Is there a moment when you realize that you are maybe just a bit insane?
Is it when you pull multiple chicken carcasses, plus a couple more, out of the freezer to make stock? Is it when you realize that you have too many for your BIG stockpot and decide to split it up and make a second batch in the even bigger pressure canner pot?
Or is it when you realize that perhaps you don’t really have enough quart jars for the volume of stock you just made? Or a plan for how to store it – is there room in the freezer? Is it when you wish you’d gotten a new O-ring for Denise’s loaned canner and had the gauge checked?
Or is it when you’ve got 20 quarts (that’s 5 gallons!) of stock in your freezer and you realize that that’s likely a 6 to 12 month supply?
Yep, that’s pretty much the moment you realize that you might be just a bit insane.
And I’m just enough sheepish about it that I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture of the little soldiers lined up on the island before they went in the freezer.
What insane preserving or cooking ahead have you done lately?
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let’s see… 10 pints of chicken stock, 5 quarts of turkey broth, all pressure canned; 5 packets of tomatillo-chile base (to be thinned with stock to make enchilada sauce later on), frozen; three half-pints of jalapeño pickles, and one short pint of pickled pub onions, in the water-bath canner. And that was just last weekend.
I wish we had long weekends more often… I get so much done.
Not exactly what you’re asking for, but I came back from Wisconsin with almost an entire suitcase filled with $200 worth of cheese! Compared to shipping it, that $15 bag fee was a bargain.
I put my stock in freezer bags and freeze them flat on a cookie sheet, which saves a lot of room in the freezer since I haven’t taken up canning yet.
I love weekends entirely spent cooking!
I don’t have a pressure canner, so I can only make what I can freezer or refrigerate. My two biggest pots hold 8-10 quarts apiece, but I usually only make one pot of 7-8 quarts, from carcasses and bones I’ve horded in the freezer. I patrol the markets first thing to buy pork bones and poultry backs. Thanksgiving is my bonanza – turkey backs drop to 20 cents/lb. I just made 8 quarts yesterday – 2 in the fridge in jars, and 6 in the freezer in flat bags. I have a cardboard box that perfectly fits 6 flat quart bags, so I load up the box and put it right in the freezer.
That is quite a pickle. Might I suggest making a batch or two of risotto? I find that this dish is very comforting in fall/winter and takes up a lot of stock. Leftovers can be made into risotto cakes the next day.
I don’t call that insane–I call it impressive! (and I’m envious).
Good way to use up some of that stock–I love this recipe:
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2005/10/sog-story.html
This made me laugh. We too suffer from stock mania, though find that it disappears quickly enough this time of year. It also put me in mind of our expanding stock of “wormjuice”, the nutrient rich drainings from our wormery – and we have had a lot of rain this year in London. Very smelly, but rather wonderful for feeding plants.
Oh my goodness! This post could have been written about me. People think I am crazy for making and canning homemade stock. We have an entire shelf in the pantry completely full. I make the stock as I go and then keep in it the freezer until I get enough to make it worth my effort to get out the canner. It’s one of my favorite things to make and can. Last month we canned 18 quarts
As I don’t have a pressure canner (yet!), I make and freeze stock occasionally, but have never really stocked up. When I first started preserving several summers ago, I went a little wild. At the end of the season, I had 10 dozen jars of preserves (fruit butters, marmalades, chutneys and pickles) stacked on the shelves in our basement. I’m more reserved these days, but having a pressure canner might lead to more wild canning evenings/weekends.
You know, I have this bad habit about needing everything “just so” if I’m going to be gone for a week or so.
Which is why, at about 11pm the night before I was flying to WI for ten days for the holiday, I was in my kitchen, boiling down all the wrinkly carrots and celery nubs and leftover cut onion and turnip greens into several mason jars of broth so they wouldn’t turn into slime in the fridge whilst we were gone.
I hear you.
I’m a freezer also, and yeah, I have more stock than any one person should have. But it certainly comes in handy!
Anita – completely agree on the long weekends.
Megera – so jealous of your cheese. Any chance we can buy a bit off of you?
The freezer bags are a good idea, might have to try that next time.
Matriarchy – yep, I usually make 8-10 quarts at a time. Apparently I just wanted to overachieve last weekend. Apparently freezer bags are the way to go. Can you put them in the microwave to defrost?
Einat – Mmmm risotto. Good idea.
Tea – thanks for the recipe link. I’ll have to give that a try next time we have stale rustic bread.
Colleen – so jealous of your worm juice. Mine all ran away from home earlier this fall…
Sarah – so after defrosting they’re still okay to go in the canner? That’s what I’m contemplating doing one night this week.
Kimberly – yeah, it seems that we might have a multi-year supply of a couple of things from this year’s efforts. Of course, all that means is less work next summer…
Laurel – Your description of making veggie stock before leaving, that is completely me.
Meghan – I agree, it certainly is nice to have stock anytime we need it!
I’ve been making insane amounts of stock too. I froze a lot of it in ice cube trays and keep a container of the cubes in the upstairs freezer. It’s so handy! When I’m cooking I can just throw in a couple of cubes to add flavor and moisture. Loving it.