[ponygirl]

When things started going sideways in March 2020 (like when the lines at Costco were all the way to the back of the warehouse), I listened to the little voice in my head that told me to go buy a freezer at Home Depot. While I was in line at Costco, I got online and purchased the smallest box freezer HD had and they only had two left in stock. I left Costco and went to pick it up... when I picked it up, they had none left. I filled that sucker up and have kept it at least halfway full ever since.

I need to get busy canning stuff, but that is SO much work, and since I can still buy canned goods, I keep putting it off.

I can reveal one priceless thing I've learned recently. When you buy fruit like blueberries or cherries, rinse them when you get home and store them in glass quart Mason jars with a loosely tightened 2-piece lid. Blueberries have been lasting up to three weeks like this. I'm still munching on a batch of Rainier cherries that I bought 10 days ago and still are totally fresh. I hate throwing out spoiled, moldy or withered fruit, so this has been a very valuable tip for me.

[Bigg Red]

SLIDE; FOOD STORAGE

I have a procedure for cleaning produce that also keeps some food from spoiling.

5 quarts of water of water with 3 tablespoons of bleach
Soak for 5 minutes, rinse and let air dry.
For strawberries I add this extra step: Spread them on paper towels so they are not touching on my island with the ceiling fan drying then quickly. I can keep strawberries for a few weeks. Granted, they don’t look quite as pretty, but they taste the same.

You can also freeze strawberries after such a cleaning. Spread them out on a cookie sheet and freeze them. After being frozen, they can be put into zip bags. Of course, the texture is not great, but they still taste good.