Freezing greens

I've figured out that one bunch of greens is just enough for one person (me).  I can cook one bunch and have it for three meals.  Once for a supper meal, once in a leftovers lunch, and one meal ready to heat and eat stored in the freezer.  I got two bushels of greens from the farmer's market the other day courtesy of the commodity program's fresh food coupons.

Preserving the bounty is priority so into the freezer they must go.  Canning is not an option because I don't have a pressure canner.  I gave mine away several years ago in a fit of decluttering.  I regret that decision.  Dehydrating is not an option either. 

First, I pick off any tiny worms and rinse the greens really well.  Greens have tiny little worms that like to eat the leaf, lay some eggs, then build a cocoon for sleeping.  I saw only a dozen or so worms and the little things were really unhappy about being disturbed from their cocoon.  Heavens!  I do believe they would have liked to bite me when I saw them rearing up on their tail.  After that they seemed to say awww the heck with it, I'm going back to sleep without the cocoon.

Worms and bugs are an annoying part of organic foods.  Everyone has a choice of either worms on farm produce or pesticide chemicals on grocery produce.  At least I can see the worms to get rid of them but  I can't see pesticide chemicals and don't know if they can be washed away.  When I see worms or bugs on organic foods I know that chemicals have not been used.

So after cleaning really well, I take each bunch, cut out the tough stems, roll a stack of leaves together into a log, then slice through it with a knife to get smaller pieces.  Sometimes I save the stems for making stock.  One bunch of greens go into each bowl.  This step is important for me because if I simply process all the greens together it's hard for me to measure out a portion size of wilted greens.  I have 10 bowls even though you only see 9.   My intake table makes a great place for holding foods as I process them.

I start a pot of water to boiling.  When it's boiling I start blanching my greens.

I use a strainer to hold the greens in the pot.  It's aluminum so I can handle the rim even when it's setting in boiling water.  I like using the strainer so I don't have to fish out the small bits of greens from the boiling water.  I can reuse the water for the other batches.  One bowl of greens go into the strainer inside the pot.  I let the water come back to a boil and time it for two minutes.  A little longer won't hurt them.  I stir the greens a couple of times to keep them from matting down.  That way all of the greens get blanched.  After two minutes, I lift out the strainer and let the water drip back into the pot.

I place the strainer of greens into really cold water.  I had some ice in this water but it melted before I took the picture.  The water is really cold.  It stops the cooking process.   Stir the greens to cool even the inside ones.  Lift the strainer to let all the water drip out. 

Now I take all the greens from the strainer and squeeze out as much water as I can.  I wring them like wringing a dish rag.  I won't be able to get all the water out but most is what I want.  I smooch my greens into what look like green patties.  I flash freeze them like this. 

The green patties get covered with plastic freezer wrap then put into a numbered freezer inventory bag.

I write the item on my freezer inventory sheet.  See #37?  I put ten bunches of greens in the freezer on October 15th.  When I'm looking for what to have for dinner I always look at the inventory sheet for the oldest dates first.  If I were to plan on using greens for dinner I would cross out the 10 and write 9 there. 

Once a week I update my freezer list with the computer and print out two new ones. One for on the freezer  door and one for my household binder.  If I must evacuate my house for any reason the binder goes with me.  Hmm... I hope it would go with me.  It would depend on the emergency and how long I've got to grab stuff.  The freezer inventory would be used for insurance purposes if I must file a claim after evacuation.

Preparedness month

I completely forgot to mention in my last post that my household manager book is also a part of me participating in national preparedness month.  Many will remember how they felt the morning of 911 as we turned on the tv news or received a phone call from friends and relatives.  Remember the thoughts that went through our minds about what we would do if war had actually come to our homes and neighborhoods.  Well, not just that type preparedness.   

What if someone in California knew they had only 5 minutes to get out of the house because a wild fire was racing toward them?  What if someone in Michigan got news there was going to be an ice storm about to hit their area meaning loss of utilities for at least a week, maybe longer, and they had to go to a shelter?  What if someone near a major river got notice the banks would over flow in a matter of minutes and all houses in the area would be covered with water and they had to go to another city?  What if someone living in Massachusetts got word the main water line to the town had broken so no one would have any water for at least 30 days?  Yes, it did happen someplace in the northeast.  What if here in Kentucky we found out that a hurricane in Louisiana would actually hit here too?  Yup, we did.  It was the wind storm that took out our power for several days.   

No one is immune to natural or man made emergencies.  They can happen anytime, anywhere, and of any kind.  I never believed a hurricane several states away would be any more bothersome here than lots of rain.  The loss of power for over a week was a wake up call.  The disaster of 911; watching the weather channel's "It could happen tomorrow" (shows about natural disasters); and experiencing four natural disasters in a matter of months here in Kentucky really opened my eyes. 

Some may remember our three natural disasters in this area; the ice storm, the flood, and the wind storm but there was also an earthquake here too.  The earthquake did little damage so it's not as memorable.  Many people around here have forgotten all about it.  Several years ago we had a major snow storm and sub-zero temperatures for several days and a 22 inch snowfall that crippled the city.  No one could go anywhere because the city wasn't prepared to rid the streets of all that snow. 

Hmm... suppose you had only five minutes to grab whatever you could and get out of your house?  What would you take?  Suppose you had only enough time to grab 5 items, what would they be?  For me, right this minute, it would be..... 1. medications  2. furkid in his crate 3. household manager book 4. change of clothes 5. photo album

My household manager book is going to have lots of information besides just keeping track of what I want to do around the house.  Its going to also have information in it that I might need if I must evacuate my house.  I read about others having these types of books.  FEMA site was the first that I believe I read.  (you really should visit their site for preparedness information) Then I got to noticing other bloggers were doing this too.  Yup, I'm a little behind other people but it's not too late..... umm... unless something happens before I get it finished.  My new household manager book is going to be much more updated than the notebooks I used to keep so long ago.

Anytime the news tells us we are going to experience a snowfall of more than two inches in this area, the stores are crammed with people grabbing stuff to get prepared.  The shelves are emptied within a matter of hours.  There can be almost riots over stuff.  The same thing happens in other areas when a natural disaster is either about to happen or has just happened. 

On the national news, I saw riots and fights over bottled water where the water main had broke.   The people were fighting over paper dishes, hand sanitizer, and garbage bags.  No water meant no dish washing, no bathing, and no toilet flushing.   I confess, if I suddenly found out I would be without water for a month, I'm not prepared either. I'm gonna change that.

There are only two types of natural emergencies I can think of right now.  One is get the heck out of here right now and the other is hunker down for the duration.  Yes, there are other types of emergencies like loss of job, loss of home, and medical.  Heck, one emergency might be unexpected guests for a few days.  Right now my thoughts are just on natural and man made disasters.  

I'm not going to be one of the thousands of people who rush to the store when a disaster happens.  I'm getting myself prepared.  My major hurdle is going to be...... where am I going to store it?  I have no basement, no garage, no storage shed, no attic.  Umm... I do have a basement.  Sorry.  It's just that I have no way to get into it so I might as well not have one.  If I had a honey, building a stairway to the basement would be the first thing on his honey do list.  I don't have the money to pay to get one built either.  I wish I knew of some church group or volunteer organization that helps with home repairs but I don't.  So, not being able to use the basement is the same as not having one.

Oh well, there is a lot to think about and a lot to do as a part of getting myself prepared.  Right now I think it best if I start working on the next customer quilt.  I have one last question to ask my readers.....

If you had only 5 minutes to grab 5 things to get the heck out of your house, what would you take?  Umm.... make that two questions.  Where would you go?

I really want to know because you might think of something that I haven't.

Honey do list

You know how some women have a "honey do" list for their significant other?  Well, I don't have a honey to give a list to so my honey do list is for myself.

I'd really like to say I've been quilting the last couple of days on the next customer quilt.  It's not happening.  I've been going through stuff in my house getting ready for a neighborhood yard sale in a few days.  It's my daughter's neighborhood, not mine.  While going through things, I kept coming across papers that really should be in one place.  Papers.... such as notes about possible blog posts, recipes I'd forgotten about, quilting ideas, warranty information, emergency preparedness thoughts, and several other types of papers.

I got increasingly disappointed in myself about papers scattered everywhere.  The more I came across papers and started stacking them in one spot; the more I realized I really should do the way I used to do many years ago.  File everything in one place. At first I told myself I needed to buy a file cabinet. 

Umm... that's not really what I want, more stuff coming into my house.  I have too much stuff coming in and not nearly enough going out.  The balance between coming in and going out is waaaay off.  I think it was Don Ashlett that once said "A file cabinet is a way to store hidden paper junk vertically."   He's right, it's hidden vertically in folders and drawers, unseen, until it bulges at the seams.  Then there is a choice of either buying another file cabinet to hold more paper junk OR trashing as much as I can.  So, if it's gonna be trashed anyway, why store it?

In my younger days I kept a notebook of things I wanted to read regularly.  Actually, several notebooks.  I kept them sort of like scrap books.  Pasted in recipes, school function schedules, warranty information, grocery lists, and pretty poems..... that sort of thing.  That was the way women did things back then.  As my quilting career gradually overtook my personal life, the notebooks kind of fell to the wayside.

Several weeks ago, while traveling around the net, I came across some blogs that had household "binders".  Ooo, how clever!  Binders are sophisticated notebooks.  That was a gentle reminder of how it used to be for me.  I knew eventually I would make myself a household binder.  A sort of "house central" for all the information I need in one place.  I waited for school stuff to go on sale and I bought myself a couple of binders.  Going through stuff the last couple of days only got me more encouraged to actually start creating my household binder.  I had everything I needed so why not now?

With my binder in hand and lots of loose papers, I got started.  I didn't buy any dividers for the binder.  They didn't go on sale.  I'm using regular printer paper and these to make my dividers.  Umm.... both were bought from the discount bin months ago, even before I thought about making a household binder.  I do own a three hold punch too. 

Here's how my household binder looks now.  I plan to buy a monthly calendar to put reminders of things that are done only once a month or once a year.  Reminders like when the next junk day will be, when to change the batteries in clocks, when to drain the sediment from the water heater, what day guild meetings are held, when the deadline is for quilt entries, and things like that.

My binder also has my price book and my grocery list book and a tiny pen I got from the fair.  The pockets of the binder are just perfect for those. 

Well it's a start.  I've analyzed and either tossed or filed a whole stack of papers.   With a binder I can simply pull out what is no longer needed and toss it.  New stuff can go in easily.  I really like a binder better than several notebooks.  There are paper people and there are gadget people.  I prefer paper but my daughter prefers computers.  If you are a gadget person, your household notebook might be on a device of some sort. 

Gradually, I'll make it more organized.  I plan to do a post of each section as I work on those.  I believe my daughter will be interested and maybe some other readers will too.  Who knows?  Maybe someone working their way around the net will come across my blog and get a gentle reminder from me.