What's in YOUR Bunker?

So.....I've talked to a few of you about a new bunker challenge. Here's the rules:

• 30 days (I'm going from October 20-November 20 - adjust your dates as needed)


• $15 a week for grocery/household items (normal grocery store/Costco stuff..)


• we'll see who has the most money left over at the end (Tia's idea).

Now would be a good time to look at what your family eats, make up a sample menu, and then start stocking up. You've got 2 months.

Go.

And so it begins....

My tomatoes have started turning red this week. It looks like we'll have a ton. What would you do with a ton of tomatoes?

When Life Gives You Pits....

...buy a cherry pitter. $14.99 at Fred Meyer. Works pretty much just like a hole punch. Easy as pie. Cherry pie.

Our cherry trees are providing a bumper crop this year. I need to let my neighbor know that the rest of the cherries on the trees are fair game. In the meantime, I'm thinking our 4th of July dessert will prominently feature cherries.

Cherry Baby

Steve and I came home to our cherry trees full of ripe cherries. What to do with them? I found a recipe online for fresh cherry turnovers. They were okay...a bit more labor intensive than I really like, but Steve gave them a big thumbs up. Of course, any excuse to have ice cream results in a thumbs up for Steve.

The Thinning of the Kale

I finally went out and thinned the kale yesterday. I pulled up lots of plants - but before tossing them in the yard waste can I cut their leaves off.

Thanks to Pat for the suggestion of just rinsing, cutting them up and freezing them. That's my kind of preserving. It only has one more step than what I do with my blueberries. I can handle that.

In honor of the harvested kale I believe I will make some Zuppa Toscana.

Leafy Greens, Anyone?

Now that we've had a week or so of hot weather, the garden seems to be burgeoning left and right. I desperately need to get out there and thin the spinach, kale, onions and carrots. I am pretty sure that we planted way too many pumpkins - but I'll let them grow. Not only is it a vegetable that Danny will actually eat, but also a useful fall decoration.

Question: Has anyone out there ever frozen kale? If so, how? I think I will have a bumper crop.

Out of the Bunker

Still Life, With Fruit.

We made it. Thirty-one days in the Bunker. No trips to the grocery store.

How did we do? For the most part, just fine. My list of things that I wish I had is surprisingly short. Sour cream, baked beans (I could have made some from scratch - I do have all the ingredients), fresh produce (we did what we could...) and ham. I know Alex missed milk - but he didn't really complain about the powdered milk...he just didn't drink much of it.

We could continue on with the experiment longer - but I think we've already gained valuable experience in what we need to survive (A secret stash of chocolate helps).

I saved up a lot money from my household budget...I now need to restock...look out Costco, here we come.