Planning to Preserve in the Coming Year - Part 2 of 3

By putting up more food I will reduce the miles our food travels, I’ll know exactly where the food came from and what’s in it. This will contribute to a lower food budget and a healthier diet. All good things right? And it's easy.  I usually put up what I want as the season progresses. I wind up with four times as many pickles as we can eat and not enough tomato sauce. This year I'm making a plan. 

I have broken my plan to preserve into several parts:

1. Decide what we would actually eat by looking at my notes from what we put up last year and what we would have used if we had it
2. Calculate quantities that we would conceivably consume in a year’s time
3. Check and see that we have the capacity to can, freeze or store all this bounty
4. Make a chronological list of when these foods are ready to preserve
5. Put it all together and make a calendar of foods with their quantities and check it every couple weeks as the season progresses to make sure I’m on track

In the first part of Planning to Preserve I went into detail into for steps 1 and 2. I considered what I put up last year and what I want to put up this year.  The second part is steps 3 and 4.

Step 3: Do we actually have the number of canning jars, freezer and cupboard space to hold all this bounty?

Here’s what I calculate I’ll need to hold all this stuff:

69 Quart Freezer Boxes or Bags (6+5+3+15+6+6+12+6+6+4 = 69)
35 Pint Jars (34+8+1 = 43)
26 Quart Jars (12+8+6 = 26)
Dry storage for 16 squash, 24 heads of garlic

Here’s what I’ve got on hand:

Freezer boxes 6 pints, 2 quarts
17 pint jars
2 half pint or jelly jars (I always give away the small jars it seems!)
18 quart jars

I’m going to need more jars.  I don’t think I've ever put up this much food plan or no plan. Looks like I will need to be watching garage sales, thrift stores and church sales for canning supplies. Canning jars generally run about $1 a jar new; if I can find any for less it's a good deal.  Granted, when facing a bushel of apples I'm willing to go purchase at full price. 

I’ll need to acquire:

49 quart freezer bags (for the dehydrated food and pesto I prefer freezer bags and for the fruit and corn I like the plastic freezer boxes)
15 quart freezer boxes
21 pint jars
14 half pint jelly jars
8 quart jars

 Step 4: Make a chronological list of when these foods are ready to preserve.

There is a chart in the back of my Ball Blue Book of Canning that shows when to expect fruits and vegetables to be peak season. I used that plus my own notes and the lids of cans (I always write the date) to create this list below. This is for the Midwest specifically north east Indiana.

May: Beets, Kale
June: Beets, Strawberries, Blue Berries, Peaches
July: Cucumber, Corn, Apples, Cherries, Cherry Tomatoes, Peaches
August: Cucumber, Corn, Apples, All Tomatoes, Herbs, Wild Grapes
September: Beets, Corn, Apples, All Tomatoes, Kale, Herbs
October: Beets, All Tomatoes, Kale, Winter Squash
November: Beets, Winter Squash

I'm getting closer to finishing the plan.  One more step to put it all together; that will be in Part 3 of Planning to Preserve which will go up later this week. 

How's your plan to preserve shaping up?

This post was featured on Simple Lives Thursday

Planning to Preserve in the Coming Year - Part 1 of 3

Last year I didn’t have a plan when it came to putting up food. I also had a full time job. This year with more time, at least for now until the peanut comes in June, I’m making a plan. It’s going to be a flexible plan as who knows what fun birthing plus baby will throw in the mix.

I would like to put up more than I did last year. By putting up more food I will reduce the miles our food travels, I’ll know exactly where the food came from and what’s in it. This will contribute to a lower food budget and a healthier diet. All good things right?

I have divided my Plan to Preserve into five steps:

1. Decide what we would actually eat by looking at my notes from what we put up last year and what we would have used if we had it
2. Calculate quantities that we would conceivably consume in a year’s time
3. Check and see that we have the capacity to can, freeze or store all this bounty
4. Make a chronological list of when these foods are ready to preserve
5. Put it all together and make a calendar of foods with their quantities and check it every couple weeks as the season progresses to make sure I’m on track

Over the next three posts I'm going to write up my plan.  It was getting a little long for a single post.  If you are putting food by in the coming year, I'd love to hear how you think about preserving.  Let me know in the comments what you are going to can, freeze or dehydrate in the coming year. Let's get started.

Step 1: Make a list of what we would eat if I take the time to put it up.

I guess I’m getting a little ahead of myself. First I should look at what I did last year:

5 dozen ears of frozen cut corn (frozen in September gone by November)

6 pints of frozen sliced strawberries (we’ve got 1 pint left in January)
3 pints of frozen wild raspberries (untouched, I think the seeds are throwing me)
8 cups of sour cherries (Put up in June, made into 2 pies for dad over the summer)
8 pints of grape jelly (made in September, mostly gifts we kept 1 quart)
15 meals worth of pesto (put up in August and September, we have 10 left)

12 pints of tomato sauce (using about a half pint a week for pizza sauce)

12 quarts of dill pickles (down to 8 quarts)

4 quarts of dehydrated cherry tomatoes (3 quarts remaining)

Now for the wish list, what would I like to put up that I didn’t last year? I’m consulting the Ball Blue Book of Canning as well as my Freezing and Canning Cookbook by Farm Journal. It is from 1964 and smells like mold but it is still highly useful. Then I visited Punk Domestics, a website that show cases home food preservation and Spain in Iowa.

Sweet peppers, frozen chopped
Apples, dehydrated
Peaches, dehydrated
Dill pickle relish, can
Kale chips, dehydrated
Beet chips, dehydrated

Butternut squash, dry store

Garlic, dry store
Limoncello, Italian lemon liquor
Mustard, can
Enchilada sauce, can
Herbs (Basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley), dehydrate

Apple sauce, can

Wild Grape Jelly, can

I am beginning to wonder if this plan is a little overly ambitious, but that is what the next steps are for; to make sure I have the time, space and jars to put up all this food.  Part 2 of 3 can be found here.

This post was featured on Simple Lives Thursday.