Homestead Food & Preservation Keeping Your Harvest Usable Year-Round

Kristina Guidroz, Guidroz Family Farm

Fortunately for us, times have changed and we have so many more options. While the“ old ways” are important and led us to where we are now, I firmly believe in using modern-day technology to make our lives easier. I’ ll cover a few of the basic preservation methods that are popularly used today by both beginners and longtime homesteaders.

Freezing

Let’ s start with the most basic: freezing our food! Thankfully, in our modern times, we all basically have access to a freezer. This is going to be your easiest method of food preservation, as it allows you to store things quickly. There isn’ t much prep work involved with this method, and if you ' re not confident in your other skills, then this might be for you.

You can store anything this way and feel confident that as long as your freezer remains at the correct temperature, your food is safe. According to the United States Department of Agriculture( USDA), food that is frozen and kept at zero degrees Fahrenheit will remain safe indefinitely, but the quality may degrade with time. There are a few things you’ ll want to do to keep your frozen items fresher.

Meat should be double wrapped in butcher paper or foil, then sealed into a storage bag, whether it be a Ziploc-type bag or a vacuum seal bag. This will help to prevent freezer burn in prolonged periods of storage. When freezing large quantities of meat, it’ s best to spread them out in one layer to freeze as opposed to stacking them all in at once. A large amount of meat, no matter the type, will take longer to freeze thoroughly if stacked during the process.

Vegetables are easily frozen, with most requiring blanching and cooling first. When dealing with things such as squash and zucchini to be used directly in a recipe, I chop, freeze and go on about my day. Items such as green beans, brussels sprouts, corn and eggplant will require blanching. Those are only a few, so make sure to look up your veggies first if you ' re unsure.

Dehydration

Now that we’ ve covered the basics of freezing, let’ s look at drying our food. This is another preservation method that has been used since the beginning of time. In past times, the sun was the best dehydrator available. While there are people in some areas who can still use this method, it obviously won’ t work for everyone. Personally, I live in such a humid environment that there would be mold before anything had a chance to dry. In steps the modern dehydrator; you can find them for very reasonable prices at most stores and online. They’ re user-friendly and can up your food preservation game in no time.

A few things of note when it comes to dehydrating: uniformity in your product size will help you to keep your drying time even. Spreading your produce evenly to maximize airflow helps prevent bacteria from forming

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