For those wondering about the purpose of a late night meatball frying party: I’m banking spoons
I have spare energy/time now so if I spend it making and freezing food, I can then cash in on that time later and have homemade food sometime when I don’t have the energy to cook
@Satsuma this is a really good idea tbh 
meatballs look lovely, btw!
@Chel thanks! Since I’ve gotten sick, I’ve gotten really into the kinds of cooking you can do in advance - I do a whole bunch of canning too
@Satsuma canning is something that I've been interested in getting into, but am always afraid of messing up somehow 😅
most of my cook ahead stuff is just large pots of food atm
@Chel pickling is just about impossible to mess up (the easiest mistake to make is cooking the veggies too much while canning, which is a bit gross but not at all dangerous) and doesn’t require any specialized equipment besides the jars and a large pot
Jam/jelly is a little more complicated bc you need to mess with pectin, but also very safe/easy
The only difficult stuff is soup & low acid vegetables, but if you get to that point, you’ll have plenty of experience already :)
@Satsuma ooo... I'm very interested in trying my hand with grape jelly, now that you mention it. I haven't had any in a looong time, but I've always been incredibly fond of it. 
and thank you! I may yet take you up on this one of these days 
@Chel this farm near my house grows them, but they sell out almost immediately because of how popular they are. So i buy the biggest box i can get to make into jelly and then hoard it all year like a dragon, haha
@Satsuma a grape dragon 
Honestly that sounds absolutely perfect tbh
@Chel homemade jam is the best hoard because you get to eat as much of it as you want
@Satsuma sounds dangerous 😁
@Chel only a little bit :)
@Chel strawberry rhubarb is one of my faves! Homemade concord grape is also leagues better than the store-bought kind, totally blew my mind the first time I tried it.
If you ever wanna get into larger batches, I’m happy to offer advice :)