Reverse Meal Planning

Suffolk_lass

zafiro1984 said:

Suffolk lass, I'm intrigued with everything you bottle. I've never tried bottling things, probably because somewhere at the back of my mind I'm fearful of not getting it right and it not being edible. It probably stems from something my mother said donkeys years ago. Maybe it's a confidence hang-up as It certainly would save on freezer space. 

So I thought it might be helpful to do a bit of demystifying the preservation of produce in glass jars. We call it bottling, the Americans call it canning. Same thing. They use mason jars, we use Kilner but you can use old jm jars - just make sure the lids are not deteriorating as the silicone bands degrade with acid (Vinegar or tomatoes eg) or heat (washing in the dishwasher, bleaching the smell out, oven heating to sterilise!) It's a variation on jam making for me. I bottle stuff in three ways; 

1. The easiest is that I heat the jars in the oven at 120c (from cold and for ten minutes at temperature, with their lids and the jam funnel). Meanwhile I heat or cook the jar contents - apples for example, I peel, core and slice and cook with maybe a teaspoon of sugar, a dribble of water to stop the pan catching, and a squeeze of lemon to stop them oxidising (going brown) on a pro rata basis for the number of jars. Two Bramleys makes 3-4 small jars - 8oz jars or 250ml kilner screw tops with the disk in. Once the fruit is barely cooked (Bramleys are great as they start to break down) I turn off the heat, get the funnel out first, then the jars, finally the lids as I use them. I use the jam funnel to fill the jars then immediately screw the lid on (use a cloth!), and wrap the batch in a towel so they cool slowly. If the lids don't pop in they won't keep, but if they pop, they are good for a winter (say 3-5 months). I call this the jam method and you won't find it in a book unless you look at jam making (without boiling until a set is reached). Fruit butters are similar but involve a lot more cooking time and the fruit typically breaks down and changes colour
2. Second way is to prepare perfect fruit and stuff as much as you can in the jars and then cover the fruit with light syrup (simple 1 part sugar to 2 parts water, heated until the sugar melts, can be hot but don't boil it) and put the lids on. Then put them in a cool (70c) oven on a baking sheet or in a roasting tin (to catch any syrup that comes out) and gradually turn the heat up. You want the syrup to be hot enough to just starting to release bubbles but not boiling or you are creating a pressurised container that could explode (unlikely, but you don't know if the glass jar has a flaw). If this makes you nervous, you can leave the lid unscrewed, but when you take the jars out you need to seal with the lids straight away. I generally give them 15 (plums) to 30 (pears) minutes at heat, to ever so slightly stew in the juice, longer for harder fruit. Wipe down the jars, and definitely use cloths to hold and wipe (syrup burns are not good), then on a clean tray with a towel round to slow the cooling. You can tip the jars upside down as this will encourage the tops to pop.
3. This is in a water bath, wither a pressure cooker (follow the instructions) or a large saucepan with a trivet in the bottom. You can use clip top jars for this method, but I don't any more as too many instances of the surface deteriorating in the air gap between the inside of the glass lid and the surface. I rarely use this traditional method now as it's a bit hit and miss and I can only get 4 jars in my pressure cooker.

I bottle tomatoes in a similar way to the jam method. I prepare them and freeze them until I have at least a preserving pan or stock pot full of tomatoes to batch cook.

• Defrost them in a colander or sieve over a bowl. Maybe sprinkle them with salt if you want more tomato water out. I don't.
• Once fully defrosted I cook them with maybe a tablespoon (15g) of salt sprinkled over them and a little of the defrosted tomato water so they don't stick. I simmer them for 45 minutes. 
• I let them cook completely then use my liquidiser to blitz them (I don't bother about faffing with the skins because they get blitzed) in batches. Then they all go back in the big pot. Add any herbs either now (for hard herbs that need cooking) or just as you are ready to bottle them by dropping them (eg basil) in the jars, between the ladles-full works well. 
• The method is as for the fruit above, warm the jars to sterilise them and use the jam funnel to fill the jars. Make sure the tomatoes are all hot, so maybe simmer for 20 minutes to make sure.

I follow an Italian Nonna's method - whose family post from America (Gina, she's hilarious) on YouTube and apart from her using fresh tomatoes in gargantuan quantities and a sieve to take out parts where I just blitz, her principles are good. Here's a link to Buon-a-Pettiti (1.09m subscribers!)

I hope this helps, it has saved me loads! I haven't bought tomatoes for several years now.

Here are some of mine (two batches, as you can see)

Suffolk_lass

And here is some bottled fruit (except bottom right, which is honey!!)

rtandon27

@Suffolk_lass - your homesteading skills are astounding!  I'm in awe!

redofromstart

I am always impressed by your prep @Suffolk_lass, and thank you for the detailed information.  I am going to print that and put it in my preserving book.

I finally got round to defrosting the leg of lamb that is too big for the inside freezer, and have it slow roasting. It is a lot of meat for just me to eat but I do like lamb at least.  I may do some baking while the oven is on - I think a raspberry and banana muffin would work which would be one more thing out of the outside freezer. 

I do now have a deadline for turning the outside freezer off - I am away for a few days later in the month and there is no way my fellow residents will bother to run the extension lead outside in the day like I have been doing.  

redofromstart

The rice turned out nicely following your instructions, thanks @JingsMyBucket.  I am just waiting to see if the One Who Doesn't Eat detects the foreign contaminant (coconut oil!).

The lamb worked well too. 

MissRikkiC

Totally in awe of your skills @SL! I need to bookmark this page! 

MissRikkiC

I made a loaf, it was a mixture of your recipe SL and the Nigella sandwich loaf which I had made previously. I had to edit slightly to make it dairy free but it still worked and is absolutely delicious. I think if I can make the opportunity to make a loaf every other day (with 2 in the freezer as backups) we will cut back on the amount we eat, cost of doing so and reduce the amount of Ultra processed yuck. 

Tonight’s dinner is fake away- peanut satay chicken with miso vegetable noodles. Everything from fridge freezer or stores and no usual cost of a take away. Just wish I had a nice ‘drink’ in instead of squash 😂

EssexHebridean

Great instructions SL - thank you! My plan for next summer is to grow a lot more tomatoes so this could prove extremely helpful! 

Last night’s tea was a sort of spicy rice splodge with chicken and bacon. Not dry enough to come under the heading of a straight savoury rice, but used long grain not risotto, and no stirring, so not a risotto either. Tasty enough though, and used up a pack of YS’s chicken mini fillets from the freezer, emptied thr rice container so I was able to refill, and finished up last week’s mushrooms too. Cooked in a single pan on the hob as the Agile electric prices were 😱! 

I now have 4 rashers of bacon to use so need think about how they can fit with lunch, allowing that ideally I would prefer to avoid anything bread based as breakfast has been toast and tonight will now be pizza out with friends. 

Grocery spending his week has gone a bit north of where I was hoping - at a shade under £40. This includes the reduced bits in Al’s, some bits bought in A’s on Thursday night (went in for milk as we had used their car park, came out with £8.19’s worth of odds and ends but that did give decent value) then the main shop in T’s yesterday which was £27 odd but included washing liquid in that. 

Suffolk_lass

I've just noticed the labels on my jars all have the greasy corner (after someone nameless stood the roll in some spilled oil!!) - me? cross? ooh no!!

Anyway, having used up the rest of the lasagne I reminded DH that we got 6 portions out of about 250g of minced beef! He was a combination of questioning and then impressed!

Turning to tonight it will be broccoli (to use it up) with some of the nice big cauliflower and maybe a little macaroni (to stem DH's late night snackage) cheese and breadcrumb sprinkles. I'm making bread too so I will have a roll for lunch with some of the remaining soup. I double DH will want any as he is out for brunch (I am MIA because of the asthma and the temperature outside). I suggested a roast tomorrow but I am not sure we can get in to the cartlodge as it is mid-project and all the bookshelves he keeps "stuff" in are blocking access to the freezer until the wall is finished to close up one side.

It is clear that we don't have enough cat litter to see us through the month so I will have to shop at some point, after all. I am building a list. I've included butter if I go. Frozen pack if I don't - that sort of rationale. Right, back to the proving bread!

Primrose

Not strictly reverse meal planning but Husband tHis morning managed to buy a batch of This season,s Seville oranges.  then  read in paper that this country only has one week's supply of natural gas left to keep the country going. Better get cracking with the peel chopping then! Sadly I,m too disabled to help now - it was previously always a joint venture doing this tediuous work but we're down to our last jar in storage.  We also make a batch with grapefruit & lime juice in to ring the changes but if you,re temped to try this DON,T put  any lime peel in.  It toughens up like wood splinters on being boiled and  you risk breaking a tooth !