Food storage methods

[sumi]

I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to food and I abhor wasting food stuffs, which is part of the reason I love chickens and pigs (my DH jokingly refers to pigs as "waste food disposal units"), but I am sometimes at a loss as to exactly what to do with those extra, extra, extra strawberries, zucchini, etc that comes in such a flood over the summer months and how to best preserve this bounty without it ending up in the pigpen. So far I took the easy route and tossed everything in the freezer, but frozen things often have a shorter lifespan than I would like, or I defrost the food to find I have a soggy mess, which ends up... in the pigpen. Now, one 2-person family can only eat so much bacon, nice as it is!

What methods do you all use to preserve your home produce?

 

[goatgurl]

your dh is so right. i call my chickens 'tiny velocirapters' because they will eat anything. i have tried and tried to impress on my dd and sil not to throw any food stuffs in the garbage can at my house because the goats get first dibs on some of it, the pigs get next choice and the chickens and ducks get whats left. even the egg shells and coffee grounds go in the compost.
now to answer your question. depending on what it is and how much it is i either can, freeze or dry it. for the strawberries i freeze a bunch because i like them in my raw veggie smoothies and i dry them because they make a great sugar free snack. zucchini i like it canned with tomatoes and onions with a little Italian seasonings. i also grate the big stuff and freeze it two cups in a bag so i have it premeasured for zucchini bread. otherwise i don't care for frozen zucc's. I've never tried drying the squash but i guess you could. maybe someday i'll try. you can do the same thing with yellow squash. blackberries i freeze. corn is canned, frozen or dried. i like it best frozen on the cobb. peas mostly i eat fresh 'cause i love them and they don't grow all that great for me but if there is an abundance i freeze them. someday if i ever have a glut of them i'll try drying some. potatoes, white and sweet i store most in the cellar for fresh use but i do can a few of them. winter squash goes into the cellar. i also can and freeze beef, deer, goat, and pork. you can fit a lot of dried food in a small space which i like.
i have a friend who told me about susan gregersen and david armstrong who has a set of books on how to can, dry, freeze, brine, salt or sugar cure, smoke, pickle or ferment anything and i mean anything. i got a set of 3 books from amazon and they are so full of stuff that I'd never dreamed you could preserve. from canning or drying butter and cheese to eggs to anything you can imagine. i highly recommend them. not to much $ either. i haven't tried it all yet but i will experiment with a lot of it sooner or later.

 

[baymule]

I freeze squash with good results. I slice it thin, using my mandolin slicer. I pack in food saver bags, then vacuum and seal. No blanching, just slice and bag. To eat, take out of freezer and completely thaw. You get a bag of water and mush that used to be squash, right?

Cut corner off bag, drain water. Then twist and wring the bag until you squeeze all the water out. Dust in cornmeal and fry. The squash will be crispy and delicious!

Potatoes, I make hash browns, using mandolin slicer, and blanch to keep them from turning black. Drain well, rinse in cold water, drain again, dehydrate. To use, soak in hot water for 30 minutes.

 

[Britesea]

I dehydrated some summer squash and am planning to try frying to make chips

 

[sumi]

You guys gave me some nice ideas now for using squash.

I'm interested in dehydrated food, but wondering about the best way of storing it here here (Ireland). Things go mouldy here crazy quick with the damp climate.

Also what about canning foods?

 

[goatgurl]

i can a lot of my food. rabbit, chicken, beef, goat and pork make good soups, stews and pot pies. i also can lots of veggies too, from asparagus to zucchini. the things i dehydrate are sealed in airtight jars to keep them from drawing moisture out of the air. you'd be amazed at how many dried mushrooms fit in a quart jar. for canning Ball Blue Book is my canning go to source. and again the Food Storage books by Susan Gregersen and David Armstrong are pretty good. they cover canning, freezing, dehydrating, smoking, brining and other ways of preserving food. they even have ways to can cheese and butter. I'm going to have to try that soon.

 

[Britesea]

If you can get hold of a vacuum sealer, that will protect your dehydrated foods very well. I'm a little disappointed with the jar-sealing function though; sometimes the seal fails on that.

 

[baymule]

My dehydrated foods stay good in the vacuum sealed bags. I love my Food Saver!

 

[sumi]

I brought some vacuum packed goodies with from SA, but it went mouldy in the package I think I should stick with completely dehydrated goodies in future!

@goatgurl That book sounds interesting...

 

[Beekissed]

I can everything possible. The power goes out here so often and can stay out for 2 wks or more, so anything in a freezer is lost. The only thing we use the freezer for is temporary storage until we get enough of that item to can it.

It's so incredibly easy to do that it's a win/win for us. We have a dehydrator but the only thing we use it for is deer jerky.

One of my favorite things to can is something we call slumgulleon, which is just a funky word for a medley of stray veggies from the garden when one doesn't have enough of any one thing to can it up in a large batch. This can later be used as a soup base or, as we normally use it...we heat it, thicken it with cornmeal and use it over potatoes, pasta, biscuits, etc.

Usually has sweet and hot peppers, tomatoes, sweet corn, onions, yellow squash...sometimes new potatoes...this batch even has chives that needed using up.

And in the jar...makes a pretty jar, doesn't it?

One can even can up left over soups, chili, spaghetti, roasts, stew, etc. It's so easy to just open those jars, heat it up on the stove and get into a meal real quick.