5 Minute Refrigerator Pickles

5-Minute Fresh and Delicious Refrigerator Pickles

I like pickles, especially dill pickle spears....just something about those green bumpy babies speaks to me....they usually call my name early in the morning or late at night.  I like to pull them out of the jar and then bite into them {hoping nobody sees me just in case there's juice running down the side of my mouth because with all boys that's a reason to laugh....and point.....for hours}.

My middle son is a pickle lover also.....at any given time we will have 4 or more jars of pickles in the refrigerator ~ some people like wine....we like pickles.

While middle son was away at camp Holly from 504 Main did a post about Homemade Refrigerator Pickles.  *lightbulb* I could make these for middle son to have as a treat when he came home from camp ~ something different than the usual sweets I make at the drop of a hat.

Holly's recipe goes into great detail so her step-by-step is definitely better than mine because I deviated from her wonderful recipe......

I had my list of ingredients and headed to a local farm that has a little general store of sorts that has the coolest items including foods grown at local farms including meats without steroids and organically fed which is so much tastier than super marker meats just in case you were curious.  : )

The mistake I made was bringing my husband and two other sons with me.

Me:  Oh....I think I need some canning jars....aren't these cute....and big?

Husband:  Do you REALLY need a whole box of canning jars?  I thought you were just going to make A jar of pickles.  You save jars and have a whole box full in the garage....can't you use those?

Me:  Um....well, I guess I don't need the canning jars.  I'll just use the jars from the garage. *shrug*  Oh....fresh dill for only $2.00 a bunch...this is perfect....kinda big....but perfect! {places giant bunch of 3 foot long fresh dill with roots into cart}

Me:  Oh....look at these.....pickling cucumbers....don't they look fresh and they're 50 cents each or 3 for $1.00.   {putting 6 in basket and turning corner} .....Oh....LOOK!!!! Here's a whole basket filled with pickling cucumbers for only $4.00!!!!

Husband:  Do you really need a whole basket....there are probably over 20 cucumbers in there....why don't you just stick with the 6 in your basket and if it turns out good you can always come back and buy more.

Me:  Okay, you're right......hey, here's the salt that Holly mentioned in her post.....

Husband:  Do you really need an industrial sized bag of salt for just 6 pickles?

Me:  Well, what do you expect me to use?  I don't see a smaller container of salt here...do you?

Husband:  No...probably because most of the people that buy their supplies here are real canners......people who make more than one jar of pickles.  Hon, did you see this?  {husband points to small packet of spices to be used for making refrigerator pickles and costs only $3.50}

Me:  No....I didn't see that....fine.....I'll just get this little packet and 6 pickling cucumbers..... {said a bit snarky because, well, I really wanted the industrial sized salt, the 3 foot long bundle of fresh dill, the cute little wooden box of way too many cucumbers and a set of canning jars that would end up on a shelf in my garage....some people just take the fun out of everything!}

Can I get THIS onion?

Husband:  Of course you can get an onion....why would you even ask????

So.....that was the long of it and now for the short of it:

You can use Holly's recipe which is much more true to homemade pickles {and I'm sure hers taste absolutely fabulous} or you can make them the way I did.....buy some cucumbers and a premixed package of pickle spices and follow the directions on the label.

Whichever option you choose, homemade refrigerator pickles really are so fresh, tasty and pretty easy to make.