My Tireless Retirement - Week 188

 

I began this past week of my retired life feeling very humble and very grateful.  I have been blessed in so many ways and although I never take it for granted I do feel that it is important to pay it forward whenever we can, especially as we are heading into the holidays.  Friday morning before I started a full day at work I delivered two bags of groceries to a single mom in need.

 

I was blessed with the opportunity to take part as a volunteer last Saturday morning in the SNAP $40 voucher event at the Boise Farmers Market where we handed out tokens and tickets to people in need.  The tokens allowed people to shop vendors for fresh fruits and vegetables while the tickets allowed them to purchase other SNAP eligible items like eggs, bread, milk and cheese.  There is nothing like having someone literally burst into tears in front of you when you hand them these to realize how fortunate you truly are.  I am so grateful I was able to be there to help out and even more grateful that this even was even happening.

 

The BFF has taken over this month’s grocery shopping and it has freed me up to work on other things.  We have both felt compelled combine forces and not only beef up our own food stocks as we head into winter and 2026, but we have also felt the need to start a shelf in the LTFS to store food items for donating.  Since I have the space and more available time than he does to manage this it was decided that these food stocks as well as the donation items should be kept at my house.

 

Because of the sudden increase in food stocks the BFF convinced me that the purchase of an additional small freezer might be prudent so he didn’t take over mine adding that I’d be able to better organize things using the new one to store produce, flour and homemade breads while mine was used to store the fats and proteins.  It worked and I acquiesced to his sales pitch.  My payment for keeping the freezer at my house is that I can eat whatever I want out of it, organize it however I like and he’ll keep shopping for whatever I tell him he should buy.  It sounds like a pretty solid deal to me.

 

I picked up cranberries on sale at Fred Meyer and made my own cranberry sauce for the very first time.  I still had oranges I had brought home from the senior center and the rinds were starting to dry out so it just made sense to use my grandma’s juicer and get them all juiced and add that to my cranberry sauce as part of the liquid.  It is delicious!  And, needless to say, it is very easy to make your own cranberry sauce.  I canned it in small jelly jars so it will last for quite a while and I can give some away too.

 

While at Fred Meyer I picked up two five pound bags of good quality flour on sale or $3.49 each, a really good price as I normally pay well over five dollars a bag for this flour.  At home I vacuum sealed them and placed them in the new freezer.  I also picked up four pounds of butter on sale for $2.99 each and vacuum sealed those as well.  They were added to the freezer in the garage.

 

The BFF picked me up a bag of chocolate chips at Costco.  I cannot believe the price of baking chips this year.  I normally buy them on sale this time of year and I’m good to go, but this year they aren’t on sale as in years past.  This bag was the better deal and will last me for at least a year if not longer.  I am very much ready for some holiday baking and possibly making a pan of fudge.

 

It was very much a food focused week around here.  Not only with the new freezer purchase and some home food preservation, but also with the SNAP event and food donations and food drives currently going on around here.  It is kind of a crazy time right now.  My hope and prayer is that people will be able to have what they need as well as enough for Thanksgiving coming up soon.  I am so grateful to be able to share with others.