Happy Half-Way Day & Groundhog's Day, Thrifting, Pantry Closet Update

Anya's ready too!

Happy Half-Way Day & Groundhog's Day-
I read today that we're at the "cross-quarters" of the seasons, Imbolc . Half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. It feels like it a bit here- finally thawed a bit, the snow's melting and Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow today, predicting an early spring. We'll see if he's right! I hope he is. WAY TOO COLD lately. I'm ready for spring.

Famous Phil

Thrifting- I de-winterized the inside of the house today- took done all the winter decor, deep cleaned and reorganized. Then I added some RED! I knew I needed a few more things though. I don't own a lot of Valentine's Day stuff. It gets to be just too much. Some I added some other things that are red. I found some Chinese New Year (Feb. 10th this year) at the local Asian foods store- 

                                            Red money envelopes for gift giving and a red tassel            

A Happy New Year and Prosperity banner

                                         

                                    I found some great items today at the Craft Warehouse and Goodwill-

$1.00 (90% off)  for the star and $4.00 for the gnome at the C.W.

                   A whopping 28 cents, a Pier One item, ha! At G.W. I love the color of the peppers

greenery at G.W., $3.00

Old Navy scarf, $1.00 G.W.

Brand new Ikea jars, 99 cents each. GW. I may use them for ointments or salves

White pips, 99 cents, also G.W.

Here's how I used some of these:

Before: de-winterized and ready for something

After: all spruced up with some pink and red

Chicken wire basket-all red flowers and white pips

A few of my normal reddish things out now- polka dots, rooster and blender

something red in the main hall

something red in the living room- I used a SW rug for a table runner for some fun!

Pantry Closet Update-

I set out over a year and a half ago to start a working pantry closet. Working means I use the food and then replace it, on a fairly regular basis. With limited kitchen cabinets it was a logical idea. It's much more of a process than I thought it would be, however. Turning a spare bedroom closet into a closet full of shelving was the easy part. Dave about had a coronary when I started buying quite a bit of extra food to get the pantry going. Then it's a matter of figuring out - 

*what to buy

*how much to buy

*will you actually eat it?

*emergency only foods/drinks- what to buy?

*misc.- all the stuff you'll think of later, like paper plates for emergency use.

*storing freebies?

Freezing & other food storage ideas: I will add, buying a medium-sized chest freezer was also a great idea! We did that last spring, when we bought a freezer after doing a bit of research. We got ours at Costco. I have REALLY saved a lot of money by buying things in season and freezing for later- peppers, berries, etc. Things when they are cheap- chicken in the summer for barbecuing, bulk bacon, anything on sale. I learned to double bag the meats, squeeze out the excess air. I used some chicken from last summer this week, and it was perfect! No freezer burn.

You can also store other things without freezing. I also stock up on vacuum-packaged like broths, soups and items like this-

                                           

Here's my recently reorganized pantry closet-

I try to keep things together in sections- veggies, fruits, juices, baking supplies,

proteins, grains, sugars

I try to have a good mix of dried beans, but also some canned for work nights.

I also store my big kitchen items, like the huge mixing bowl (for canning) and small appliances 

I don't use that much. The big silver bag has a big bag of unbleached flour with oxygen packets inside.

The girls- finally out in the main yard, digging for bugs, long since frozen...