Storing excess produce

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  • Glaron

    Camp pureblood 13R
    BANNED!!!
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 20, 2013
    12,752
    Virginia
    So you have a garden...

    Easiest/simpleest way to store produce for winter use?

    Can I just freeze tomatoes then dethaw for a nice winter meal? Btw, I kinda made the garden w/o planning for excesses like this.
     

    engineerbrian

    JMB fan club
    Sep 3, 2010
    10,148
    Fredneck
    I would always make a years worth of spaghetti sauce then either freeze it or can it. You may as well learn to can if you have a garden
     

    XCheckR

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 20, 2013
    4,202
    HdG
    I freeze peppers. I make tomatoes sauce and freeze that (use ricotta cheese tubs - great size). We can green beans.
     

    Vodnik4

    Between two waters
    Jan 8, 2021
    60
    Slower, lower MD
    We have tried three methods, all of them have their upsides and drawbacks:
    1) freezing — the easiest, requires the least labor up front, just sort the veggies, cut out bad parts, and put in the freezer. But it requires a lot of space in the freezer and continuous power supply. If power goes out for long time, food spoils. Also have to be careful to avoid freezer burn.
    2) dehydrating — medium labor upfront, requires a dehydrator and a vacuum sealer. Takes maybe three-four days to finish. Minimum space for storage. Limited shelf life, and the food needs to be re-hydrated — so mostly useful for stews and such.
    3) canning — looks intimidating, but in reality very simple. Requires the most labor up front: cutting up veggies, cooking them down, then canning. Can take ip the whole weekend for ~100 jars. The only special equipment required are the jars and lids/seals. (Last year we started canning using just the biggest pot we owned, some random metal disk, and tongs). Takes up space on the shelves, but if done properly, shelf life is maybe 2-3 years in a basement, and no labor needed at the point of consumption.
    We tried all three, and canning, while it takes up two-three weekends in the summer, is my preferred method.
     

    Archeryrob

    Undecided on a great many things
    Mar 7, 2013
    3,064
    Washington Co. - Fairplay
    Tomatoes I only can. Making sauce take sa lot of time and you have to reduce it by half. Spaghetti by damn near 3/4ers. You can blanch, peel skin slice up and make stewed tomatoes. By far the easier canning way to save them.

    Peppers I slice in half and store in ziploc once par-frozen and use them as half shells for stuffed peppers. Most I save as chopped. I cu them in half, slice and chop into small squares and freeze on a paper plate. Then break up and dump into ziploc sandwich bags the fill the freezer door with these bags. I throw the frozen squared into meals for omlets you just have to cook them or heat them a bit.
     

    bibitor

    Kulak
    MDS Supporter
    Oct 10, 2017
    1,894
    FEMA Region III
    I had a very nice harvest of Italian sweet peppers this year that yielded six pints of pepper relish. I going to candy the ~10 lbs. of purple jalapenos I harvested last week, should yield about six or seven pints.
     

    pre64hunter

    Active Member
    Mar 19, 2010
    643
    Harford County
    I always freeze tomatoes

    I ONLY DO EASY!
    I always freeze tomatoes whole. I cut out the green stem and any bad spots and put them on a plate in the freezer. When they freeze I put them in a zip lock bag whole.
    When I go to use them I drop them in the hot sauce, something like chili or soup or rinse them under hot water while they are still frozen.
    The skin will slip right off, easy. Then I either leave them whole or cut them into chunks while still partially frozen.
    I clean peppers removing the seeds, rinse them and stack them tight together, wrap and freeze them in little packs. While still frozen I slice them for recipes.
    The first venison of the year ends up joining the peppers and tomatoes in a nice pot of chili.

    When the first frost arrives I pick the green tomatoes, put them in a paper bag with a banana peel. The banana give off some kind of gas and helps them ripen. Surprisingly the banana peel does not turn black and at least half the tomatoes fully turn red.

    I also pickle green tomatoes and peppers. This is a minor operation not an all day canning thing and I only make one or two jars.
    I clean and tightly pack the tomato wedges or peppers in a VERY CLEAN pickle or salsa jar.
    BOIL:
    2 cups Vinegar
    1 cup water
    2 Tablespoons salt
    2 Tablespoons sugar
    I warm the jar under hot water and put a knife or spoon in the jar so it doesn't break from heat shock.
    I pour the hot mixture into the jar filling it to the top and put the lid on it, let it cool and put it in the refrigerator for a week or so before eating.
    This is not to be considered canning! It will last several weeks but MUST BE refrigerated or it could kill you from botulism.
    MUST BE REFRIGERATED!!
     

    PaFrank

    Member
    Apr 2, 2020
    75
    The wife bought a big dehydrator.. She dehydrates and vacuum seals in canning jars whatever she wants to save. she has dehydrated, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, egg plant, lemons, oranges, apples, pineapple, beans, and i forget what else.. but it really coes in handy in the middle of winter and all thats available is the hot house stuff.. or stuff from thousands of miles away
     

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