homemade pantry – january update

I figured it was time to a check in on my pantry stash. Doing my absolute best to not freak out as I itemize the contents of my pantry, but summer preserving season is a long, 4 months away.

What I have left:

• raw packed tomatoes (6 pints)
• oven roasted tomatoes ( 2 ½ pints in ½ pint portions)
• sofrito (½ pint in freezer)
• ketchup (2 pints in ¼ pint portions)
• peach preserves (1 ½ pints in ½ pint portions)
• tomatillo sauce (1 pint in freezer)
• pickled jalapeños (3 pints in ½ pint portions)
• pear butter (2 ½ pints in ½ pint portions)
• apple sauce (3 pints in ½ pint portions)
• pear sauce (½ pint in ¼ pint portions)
• dijon mustard (¾ pint in ¼ pint portions)

I’m gonna have to get creative with my pantry weeks (about two a month) to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the life 8 pints of tomatoes that I have left. Stews and pasta be damned! 😉

All joking aside, I have figured out a few things so far this fall/winter:

1. Pickled jalapeños are not a favorite.
2. Same goes for pickled okra.
3. Tomato sauce goes much more quickly than my precious crushed tomatoes, must stash away larger quantities next summer or curtail my use in the kitchen.
4. I should use more of my peppers to stash away sofrito and will perhaps need to look into freezing raw/blanched peppers (see item 1).
5. My ketchup estimates were spot on.
6. Peach preserves have trumped pear butter at the breakfast table.
7. Eggplant. I am missing it now that it is January. Will have to do some research on how best to save some of its summer wonder for our tummies year round.
8. Zucchini (ditto item 7).

I’m gonna spend the rest of this week figuring out if there is anything that I can do to supplement our stash with winter preserves as I am sure that once summer rolls around I’ll be sad about the end of citrus and greens season.

How is your homemade pantry doing?