Okay, I just recently discovered this site and am learning a lot. I have a question regarding food storage and was hoping to learn even more. I have seen posts from people who say they feed their family of 5 with what they grow, my question is what have you been eating for the past 5 months ? We have canned pickles and tomatoes before, and I have read about how to build a root cellar, but I was curious as to what some of the common items for canning/storing for winter are and any pointers that you might think would be handy regarding getting through the long winter...Thanks!

-- NCNick (nick_frank@yahoo.com), April 26, 2000

Answers

Hi Nick. Is that NC for North Carolina? Just curious, since you mentioned the "long winter". I can quite a bit, but I'll advise you to grow and can what the family likes, except for the "required" experimental vegetable each year. I like to can, since it doesn't require the freezer space, which I can then dedicate to chickens, turkeys, pork, etc. Pickles are a favorite around here, so they get canned. But we're not talking a big provider of nutritional needs - just a tasty snack or condiment. Tomatoes, corn, tomatoes, beets, spaghetti sauce, beans - yellow and green, tomato juice, hominy (easier than you might think), a few tomatoes, peppers, potatoes (for stews, etc), pickled garlic - ALWAYS pickled garlic, Sauerkraut, rhubarb, mincemeat, chicken. Again - try some of what you like, and see how it goes. For someone starting into this, that is to say raising their own food, I'd suggest broiler chickens as the first home grown meat. They're pretty inexpensive, so if you lose a few, it's not a financial disaster. You can raise them is limited space, feed is not a huge expense, and you can do the butchering yourself. I recommend an experienced mentor for the last, but lacking one, you CAN do it with advice from this site of a good book. Winter squash, some in particular, will last for many months without complicated storage facilities. A few laying hens will give you all the fresh eggs you need. Just don't leap into too many areas at once. And Good Luck!

-- Brad (Me) (homefixer@mix-net.net), April 26, 2000.

We put up the basics. We can green beans, tomatoes, tomato juice. We freeze tomatoes, corn, green beans, strawberries, bell peppers, some hot peppers. We only dry hot peppers. We don't grow a lot of drying beans, but those we leave to dry on the plants. We keep potatoes, onions, carrots, winter squash, and apples in the basement. Until the fox wiped out our chickens this spring, we had eggs and the occasional chicken to eat. Lamb and mutton go into the freezer. Herbs are dried.

We've found that unripe tomatoes and summer squash will keep in a cool spot for quite a while into the winter. I've never found a good recipe for pint jars of dill pickles and a quart jar is more than we can face, so we don't usually make pickles. We do have a fridge pickle we make some years, keeps well. Sometimes we can things like beets but we don't much care for them so don't do it often. We'll make things like zuchinni bread and freeze it.

It depends a lot on what we have any given year. Some years we have an abundance of one thing and nothing of another. Our basement works well for storage, not everyone's does. We've got a big freezer, again not every family does. Some years we end up with a lot of apples and make applesauce, other years we don't have many apples.

The easiest way to figure out what to put up is to sit down and figure out what you eat, what you grow, and what you have the time and equipment to put up. If, like us, you aren't a big fan of canned beets, don't bother. We don't get enough jelly to bother making our own, so the occasional jar from the store works for us. We also don't mess with cooking down tomatoes and making sauces and such. Great idea, saves a lot of storage space, but we're too busy and too hot to mess with it. So we don't. We have gone to canning most of our stuff in pint jars. That's what works for us. Other people would be better with quart jars. Depends on what you eat and how much of it you need. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), April 26, 2000.

Sorry, that's EAT enough jelly.... And Brad, pickled garlic? Gerbil

-- Gerbil(IA) (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), April 26, 2000.

I make lots of pizza sauce so we can have pizza once a week. That and various forms of tomatoes are our basics. We use up all the jams & butters before the end of the year then can't wait for fruit & berry season again! We have our own pork & chicken, eggs too. Most of our veges don't last us till spring, planning to plant more! Brad, what do you do with pickled garlic?? Would you please give us your recipe?

-- Jean (IL) (schiszik@tbcnet.com), April 26, 2000.

One of our favorite foods to can is pears in their own juice. I have a champion juicer so I put pear halves or pieces in the jar, juice up others pour over and can them. You can't buy that taste at the store. If you butcher chickens, make broth and can it. It's very convenient. Potatoes can nicely and are a great convenience. Hot peppers- dry them or pickle them, they look good on the shelf. Vegetable juice cocktail and salsa. If you dry food, make sure you store them in a tightly sealed container, I lost a couple things to moths. I thought I did so well canning last year, then I met a woman that canned 1,000 jars-including the chickens feet, and ran into a friend that had already canned 1500 jars put 50 loaves of zucchini bread in the freezer and had more to can. She's no spring chicken either. My husband built a really neat shelf unit for our canning, I put a gingham curtain over part of my shelves-hides vitamins, condiments- sure looks homey.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.comc), April 26, 2000.

Dairy Goats for milk, and meat. Chickens for eggs, and meat. I freeze, can, dry, tomatoes, corn, G. Beans, squash, carrots, asparagus, meat, sausage, peas, (dried beans and potatoes) are cheap here in Texas, not worth growing, and I have mutiplying onions year round. I grow herbs for spiceing up life, and celantro for our salsa. Most of our tomatoes are canned whole and made into any sauce. I also can jalepeno's, so we can have salsa year round. I don't grow garlic anymore with WalMarts new chopped garlic product in the jar. Figs, Pears, Blackberries, Plums are jam and pies. We also farm pick peaches, stawberries, and blueberries. I can alot of apples when in season, with sugar and cinnimon, so you just dump it into a pie crust and bake, instant apple pie, or any fruit. We raise rabbits, we butcher early and squish into canning jars and process, used off the bone like in chicken salad, we also do old hens this way. We grind most of our meat for hamburger, though its rarely got much beef in it. Though with a tree down on an old cow, we had wonderful hamburger this late winter! We also butchered and ground an emu which was truly wonderful meat! We also dry most of our peppers and then freeze them. Even our Pabalonos we freeze and then instead of stuffing for Chilie Relanoes sp! I just layer them with cheese and sauce. Yum! With the swift milk sales we won't be growing out a pig this year either. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), April 26, 2000.

We have a family of 5 and the pantry is pretty bare right now - only 6 pints of beets left and some sweet potatoes. Best advice is grow what you like then decide how you like to preserve it best. We can gr. beans, beets, spinach, apple butter, carrots, hot sauce and occasionally tomatoes. We like our corn (on and off the cob), peas, brocolli and limas frozen. We store potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions.

We have a basement but not much good for storing things edible. So we use our "heated" back porch to store potatoes, etc. (It has a heating vent but it is alot colder than the house in the winter.) You could use a empty closet (if there is such a thing) or we know people who keep their potatoes and carrots in a refrig in the garage.

Green beans are fairly easy to grow and very easy to can(probably the easiest there is). Sweet potatoes store pretty well if you have the right conditions. Get a sw. potatoe from the store, slice lenthwise, put in a shallow dish (like you get with hamburger or wrapped fruit), and fill with enough water to cover the bottom and about 1/8" up the side of the potatoe. Replenish water as neccessary and in about month you will have little plants to transplant. Cut the potatoe in pieces one plant per chunk and plant. They do real well that way - much better than store bought plants. We stored ours in a cardboard box covered with newspaper on the porch.

Read up on food storage and try what you like. Happy eating!

-- Vaughn (vdcjm5@juno.com), April 26, 2000.

I can tomatoes, beans, corn, pickles, fruit & jams, apple butter and also canned potatoes. But I really wanted fresh potatoes and don't have a root cellar or anywhere else that was appropriate. Looked all over the web last fall on storing them and couldn't find what I was looking for. Called my brother in law and he said his grandma who died at age 97 and lived in Indiana, left them in the ground and covered them with straw. Went out and got potatoes when she needed them. I have raised beds on a south facing slope. We live in Tenn, so the winters aren't real severe but we do have snow and cold weather. Left half of my potatoes in the ground and they did perfect! Pulled up the last ones in Feb. when I planted peas and they were just as good as the first. Then, I eat up the canned ones. The potatoes had good drainage, darkness from the dirt, and kept cool but not too cold all winter. Am going to plant even more for a fall crop and see if they will last till April next year. After gardening all these years, still trying and learning new things!

-- Anne (mistletoe@earthlink.net), April 26, 2000.

I worked for a farmer awhile back who stored his potatoes in his manure spreader in the barn! He just covered them with newspaper and I guess they kept just fine. I don't know how long he kept them there, probably not much past March 1st.

-- dave IA (tidman@midiowa.net), April 27, 2000.

Ok, here goes. Pickles, (beets are a special favorite of my daughter and I) regular canned beets, carrots, g. beans, canned chicken and chicken broth, (as stated, very convienent!) canned beef, not a lot, corn, stored potatoes ( always end up with too many), rice for soups, tomato sauce (I use a strainer, so it doesn't take so long), frozen bread, made at home, wild picked huckleberries, also frozen (blueberries hold nothing to NW wild huckleberries!!!!) raspberries in jam, apple trees for cider and sauce, might try the canned pie filling this year.

I'm still in the city, so most of what I have in storage I've bought for that purpose, but I have chickens for meat and eggs, fruit trees, berry bushes, large vegetable garden. I'm experimenting with canning more of what I grow, and I plan on trying to pickle eggs and seeing just how much I can stay out of the grocery store this year.

annette

-- annette (j_a_henry@yahoo.com), April 27, 2000.

Yes, friends & neighbors - pickled garlic! It is pretty much intended as a condiment, I think, but we tend to pig out. Anyway, it will be either a "can't get enough" or a "why in God's green earth would anyone eat this!" Most of the (grown) kids ask for more, since they are all in town jobs, and apparently can't find the few minutes it takes to can their own. Actually it is the "skinning" that takes time.. Got a Ball Bluebook? Make the "Dilly beans" recipe, but forget the beans. If you are a garlic lover, as are we, you will find it quite delectible! If you don't like garlic, you're not reading this anyway. And this is my first year growing (hard-neck) garlic. I have used the Sam's club 3 lb bags for the pickled stuff, and it has been great. Try - enjoy! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), April 28, 2000.

Well, I feed the boy and myself on chickens, duck, ground beef (bought at the University), eggs, fruit, vegetables, wild mushrooms, etc. I make lots of pizza and other boy things. Lots of stuff from the garden and hopefully some fruits from the "new" fruit trees. You really CAN feed yourself pretty well from your place. Get a dehydrator for stuff and a crockpot for apple butter. Figure out what your family likes and plant that. If they like green beans once a week, figure 104 quarts to can. Scrounge the local orchards for windfalls for canned apple pie filling if that's what your family likes. Modify what your family likes and modify what you plant. I agree with Gerbil wholeheartedly (Hey Gerbil, pleased that you are feeling better!) about watching what you "put by." DO NOT GET OR TAKE 200# OF POTATOES IF YOU DON'T LIKE POTATOES!!!!! But they are great canned on the shelf! They are good for YEARS. My aunts and uncles are thrilled every Christmas to get my jellies, jams, chutneys, pie fillings, etc. You can feed your family throughout the year on what you save by not buying things for your extended family for Christmas that they won't really use anyway. Your brothers and sisters may be confused the first time if you don't explain yourself when you give them breads, jerky, jellies, and other goodies but you will be pleased when you don't have those killer credit card bills! Good Luck!

-- Gailann Taylor Schrader (gtschrader@aol.com), May 01, 2000.

I can everything, the usual foods, but one of my best moves was to start canning my own convenience foods, and it's not hard. Get a few canning books, Ball Blue Book, Putting Food By, etc, or best of all, try to find really old canning books that were the owners manuals with older pressure canners. They have a wealth of recipes that you don't see anymore, and you can use them to tailor your own recipe ideas. For example, I CANNOT make a little vegetable soup--it always turns into 4 gallons, so we eat our meal from it and I can the rest. The rule of thumb with soups is to process (pressure only!) for the ingredient that requires the longest time--usually the meat--at the recommended pressure. So, in the time it took me to make the pot of soup, and the little time it takes to can it, I have many quick meals available. Make bean soup with a ham bone and do the same. Ditto with beef stew, etc. Another great time saver for me was to can ground beef, browning it first and draining the fat, then packing and processing. Sure makes meals faster than thawing meat, saves freezer space, and it is so handy. I also canned homemade baked beans from our favourite recipe, just following the processing guidelines in the canning book. Canned turkey breast, chicken, pork ribs, roast pieces, just about anything you can think of. These items are fast to cook with, but also if we lose power, I'm not faced with using or losing all my meat. I even can the butchering scraps for my dog-- just be sure to label the cans, or don't send your husband to the cellar to fetch for you!. Can in the size appropriate for your family, or for your recipes. A pint can of ground beef, browned and packed to within an inch of the top is about the same yield as browning a pound of ground beef and using it in your recipe. I usually can my soup in half gallons, or some 1 1/2 quart jars that I have( honey came in them and they fit standard lids), processing for the time required for half-gallons. Those old tall canners will hold half gallons (4), 7 quart jars or 18 pints, double decked, and they really help speed up canning. By the way, I use mayo jars to can with no problems except the Kraft brand jars, the threads are too shallow. I use those for cannisters. I also soak and can a turn or two of dry beans, because it makes it easier to serve them when the days get hectic. Try to can things as the produce is most available, such as canning the baked beans when you are making ketchup or tomato juice anyway. I can spagetti/pizza sauce in pints or half-pints, because 1 half-pint makes 1 pizza. Can for the way you want to eat. I even canned pureed fruits in jelly jars for baby food when my kids were young. Canned homemade foods make excellent gifts for your non- canning friends and family--my mother-in-law loves it when I give her a few quarts of homemade soup. Good luck, and don't be afraid to experiment.

-- Denyelle Stroup (dedestroup@hotmail.com), May 02, 2000.

OK - 2 more ideas you guys have made me think of. I'm sorry, 2 more things of which you have made me think! #1, and Gerbil is the one who jogged me on this. There are wonderful free canning jars out there! They are actually "mason" jars and they are thrown away by the kazillions by the sidewalk people. They are the "5 Brothers, Classico, et al" spaghetti sauce jars. And they are 26 ounces. For us, a pint of spaghetti sauce is too little, and a quart too much. These are great, and I get them from our recycling center. I guess I have a couple of hundred now, and use them for pickles, tomatoes etc. Still use pints for corn, beets, and most other stuff. #2: This is a good hint if you make and can your own spaghetti sauce. I buy the "reduced for quick sale" mushrooms and dehydrate them. Same (ie. dehydrate) with our own mushrooms, peppers, some tomatoes, and herbs. Takes very little boiling down of the tomatoes if you add the dehydrated goodies. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@mix-net.net), May 02, 2000.

I know I'm posting in the "old section" here, but I've been reading just about EVERY post since I came back to this site once again.

I would love for you folks to clue me in on how to can homemade soups. Denyelle, you seem to have a real good handle on this topic and I would love to hear from you on this. I make different soups and always throw away the leftovers.(I have tried to freeze them sometimes but not much freezer space - have plenty of pantry space though). There are times when Mom or Sis are sick and I would love to send them some of my homemade chicken soup (they both live out of state).

I would also like to know how to go about canning PERIOD. It's something I've always wanted to do but I just don't know how. What do I need to buy? Do I need to buy a pressure canner or will a nice big, deep pot do? I have a rather large Farberware pot that I use to make my homemade soups in but I don't know what size it is. Darn near too big for my biggest stove burner, I can tell you that. Also, how do you prepare those jars? Don't you have to boil the jars and rings and lids right before you use them? Do you always have to use little rubber ringy thingies? I think when Mom and I (mosty Mom) made her blackberry jam, she just had the little jelly jars with the gold flat lids and rings. I don't remember any little rubber thingies though.

Another thing I was wondering about is, do alot of you who don't grow your own fruits and veges etc., ever buy them from either a vege stand or even the produce dept at your local grocery stores and then can them (fresh)? The reason I'm asking is because I love fresh veges, fruits etc. and would love to feed them to my family, make homemade jams, etc., however I have two problems. (1.) I hate going to the grocery store so frequently for fresh produce, and (2.) I can't seem to grow ANYTHING myself.(I also only have about an 8 x 10 little plot to try in, which doesn't give me much room for variety.

Keep in mind that it's me, GREENTHUMBELINA, who lives the fast paced city rat race lifestyle and I'm trying to bring some of the things I like to do (or at least I think I would like to do) into my life. I love the idea of being able to give people something that I've made myself that they will definately use and won't cost a fortune to purchase.

I've been thinking about trying my hand at making bread too. Thought about buying a bread machine but would like everyone's opinion on bread machine vs oven and pan method. What are the pros and cons of each? Hope I didn't step on anyone's toes about the bread machine. I know most of you probably think they are just another citified gadget that never should have been invented.

Keep in mind that I know NOTHING about breadmaking or canning and whatever advice you give should be extremely simple. After all, I want to enjoy this process NOT add more stress to my life. More stress, I DO NOT need.

And by the way Gailann, I would LOVE for you to tell me how to make applebutter in my crockpot. This sounds like something fairly simple that I could actually handle (Although I could be mistaken).

Thanks to all for all your help.

Greenthumbelina

-- Greenthumbelina (sck8107@aol.com), October 20, 2000.