Dee

snapshotmikki....for later seems to be the motto of most of us!

I wish I could help you Kimba, but I don't do enough dehydrating to know. Mother does lots of dehydrating. I'll get a hold of her and see what she has to say.

I tried answering this yesterday and deleted the whole post. Thank heavens for Anaarchy who can take care of my stupidity. Yesterday I shredded a huge zucchini and made 4 loaves of bread for the freezer. Some of the frozen pre-shredded will also be used in making zucchini brownies. Have you ever made those? They're good. I'll take individual slices out on a winter night when we have soup or stew, or a variety of other times, even when we just want a light snack sometime.

Jeepers and Annarchy.....here's a picture of a gallon of milk I took out of the freezer this morning. You can see the one side is really budging. The other is just bulging in the bottom left of the circle. The black line shows the level of the milk. Slick as a whistle.

I'm a little late but still want to say I hope you had a great day Littlesister!

Becca, I remembered you and the others. I just wondered if others could recognize them. LOL It was a fun time. Wish we could do it again!

Looking through pictures this morning and look what I came across. Any idea who they are?

Twenty years in the freezer???? Wow, that's cool and good to know.

Probably just something I did wrong Darlene. I don't know what a pig of yeast is. I have jars of Red Star right now but I've also frozen the Fleishman's 3 packets you buy. That's good to know euphrasyne. I don't thaw it before I use it, but it might proof quicker if I did.

Midnightmom, I'm sorry to have taken so long to respond. I've been down in Des Moines bumming around with cousins and having a great time! Now I'm home and back to work. I love the hanger holding the cookbook idea, I've seen it before but never tried it. I'm going to though if I can remember long enough....sigh! LOL Oh Annarchy, that wouldn't be good. Fortunately, so far, ours have only dug in the middle of the yard. I've even marked the spot where they've laid their eggs, but nothing ever hatched. I'm old Jeepers and I get your joke to Annarchy!

I thought it was the same freezer Jeepers. It's why I told you it was a Frigidaire. Cool!!! Mine is only organized because it's new Annarchy. My other I defrosted and reorganized before beginning on the new one. Give me time, sadly the organization won't last. Like Mother we have a 3rd freezer, over 60 years old. After emptying it DH and I moved it from the old house, where my in-laws lived right next door, next to the new house. We don't need it yet, so I told DH not to plug it in until then. Truthfully a poor time then to see if it still works after moving it from its 60-year-old spot. Oh well, we'll see. As to the milk I usually pour some out, but someone told me, or I read somewhere that some cartons have an indented circle on the sides that expands when the milk freezes. I put these in a Dutch oven to catch the mess in case it wasn't true, but it worked fine. Good to know. I also do the same as you with leftovers or cook ahead food. The old freezer, not the OLD, in the house has all the ready-made meals in it. That way DH can get what he wants. The other stuff will be in the garage. DH doesn't do steps well, so I don't put his food there, UNLESS, I want to hide it from him. Some of the things I freeze seem weird, but they work great. Yeast, I freeze, and it'll work up to 2 years past the date. Maybe longer but I tried a 3 year past date once and it didn't work. Doesn't mean all won't work but I haven't tried again. Nuts, all kinds of nuts, including sunflower seeds. They are so expensive that when I find a sale I stock up. They all taste like fresh even after thawing. Butter, again, when it's on sale I stock up. I leave it in the packaging and have had it past the 2-year mark on the box. I use it in baking as well as putting in out on the counter. Not just for a day but until its used up, which takes a while around here. Of course, as you can see by the picture, I freeze flour. Anywhere from a few days or until I have to move it for something else. It keeps it from getting buggy. Flour will also last a year or two past it's date. Chocolate chips, the same way. In the freezer they'll be good for 3 years or so. There are so many things you can freeze for later. I CANNOT imagine life w/o my freezers. I hope I never have to learn!

Like yours Jeepers, mine is a 20 cu. ft. I chose from 16 cu. ft. or 20 and, of course, I took the 20. It's a Frigidaire and I love it..

Oh, Miki and euphrasyne this is fun. Love the ideas...thanks!!!

That's a beauty Jeeper's. Congratulations! I got a new one recently too, don't know if I posted it here or not, BUT it's sure been fun filling it as I go along.

Years ago, I cooked a roast in the oven. You know, the whole works with browning the roast, adding potatoes and carrots during the last hour, etc. Oh, so good. Then I began cooking it in an electric skillet. It was even better because if you let the broth cook down enough the potatoes and carrots, as well as the roast, were browned and wonderful. Now, I do it in the crockpot. It's good but, nothing like the electric skillet or oven. DH likes it because, with his dentures, the meat just falls apart and he doesn't have to chew it much. So, my questions are. 1: How do you cook your roasts? 2. What seasonings do you use? 3. Do you cook it in water, soup, or what? 4. What suggestions do you have on using leftovers? Thanks ladies!

Well, aren't you the brilliant one Mother! I'd never thought of that. Thanks!

I know a lady that uses her propane burner/s on her grill but not having a grill I know nothing about it. I should check into it.

I bought another freezer just a month or so ago Littlesister. It's, I think, 20 cu. feet. Part of the reason I wanted another is I can't pressure can any longer. We moved a few years ago and my stove top is the flat glass top thing. I tried to get it switched to gas but because of the size pipe they used coming into the house, 1/2" instead of 1", it's way more work and expense than I'm willing to spend. I can go to the library and use their kitchen, but I haven't done it yet because it seems like way more work than I want to do to haul it all back and forth. Hence, the new freezer. Your canned vegetable beef and chicken soups bring back memories though....good ones!

Good idea Miki and I use my minis too, but I only have 2 of them and 8 loaf pans. I do like the mini pans though because I can cut the long way and have a big slice for each of us. I may just have to buy more pans.

I've made pumpkin (pie pumpkins) and zucchini bread for years. I would freeze the loaves and cut off slices as I wanted them. Obviously, I'm a slow learner because just last year I figured out to slice the bread before freezing. I cut whatever size slice I want and wrap each slice individually in plastic wrap. I usually stack 2 or 3 wrapped slices on cookie sheet and freeze. Once frozen I put them in a large plastic bag and take slices out as I need them. Wrapping them individually will keep them from drying out and you can take out as many slices as you want for your meal. Take them out an hour or so before your meal is ready, and they'll be ready for you to butter and enjoy. If you don't think of it early enough put the slices in the microwave to thaw. I don't know if I haven't learned the knack or what but when I thaw in the microwave they seem to have to be eaten with a fork as they don't pick up nicely BUT they are still good! I'm so looking forward to the zucchini and pumpkins being ready this year. I'm really going to make a lot more than normal since I found this simple way of preserving and eating the bread. Cutting frozen slices off the frozen loaves made me think twice before serving it. NOW, it's simple. I have wrapped each piece in one piece of plastic wrap, but I've also torn off a long strip of plastic wrap and wrapped one, added another and wrapped, and so on. Either way works well but the long piece works faster as you don't have to rip and tear and rip and tear.

Those do look wonderful Midnightmom. It will soon be zucchini season and I'll give them a try. Unlike Mother, I'm not allergic to chocolate (which is really too bad ) I like the sound of everything in them and I shred and freeze zucchini for winter so I can make them all year long.

DH isn't crazy about zucchini, but he loves bell peppers. Sounds like another good recipe. Thanks, Annarchy!

Thanks kappydell....that's a lot of recipes to try out. Yours sounds good too Littlesister. I've made similar but didn't add the cheese. That would really add to it.

Oh, wow! You ladies have come up with some good ideas. Most even sound familiar but I'd forgotten about them. I have beans leftover from our tacos so I think for dinner it will be bean and rice burritos. I've never put the 2 of them together w/o beef but I'm going to try it today. We had taco salad for dinner yesterday Joyfilled. Great minds! Leftovers from the tacos make a great salad and DH thinks it's a whole different meal since you eat it with a fork instead of your hands. Poor man! For supper, I think it'll be cheese filled hamburgers Annarchy. If there's anything DH likes better than hamburgers I don't know what it is. We love enchiladas too, but I already have those in the freezer. The rice pudding sounds perfect too We like raisins in ours as well as the cinnamon and sugar. Especially when it's first cooked and still warm. NOW, I want some. How do you make tamale casserole euphrasyne? That sounds yummy too! This is fun. Keep the ideas coming. I think they'll work for all of us!

I bought 10 lbs. of hamburger on sale. So far, I've made lasagna, tacos and Tator Tot casserole. I have 2 lbs. left to do something with. Any ideas other than spaghetti or other pasta dishes? DH isn't real crazy about pastas and the lasagna is enough. Also, I have rice I'd like to get used up. What can you think of beside rice pudding, friend rice, just plain old, cooked rice, etc.? I thought of porcupine balls with the hamburger and rice but DH and I neither one care much for those. We ate so much of it when we were young and poor that they're no longer an option. Thanks for any help.