Preservation Techniques

[Shoney]

Hello all,

I would like to use the minimum amount of refrigeration necessary to save power. I am planning to try my hand at several food preservation techniques. Using sealable food safe buckets, I plan to try my hand at salt pork and other pickling and brining, as well as canning via boiling water. are there any recipes/techniques that y'all use that are shelf stable? What are some good ingredients and tools for this?

Thanks again

 

[vanbrat]

Be careful!
Canning is great and I believe has a good long shelf life for your foods. Also not the easiest. Takes alot of equipment, work, and time.
Drying is good for lots of things, but not all. I don't know to much about drying all things, but some fruits and veggies are better dry then fresh. But not all of them.
Pickling again some veggies and few fruits are even better pickled. The process can strip foods of nutrients. But oh how yummy are pickles!
I have not tried the sealable buckets, so no idea there. I like smaller packaging of things so don't get stuck eating to much at once. I suppose small packets would work in a bucket. but .....
There are a ton of really good books on these subjects. But if you can find an ol' lady or cook who knows how to help show you, that would be better.
I had a neighbor who showed me jam making and started teaching me canning,(be careful here with this stuff, ****oos can be deadly) Another who dried her own apples and fruit roll ups. I like to freeze single servings of meats and meals etc. but that only works if you have the freezer space. And somethings are Ok frozen, but not all things. I hate frozen pears. YUK.
It can be fun to experiment, but then you need to be prepared for tossing out a lot of food stuff if not done right. I had to toss 6 jars of plum sauce last year. It was a weird color and not something I wanted to eat. A whole years worth of plums from my own tree.
One year I had a neighbor who made me a bunch of canned stuff, but as she gave them to me she talked about how she "changed a few things" and some of them scared me so I set them aside and sure enough they all went bad quickly and obviously. This was her first year canning. So again be careful.
This year I have about 200 jars of goodies. Guess what everyone in my family is getting for Christmas.

 

[nature lover]

It is very difficult for nomads to carry every thing needed for canning. And home canned things (in glass jars). don’t travel very well jostling will break seals and even break jars sometimes. I try to avoid glass containers, cups, plates in the van do to their ability to brake. I use metal or heavy plastic as much as possible. It is a shame that I rely on “store bought” Taste and quality are definitely not as good as the home grown and home canned I grew up on.

 

[vanbrat]

I can't imagine canning stuff in my van kitchen! I do my canning in my S&B house.
I do carry a few jars of goodies with me when we are out and about, but even that is hard and it has to be something worth the extra work. The jars do bounce around so they get wrapped in my kitchen towels. And it is a dead hard rule do not toss the jars. So they get repacked for the trip home. I use a microwave for cooking and the jars are good for heating soups etc. 
I carry a few dried things. Like the fruit leather and the apple chips. I don't do as much drying yet, but time for me to learn more about that. I know there are a lot of good commercial dried foods, but I like knowing just what is in my food.. I am watching all the ideas for instant rice and instant potatoes are a good staple food. One year just to see how it would work, I dried things for veggie soup. But the results.... Well they tasted rather like dried cardboard that had gotten soggy. Like I said time to practice.

 

[jacqueg]

I believe you can now get home freeze-drying equipment.

Dried is good, but freeze-drying is even better.

I do have some canned/bottled goods with me, but I keep them to a minimum.

 

[highdesertranger]

first off are you just trying to save left overs or trying to put up supplies?

here's what I do,

in the winter I do like they did before refrigeration. cook your meal serve your self and the left overs leave in the pot and heat it up. leave the lid on do not open. then the next day reheat. obviously this won't work for everything. it works best for dishes with a lot of liquid like soup and stews. use you own judgment I would not do this with fish or rice or anything that spoils fast but I have been doing it for years and it's never made me sick. you must have a tight fitting lid and do not open it until you are reheating it.

option 2 mason jar
I use mason jars. I don't like plastic. if I don't have a problem with mason jars breaking you shouldn't either.
for dry foods like rice, beans, split peas, barley, etc. I vacuum seal it in mason jars. I have an attachment that for my Food Saver that sucks the air out. it actually works really well. I then put the mason jar in an old sock(washed). never broke a jar.

option 3 mason jar
for left overs in the summer. put left overs in the mason jar while the food is hot. put the lid on. then cool it off. you can do it in the cool part of night or put the mason jar in water(be careful) or put it in your refrigerator. this will create a vacuum as the contents cool. of course I keep it refrigerated as this is not canning but left overs keep real well this way.

highdesertranger

 

[crofter]

@HDR you are killing the bacteria when you heat and reheat, and I bet the lid seals down on there when the pot cools. 

DRYING is easy for on the road.
Clean an old window screen and hang it from the ceiling by its corners. Slice the food to be dried thin and space it out on the screen. 

For meat, smoking or making jerky is the best, but requires a heat source.    -crofter

 

[Weight]

Mason jars do not break easily. The modern ones like Ball Brand are tempered glass. But there are many commercial food products that are very good. Including even organic if you prefer. I like Red Pack tomatoes, aka; Red Gold Tomatoes. The many canned fish products, preferring the premium wild caught brands. There are Progresso Soups. As I don't need to escape to the wilderness for any length of time, I find Supermarkets and Delis pretty much a few hours, at most, from my wheels.
Uncle Bud's Red Sauce;
-> One can tomatoes, Not crushed.; One onion cut in half, Can leave the skin on.; 1/2 stick butter or use olive oil.; Good pinch of salt to your taste.You can add more but can't take much out.; Put all in pot and slow boil to thicken. Remove all onion. This will work well preserved as HDR does his stew. -> This gravy can be dressed up to your needs. I use lots of garlic and parsley. A heavy pinch of dry Savory leaves. I add whatever protein I have, ground-beef, sausage, sauteed apple or other things. Some meatballs from a deli or sandwich shop. Last night's leftover squirrel. The list is long. As good over fried sweet potatoes as over pasta. I had mine over Potatoes O'Brien yesterday and will do that again.

 

[BelgianPup]

St. Paul Mercantile sells a 22-wick 14,000 BTU kerosene canning stove for $80. It is suitable for pressure canning (required for meat and low-acid foods).

JAR SOCKS, great for traveling with Mason jars. You go through your old socks and cut off the cuffs, and trim them to your jar heights. Slide them onto the jars to protect the glass sides.

The Absolute Rule for Canning: NO SHORTCUTS. You follow the rules all the time, every time.

The most up-to-date safety information is found online at the National Center for Home Food Preservation. The have all kinds of preservation, not just canning.

 

[Dingfelder]

Drying can be done naturally and will remove vast amounts of weight and volume. Perfect for traveling.