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Tuesday Evening Ramble

The decision has been made to spend all day tomorrow making eggplant parmesan . . lots of it.  I can use up some tomatoes, some fresh basil, some eggplant, onions, garlic . . everything that I grew in the garden.  This evening we ran to Wal-Mart because I needed ricotta cheese and parmesan cheese.  I was planning to freeze the batches in pyrex dishes, dump it once it’s frozen, put it in individual Foodsaver bags but while at Wal-Mart, I saw half sheet cake size foil pans with lids . . 3 or 4 per pack for 94¢ per pack.  That’s so cheap . . I’m going to put the parmesan in there and wrap it really tightly with heavy duty aluminum foil and leave it.  If I see that it’s getting frosty or freezer burned, I can always dump what’s remaining and freeze them individual Foodsaver bags.  I’m thinking I’ll get at least 10 dishes of eggplant parmesan plus I’m making some caponata and going to try freezing it with just the eggplant, tomatoes, basil and oil.

I guess it’s been several weeks since I was in our Wal-Mart but they’ve added about 8 or 10 self-check registers.  I love those things!  The Wal-Mart in MO had them and took them out.  The helper told me that they had them here once and took them out.  If I have to go to Wal-Mart, I prefer to go early in the morning . . around 7 or 8, but there are few checkers that time of the morning.  Now I can zip in and get my items, check myself out, bag it the way I want to bag it and be on my way.

Doesn’t take much to make me happy, huh?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. I guess I’m the only one who hates those self checkout lanes. My husband loves them, but I always feel like I should get a discount for doing someone’s job. I guess I’m just looking at the glass half empty at those times.

    • No… I hate them too! Something never scans, or it doesnt’ t like it if you don’t put the scanned item in the bag, or it has to check my ID because I bought alcohol, or…… so I’d rather wait in line an extra 5 or 10 minutes and not have to deal with it.

    • No… I hate them too! Something never scans, or it doesnt’ t like it if you don’t put the scanned item in the bag, or it has to check my ID because I bought alcohol, or…… so I’d rather wait in line an extra 5 or 10 minutes and not have to deal with it.

  3. I also hate them. I feel it costs too many people jobs. Ours never work well, and you have to wait for help My Kids love them.

  4. I love the self checkouts. I’m not patient with people who dawdle in front of me in lines. The only problem with the self checkout at our wal-mart is that you can not use it if you buy fresh veges or anything that is purchased by the pound. Bummer.

  5. I love EGGPLANT! My husband does not. I’m so envious and want to come over and eat eggplant parmesan! My cousin’s husband makes it sometimes when I visit there.

  6. The foil pans sound great…… I would wrap the entire pan in saran wrap as a precaution because sometimes the tomato puts little holes in the foil pans…………

    Love watching your garden grow……. I will agree that the satisfaction of having your own produce out weighs the work…. And it can be enjoyable work………

  7. I love those self checkouts. Zip in and out and no more badly bagged groceries.

  8. My parents grocery store got them in a few years ago. I ‘taught’ my dad how to use it. Now when I go visit, he has to tell me ALL about it! Hello?? I showed YOU! lolol
    I love them too…I rarely get stuck behind a misbehaving kid or a checker who is slow..

  9. My parents grocery store got them in a few years ago. I ‘taught’ my dad how to use it. Now when I go visit, he has to tell me ALL about it! Hello?? I showed YOU! lolol
    I love them too…I rarely get stuck behind a misbehaving kid or a checker who is slow..

  10. Have you tried ratatouie (my spelling is prrobably incorrect)? Eggplant, zucchini, onions, garlic, tomatoes. Olive oil and seasonings served over rice. Yummy. Could maybe freeze the vegetables then make the rice when you are ready to heat and serve.

    PS. Just received an email from CT about your new book. Congrats.

  11. I love those foil pans and use them all the time to freeze meals like lasagna or hashbrown cassarole for us and my elderly parents. I wrap them well with foil and they keep a long time. Mom recently found one she’d had in the freezer a year and she said it was still great.

  15. My ex is a big “Prepper” and he uses these bags for food storage. He says they seal better and are a better buy. He said every time he orders anything from Amazon- he has them ship him a box of different sizes. We used them to put up 6 bushels of corn on the cob and they seemed really good. http://www.amazon.com/Weston-30-0101-W-12-Inch-Vacuum-Sealer-Count/dp/B001GP81OK/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_nC?ie=UTF8&colid=2GQHGTK8DODFY&coliid=I39BPZ2OTPJ5H2

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