Linda's Lunacy

Faith, Home, & Family

Freezing in Jars

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Did you know you can use jars in the freezer? Jars are great for freezing. As long as you leave plenty of head space. Frozen food expands, and if not given enough head space, the expansion will pop the lid off or break the jar. Which leaves a mess in the freezer!

This is my freezer door. The small jars on the top shelf are orange juice slushies. The bottom shelf has green peppers, cooked pinto beans with broth and pizza sauce all in jars.

freezing in jars

The kids love juice slushies during the summer. And they’re great for sore throats any time of the year. Having cooked beans in the freezer is such a time saver!

You can use canning jars, or glass jars you save from peanut butter or condiments. Since you can use the glass jars instead of throwing them away, you will save money buying freezer bags or plastic containers.

Freezing in jars works for me!

 

Visit Works For Me at We are That Family for more great ideas.

You can also purchase the That Works For Me! PDF E-book with hundreds and hundreds of ideas. Since it’s in PDF format, no e-reader necessary!

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Storing Fruits & Vegetables

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Apples are an all-American success story-each ...Image via Wikipedia

I find nothing more frustrating in the kitchen, than fruit and vegetables going bad before I can use them. Fruits and vegetables can be expensive. Throwing food away is a real budget buster. I’m not very fond of having to throw our fruits and vegetables away. Well, I give them to the chickens, but still, that’s expensive chicken feed. Of course, at least I get an egg out of the deal! lol

I have found out that one problem is I have been storing some of my fruits and vegetables wrong.

Did you know if you store apples near other fruits and vegetables, the apples will cause them to go bad faster? Conversely, if you have fruit that you want to ripen faster, put an apple next to them.

If you store ripe bananas next to green bananas they will ripen faster. If your trying to make your bananas last longer, that can be a problem.

You shouldn’t store potatoes and onions next to each other, either. Who know that 2 things that taste so good together can’t be stored next to each other?

Here’s information on how to store produce from Artichokes to Winter Squashes so they last longer.

Now I know why my lemons go bad so fast, I should be storing them on the counter, instead of the fridge!

For more kitchen tips, visit Tammy’s Recipes.
For more homemaking tips, visit Homemaker Monday.
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Keeping Recipes Handy

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When I’m cooking or baking, I like to keep often used recipes close at hand. I don’t want to have to get out the big cookbook every time I make our favorites.
To keep those recipes handy, I hang them on the inside of the cabinet door.
Yeah, I didn’t even trim the recipe I ripped out of the flour bag. lol You could, of course, make it look neater. 🙂  The recipes I keep here, are always changing. Sometimes I have computer print-outs, and sometimes, actual recipe cards. lol I use tape to hang the recipes, unless I write them on large post it notes, like the white sheets are in this picture. I also use the tacky stuff that you can buy for hanging papers on the wall. You’ll have t o experiment to see what works best on your cabinet doors.
This is the cabinet that I keep my measuring cups, baking spices, vanilla, yeast, baking powder, baking soda & salt in. It’s very convenient to keep the recipes here, as I have to open the door to get the ingredients.

For more homemaking tips, visit Homemaker Monday, and Tammy’s Recipes.
For more ideas, visit Works For Me Wednesday.
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Disposing of Medicine

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When my son finished treatment for leukemia, we had some of his medicine (oral chemo) left. The doctor told me to flush them down the toilet.
I didn’t do it, because we have a septic tank. I thought the medicine would disrupt the balance of bacteria in the tank and cause us problems.
I recently found this website Dispose My Meds, that has a pharmacy locater. There are now pharmacies that will take your old and no longer needed medicines and dispose of them.
Homeopathic medicineImage via Wikipedia

It seems that the need is even greater for those with city sewer. There have been studies that show the high level of antibiotics and other medicines in the water supply after the water has been treated!

That’s pretty scary!

So if you have outdated or no longer needed meds, you can visit Dispose My Meds to find a pharmacy near you that will accept your old meds for disposal.

For more homemaking tips, visit Homemaker Monday, and Tammy’s Recipes.
For more ideas, visit Works For Me Wednesday.

Denture Tablets for Cleaning

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Denture cleaning tablets actually have a lot of other uses, besides cleaning dentures.

I use them in flower vases that have gotten all grimy inside. When a regular washing isn’t enough, fill the vase with hot water past the dirt line in the vase and drop in a denture tablet. If it’s a large vase, you may need two or more tablets.

Denture tablets also work great in stained coffee and tea cups. Use the same procedure as above, to remove the tough stains.

A photo of a cup of coffee.Image via Wikipedia
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You can also use denture tablets to whiten fabric, cleaning jewelry, cleaning your childs retainer, and soaking off burnt on foods in pans and casserole dishes.

The generic brands of denture tablets are fairly cheap, and worth having in the house, even if you don’t wear dentures.

For more ideas, visit Works For Me Wednesday.

Saltwater System for the Swimming Pool

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We’ve had an above ground pool for a number of years. The kind that you take down every winter. We have always enjoyed having a pool, but adding chlorine is such a hassle. Plus you have to worry about the kids getting into the chlorine while its floating around the pool in the dispenser. So when I saw this last year, we bought one:

Intex Deluxe Saltwater System

A saltwater system that creates chlorine without adding chlorine to the pool. You put the prescribed amount of salt in the pool. Not table salt, the kind of salt you use in water softeners. The machine makes chlorine from the salt.

We really love this system, it is so much easier. You set the machine for the number of hours need , and it goes on every 24 hours. You can also change the time if needed. You still have to check the chlorine level and ph level regularly. Using this system, has cut down on the amount of time I have to spend on pool maintenance.

I bought our saltwater system online from Walmart last year, and I see that they have it in stores now. You can find them other places also.

This year, the kids were so excited to have the pool set up, they couldn’t wait for it to fill to go swimming.

You can see the pool filter pump and the saltwater system in this picture.
For more ideas, visit Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family
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