Prepping & Applesauce Making

To say I’ve been “nesting” is a bit of an understatement. Though lately I prefer the term “baby-prepping” because it seems so much more dramatic. Like instead of “prepping” for the apocalyptic end of the world, I’m prepping for the cataclysmic event of our first baby’s birth! Maybe it’s because I mock “preppers” in my spare time --- it’s the leftover derision from the Y2K fiasco in Christian culture that I just can’t get away from… and that’s why I find the “preppers” label to be so hilarious when applied to my baby work these days…. anyway, wow, I have digressed. :P

My time is being spent tackling my “Master To-Do List.” Yes, I’m an unashamed list person. It helps me to be efficient. The unfortunate truth is that without lists, I am an aimless procrastinator. Like a little canoe drifting away into the ocean. Without lists, I am likely to be sad that I’m not sure what is the most important task to tackle, and then I just can’t.figure.out.what.to.do.next. I found this aspect to be true in my MILLION years working in the office environment (extreme overstatement: because it was actually about fourteen years). I need a schedule for normal tasks and a to-do list for extra projects. If I have those two organizational tools, I become a better, more hard-working, efficient version of myself.

All that to say, I am KILLING my to-do list this week… and I’m also adding the strangest tasks to it. Yesterday, I scrubbed my bathtub (ya know, on my hands and knees, like Cinderella) until it was white again. Because it’s really old and porcelain and the stains are a BEAR to get out. And I changed the light bulb on my front porch, which may have been burnt out for the last two years. I also baked some muffins to live in the freezer for a few weeks for healthy after-baby snacking. And… in my final crowning glory kind of moment, I set up our new (free from Comcast!) modem. The days where I fight technology and win… those are my favorites!

I have done some more traditional kind of prepping. A few weeks ago, my sis and I did a work frolic day! Work frolics = when women get together to work on things like Applesauce-Making… those big tasks that end up being so much more fun when done together. First, we purchased the apples from the local Amish produce stand. I also had to get some apple cider and butternut squash because ‘tis the season.

There were lots of helpers. Many hands make the work lighter! We had an apple “runner,” who took on the task of selecting a variety of apples (we used about four or five different types of apples) and bringing them over to the sink. There another little niece would wash them --- this was especially fun because we talked about why apples “bob” in water. Then us adults cored and quartered the apples and threw them in the big pot!

It was a really, REALLY big pot.

The apples cooked and cooked and cooked…. in the meantime, we waited and waited, hanging out on kitchen stools while clad in aprons (very useful pieces of fabric), and then picking up a few books for inspiration.

Everybody has books.


Little House on the Prairie books are inspiring while food-prepping. I even picked up “The Long Winter” to breeze through while waiting for our apples to cook down. That particular book always makes me appreciate simple food more.

We had two of these Foley food mills going.. operated by the little girls! It eliminates the apple-peeling step… which is SO GREAT.

And before you know it, there is applesauce! Add a little cinnamon and sugar to taste, and we’re ready for canning business!



By the end of the day, we were dead-tired…. and had canned almost thirty jars of applesauce! It’s so delicious, too! We’ve been having applesauce with our breakfast every morning and it’s like all the flavors of autumn!
Sometimes “prepping” tastes delicious.