Eat freely or hoard???

[Granny]

This is true Imisscolo. I freeze stuff that I want to try to keep for most of a year though, rather than just a few months - most of which is "raw" rather than cooked.

The extra layer offers a lot of extra protection. Rather than use expensive Tupperware, I use the very inexpensive Ziplock or Glad disposables. (I think I've seen store brands too.) You can get 8 or a dozen 1/2 or 1 cup containers for less than $2 - even less with a coupon - that are good for several seasons of use.

[spyfferoni]

I ran out of salsa and freezer jam. I decided I won't share with friends and neighbors as much this year. Last year was my first year making jam from my raspberries and canning salsa and I gave some away for neighbor gifts. I will try to can more this year, or think of something different for next Christmas.
I'm thinking I should of horded some salsa and jam.

Tyff

[ZBQ]

I use a Foodsaver. That thing has paid for it's self many, many times over!!

For my basil, I put it in the food processor and ground it up with just enough EVOO to make a thick paste. Then I spread it on a cookie sheet about 3/4" thick and scored it with a spatula into small squares that had roughly 1/2 to 3/4 cup in it. Put it in the freezer till frozen. Take out of freezer, break into chunks along scores and Foodsaver each. They store nice and flat. I just used some of the pesto that I made last summer in the "food porn" pictures that I posted in the Photo section. I did roasted red peppers this way too.

Just recently I was diggin through the freezer and came across some pork chops that had gotten shoved to the back. They were just over 2 years old. I thawed them out and there was no freezer burn and they tasted like they were fresh. Foodsaver is a $$ saver.

(No, I don't work for Foodsaver, I just think it's a great kitchen tool that is well worth investing in.)

[montanamato]

Lots of good ideas...We are just about out of everything....The last of the carrots will go this week and the purple cabbage ended a few weeks ago...The only canned items left are a few pickled beets, dills, and shallots...Nothing in the freezer but elk and beef...I prefer a few more vegies in my diet...
I have gone back to freezing a lot of items in glass jars again...I hope to have enough peppers , tomatoes and onions this summer to make it year round...Some years are plentiful and others so so...
I too ran out of salsa months ago....

Jeanne

[Granny]

Spyfferoni, something I learned about canning long, long ago was to put jams, jellies and that kind of thing up for family use in pint jars rather than the 8 ounce and to put stuff for gifts up in the pretty little 4 ounce jars. A single batch of jam will fill about a dozen of those.

[lumierefrere]

So given a choice between a Foodsaver and a good dehydrator, which is the wisest decision?

[Granny]

That depends on what you want to do with it and what kind of results you want.

The Foodsaver goes hand in hand with a freezer - but of course if you lose power, you also lose the contents of your freezer. Great for meats & fish.

The dehydrator does a great job with fruits and vegetables and of course dried foods don't thaw if you lose power. On the other hand, lots of things aren't very useful dried or take much effort & time to reconstitute for use. Some people don't much like the taste of dehydrated vegetables. I've used a couple of different dehydrators and been pretty unhappy with the amount that can be processed in a given time - and the electric bill.

All in all, since I do not have anyone who is bringing in large quantities of fish or game that needs to be dealt with, I stick with my old water bath canner for fruits, jams, pickles & tomatoes and the freezer for other stuff.

[Ruth_10]

In an ideal world the freezer would trump the dehydrator, in my opinion. BUT--real world--we had two power outages in 2006 lasting longer than 24 h and one of those was in 100 degF weather. Without a generator to keep the freezer going, we would have lost everything. Freezer food tastes more like fresh food, for the most part. Dehydrated foods work well for some purposes, for example when used in cooking, imo. Dehydrated fruits are pretty good as snacks.

I don't have a Food Saver-type system, but we got some beef from my brother a few years ago which was packaged in that type of system and it kept very, very well. Maybe a Food Saver should go on my Christmas wish list.

Using the small jars for give-aways is a good idea. A few years ago I gave as gifts some red raspberry jam I made. It was red gold and I don't regret sharing it, but I sure wish I had made more. We've since moved away from the place where we had all the red raspberries, so it doesn't look like I'll get more made anytime soon.

[Granny]

Ruth, many a time over the years I have produced "red gold" from frozen berries. You can often buy larger bags for relatively reasonable prices at places like Sam's & Costco. The big bags of frozen peaches work well too. Just thaw them and pretend they are fresh. Very nice for jam in the dead of winter.

[caascher2]

Good idea Granny. Never thought of using the frozen fruit. I guess no one can tell the difference.
Carol