Getting Fruit Ready for Freezing or Jam Making With Limit Energy

   It's no secret that I have to pace myself when taking on big projects.  With my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, making jam or canning is a huge undertaking that I need to do over several days since I don't have the energy or the extra help to do it all in one day.  

   Today I decided that I had to get the nectarines all peeled, pitted and sliced up so that they would be ready to go.  I put on some YouTube videos on saving money to watch while I worked.

    It took me about an hour to get a huge stainless steel bowl full all done.  My hands were feeling the affect of all that citric acid on them by the time I got the last nectarine in the bowl done.

I packaged up all the fruit into 2 heavy duty Ziplock freezer bags in 10 cup portions.  I then froze them so that they will be ready for me to make jam with on another day when I do have more energy.  Since we are heading into hot weather again over a very busy weekend for us, I will save the actual jam making for a nice and cool day when I know that I will have a full day or more to recover.  So that my friends, is how I break things down when making jam and living with a chronic illness.

Making a List and Checking it Twice

 


    No, I am not making a Christmas gift list.  What I am working on is my list of things I need to stock up on for the Summer.

~Sugar, I need lots of this for making jams, syrups and canned fruit.
~Vinegar 5% acidity for making pickles.
~A coffee grinder, our's is dying a painful and slow death...found one at Walmart today and I must say, the hubby looked very excited when he saw it. ;)
~Laundry detergent...I made a huge batch of this on Sunday afternoon so we should be set for another 3-4 months!
~Coffee, we are down to one can and a few packages of beans.  
~A folding table that I can set up my sewing machine on and that we can also take with us when we go camping.
~Another pair of lightweight capri pants.  I have heavier denim ones but unfortunately have put on weight since last year and my lighter weight ones no long fit.
~Trash bags.  We ran out of the wood pellet bags that we recycle during the heating season.
~Latex free band aids.  I'm allergic to latex and to many of the adhesives on first aid products.  I'm a klutz and seem to hurt myself when I work on home improvement projects so these are a must.
~Club soda or Seltzer water...picked up 6 2 liter bottles at .69 today at Safeway.
~Facial tissues.  My allergies are horrible this year.
~Sudafed is another need for my allergies.
~Benadryl, did I mention I am allergic to bees?
~Canning jars in various sizes.  I plan on doing a lot of canning this year.
~A full tank of propane for the BBQ grill.

   I'm curious, does anyone else make a summer stock up list?