Freeze drying works best with low fat meats (chicken, turkey, fish). We'll usually cook the meat then freeze dry. If we make dog treats, we'll freeze dry it raw. We'll soak in warm water to "reconsitute". I've been freeze drying milk, green beans, various fruit. Any leftovers like chili or soups get freeze dried also. We purchased the medium Harvest Right a couple of years ago. I would love to have their new larger size. We have an Excalibur dehydrator that we use for fruits also.
First canning of the season…black raspberry jam. Also trimmed up 50 (about 1/6th) of our annual garlic harvest.
Just finished up strawberry rhubarb jam. Pickled beets are the next item to get in jars. Then on the the tomato sauce, pepper jelly, and finally a garden clean-up zucchini/green tomato relish.
Canning seasons starts now. I picked 80ish lbs of tomatoes last night to add to the 40 already in the house. I ran out of daylight picking so there are even more out there. Going to have to give some away already. Making juice, spaghetti sauce, and salsa all week. I did a few gallons of fridge pickles last week.
Thats awesome! Must have a good sized pantry going! Im not getting a good feeling around and after the election.....a little stock for a rainy day sounds like a good idea. What kind of pickles did you make? Its peach season here.....you doing any of them? Id like to do spiced peach jam next year.
I just buy a mix for pickles. I've done my own spice before but it is just as cheap to get a mix. I throw a jalapeno in there too. We picked about 300lbs of peaches this year. We ate a lot fresh for a couple weeks, froze about 17 gallons, and made 2 batches of peach wine. I made some peach habanero jelly a few years ago that was really good. I think I just found a random recipe online. Smoke some ribs and glaze it with that stuff...daayyumm.
The solution to that is canned venison! Once you have enough canned venison you should be able to have lots of canned vegetables!
50# of (cornmeal, flour, or w w flour) fits in 19 1/2 G canning jars. We picked up some Quinoa, and filled a couple 1/2G jars. Its a complete protien, so we're storing a little less meat. We've discovered canned sardines, and Aldi corned beef hash (not that much meat per can). Cleaned out the chest freezer, we have a LOT of soup makings. Also picked up a few # marrow bones.....bone broth to be made when the wood stove runs again. Bone broth for a day or two, and I'll siphon off a quart or two for soup a few days later. Found B & M brown bread at Wally world, about bought them out. That stuff is great pan fried in butter on the wood stove.....or gas grill. Rainy days are coming.
Brown bread with the raisins? We'll heat it in a frying pan with butter, like a grilled cheese. I'll have to try it on the grill!
I sure remember that bread growing up and it is definitely an old New England staple. Seems I recall often having it with franks and beans as a kid. Usually try to keep at least a can or two in the house these days but I always just popped slices in the toaster. Going to have to try some on the wood stove this winter!
It's not really canning but I make fire roasted tomato sauce and freeze it as my tomatoes ripen. This stuff goes great with pasta and lump crab, shrimp or scallops. My real canning will be the next two weekends, we'll probably put up 100+ jars of tomatoes. We buy those tomatoes.
All that tomato stuff smells good from here! JoeyD ..... We discovered csnned corned beef at Aldi this week. I fried some of that and put it under a couple.eggs over easy.....man was that good! Will go get a few cans for the pantry soon. A few of those will space everything else out.
Pretty much the same way I have it. Cook it crispy then put it on toast with a slice of cheese between the hash and the toast, drizzle a little yellow mustard on it, top with a couple over easy eggs and some hot sauce. Great cold-weather breakfast!
