This month's notes: April 2020: Stored US apples are still  available.  See your state's crop availability calendar for more specific dates of upcoming crops.

Valentine's Day - February 14 - See this website for Valentines Day history, facts and top picks for fast, easy, inexpensive gifts for the man, woman or children in your life!

Easter will be April 16, 2017 - if you want to take your children to a free Easter egg hunt - see our companion website to find a local Easter Egg hunt!

And we have home canning, preserving, drying and freezing directions. You can access recipes and other resources from the drop down menus at the top of the page or the site search. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to write me! Also make your own ice cream; see How to make ice cream and ice cream making equipment and manuals. Have fun, eat healthier and better tasting, and save money by picking your own locally grown fruit and vegetables, and then using our easy  directions

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Canning and Food Preservation for Preppers

Preppers looking to lay in a safe, healthy, and tasty supply of home-preserved canned and dried foods will find this page a one-stop guide with how-to pages, completely illustrated and easy to follow with time and lab-tested recipes. Many of these recipes date back to our great-grandmother's generation, but all have been lab-tested in recent years and improved for safety, reliability and quality.

Preppers needs differ from most home canners in two respects:

  1. Preppers often need to preserve much larger quantities than the average home canner/hobbyist and
  2. Preppers often desire to have the longest shelf-life possible, to reduce the cost in dollars and time to discard and

Rather than following untested and often unsafe recipes on websites put up by self-proclaimed experts, these recipes are based  on the Ball Blue Book recipes, and have been re-written with more complete, easy-to-follow directions and practical tips that make canning large quantities of food easier and faster.  With photos for each step, a first-time canner can easily follow them and fill a shelter pantry with tasty foods that will be good for years.

Properly prepared, most home-canned foods are both safe and tasty for years.  See the bottom of this page for a quality guide for longevity in storage of home canned foods.

Prepper canning considerations

Acidic foods, that is fruits and vegetables that are naturally high in acidity, maintain their quality the longest and tend to be the safest.  Examples of these are

  • apples and apple products (applesauce, apple butter),
  • peaches
  • berries (blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, figs)
  • fruit juices (apple, grape, peach, etc.)
  • sauces of most types, but especially fruit sauces.

Concentrated tomato and other vegetable products, like tomato paste, tomato sauce; etc.  hold up much better than canned tomatoes

Less acidic vegetables, like canned corn, beans, etc. remain safe in storage for years under the proper conditions (cool, dark, low humidity), but their taste declines within a year.

Some foods (most vegetables and other low acid foods like meats) absolutely require the use of a pressure canner to reduce the level of pathogens (especially botulism) to safe levels. A water bath canner is only safe for acidic foods (most fruit, jams, and pickles). See this page about why you should use a canner and how to choose one for more information.

Drying foods and food dehydrating is a safe method for a shelter, but humidity both in the foods and in the shelter is key to safety and longevity.

Prepper's Food Preservation Resources

General information - process and equipment

Preserving Recipes and Directions

FAQs

Other recipes for homemade  foods

Miscellaneous resources

Prepper websites

This page was updated on

Picking Tips

[General picking tips and a guide to each fruit and vegetable] [How much do I need to pick? (Yields - how much raw makes how much cooked or frozen)] [Selecting the right varieties to pick] [All about apple varieties - which to pick and why!]  [Picking tips for Vegetables] [ Strawberry picking tips] [ Blueberries picking tips]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illustrated Canning, Freezing, Jam Instructions and Recipes

[ All About Home Canning, Freezing and Making Jams, Pickles, Sauces, etc. ] [FAQs - Answers to common questions and problems] [Recommended books about home canning, jam making, drying and preserving!] [Free canning publications to download and print]

Home Canning Kits

This is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother used to make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need and lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs, lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel, labels, bubble freer. It's much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll never need anything else except jars & lids (and the jars are reusable)! There is also a simple kit with just the canner and rack, and a pressure canner, if you want to do vegetables (other than tomatoes). To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here!
Don't forget the Ball Blue Book!