Ways To Preserve Your Food

 The harvesting season is upon us and we are in the throws of gathering all that wonderful produce from our gardens. But have you thought about how you're going to preserve it all? Are you going to can it, freeze it, or what? 

There are so many preservation methods for your food that gives it longer shelf life and makes it last longer so you can enjoy all these goodies not just now, but in the winter time as well. 

There is nothing like meal planning and opening up a jar of something you canned in the summer. Also, nothing like going to your freezer and pulling something out to make a delicious meal with too. I'm imagining all that corn on the cob. Yummy. 

Now is a good time to start thinking about how you're going to preserve it and stick up on what you need. 

First: check out my video on Ways To Preserve Your Food here:

Ways To Preserve Your Food

Then when you have decided how you are going to preserve your bounty, you will need to make a list and check out equipment. Below, I will show you what all I use and I will provide links where you can find them. 

My first preservation method is Canning. There are two types of Canning methods. Water Bath and Pressure Canning. Water Bath is for acidic foods like tomatoes, anything made with tomatoes, anything vinegary like pickles, fermented veggies, etc. Pressure Canning is for low acid foods like dried beans, green beans, corn, broth,  carrots, etc. Now, you can Water Bath these latter items if you want, but processing time is longer, like 3 hrs. But it is done successfully.  Alot of people choose Water bathing over the fear or expense of Pressure Canning. I was one of those that was scared to death of a Pressure Canner, but my dear late MIL helped me so much. I actually inherited her Pressure Canning and all her equipment, a Pressure Canner from one grandmother and a Pressure cooker from another grandmother. My dear hubby also bought me one years ago and they are all still very active in my kitchen. The three inherited ones they don't make anymore. The newer one I have, they have remodeled it. It has been almost 30 yrs so I guess they would have. I am only familiar with Mirror and Presto Brands. I am leery of recommending brands I am not familiar with. I will link some as close to my newer one as possible. 

If I were to look into another pressure canner, I would look into All American. They are pricier but you get years out of them. Here is a link to one that you can read all about. I would really need to research this one before I got one. I am not familiar with metal to metal sealing on this one. 

Now let's talk about Water bath canners. They are not nearly as costly. But the good enamel ones last forever. I have a passed down one of these too. 

Here is one that comes with the essentials you will need with canning. That's not a bad price either. 

You can purchase the small utensils by themselves which I have. 

Then you will need jars, bands and lids. I mostly buy mine at Walmart. I also have alot of inherited jars too that have been used so many times. I got all my late Mother In Laws jars also. I always threaten  tell people to wash my jars and hang onto them for me. Jars can be used for many year but bands and lids will need to be replaced. Bands can be reused until they start getting old and rusty. Lids with the rubber seal needs to be replaced. Once you break that rubber seal, it will not reseal and you will have spoiled food. There is nothing like loosing all your hard work to spoilage. I always inspect my equipment before the season starts to see what I need to replace or can reuse. 

Now comes the freezer portion. There are some things we don't grow due to our soil not being right or location. Also, some things are not worth my space in the garden, cost of plants or seeds, fertilizer, sweat, labor etc., for just getting a few 5 gal buckets worth. So sometimes we will buy things like potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, broccoli cauliflower. We have grown broccoli and cauliflower before and love it, but when I can get it in the freezer section at the grocery store for $1 a bag, why not? When you want to learn ways to preserve food, you need to think of all the pros and cons just like that. 

We freeze not only produce but meats as well when they go on sale. We shop the sales in order to stock our freezers. I have videos on this as well. Meal Planning and Shop The Sales 

We use our Food Saver Vacuum sealer to seal all our produce and meats to make them last longer. A vacuum seal gets all the air out and seals it tight so no ice crystals form which causes freezer burn. You can use Ziploc freezer bags if you want , but they will not last as long. We have food in our freezer that has been in there for 2 yrs and still sealed tight. 

We started with a small one but as we did more things we upgraded to a bigger one. I can't find the one we started off with because they have redesigned them over the years. But this is the one we have now. 

 

Again, there are many more brands to choose from, but I am not familiar with them and I don't feel comfortable recommending a product I have never used. I would definitely read all the reviews first and check for warranty information. 

If you are wondering what is the best way for you to preserve your food, weigh the pros and cons. Do you have shelf space for jars? Do you have freezer space? What is your taste preference? Does canned food or frozen food taste better to you. How do you like to cook with it. 

I discuss all this in my video of Ways To Preserve You Food. 

When you make your decision, you can check out our Canning and Preserving Playlist here: Canning and Preserving on YouTube.

I hope I have truly helped in some way. I hope you can preserve all that your  family needs.