Summer and early fall are a great time for getting into eating local, seasonal food. But what do you do when the gardens and farms around you stop producing as much food? Continue reading →

Before you can start to put up a bunch of food throughout the year, you need the produce to work with. While you can certainly head to your local grocery store to pick up 20 pounds of green beans to can, it’s probably not your best option. Not only will it cost you quite a bit, even if green beans happen to be on sale that week, you also don’t usually get the best quality food at your grocery store.

It should go without saying that you should look for produce that’s local and in season in your area. That’s where you’ll find the best deals. Every once in a while you may even get lucky and have a friendly neighbor who shares his bumper crop with you. If you’re not quite that lucky, here are your best bets for finding great deals on seasonal, local produce. Continue reading →

Yes, you can preserve your produce by freezing it, canning it, cooking it, pickling it, or even dehydrating it. But sometimes, you just want to keep it around to use up for a few days, weeks, or even months. Let’s talk about what you should store where to make sure it lasts and stays fresh as long as possible. Continue reading →

Preserving and storing food is becoming a bit of a lost art and it’s a shame. What do you do when you come across a great deal at the grocery store or the farmers market?

What do you do when you’re offered a deal on a bushel of produce that you can’t pass up?

What do you do when you have a bumper crop of green beans, squash or tomatoes?

There’s only so much of any one food you can eat before you get sick and tired of it. If you know how to preserve it, you can put it up and use it throughout the year.

Freeze It

A great place to start is by freezing food. You can cook up your harvest in some of your favorite freezer friendly foods, or clean and precook them and toss them in the freezer. This is also a great way to store fruits like berries and peaches that don’t last long once they are ripe. Continue reading →