what things can you prep ahead of time?

[imafan26]

I am used to eating produce fresh out of the garden, giving it away, or giving it to the worms.
I have a lot of produce that goes bad in the frig because I keep it too long. I shop once a month at costco and once at Sam's so about every couple of weeks. But for staples like onions, carrots, potatoes, and cabbage ( I don't get very much), those I get from the local markets because I really don't need a bulk bag of carrots, or two cabbages, or 10 lbs of potatoes or onions. Although Costco and Sam's have better prices in bulk, it it not a savings if I have to throw most of it away. I did buy 2 cabbages at Sam's Club but I gave one to my sister and I just ate the other one.

It is the same with the garden. It is feast or famine. Either I have no cucumbers like now or I have 4 a week. I still have 5 onions left from the onion field day. I have it hanging in net bags on my clothesline in the lanai. It is working out pretty well. I had 3 large Meyer lemons that were getting lighter, so on Sunday I made 3 lemon meringue pies and gave two away (one to my sister and the other to my mom).

Today I took the bok choy (it wasn't a baby anymore), and I sauteed it with garlic, olive, oil, butter, and onions. It will be the side dish for the Costco rotisserie chicken I will be eating for the next few days.

Recently, I have been doing some meal prep, but not of meals, but for things like onions, garlic, pepper and mushrooms. I mince garlic, chop peppers and onions, and mushrooms. I prep enough of the garlic and mushrooms I will use in a few days for stir fries or omelettes. I found out that onions and peppers don't need any processing to freeze so I can just chop them and freeze. They are fine as long as I am only cooking with them. I find them very convenient to use and if I have to chop those things, I would rather do it all at one time instead of for every meal I would use them in.

I am making my own fajita and taco seasoning because I have to make it salt free and those are easy to do if I get the bulk spices and freeze them. I did grow bush beans and the only issue I have with bush beans is that you have to harvest everything in a week or two and then it is done. So, I have more beans than I can eat or want to eat all at once and nothing later. So, those I do have to blanch first, but I have frozen those too.

To go with the rotisserie chicken I made brown gravy using bacon drippings and salt free bouillon and brown gravy mix. I would have used poultry gravy, but I found the brown gravy first. I added the minced garlic, onion, and mushrooms to it and I prepped more onions and peppers for the freezer and more garlic and mushrooms for the next few days.

I preserve ginger in sherry after I harvest it and it lasts for a year or more. And I have ginger infused sherry I can also use.

Sweet onions can be pickled.

I don't grow pickling cucumbers, so the Japanese cucumbers are only good for a refrigerator pickle.

I am juicing the lemons. I can usually find someone who wants the calamondin, they just want it green.

I have more tomatoes right now than usual. I have 11 tomatoes, normally I only have three. Some are duplicates of valentine and sweet pea currant. Some are new ones I am trying out this year like Warrior, Rosella Crimson, Orange cherry (TYLCV resistant), Burpee's Bushsteak. Valentine, Warrior, and Sweet pea are all producing, and there are more flowers coming on. Right now, valentine and red currant are dropping fruit I haven't picked, but it isn't a glut yet. There are a lot of flower on the plants so that may change soon. If they are good, then I am sure I will have takers. Valentine and red currant can be sweet if they are not over watered.

I got a Cosori dehydrator, so I am going to try my hand at dehydrating some of the things I have an abundance of before they go bad. Tomatoes, mushrooms (I prefer fresh, but it is sometimes hard to use up all the mushrooms in a Costco packag. I actually bought the dehydrator to dehydrate herbs like bay leaves. and hot peppers. Those also dry well on the dash of my car parked in the hot sun for a day.

I saw that the seascape strawberries are making more runners and there is even a strawberry. Hopefully I will get it before the birds do. The birds I have except for the sharma and the cattle egret are fruit and leaf eaters so they are pests. So far, they are leaving the papaya alone, they like the kale and beans better.

I still have a bag of peppers from Costco, I am thinking of making stuffed peppers and freezing them for future meals.

What do you do with your extra produce and how do you keep them longer? Which ones are good for canning, freezing, or a freezer meal? I don't use a lot of garlic but I use a lot of peppers and onions, so what kinds of things can you prep ahead for meals?