The Second Fridge...

I SO wish I had done this a couple of years ago.  With a growing family and eating and preparing whole, traditional foods, a second fridge really is a necessity.  I was thrilled to find mine this week on craig's list for just $100 and the people delivered it for me!

It's no shining beauty, but it works well and I hope it will last me 4-5 years.  It should pay for itself very quickly just from all the food that I will be able to save from going to waste.  My kitchen fridge and freezer have been so full that I have had trouble keeping track of what I have and often fresh produce has gone bad before I could use it.

Now that I am doing more fermenting and dehydrating, I have needed room to store all these yummy fruits and veggies.  So, now I can buy even more in bulk and be able to save grocery dollars that way as well.

Not only can I now see what I have much, much better, but I am finding that I can do meal prep throughout the day that I could not have done before, as I had no place to put it.  I prefer to do meal prep earlier in the day, as the dinner hour can be a tough one sometimes with a toddler.

Another time saver is being able to make and store my herbal tea in batches instead of having to make it each day.  Most herbal teas are generally able to be stored in the fridge for two days, so I can make a double or triple batch of tea, which is a nice time saver for me.

So, my cold storage now includes two side by side fridge/freezers, one chest freezer, and if needed (I have it turned off right now), and small compact fridge that is build into our outdoor grilling area.  I never thought I would fill that much cold storage, but each unit is being very well used!

(Featured on GNOWFGLINS, The Nourishing Gourmet, Food Renegade)

An Excellent Cherry Pitter

Yup it's summer!  And one thing we love in this house is cherries!  I love cherries, but I usually dread the thought of de-pitting my cherries.  In the past it has been a painfully slow and messy job and has deterred me from buying all the cherries I would like to buy.

But, a few weeks ago, I was thumbing through the Lehman's Catalog (love all the fun things in there!) and found this cherry pitter.  At first, I was a bit put off by the price, but finally decided to order it and give it a try.

I'm so glad that I did!  I was able to whip through a few pounds of cherries in no time.  It did take a little getting used to, and it was a little loud, but it worked quite well.  By the end, I was able to just pour the cherries into the hopper rather than doing them one at a time.  It also has a decent splash guard so my area was kept quite clean.   And NO PINK HANDS!  Yay!

As far as I could tell, it got all the pits out.  I have not yet eaten all the cherries I pitted, but the ones that I sampled were pit free.

**UPDATE - There were a few missed pits; 2 that I found in about 3 pounds of cherries.  I'm still happy with the pitter.  Even professionally pitted cherries end up with a few pits, so this pitter is a keeper for me.**

(Featured on GNOWFGLINS, The Nourishing Gourmet)

My New Knife - Sharpest Ever and Under $10!

Being a whole foodie means a lot of chopping!  I've been through a few knives in my time and have not been very happy with any of them.  Following a tip from the Nourishing Gourmet, I found these knives.  I ordered THIS one,  for vegetable chopping and THIS bread knife.

Set of Komachi Knives (Photo credit: Themodernhome.com)

I have been so happy with these knives and even if they need to be replaced more frequently than my more expensive knives, I won't mind.  These are also extremely light weight, which I find makes chopping a lot easier.

I am looking forward to trying their paring knife and their serrated multi-utility knife