If you’ve ever frozen food, you’ve preserved food. If you’d like to branch out into canning, dehydrating and fermenting, I’d love to be your guide.
Explore step-by-step tutorials, tips, and recipes to help you stock your pantry with homemade preserves, dried fruits and vegetables, tangy ferments, and freezer-friendly meals. These methods not only extend the life of your harvest but also bring the flavors of each season to your table all year long.
Preserving food is more than a skill—it’s a way to embrace simple living and stay connected to the food you grow or source locally.
I’ve written two books on preserving food, The Ultimate Guide to Preserving Vegetables and Pressure Canning for Beginners and Beyond.
Here are some free preserving food worksheets that will help you keep all your preserved food organized.
Every summer, the Texas rural roads are full of grapevines that cover fences and trees. The wild grapes are either mustang grapes or muscadine grapes. That’s the sign that it’s grape juice season! This recipe was reviewed for accuracy and food safety by Angi Schneider in April 2026. All processing times and methods follow tested …
Freezing peaches is an easy way to enjoy the taste of summer all year long. Whether you want to use them in smoothies, pies, or just as a sweet snack, freezing peaches properly keeps them fresh, flavorful, and ready to use. Here are my favorite methods for freezing peaches, plus tips for the best results. …
Home canning is a fantastic way to preserve fresh food, but the cost of single-use lids can add up over time. That’s where reusable canning lids, like those from Harvest Guard, come in. If you’re looking for a sustainable and budget-friendly alternative to traditional canning lids, this guide will walk you through everything you need …
If you’re wondering if can you freeze mashed potatoes, the answer is a resounding YES! I’ve been making and freezing mashed potatoes for years, I’ve served them at regular meals, family holidays and even church potlucks. And everyone loves them. I’m going to share all the tricks and the secret ingredient for a no-fuss way of …
If you’re looking for authentic, southern fig preserves, this is the recipe you need. This spiced up version of the traditional preserved fig recipe turns fresh figs into a super flavorful treat that can be enjoyed all year long. I’ve included safe canning instructions but you can also make this recipe in a small batch …
Pickled carrots are a great addition to any meal. They have a tangy flavor but the sweet carrot flavor isn’t overpowered. With this easy pickled carrot recipe you can make a jar or two for the refrigerator or a full canner load for the pantry. Plus, I’ll show you how to safely change up the …
Pickled cauliflower is a crunchy, tangy snack or addition to a relish tray. This pickled cauliflower recipe is safe for canning to make shelf-stable pickles or to make quick pickles for the refrigerator. In winter when we’re harvesting head after head of cauliflower, I like to use one or two heads to make a batch …
Freezing bananas is so very easy! No special equipment is necessary. Plus you can use the frozen bananas for so many things from baking to smoothies! Next time you buy bananas, buy extra and use these step-by-step instructions to freeze them. Fresh bananas are some of the least expensive fruit you can buy and when …
Canning chicken is easier than you might think and so very versatile. You can use it for easy meals during the busy work week, a super easy chicken salad, or as a the base of a soup or chicken pot pie. Truly the possibilities are endless. Why Can Chicken? Besides the fact that home-canned chicken …
Can you freeze figs? Absolutely! In fact, freezing figs is a great way to preserve figs during their harvest season for using all year long. Learn how to freeze figs three different ways to get the most out of your fig harvest. Because figs have a short season and a short shelf life, it’s hard …
Pickling is a great way to preserve the summer harvest, and not just cucumbers. If you’re a fan of homemade pickles, relishes, or chutneys, then you know that a good pickling spice blend is the secret ingredient that takes your preserves to the next level. Of course, you can buy little packets of pickling spice, …
This recipe for classic canned dill pickles is full of the flavor and crunchiness you want from a dill pickle. It comes together quickly and is one of the best ways to put up a big cucumber harvest before it gets away from you. This recipe was reviewed for accuracy and food safety by Angi …
These sweet and spicy pickles are a family favorite as they have a perfect balance of tang, sweet, and spice. This is a canning recipe, although you can make them and store them in the refrigerator instead of canning them. We make several different pickles each year to be sure we have some of everyone’s …
These easy refrigerator dill pickles (aka icebox pickle or quick pickles) are so delicious and are a great way to quickly put up small batches of cucumbers from your garden or the grocery store. This recipe is for refrigerator dill pickles but you can make all kinds of refrigerator pickles using this recipe as a …
Most canning recipes have salt listed as an ingredient and usually it’s listed as canning salt or pickling salt. This often leads to a lot questions such as….What’s the difference between canning salt and regular salt? Are canning salt and pickling salt the same thing? Can I use regular table salt instead of canning salt? …
Whenever I’m asked what I do with the extra eggs we get from our hens, I always say that we first freeze enough to make it through the winter. The other person usually looks confused and then says, “Can you freeze eggs?” Yes, you can freeze eggs. In fact there are several ways of freezing …
Canning carrots is an easy and versatile way to preserve the harvest at the end of the season and stock your pantry. Canned carrots are a little soft, but the flavor is fantastic – pressure canning carrots seems to intensify the carrot’s flavor. This recipe was reviewed for accuracy and food safety by Angi Schneider in …
What is the best way to freeze fresh basil to retain the flavor and color? We put all the the popular and not-so-popular methods to the test and came up the easiest and best way of freezing basil. Personally, my very favorite way to freeze basil is in the form of basil pesto. We go …
At the end of the summer when the garden is overflowing with basil, it’s the perfect time to start drying basil to stock your pantry. Fortunately, you don’t need any special equipment to dry basil. Let’s chat about the different methods of drying basil – air dry, dehydrator, oven method, microwave and air fryer – …
Fig season is short, although it does come twice a year, so be sure to preserve figs while you can. Figs can be canned, frozen, pickled, dehydrated and even fermented! Fig season is season is something to celebrate. Like mulberries, figs don’t ship well which makes it hard to find fresh figs for sale. In …