings (1 cube is about 1 oz).

When it is time to feed your baby, thaw and/or reheat the ice cubes, or foods from the containers. You can store food in the fridge for a couple of days, so each time you take some food out of the fridge, replace it from one from the freezer. This will ensure you always have some ready to go.

Please Note: If you have Vita-Mix envy like Jodi, they are having a big sale this Saturday only. If you use coupon code 06-005516 you can get a $25 shipping discount too!

Needless to say any time people see my garden boxes they are dying to know where I got them or how I made them. Well the answer is … I have an amazing husband He has been sweet enough to make a tutorial for you to show how to make a simple 4×4 vinyl garden box. Feel free to watch the video below, but I have also tried to summarize his instructions if you don’t want to watch the whole thing.
 

How To Build a Vinyl Square Foot Garden Box

Materials Needed:
4″x4″ vinyl post jackets (found in either 72″ or 100″ lengths)
- You can also use 5″x5″ vinyl posts but they have holes pre-drilled in incorrect places)
Vinyl fence slats (found in 16′ lengths)
- You can make your boxes one slat high, but I prefer to do them double
Fence Post Caps (optional)
- You don’t NEED these but they make the boxes look so pretty!
Liquid Nails (optional)
- Can be used to glue the two layers of slats together if you are worried about stability

Tools Needed:
Tape Measure
Pencil
Straight Edge/Ruler
Table Saw or Sawzall or Circular Saw or Hacksaw (to cut vinyl into segments)
Jigsaw or Sawzall or Hacksaw Blade (to cut the post holes, jigsaw works best)

Posts
Measure post lengths to give you 1-2 inches of space at the top, and 4-6 inches of space at the bottom. Then give yourself either 5 1/2 or 11 inches for the slats (depending on whether you are doing one layer or two). Cut 4 equal segments. If you are doing a longer box, you will need to add 2 additional posts to give it more stability in the middle.

Side Slats
Determine the size of box you want to make. For a 4 foot square box you would ideally give yourself a few extra inches on each side since they will be stuck into the posts. However, since the slats come in 16 foot lengths we opted to just make our box a little smaller. Cut into 4 equal segments. Again if you are doing a longer box, make additional slats as necessary. Don’t make the slats longer than 4 or 5 feet in length.

Post Holes
Draw yourself a template for the holes. Start down 1-2 inches from the top of the post (depending on what you measured for). Make sure to mark the center of the post. Measure your fence slat (should be about 1 1/2 inches) and mark that width down the post starting from the center. So you will have 3/4″ on each side of the middle line. You can either measure 11″ and draw the lines, or simply trace around your fence slat to get a pretty good outline. Use a large drill bit to start a hole in the outline. Then using a jigsaw, cut out the hole. You will need two holes per post and they should be on sides right next to each other.

Assembly
If you glued your two layers of slats together, wait for them to dry. Then stick the fence slats into the holes you made in the posts and form your square foot garden box. Once you determine where your box will go, dig holes in the ground for the four post holes and stick your box in! We like to fill our posts with dirt after to make them more stable. Then stick on the post caps for a beautiful finishing touch.

Cost of a 4′x4′ Box (all parts from Home Depot)
72″ vinyl post jacket – $15.97
16′ vinyl slats x 2 – $29.94
Fence post caps x 4 – $6.68
TOTAL COST – $52.59

Time Required
A simple 4×4 box like the one we built can be done in an hour or so. Depending on how much of a perfectionist you are with the measuring and cuts it could take a little longer. If you have a table saw and a jigsaw it could take a little shorter. To do a bigger box with more cuts and more complex measurements it will longer as well. Also if you choose to glue the slats together it’s best to let them dry overnight.

Hope this is helpful! If you or your spouse makes one of these boxes let us know in the comments how it works out for you.

In an emergency situation where your municipal water source could be contaminated, it is important to immediately turn off the water entering your home from the main water line. This will help to prevent contamination and will allow you to use alternate water sources in your home such as: hot water heater, toilet tanks (unless a colored disinfectant was used), water pipes, soft water tanks, etc.

Since we did not know how to shut off the main water supply our homes, we commissioned Jodi’s sweet hubby to help with this instructional video. We all need to know how to do these things since you never know who will be home (or not home) when an emergency strikes!

If you live in a newer home you may have a shut-off valve in your house. This is nice because you can avoid the “spider problem” but can be bad if you have children that are rascals (see Julie’s water adventures story). So figure out what type of shut-off valve you have and make sure you know where it is and how to turn it off (and back on!)

Other helpful “Water” Resources

BabyStep 2: Water – basic information on getting a 2 week supply of water
Alternate Water Sources – Sources of water both inside and outside your home
How to Make an Evaporation Still – Great way to collect water
Water Purification – Methods of purifying water from outside sources

For all the new readers that are just finding our site we wanted to give you a little recap of over 50 of our favorite posts we’ve done over the last year and half since we started our blog. For all our current readers, hope you enjoy this blast from the past!

TOP POSTS/TOOLS OF ALL TIME

Small Spaces Storage Solutions
Food Storage Made Easy Binders
How to Build Your Own Can Rotating Rack
Emergency Preparedness Plan
Our Favorite Wheat Grinder
How to Grind Wheat VIDEO
Three Month Supply Spreadsheet
Three Month Supply Videos: Basic Tutorial | Advanced Tutorial
Long Term Food Storage Calculator
Long Term Food Storage Tutorial Video

GREAT POSTS FROM THE PAST

Our Beginnings: Julie’s 1st Month | Jodi’s 1st Month – June 2008
How to Make a 72 Hour Kit – June 2008
72 hour kit outtakes VIDEO (HILARIOUS!) – October 2008
Interview with Crystal from Everyday Food Storage VIDEO – October 2008
Homemade Applesauce Recipe and Canning – November 2008
Cheap Holiday Baking – November 2008
What’s a Tweet? – November 2008
Top 10 Christmas WishList Items – December 2008
How to Create an Emergency Binder – January 2009
Julie’s love affair with Mozy – January 2009
Water Purification – January 2009
Alternate Water Sources – February 2009
Valentine’s Gift Idea – 72 Hour Kit for the Office – February 2009
How to Grow Sprouts – February 2009
Food Storage Myths Debunked – March 2009
All About Wheat Grinders – March 2009
Let’s Talk About Wheat – March 2009
Beans, the Magical Fruit! – March 2009
72 Hour / Disaster Kits for Babies & Toddlers – March 2009
Make Your Own Newspaper Plant Pots – April 2009
Cleaning Supplies Using Food Storage Items – April 2009
Food Storage and Money Savings – April 2009
How to Make a Coffee Can Heater – April 2009
Food Storage Shelf Life – April 2009
Emergency Chemical Toilet – May 2009
Types of Wheat – May 2009
More 72 Hour Kit Food Ideas – May 2009
Let’s Talk About Barley – May 2009
What to do With Spare #10 Cans – June 2009
Food Storage Labels – June 2009
Water Evaporation Still – June 2009
Let’s Talk About Oats – July 2009
Let’s Talk About Beans – July 2009
How to Cook Rice (Without a Rice Cooker) – August 2009
Let’s Talk About Powdered Eggs – August 2009
SPROUTING – August 2009
Non-Food Items Inventory List – August 2009
Seven Day Challenge Summary – September 2009
Food Storage Substitutions – September 2009

OUR FAVORITE RECIPES

Buttermilk Cornbread
Corn Cakes (YUMMM!)
Fruit Smoothies
Whole Wheat Bread (from start to finish)
Food Storage Pizza Tricks
BEST Rice Krispie Squares
Granola Bars
Honey Whole Wheat Bread (Jodi’s favorite!)
Lemon Bars with a Twist
Homemade Mac N Cheese

We hope you will start (or continue) to follow along with us by subscribing to our RSS Feed, Twitter, Facebook, or adding our button to your blog. We love getting to know our readers, hearing about your food storage experiences, and learning from all of YOU!

So you can use me as an example, just because I wasn’t able to do what I had hoped I could do, I was still able to have somewhat of a success with my garden, and I will have more than NOTHING. You just can’t give up. If everything feels overwhelming take BabySteps and do it at your own pace. As long as you are progressing you are achieving success! I won’t have lots of tomatoes and cucumbers to can this year, but I am still planning to buy some peaches and apples so at least I can get a little of my canning itch to be satisfied

How is your garden coming along this year? Share your successes and failures in the comments below! And don’t be ashamed, at least your garden can’t look worse than MINE!

Please note: If you can’t get ANY sort of garden this year, all is not lost. You can still achieve success by getting some fresh veggies from friends or family, or even buying it from the corner stands or a farmer’s market. Julie has a story and recipe to share about that that she will be posting soon as well!

5 lbs C&H sugar
3 Stouffers frozen dinners
1 tube colgate toothpaste
2 lbs Land O Lakes butter
1 bottle Krogers syrup
2 cans evaporative milk

The regular prices of these items would have been $27.94 … BUT … using the fresh values sales prices I saved $9.44 and I printed some coupons and clipped old coupons I’ve been saving and saved another $8.85. Including tax, the total I paid was only $10.26! That is WAY cheaper than it would have been even at Walmart with all generic brands.

I am only beginning to skim the surface on how great this system is. Within a few months I hope to have a lot of food stockpiled, do most of my monthly “shopping” from my pantry, and only hit Walmart for things I’ve run out of before I have a chance to restock. View the video below for tips on how to use this great resource.

How to Use GrocerySmarts.com

For more tips on saving money on your groceries and food storage items visit The Obsessive Shopper. She also includes some general couponing tips for people outside of Utah.