Pantry Reflections Continued

In my last post, I talked about my pantry storage and concentrated on dehydrating. Dehydrating is fantastic, but there are things one can't store by drying it. That's where canning comes into the picture. Canning is probably the most work out of all the storage methods, but it is also one of the most versatile methods of storage. You can can so many things from jams, jellies, vegetables and pickles to sauces, pie fillings, beans, meats and soups. There are so many things you can put in a jar (and some things you can't!).

I'm primarily an ingredient canner, meaning I like to mostly put up the ingredients I'd use in my cooking instead of putting up jars of meals, etc. If I can a bunch of stew, then I'll be eating just stew. But if I put up some stew beef, broth, vegetables, etc, I now have a lot more options of what I can make for dinner. I'm not saying I don't have some quick meals on the shelf, because I do, but my main canning list consists of ingredients.

This year I've put up:

My husband's Favorite Pickled Peppers
Dill Pickles
Dill Pickle Slices
Bread and Butter Pickles
Pinto Beans
Pinto Beans with Onions
Fiesta Pinto Beans
Black-Eyed Peas
Black-Eyed Peas in Smoked Hock Stock
Chicken Bone Stock
Smoked Chicken Bone Stock
Beef Bone Stock with Beef
Beef and Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Corned Beef
Corned Beef Hash
Hamburger
Chili
Applesauce
Apple Butter
Strawberry Rhubarb Jam

I still have a few more things to can - so will be posting an updated list at the end of the year.

Pantry Reflections

When it comes to out pantry, I don't stock for doomsday or any great disasters, but instead, I do it for convenience, taste, and knowing what is in the food we eat. I prefer to grow what we need and use, but there are things I can't grow, crop failures, etc. Then I buy from the Farmer's market or from people I know, and sometimes I find great sales at the grocery store that are too irresistible to pass up.

This year was a learning curve for me in many aspects of putting things up. First, there's the issue of age and slowing down. I used to stock up during the canning season - summer and autumn. It was intense and many hours in the kitchen. Notice, I said used to. I followed my mother's example of how and when to can and that model was productive, but exhausting. Now, I work on my pantry all year. Sure, there will be things I won't be able to put up, but many that I can.

One of the things Mom did was freeze and can a LOT. I can't really freeze things because of the lack of freezer space. We have the fridge freezer, and that's it. I've been concentrating more on canning and dehydrating. That's been another learning curve, because freezing was what I thought was the best way to go and the taste was close to fresh. With freezing, there is a downside... freezer burn. That will not only leave your food tasting nasty, but will ruin all your hard work in just a few month's time. A FoodSaver or other method of vacuum packing will fix that, but there's still the issue of storage and the cost of keeping a freezer running. Then there's the issue of a power outage - you can lose everything depending on how long the power is out and what time of year it happens.

So, I've been concentrating on other methods of storage. Dehydrating is one that I find fun and quite amazing. I can dehydrate green beans and they get so much smaller, store for a long time in a vacuum sealed jar, and taste darn near like fresh when re-hydrated. I've been experimenting with drying and cooking quite a few veggies this year and have been quite pleased with the result. So far, I've done:

Potatoes - both sliced and shredded

Green Beans

Mixed Vegetables

Corn
Cabbage
Carrots

Mushrooms

Onions

Bell Peppers - all colors

Celery

Celery Leaves

Peas

Squash

Chives

Spearmint
Apples - both sliced and diced

Bananas

Grapes - red and white seedless

Pineapple
Clementine slices

One of the things that I like doing is buying frozen vegetables on sale. I don't have freezer space for them, but that's ok. I bring them home, open the bag and pour them onto my dehydrator trays, give them a good rinse, drain and then put in the dehydrator. They have already been blanched and cut up, so there's really no work to doing them this way. When done, just put in jars and vacuum seal. They will last for a LONG time on the shelf as long as they stay vacuum sealed.

The list will certainly get longer as I try my hand at more items. I dehydrate all year long and continuously use from my pantry as well. I'm always rotating. Like I said - it's not for stocking for a disaster, but for using and having better quality ingredients.