Right now with all of the kids home because of the war, there are constant messes happening that aren’t typical for eight and nine year old children. They need constant supervision that is impossible if I’m to do anything but entertain them all day.
While I’ve always been one to teach my kids to pick up regularly and to do chores, some of our children have extreme difficulty in focusing. That means that it’s quite an effort to get small things done, like putting pajamas away instead of leaving them on the floor. Then there are messes like coloring on the walls and closets, or ripping up a foam cylinder and throwing it in the toilet while using the facilities. It’s constant messes like this, all day long.
I spend a good chunk of my day cleaning the trail they leave behind while they go on to more activities and mess, and sometimes it’s discouraging that my work is soon undone and there’s not much to show for my efforts.
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I found a good sale on brisket a couple of days ago and bought two cases for Pesach.
I’d love to buy more at that price but I don’t have room in my freezer – I have two cases of chicken and a case of fish arriving tomorrow that will use the last space I have – and the sale is ending before Pesach. But with the quantities of meat we eat and with prices continually rising, I’d love to lock in some savings.
That brings me to a comment my husband recently made to me: “Thank you for making lunch for me four years ago.”
“Umm..what?”
He showed me the the empty glass jar that held the food he’d taken for lunch that day – meat I canned in 2022. (If you’re wondering about the shelf life, it’s fine to use home canned meats for up to five years after they were processed.) Do you know how much the meat that I canned then cost per kilo?
30 shekels. That was a good sale.
Four years later, today’s sale price is 50 shekels per kilo. I’d love to think that in four years, the prices will be the same as they are now. But chances are that I’ll be glad to be eating at yesterday’s prices.
When I thought about canning some meat, I wondered if it was realistic to prepare it now. After all, it’s before Pesach and there’s plenty to do in my house….but I decided Pesach cleaning can wait one more day.
I bought another case of meat, twenty kilos total. I took it out to defrost and after a couple of hours, began chopping it all into cubes. Bby the time I went to sleep, the entire case had been processed, producing 21 quarts and 7 pints of shelf stable, ready to eat meat. I did a few small jars of meat gravy, to clear out the fridge, too. (I can larger jars for family meals, and smaller jars for my husband to take to work.)
Do you know how nice it is to look at these jars and see a concrete accomplishment that will remain done tomorrow and the next day and the next? At this time, the psychological benefit of doing something concrete that is of value to me is worth more than the money saved!
Avivah
2 Responses
Avivah, is the meat cooked? It looks raw in the photos. How do you process it?
Chaya Dina, this picture is after it’s processed, fully cooked and with the fat layer on top. It’s ready to be stored/used. When it’s raw, raw meat chunks are packed tightly to the top, with nothing else in the jar. As it is processed it cooks down and creates the broth surrounding the meat.