2017 HHP Week 11 - Food Storage

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Holiday_Mom

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This year is feeling different with gifts for the immediate family. The ideas are not flowing as much. I think part of it is the children are getting older - teens and pre-teen. Here's what I want to get done this week.

Household Checklist :

  • Clean out the refrigerator. Time for those "science experiments" lurking in the hidden depths of the refrigerator to go! Blech! Done
  • Clean out the pantry. Done

Holiday Prep Checklist :

  • Inventory the pantry. Done
  • Inventory the freezer. Done
  • Inventory spices. Done
  • Review recipes and make a shopping list. Done
  • Eat from the freezer and pantry this week. Work in progress.
  • Stock up on seasonal staples. Done
  • Stockpile freezer meals. Work in progress. Done
  • Make list of broken/missing baking/cooking gadgets. Done Our turkey baster is missing!
Still to Do:
  • Stamp envelopes.
  • Review gift list. Still brainstorming here...
  • Make and freeze side dishes for Thanksgiving: Sweet potato casserole and Spinach casserole Done
  • Wrap gifts. I have a few gifts to wrap this week.
What are you hoping to do this week?
 
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luludou

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Household Checklist :
  • Clean out the refrigerator. - DONE yesterday
  • Clean out the pantry - Done on Sunday

Holiday Prep Checklist :
  • Inventory the pantry - DONE
  • Inventory the freezer - Will have to check that out
  • Inventory spices. - DONE
  • Review recipes and make a shopping list. - work in progress
  • Eat from the freezer and pantry this week. - will do!
  • Stock up on seasonal staples. - work in progess
  • Stockpile freezer meals. Work in progress.
  • Make list of broken/missing baking/cooking gadgets. - everything is ok
Still to Do:
  • Stamp envelopes. - need to go buy more stamps
  • Review gift list. - will do that today. will go shopping on Friday and need to finish up gifts
  • Make and freeze side dishes for Thanksgiving: Our Thanksgiving was in October - so DONE
  • Wrap gifts. Have to figure out a way to wrap the crochet ornaments I made
Other
  • Start adressing Christmas cards
  • Work on handmade felt ornaments
  • Start decorating
  • Start Christmas baked goodies
  • Freeze orange quarters for Christmas punch. Cut oranges in thin slices to dry and put on Christmas tree
 
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Holiday_Mom

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I did grocery shopping and got all the necessary items for the pantry and freezer. I stocked up on canned goods, pastas, and jars of gravy.

Freezer meals are good enough for the next few weeks. I made two batches of Creamed Spinach and two batches of Mashed Sweet Potatoes for the freezer. My freezer is just about full so I'll stop with making anything else. I need room for the frozen turkey still!
 

Minta

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This year is feeling different with gifts for the immediate family. The ideas are not flowing as much. I think part of it is the children are getting older - teens and pre-teen. Here's what I want to get done this week.

How about personalizing a movie basket for each one.. get baskets or gift bags .. place a drink (water, sports drink, favorite brand of soda), a movie they want, a bag of chips, popcorn or pretzels, a pack of their favorite candy and maybe a small pack of cookies or snack cakes. I haven't meet a teen or pre-teen that doesn't love movies and junk food LOL. You could also add a pair of slipper socks or fuzzy socks too. Instead of chips you could make a big batch of reindeer chow and place those into cute little snack bags.
 

Minta

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I have been stocking up on everything I need for the holiday meals and baking as those items go on sale. Cleaned all the cabinet doors and wiped them down with murphys oil. The ones closest to the stove were pretty greasy.
 
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Cindylouwho

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Household Checklist :
  • Freeze orange quarters for Christmas punch. Cut oranges in thin slices to dry and put on Christmas tree

Oranges on the Christmas Tree? What? Oh I have to go Google that! It sounds like something I might want to do!

And regarding ideas for teens -- remind me, are they boys or girls and older teens or younger teens? I'll share my list. I'm going shopping for the stuffers today. EOS lotion was on the list for both girls. I have some fun college dorm items on the list for the older ones.

Living Room here is still a complete disaster, but the hearth is DONE! And it looks GREAT -- and more importantly it drafts the way it is supposed to. The concrete has to set though and DH still has the woodboxes to finish so can't start putting the room back together til tomorrow. So glad we didn't have a cold snap this past week!

My list for the week:

Food Storage Week
  • Clean out the refrigerator.
  • Clean out the freezer - DONE.
  • Set up a freezer inventory.
  • Organize and inventory the pantry -- DONE.
  • Prep for food donation drives
  • Contemplate better storage for dried pantry items (for storms, camping & Zombie Apocalypse)
  • Stock up on seasonal staples. It's loss leader time at the supermarket.
  • Plan potluck meals. - Really need to nail down my go-to recipes for this.
  • Add freezer meals to the freezer for busy December nights. DONE.
PLUS:
Stocking Stuffers -- wrap these up. (Hitting it hard today)
Black Friday Game Plan -- doing reconnaissance mission this weekend, with a mall map.
Amazon -- Load up the Wish Lists so I can better see the price drops. Already loaded CamelCamelCamel.
 

luludou

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orange slices.jpg

I like to put one small over a larger one together, tie with a ribbon.
 

Holiday_Mom

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How about personalizing a movie basket for each one.. get baskets or gift bags .. place a drink (water, sports drink, favorite brand of soda), a movie they want, a bag of chips, popcorn or pretzels, a pack of their favorite candy and maybe a small pack of cookies or snack cakes. I haven't meet a teen or pre-teen that doesn't love movies and junk food LOL. You could also add a pair of slipper socks or fuzzy socks too. Instead of chips you could make a big batch of reindeer chow and place those into cute little snack bags.
That's a great idea! Thanks, Minta. Now my creative juices are starting to flow...
 

Holiday_Mom

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And regarding ideas for teens -- remind me, are they boys or girls and older teens or younger teens? I'll share my list. I'm going shopping for the stuffers today. EOS lotion was on the list for both girls. I have some fun college dorm items on the list for the older ones.

I have girls. One is a freshman in college and the others are in high school. My college aged daughter mentioned a student Spotify premium account. I looked into it. A student account is discounted 50% if you can show proof of attending college. That discount can be renewed each year for a total of fours years. Spotify hires a company to check into the status of the college student. We'll make up a gift certificate for her and set it up on Christmas Day. If we buy the actual Spotify gift cards at the stores, then she can't use the student discount.
 

Holiday_Mom

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Cindylouwho - I'm so happy that your fireplace is done before the holidays. I've dealt with construction over the holidays and it's not easy.

Well, I wasn't planning on freezing more dinners but in the process of cleaning out the refrigerator and making room for the food next week, I found unopened ricotta cheese and mozzarella cheese that had to be used up. So two batches of baked ziti were frozen and two batches were made for a dinner and lunches this week.

Two things that didn't get done was to stamp the envelopes and wrap some gifts. I had hoped to do that while watching a Hallmark Christmas movie but that hasn't worked out yet.

I do want to start my shopping plan for Black Friday. Dh wanted to sit down today to discuss Christmas gifts for our parents and for work. Gifts for our parents are finalized. The work gifts are still being pondered on. We have an idea but are waiting on a few other things to fall into place first. Getting this aspect of gift planning done is good. In the past, talking about Christmas gift ideas before Thanksgiving was a hard topic to discuss. I think my planning is wearing off on to dh. :D