Text 8991, 134 rader
Skriven 2014-01-19 21:29:50 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
   Kommentar till text 8936 av NANCY BACKUS (1:261/1381)
Ärende: putting up  was: Thig
=============================
Hi Nancy,

 NB> one jar  NB>> of each open at any time... :)  The old almost empty jar
 NB> needed

 RH> It was extreme but neccessary in our family. Dad's job didn't pay that
 RH> well (He did photography work--liquor licenses, wedding, etc on the
 RH> side for more income.) so food had to stretch.

 NB> We were in a similar situation.. Daddy never had really high-paying
 NB> jobs (neither college teaching nor Naval lab research paid that
 NB> well)... and he didn't do anything on the side, nor did Mommy ever
 NB> work outside
 NB> the house (until much later, when she was able to go back to college
 NB> and got a parttime job to help finance that)...

I'm not sure how my mom financed her schooling but it was managed,
somehow. After she got her Master's, she out earned Dad but it didn't
bother them. It enabled them to pay for our college with minimal loans
and they paid the loans off for me (don't know about my siblings).

 RH> Mom made some of our
 RH> jellies and jams--I remember picking currents from our neighbor's
 RH> bushes (with their permission) to go into a rather puckery jelly. Dad
 RH> put in a couple of gardens every year and Mom canned as much as she
 RH> could. (They bought their first freezer when I was in college.)

 NB> Daddy mostly just hunted down bargains at the grocery stores, and got
 NB> baked goods from the bakery thrift stores...

My folks were thrifty shoppers as well. There aren't (weren't) any
bakery thrift stores in M'ville but Mom & Dad did hit them up in
Kingston or Oneonta (after they got the freezer). Their day to day bread
was the cheap white sandwich stuff; they've not upgraded much in that
regard since all of us have left home.


 RH> Mom started working for the school when I was in 6th grade and my
 RH> youngest sister was in first grade. The financial situation eased a
 RH> bit but we never had more than one jam or jelly open at once until
 RH> Mom was diagnosed diabetic. That was only relatively recently; a
 RH> couple of years after that, they started buying the low sugar
 RH> jellies for her and the full sugar ones for the rest of the family.

 NB> One gets into patterns that persist even when the dire straits ease up
 NB> and the reason for the pattern isn't so insistent...  ;)

Yes, I've seen that. Part of it is due to the fact Dad remembers the
Depression and his dad was a blue collar laborer. Money was rather tight
while he was growing up, and continued to be so until Mom started
working. Eased off a bit then, more so as kids left home and fewer of us
to have to feed & clothe.


 NB> as one of  NB>> bread and butter pickles...  With eight kids, jars
 NB> managed to be
 NB>  NB>> emptied pretty frequently, though... :)

 RH> Your family could probably go thru one in a meal. Only time we had
 RH> pickles was for Thanksgiving (at my grandparents) or Christmas; the

 NB> We weren't allowed to go thru one in a meal, though... it was always
 NB> carefully rationed out by Daddy, who always served out the entire meal
 NB> for the family (and guests, if there)...

And he probably did a good job of it. My dad portioned out most meats
(and spaghetti or similar) but we could take our own veggie and
potatoes. We just knew we had to make sure there was enough for
everybody. Even if you didn't like the veggie, you still had to take a
reasonable helping--and eat it. Mom portioned out the dessert.

 RH> rest of the year pickle relish was as close as we'd get. Mom would
 RH> set that or ketchup for burgers, not both. For meat loaf, she'd put
 RH> down ketchup or chili sauce; morning (required) piece of bread had
 RH> jelly/jam, not butter unless it was toasted (rare event). But, we
 RH> made it thru those times, lived to tell others about it. (G)

 NB> Yup... and managed to at least modify some of the patterns in the
 NB> process as well... :)

Yes, probably easier to go from less to more than more to less tho.

 NB>  NB>> True...  Doubling up the cooking generally manages to be
 NB> properly  NB>> leftover... especially if you put away half before
 NB> serving... :)
 NB>  NB>> It's the "this is probably a little more than we really need, so
 NB>  NB>> there should be a bit left over to stow away for something else"
 NB>  NB>> things that don't always manage to be left over...  ;)

 RH> The past couple of yeas, I've told Steve "This is supposed to be (x)
 RH> number of servings" with some things so we don't over eat. Sometimes
 RH> the extra goes into the freezer; other times it gets recycled as lunch
 RH> a day or 2 later.

 NB> That works... :)  With us it's likely to be all or part of another
 NB> supper meal... :)

I've done that as well. Made a big casserole thing for Life Group today
but since there weren't as many attending, had some left over. I split
it into a container for the freezer and one put in the fridge for
tomorrow's supper. It was a simple one of ricotta and cream cheese mixed
with sour cream; a mix of browned ground beef; onion, bell pepper and
tomato sauce seasoned with s&p, garlic powder & oregano; and spiral
noodles. Original recipe had cottage cheese instead of ricotta & less
bell pepper, plus said to layer pasta, cheese mix, pasta & ground beef
mix. I mixed it all together (split between 2 13x9 pans) and it tasted
just as good, have to bring in copies of the recipe now. (G) Served with
tossed salad and the lemon pound cake (made with half sugar, half stevia
for baking). Only a couple of slices of that came home. (G)

 NB>  NB>>> specialty ham for the new year... apple-honey glazed...
 NB>  NB>>> oh well...  ;0
 NB>  RH>> Sigh!
 NB>  NB>> One manages to survive... generally... (G)

 RH> Feels like you're just surviving some days, just keeping your head
 RH> above water.

 NB> At least with food allergies, there's generally equally appealing
 NB> alternatives so that one isn't too badly miffed...  :)   For other
 NB> things, there's remembering Who is really in control...  ;)

Yes, and taking things as they come, one day at a time.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... The Titanic was built by professionals... the Ark was built by an amateur!

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