Penniless Parenting

I've been mighty busy today. Doing what, you ask?

Making all this, of course:

What on earth is all that stuff? Is that really all made from scratch? 

You betcha it is!

 These olives, three different kinds, were all picked from the tree by myself and Lee. The green olives on the right were picked a few months back and have been curing in brine. They're nearly ready.
The olives in the middle are black olives and were salt packed for a few days. Today I put them in this vinegar solution.
The olives on the left are half green, half black olives and are curing in salt water.

Today I started two different types of sprouts. Already they both have tails. In the back are mung beans, who's sprouts are used in Chinese food. In front are alfalfa seeds sprouting.

From left to right we have:
Orange cleaner- a powerful, all natural, simple to make cleansing solution.
Beet kvass- a fermented slightly effervescent beet based probiotic drink. This is my first time making it, but it's supposed to be really healthy.
Kombucha- a fermented probiotic effervescent tea. I've been making this for a few weeks already and it is so delicious and apparently is really healthy to boot!
Pickled onions. I made up the recipe because I have so many onions that I bought cheaply!

(Ignore the little jars on the left.)
In this picture you have a bunch of different chicken based things, all frugal.
In the bags up front are cooked gizzards, bought for 75 cents a pound. They're divided into meal sized portions to take out from the freezer for a quick easy protein.
On the bottom of the pile in the back is a tupperware filled with chicken stock, the leftover water from cooking the gizzards. This is going in my freezer to be used as the base for soups, etc.
On top of the stock and in the little round container to the right is rendered chicken fat.
In the bag on top are cracklings, leftovers from rendering the fat. They're a yummy crunchy snack.

The part I am most proud about though is my first attempt at home canning, without any special equipment and without any monetary outlay. Even the cans were recycled from jars of preserved foods that my friends bought and saved for me instead of tossing.

The whole batch!

Here's my grapefruit marmalade. Yum!

Behind the grapefruit marmalade (with the green covers) is pickled beets.

Pickled cauliflower. I used this recipe.

And of course, even though I made this yesterday, I did all the cleanup today. What is this? Why, my own homemade soap of course!

Wow, what an exhausting day!

Have you ever canned before? What do you can? How much did you spend on equipment? Have you ever or do you regularly make any of the other things listed above?