Preserving The Harvest
There are so many reasons for you to work on preserving the harvest on your homestead. If you don’t have a homestead, that’s okay you can preserve the harvest from local growers or even stock up on the grocery store sales every week. Stocking your pantry with food you have preserved is an important part of living a sustainable lifestyle and ensuring that you can meet your family’s needs year-round.
Preserving Food At Home
Taking the First Steps in preserving food at home
Whether you are growing a big garden and preserving the harvest, buying from your local farmer, or getting great grocery deals at the store, you probably want a way to store your bounty for the long term. Some have motivations for preserving food at home like saving money throughout the year by preserving seasonal produce. Others, may be preparing their pantries and freezers for a time they may truly be in need (prepping). If you are hoping to create a sustainable homestead, preserving your bounty, wherever it comes from, is an important part of reaching this goal.
One thing that isn’t talked about nearly enough is the need to have a fully stocked pantry of shelf stable foods at all times. This protects your family not only against short and long-term food shortages, but also from income and job loss. Let’s explore all of the different ways you can create a sustainable year-round food supply for you and your family.
Home Canning For a Sustainable Food Supply
Home Canning is one of the most sustainable ways to get started preserving the harvest. The benefits of this method are numerous. Home canned food has a shelf life of 18 months or more when done correctly. Canning at home is always done in glass jars, eliminating the chance of food absorbing BPA (Bisphenol A), a known endocrine disrupter.
one of the best ways to make convieniece meals
Preserving food this way can be the ultimate way to meal prep, as you can preserve single items like green beans, or entire meals, like chili. Having the ability to grab jars off of shelves and create a meal quickly lowers the temptation to eat out. One of my favorite convenience meals is to grab roasted salsa verde, roasted pork, and chicken bone broth off the shelf. It makes THE BEST green chili served with rice. And, my husband often grabs a jar of chili or other soup off the shelf to take to work for lunch.
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Some of my Favorite Products For Home Canning
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Coming Soon! Grab a copy of my free
Annual Garden Planner
This book serves as a comprehensive roadmap, taking readers through the crucial stages of establishing their own homestead. Beginning with the fundamentals of selecting the right land, the book delves into the essentials of sustainable living, from growing organic produce to raising livestock and implementing renewable energy sources.
Dehydrating For Long Lasting Shelf Stable Food Preservation
There are some things that are just better dehydrated. The possibilities are endless and at the top of the list are fruit chips, fruit roll-ups, medicinal herbs, medicinal flowers, orange slices, jerky, crackers, and pasta. Dehydrated foods last on average up to a year, and when packaged properly, even longer. Dehydrating food at low temperatures helps to preserve nourishing micronutrients your body needs. If you don’t have a blossoming apple orchard, it’s okay! You can purchase produce and ingredients from your local farmer or grocery store to get started preserving the harvest.
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Favorite Products For Dehydrating
These are a few of my favorite products that you’ll find in my kitchen Coming Soon!
Freeze Drying With The Harvest Right Freeze Dryer
Freeze drying is the ultimate food preservation flex these days. When stored properly (in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers), freeze dried food can last for up to 25 years. You can freeze dry single ingredients or entire meals at at time. Imagine having delicious homemade steaming lasagna by just adding hot water. Imagine sending your kids off to college with their own shelf-stable homemade meals! You can take your freeze dried meals hiking, camping, or just save them up for an emergency.
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Freezing
Freezing food is one of the most effective ways to quickly deal with a surplus in produce from the garden or sales at your local grocery store. It is straight forward and takes very little learning to accomplish. It is effective for bread, meat, vegetables, eggs, and prepared meals. This method does rank low on the sustainable food preservation list because of the possibility of a power outage. Remember to never open the freezer if the power goes out and always have a back-up generator and fuel on hand. If it is a long power outage and things start to thaw, revert to home canning everything you can in the freezer to maintain your food supply.
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Some of my Favorite Products For Freezing
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Fermenting Food For Probiotic Goodness
Fermentation is an ancient practice, developed to preserve food and improve the nutritional value of foods. Some of the earliest examples of fermented foods include wines, naturally leavened bread (like sourdough), and aged cheeses. The process of fermenting gives food a high quality, tangy, pungent flavor that is unmistakably delicious. Our list of favorites include sauerkraut, kimchi, fermented hot sauce, kombucha, and fermented pickles. Fermented sourdough bread is one of our family’s absolute favorites and I make it fresh every week.
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Some of my Favorite Products For Fermenting
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