Zombie Preparedness: The Final Reckoning

Well, with our nighttime temps threatening to fall below freezing this weekend, I think I can safely declare that summer is over. Like it or not, it’s time to rake the leaves, put away the garden solar lights and chair cushions, and just generally batten down the hatches, so to speak. 

It’s time, too, to retire my canning equipment for the year. With the peak of harvest season now past, next weekend will be the last for many of the farmer’s markets in the area. Gone are the colourful tomatoes and peppers and fruits that provided the foundation for so much of my preserving…and my squirrel-like drive to store everything I could lay my hands on is beginning to ebb (much to my husband’s great relief!)I’ll make one final trip to my favourite farm stalls to stock up on the root vegetables, squashes, and cabbages that will keep in my semi-cold storage in the back of the garage, but other than that, I’m done. Good thing, too, because I was beginning to run out of shelf space again. 😉

For those of you who have been following my zombie apocalypse preparations, here’s the final tally of what made it onto the shelves:

9 pints ketchup

34 pints roasted tomato sauce

5 pints plain tomato sauce

49 pints canned tomatoes

20 pints tomato soup

10 half pints plus 10 quarter pints pizza sauce

26 pints salsa

19 pints black bean & corn salsa

6 pints dilly beans

25 pints dill pickles

4 pints dilled carrots

27 pints peaches

41 pints pears

6 half pints crabapple jelly

4 pints dilled carrots

26 pints vegetable soup

36 quarter pints tomato paste

10 half pints green tomato & apple chutney

9 half pints pear chutney

9 pints turkey soup (post-Thanksgiving)

And this is what it looks like on the shelves:

canning1

canning2

Not bad for a few (!) hours of labour in the kitchen, don’t you think? 😉


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Comments

6 responses to “Zombie Preparedness: The Final Reckoning”

  1. Michelle Harlan Avatar

    That looks amazing! I’ve always wanted to try canning. I think it’d be so much fun to spend the time in the kitchen with family while prepping the food for the coming months. Someday, I’ll live somewhere that’ll be cool enough to allow me to store that much food.

    1. Linda Avatar
      Linda

      Even where you are, you should be able to do some canning, Michelle…you don’t need to have cold storage per se, just a coolish spot. You should totally try something and join the ranks! 😉

  2. Bea @Bea's Book Nook Avatar

    Holy cow, it looks like you have your own store. I am definitely heading your way when the zombies come.

    Any idea what the total of those *few* hours is?

    1. Linda Avatar
      Linda

      I honestly have no idea, Bea…I do much of it in and around the rest of my day, it’s hard to separate out what’s devoted entirely to the prep work. The tomatoes I did on Sunday (30 lbs yielding 27 pints) took me about three hours to peel, bottle, and process. Dill pickles and dilled beans were much faster. Salsas took forever because of all the chopping involved. Maybe next year I’ll track my time spent…or not. 😉

  3. JP McLean Avatar

    That’s beautiful. You’d almost hate to spoil the collection by using them. The closest my canning equipment came to being used this year was when a friend borrowed my jelly pot. I’ll keep my fingers crossed that the zombie apocalypse holds off for another year.

    1. Linda Avatar
      Linda

      I suspect you’ll be safe, J.P.! 😉 And yes, you’re right…it’s hard to open those first few jars. *sigh*

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