I will share a secret with you though, if money is super tight, or if you are not fortunate enough to have an orchard down the road, HERE is a post on how to score some free organic produce.
What I get for my $15 is usually around 40lbs of apples, we eat them fresh, store some in the refrigerator, and as time goes on and they may start to get a little old, we start using them up for things like:
Applesauce
Apple dumplings
Apple Pie Filling
Apple Fritters
Frozen Apples
Dried Apples
You get the picture. I will say that all of this apple love does require a bit of homesteading know how and a few good tools. Hence, the Homesteader must haves for October. I have been blessed that my mother has often shared tools with me that she has owned and is no longer using, or ones that she has found a fantastic deal on and given to me.
My mom loves to encourage my love of canning, food preparation and homesteading nature. As time goes on I think sometimes she really enjoys seeing me become excited about some of the things she first loved about the country, even though I was once quoted as saying, “I will NEVER live in the country.” Yes, I have eaten those words many, many times over now.
So what does a farmgirl need for all these apples? Lets get started
(Note: I am an amazon affiliate, the pictures do link to Amazon's site and if you decide you NEED one of these products as much as I do, well then I get a small commission from Amazon because you saw it here and clicked through, by the way...thank you. The small commission helps with the cost of running this blog site).
My favorite tool, and my children’s, is the apple peeler, corer, slicer gadget. I LOVE this beauty. I have had mine for about 10 years now and it still works perfectly. The kids love it for fresh eating because as it peels, slices and cores, it makes what they call “apple spaghetti.” Never one to have peeled apples for my little ones, they get to eat the peels this way, and they find it super fun because it is different. This is also the tool I use for making apple pies and chunky applesauce and it works for potatoes too (think curly fries).
What do you think, is there one I missed for October? Leave me a comment