Food Storage for Cans

Even though I do a lot of canning, dehydrating, and freezing of my homegrown foods, I am not above buying canned goods from the store if I see a really great deal. However, I am a bit OCD when it comes to having my food storage area looking neat and tidy. I want everything in nice neat lines, with all cans turned in the same direction. I also want to be able to rotate the cans so nothing goes "bad". Which shouldn't be a problem right? Wrong!! I evidently have a terrible time with rotating the canned goods.

The first thing I tried for rotation of the cans was to turn my shelves perpendicular to the wall, and space the sets of shelves far enough apart from each other that I would have access to either side of the shelving. That way, I could remove the oldest cans from one side of the shelves, and put in the new stuff on the shelf on the opposite side. That worked for about a month. Then the old and new stuff started to get mixed together.

Then I started using the above method with the addition of writing the date of purchase on top of the can, so I could make sure I was using the oldest cans first with just a glance. Which worked wonderful until I started stacking the cans. The newer cans would get stacked on top of the older cans and things just got messed up.

I finally tried something that I saw on Pinterest. It was using an empty cardboard soda pop box to store cans in. The idea is that you store the cans in the box on their sides with the front of the box cut out for easy storage and can removal. While I ended up making a slight modification to what was shown on Pinterest, overall this method has worked out really well for me.

What you will need and what to do: 

• An empty box for canned beverages
• Strapping tape
• Scissors
• Wrapping paper (optional...This is just the OCD in me that wants everything to look neat and tidy and if everything looks uniformed, it looks tidy.So I use the same wrapping paper to make all storage boxes look the same.)
• Labels (optional)
• Pen

• Cut out the front of the box as pictured above.

• Cover all seams of the box with strapping tape to reinforce the strength of the box to help it keep from tearing from the weight of the cans.
• If you are not going to cover your box with wrapping paper, you are done. Place cans in box, laid on their sides.

•  If want to wrap your box, cover with wrapping paper. Label so you will know the contents, Place cans in the box and you are done.

Thanks for reading and visiting my blog. :-)

Freezing Eggs

 Freezing eggs is easy and a great way to preserve the extras for later on for when they are needed.

What you will need:

• Eggs 
• Mixing bowel
• Fork (some people use a whisk, but I use a fork. I feel the whisk allows for to much air to be incorporated into the eggs. But which one to use is really just a preference.)
• Salt (1/4 teaspoon per cup of egg mixture) or if you will be wanting to use the eggs for baking omit the salt and add 1/4 teaspoon of sugar per cup of egg mixture.  This is a must, otherwise the texture of your eggs won't be right when you go to use them.
• measuring spoon
• measuring cup
• Some kind of container to freeze the eggs in. Some people use plastic ice cube trays. Other people use small 1/2 cup freezer containers. Since I have neither one of those, I use a muffin pan. Since I usually do a dozen eggs at a time, and my muffin pan has twelve cups, it works out wonderful. I don't need to measure, I just ladle out 12 equal (or near to equal) portions.

Steps:

Break eggs into a bowl.
Using a fork, (or whisk) break yolks and lightly mix yolks and whites together being careful to incorporate as little air as possible. Not incorporating any air at all would be perfect.

Add salt. How much salt or sugar you use will depend on how many eggs you are wanting to freeze. A rule of thumb is: 3 Grade A Large eggs = 1/2 cup. So for example if you are wanting to freeze a dozen eggs, you would add 1 teaspoon of salt or sugar.
Gently mix together.

Divide the mixture into three tablespoon portions. (3 TBS equals 1 egg) and place into container that you will be using to freeze the eggs.

Place in the freezer and allow 1-4 hrs to become completely frozen. If you are using a 1/2 cup freezer container, you are now done. Make sure to label the container.

If you are using an ice cube tray, or muffin tin, remove the frozen eggs from the container and place into a freezer zip-lock type bag, label bag, and place into freezer. If the egg mixture is difficult to remove from the container, simply turn the container upside down and allow cold water to run over the underside  for a few seconds. Flip the container right side up and the egg mixture should easily slide out. Or you can use a knife to loosen the sides of the frozen mixture from the pan.

Best if used within 6 months, but will stay good in freezer for up to a year.

To use:
 Thaw overnight in the refidgerator, or under cold water. Once thawed, use as normal.


Thank you for reading and visiting my blog. :-)