Food and Pantry – Canning & Preservation

Carrots store well in a root cellar for months on their own, so why can them at all? Because canned carrots are ready to dump straight into a soup...

You probably saw a recipe online for garlic in olive oil. Maybe it was on Pinterest or on some pretty-looking blog with beautiful photos. The recipe...

Raw ground beef holds up in the fridge for 1 to 2 days after purchase, according to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service. Cooked ground beef...

If you’re like me and you put up enough food to feed a small army, then you might be struggling with this problem: your pantry, root cellar, and...

Vacuum sealing has become one of the most popular food preservation methods in recent years. Walk into almost any prepping forum or hunting...

I've thrown away more produce than I've preserved. If that sounds familiar, you know that when you have a garden, some animals, and also a house...

Fresh strawberries are one of the best things about summer. They are also one of the most perishable crops you can grow or buy. A flat of...

That white rind of the watermelon you've been ignoring your whole life can actually be turned into all kinds of good stuff in a jar. Sweet pickles,...

I found a jar of butter in my grandmother’s pantry six months after she passed away. The label said she’d canned it three years earlier. I nearly...

If you’ve canned before, you know the drill. Sterilizing jars, making syrup, processing times, and time-consuming steps you can’t avoid. Or are...

If you're building a self-sufficient homestead or stockpiling food for the long haul, you've probably focused on grains, beans, and canned goods....

Back in 2003, a historical society in Lancaster County stumbled upon something strange during an estate sale. Down in a farmhouse basement, they...

When you begin preserving your own food, it’s natural to wonder which tools truly belong in your home. Two names come up again and again: freeze...

For most of us, Autumn is harvest season.  One reason is that the fruits and vegetables in our gardens have ripened.  Another reason is the onset of...

Wearing pantyhose is something that has more or less gone by the wayside with the traditional 9 to 5 – but you shouldn’t toss your favorite pair of...

The good news with a refrigerator or freezer is they’re basically bug-proof. Even if a fruit fly or ant finds its way in the cold temperatures soon...

Most people think a deep freezer is the key to long-term food storage, but what happens when the power goes out? There’s a reason pioneers and...

The Amish have been safely canning for generations — without pressure gauges, modern recipes, or fear. So what do they know that we don’t? For most...

Most of us rely on refrigeration to keep our food safe, but when it comes to meat, the stakes are much higher. Without proper storage, meat can...

Many homesteaders are nervous about using fermentation as a method of preserving their harvest simply because they are unfamiliar with it, so I...