A food dehydrator can come in quite handy in achieving your food goals, whether you are a homesteader searching for ways to be more self-sufficient, a health food nut trying to find food with as few additives as possible, or a preparedness-minded person looking for shelf-stable ways to store foods long term. Homemade stocks, broths, and bouillons tend to be much healthier than store-bought versions. Whether poultry and meat-based or vegetable-based, some form of MSG, an additive used for flavor enhancement, is often present in items purchased from a grocery store.  In addition, if food
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Life is busy; we are constantly inundated with hectic schedules and are pulled in a number of directions by daily demands. Freezing meals ahead of time can be a great time saver for a busy family, all while preserving a healthy option free of preservatives. If you are expecting a new baby or know a big deadline is approaching at work, you can freeze meals and still serve your family healthy food every night rather than ordering take-out or stopping at the nearest drive-thru window. What I love about this method of preserving your garden
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Storing grains is very easy, and many people stocking for emergency rations find that grains, pasta, and beans are the easiest to buy and keep for long periods of time. Almost all pasta, grains, and beans are bought from the store, so very little preparation is needed to build up a supply. Keeping your grains,
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Most people never give the food they buy at the supermarket a second thought. They buy it, cook it, and eat it. However, if a cataclysmic event suddenly caused that food to be gone, what would happen? Suppose a nuclear war or some other massive devastation wiped out all of the plant life? Where would we get food? The food chain would be missing a vital link. If we didn’t have plants, we would not only have a food problem; we would have an atmospheric problem. Our very existence depends on plants. However, for the
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I’ve been interested in food storage for about twenty-five years. My husband and I started our food storage as newlyweds. On our meager budget, we worked slowly to build the basic staples—wheat, oil, honey, and beans—followed by canned goods, baking supplies, and dried foods. Initially, I didn’t think too much about the containers I stored the food in. I bought powdered milk at the store and kept it in the original box. Ditto for a twenty-five pound bag of flour. I soon realized, though, that this is a foolish way to approach food storage. All
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If you haven’t considered what would happen without power, start by looking in your kitchen. Your refrigerator would no longer work. Meats and perishables would spoil quickly. While we all want to think we won’t ever be without electricity, no one can predict when the next major world war or other catastrophe will occur. A
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As you line up your freshly sterilized glass jars and get ready to can your bumper crop of beans and your bubbling crockpot filled with garden-fresh spaghetti sauce, you can’t help but think of the scores of women who spent hours upon hours preserving fruits and vegetables to help get their family through the lean winter months. The history of preserving food goes as far back as humans being able to comprehend that the cold months offered fewer food options. Ancient man, being at the mercy of the elements, was forced to rely on methods
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I’ve been an advocate of food storage for years. Early in our marriage, my husband and I began setting aside a certain amount of money each month to build a supply of food. We kept a year’s supply of staple items—wheat, flour, sugar, beans, oil, and the like—and a three month’s supply of canned goods and more perishable items. But when my husband’s company went belly-up three years ago, we got real-life experience in relying on food storage. We fed our family of six from our food storage for more than eight months and tried
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When I first started canning years ago, I had just a few basic supplies: a water-bath canner, a jar lifter, a funnel, and some jars. In general, I prefer simplicity, and I don’t have room to store a lot of equipment that I only use a few times each year. But, as my canning repertoire
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One of the best parts of any garden is the delight that comes from growing fresh herbs. While many types of herbs can be easily grown through the winter months, either in moderate outdoor climates or indoors on a sunny windowsill, there are also occasions where you will find yourself with the want and the need to preserve your herbs for year-round use. Imagine being able to enjoy a sultry cup of herbal tea on a chilly winter’s night, even though the herbs are months out of season. There are several methods of preserving your
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