Winter Preps - Stocking Up the Freezer

We are now well into September and it's time to prepare for winter. All the forecasts are pointing towards a harsh winter. Number One Husband has ordered the propane, put up the lawn chairs and anything else that could cause drifts. There is more for him to do like change the oil in the gen and replace batteries in the cars. 

I have been washing blankets, organizing closets and making lists to make sure we have everything in place in case we have a rough winter. Winter and summer clothing still needs to be switched out, but we are still in the in-between days. We have graduated from wearing short sleeves and sandals to fleeces and socks and shoes. It's cool in the mornings and warm in the afternoons. 

This weekend we will drop into the low 30's. The house is already cold in the mornings when we wake up. The temp most mornings is 58* inside. I've already added a blanket to our bed and an extra wool cover on Number One Husband's side. 

I took down the hummingbird feeder, cleaned it and stored it away.

Food, water and shelter are important to the human body. We take winter seriously around here. It's not just our home that needs to be readied but our vehicles need attention also. I need to put together our emergency winter car kits. Here are my previous posts about winter preps. Winter 

We had to make an extra trip into town due to pharmacy losing my refill in a computer glitch. Apparently, I was not the only one. This took five days and a couple hours on hold and a new prescription from my doctor and in the meantime, all of the pharmacists quit. 

It wasn't all bad. We were able to top off our gas tanks and gas cans and find a great deal on split chicken breasts and boneless skinless chicken breasts. So good in fact that we made a second trip to top off our freezer after I processed the first batch and discover that I could fit even more chicken in the freezer. We could not pass it up. We didn't get home until midnight. I finished processing the rest of the meat the next morning.  

First load.

Managers Special: Split chicken breasts

Both cuts of chicken breast added together made the cost .50 cents a pound.

2nd load of chicken, plus we topped off our tanks. Gas was $3.19 a gallon. Ridiculous! We also took
advantage of the other sales on cheese and frozen vegetables.

.99 cents a pound is a great bargain, right? When we used our member's card
we got every pack of split breasts for .99 cents a pack. The boneless
skinless breasts were on sale for $2.27 a pound. 

I re-packaged 23 packages of chicken
 for a total of 101 lbs. of chicken.

Number One Husband, aka Gill Master, grilled us some chicken,
potatoes and Vidalia onions. 

I made homemade baked beans and sauteed spinach to
round out our meal.

The cheese that we picked up was $2 off every package. Yea! Another score... We literally cannot squeeze one more thing into our freezer. Our chest freezer is small, but after carefully packing our booty into the small space I was able to fit everything in without one inch to spare.  

Something that absolutely blew my mind at the store was the fact that Blue Bell ice cream is now $10 a carton. It was on sale for $7.99, but that was just getting us ready for the $10 price tag. $10.29 to be exact. 

Our freezer is now full. Over the next two months we will work on topping off the pantry with a few extra canned goods in case we are unable to get to the grocery store for fresh produce. We prefer fresh, then frozen and lastly canned. 

Bonus Pics

We had a downpour of rain and sleet this afternoon. When it was over, the brightest double rainbow formed. It was strange because even though they were side by side the colors were reversed. I love how the rainbow illuminated the mountains. 

Here is the other side of the rainbow.

Shabbat Shalom,

Mrs. Smith