As some are doing, I've been canning things. DH has had a good tomato crop this year. I canned tomatoes, tomato juice, spaghetti sauce, and even made barbecue sauce. I also made tomato strawberry jam. I've frozen cut up bell peppers and canned green beans. Had to buy the green beans. I've made different jams and jellies. I have been drying herbs too.

My next plan of action is to make and can applesauce. I have some canned because we were running low when DH had a tooth issue and we ate a lot of soft foods. But, I'd like to get far more canned so we have it. Hopefully apples will start to decrease in price. Someone told me that it was silly for me to make applesauce when I can buy it. True, I can. But most of the applesauce available in our grocery stores if one reads the label, many of the apples are grown and processed in China. Consumer Reports had an article a couple of years back about how much arsenic the apples grown in China contain because many of the trees are planted in sewage. No thanks. I like to know what I'm eating. Not sure I'm saving a ton of money, but sometimes you spend to have peace of mind. We did go to a small Amish market and they had a quart of applesauce that contained apples, sugar, and cinnamon and it was $6.99 for a quart. So, I felt that I was paying a little less than that. I also make apple juice for DH. He likes having it with our Sunday brunch and again, I know what's in it.

Kroger had pasta on sale. It was ten for ten. I didn't need ten boxes of pasts, but I did buy three different kinds. I plan to put them in glass jars to help them keep longer.

As I've cooked chicken and turkey breasts this summer, I've saved the broth and canned and frozen it. I did some the same with some beef broth, but I don't have as much of it as I do chicken broth, but it is still nice to have jars of this stuff available.

I hope I'm wrong, but I think we may have another panic shopping as far as groceries. I don't can corn, so I have been buying a can here and there all summer to have some stockpiled.

We just got the dishwasher working. What a pain in the neck that was. Between not getting the one we wanted (clerk didn't realize it was on back order until November) then getting it installed and it not working, and then having to have an electrician come out. Fortunately the electrician was a smart one and he found the simple problem quickly and fixed it. We were talking about appliances and he said he had problems getting appliances and the person who installed our dishwasher said the same thing. The electrician said that even getting parts for breaker boxes for new houses is difficult. We heard last night on the news where a construction guy who graciously built a wheelchair ramp for a handicapped girl said lumber was hard to get as well. I hope these issues are soon resolved, but wonder if they will be anytime soon.

Anyway, it's sort of s secure feeling seeing the pantry filling up.