Well we have been working on ways to answer that question. On our BabyStep 8 page, we talk about growing, canning, dehydrating, and freezing. Storing fruits and vegetables can be such a road block for so many people in food storage- ourselves included.

Today, Julie is going to share with you some things she is doing to get closer to having that part of her food storage under control. It involves GREEN SMOOTHIES, AIRPLANES, AND I TOLD YOU SO’S.

So for awhile now I have been into “Green Smoothies”. I got introduced to a website “Green Smoothie Girl” by my neighbor, and am just scraping the surface of some of the great stuff on her site. For those of you who make these, you know how amazing they make you feel, and how frantic you get when you don’t have your daily dose of fabulous fruits and vegetables. When thinking about WHY FOOD STORAGE, there are many reasons I have food storage. I choose to have food storage for emergency situations, but ALSO for situations where I might not have access to stores, or if money is tight. Having said that, I do a portion of freezer food planning in my food storage. Ideally I’ll have a nice, and fancy generator to power my freezer in case of no power situations, but we’re doing this ONE BabyStep at a time – remember!

Anyways, about a month ago, my sisters were trying to find airline tickets for a trip they were taking. I had a couple of free flights from points I haven’t been able to use for FOREVER, and offered to sell them my free flights for a discount of what they were going to pay for their tickets anyways. My points were good for something after all! So, I did something I rarely do- I SPLURGED! I have been drooling, and I mean DROOLING over Blendtec and Vitamix blenders for months. Each morning when I had been making my smoothies, I told myself- one day- one day- I would have an AMAZING blender. Well to make a long story short, with my free flights money, I bought a Vitamix (I did some SERIOUS research and debating on which one to buy, and finally went with Vitamix , but there are bonuses to Blendtec that might make it the right blender for you, I’ll do a post on just that later).

So with my Vitamix , I make so much fun stuff, smoothies being one of them. I went out of town without it, and barely survived – Ok- I’m being dramatic here, but seriously I LOVE it. Since I’ve made making smoothies a part of my daily life, I thought – I NEED to figure out how to store for this. This is where the “I TOLD YOU SO’S” come in. When I was a girl I would get SO embarrassed when I was grocery shopping with my mom and she would buy TONS of stuff on sale. Well, I’m going to confess. I’m turning into my mom. I am using Deals to Meals to buy my produce for so much cheaper then Walmart prices (I told you about this a few weeks ago). Earlier this week, I found myself buying huge amounts of fruits for freezing and I just had to laugh. Freezing this fruit when buying it for so cheap is a great way to build up my fruit storage, and save money at the same time. My plan is to keep buying 3-4 times the amount of produce I normally buy, when it’s at great prices, and keep on freezing. Ideally I would love to have fresh always, but just in case…

So here are some tips I have learned from readers about freezing fruits. Please share your tips in the comment sections below:

-Clean, wash and dry fruit first
-Place fruit on cookie sheets or platters to freeze (this avoids clumping)
-Put the powder that keeps fruit good on things like peaches
-Freeze for a few hours
-Place in ziploc bags
-Label the bag with the date (I need to do that part still)

While this “diet” is very healthy, it can also be a bit of a pain to prepare the foods. But I’m going to show you a few tricks I’ve learned to make it easier to follow, and super easy to stick with even on busy days when you aren’t at home to cook the food. And the bonus part is, it uses lots of food storage, yay!

Whole Grains

I have started keeping a bucket of wheat, rice, and oatmeal upstairs because I’m going through them so quickly. I make two loaves of whole wheat bread (click here for my favorite recipe) every few days and my family has started snarfing it up. I should be grateful that they love the healthy food but then I have to keep making it more often. At least it’s really cheap since I grind my own wheat! I’ve also started cooking up big batches of brown rice in my pressure cooker and storing it in 1 cup baggies in the fridge. This has been an awesome way to always have a healthy side dish on hand.

Fruits and Veggies

I have been using my favorite service Deals to Meals to find the best deals on produce and stock up. If the foods look like they may go bad soon I just stick them in the freezer. Usually I can make the freezer foods last until stuff goes on sale again. Sweet! (To see how easy it is to use deals to meals for product, check out this post)

Chicken

I am choosing to avoid red meat and cheesy/pasta dishes for now, but I still make some of our normal family favorites for dinner. So I have started cooking up large batches of chicken in the pressure cooker and keeping it in 4 ounce baggies in the fridge. It’s so easy for me to pull out a baggie and stick it on a salad for a healthy dinner, while my family can still enjoy a good spaghetti dinner. I like to consider frozen meat as part of my three month supply so preparing this in bulk is great for that.

Pressure Cooking

Here is my confession, until a few weeks ago I was AFRAID to use my pressure cooker. Seriously! But I could never make my brown rice turn out very yummy so I decided to give it a whirl. Well I am officially in love. The rice turns out perfect and chewy and delicious every time. And the chicken … oh the chicken. Tender, moist, and cooks in such a short time. After eating plain chicken on a george foreman for a few weeks the pressure cooker chicken in marinades are divine.

How to Use a Pressure Cooker for Rice and Chicken

The Finished Product

I accidentally had to eat some of the chicken after working so hard to prepare it all

Garlic Lemon Chicken Recipe

2 lbs thawed chicken
1/3 cup olive oil
2/3 cup lemon juice
6 cloves garlic
2 tsp. thyme

Mix all the marinade ingredients up and pour in a gallon ziplock bag along with the chicken. Marinate for 15-20 minutes and then cook in the pressure cooker according to your cooker’s directions.

Our Favorite Pressure Cooker

Cuisinart CPC-600 1000-Watt 6-Quart Electric Pressure Cooker, Brushed Stainless and Matte Black
Reduce time spent in the kitchen preparing meals with the help of this 6-quart electric pressure cooker–it cuts cooking times up to 70-percent when compared to traditional stovetop cooking methods. The unit traps steam inside, which builds up pressure to create hotter temperatures, and its tight seal locks in heat, moisture, and flavor, as well as vitamins and minerals for exceptionally healthy, great-tasting meals like soup, chili, and other one-dish entrees. For safety, the cooker must be fully locked for pressure to build, and it will remain locked until the pressure inside drops to zero. It is so easy to use and we LOVE it! [Learn More]

If you have been following along with our Extreme Food Storage Makeover you will have already been introduced to my mom, Grandma Lori. I remember growing up we used to eat homemade strawberry jam and bottled peaches and my mom would make alfalfa sprouts on the kitchen counter. As I got older my mom kind of stopped doing those things and when I got married I was so busy I didn’t give it a second thought.

When we started our blog people started to ask us about some of the “food storage swear words” like gardening, canning, dehydrating, and sprouting and we realized we knew nothing about them. I asked my mom why she never taught me how to can and she said “When you can buy canned tomatoes at the grocery store for $0.50 why would you waste the time to can them yourself?” Because I wanted to LEARN HOW, Mom!

I decided it would be good to learn some of these self-reliance skills even if I don’t ever “HAVE” to rely on them. Plus there truly are some legitimate benefits to processing your own foods such as the health factors, you CAN save money, and a lot of it tastes so much better home grown and processed then store-bought. Not to mention it is really fun and satisfying to know you did it yourself. I am still a beginner to much of this stuff, but here are some of the fun projects I’ve attempted so far:
 

	COMING THIS SUMMER! As part of a series I’m going to be doing on self-reliance

I had never tried any of these things before I started blogging about them, so if you have been scared to try, believe me, if I can do it so can you!

The Good – Irrigation is IN, just need to add in the little drippers. Woo-Hoo!

The Bad – I already had some plants started in there that got a little jostled.

The UGLY – In an attempt to harden off some of my seedlings I killed them all

Square Foot Gardening FAQ

Canning Questions

What are some tips for planning your garden if canning is your end goal?
First, do you have a pressure canner? Because if you don’t you are limited to canning mostly fruits (remember, tomatoes are a fruit!) and pickles. Salsa also works, since there is enough acid to can it safely with the boiling water method. If you are interested in canning, I suggest dedicate most of your garden to canning veggies. To maximize your yield, grow as much vertically as you can. By trellising cucumbers you can plant 8 per square, compared to 4+ squares if you let them sprawl out.

Which type of tomato plant is better for canning?
In general, paste tomatoes (like Roma) are good for canning. The flesh is more firm, so it holds up to all the heat, and it is less watery, so you have more pulp per tomato. But Roma’s are a little smaller, so it’s more peeling compared to other varieties. I grow Roma, Early Girl, Better Boy, and Celebrity. For salsa I use an even mix of tomatoes, but I can whole Roma tomatoes for sauce.

When purchasing tomatoes, ask around. What do your friends and neighbors grow, and why? I don’t usually ask at the nursery or home and garden store, because I’m almost always advised to purchase what they have on the shelf! You can call your local extension office for a list of suggested varieties for your location. At many places the plants have tags on them, indicating if they are good for slicing, salads, canning, etc. Also look for disease resistant varieties.

How many to tomatoes, peppers, etc. should I plant if I want to can?
If this is your first year growing a garden, I suggest you start small and increase with time. Otherwise, you’re likely to take on too much, burn out, and never can a single jar. It’s just impossible to know until you try it, and see how much your garden produces.

Garden Planning

What are some tips on how you should rotate your garden plan each year?
If you SFG and use compost or Mel’s mix, you will need to replenish it with compost every year. As long as you didn’t have any diseases, there is no need to rotate your crops. Unless you get bored, like me, or become obsessed with finding the perfect gardening layout (also like me).

Do you have any detailed info on companion planting?
Companion planting is the practice of growing plants next to each other for mutual benefit. Read all about it in this post.

Miscellaneous

What plants grow best in desert climates?
Everything! You may have a hard time with cool-weather plants like broccoli, spinach, and peas. But if you give them an early start and shade from the hot sun, even these will grow well. Things like tomatoes and peppers do particularly well, since they can tolerate some heat and love the sunshine. I suggest everyone do a little research on their local extension website (www.extension.org) and/or check out a local farming supply store for varieties developed specifically for your climate.

Do I need to fertilize?
I believe in fertilizing. This can be organic or chemical, but I don’t feel Mel’s mix provides sufficient nutrients for my gardens. Now, you have to be careful because if you fertilize with too much nitrogen you will have big, leafy plants and little fruit. I sometimes use an all-purpose fertilizer (20-20-20 or 10-10-10), but I really love one called Blooming and Rooting (9-59-8). I use it when starting seeds (about 4 weeks after germination) and on all my veggies that flower (squash, peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers) every 6 weeks.

Don’t forget to check out Part One of the Square Foot Gardening FAQs and also check out the great Garden Box Tutorial put together by Jodi’s husband.

Needless to say any time people see my garden boxes they are dying to know where I got them or how I made them. Well the answer is … I have an amazing husband He has been sweet enough to make a tutorial for you to show how to make a simple 4×4 vinyl garden box. Feel free to watch the video below, but I have also tried to summarize his instructions if you don’t want to watch the whole thing.
 

How To Build a Vinyl Square Foot Garden Box

Materials Needed:
4″x4″ vinyl post jackets (found in either 72″ or 100″ lengths)
- You can also use 5″x5″ vinyl posts but they have holes pre-drilled in incorrect places)
Vinyl fence slats (found in 16′ lengths)
- You can make your boxes one slat high, but I prefer to do them double
Fence Post Caps (optional)
- You don’t NEED these but they make the boxes look so pretty!
Liquid Nails (optional)
- Can be used to glue the two layers of slats together if you are worried about stability

Tools Needed:
Tape Measure
Pencil
Straight Edge/Ruler
Table Saw or Sawzall or Circular Saw or Hacksaw (to cut vinyl into segments)
Jigsaw or Sawzall or Hacksaw Blade (to cut the post holes, jigsaw works best)

Posts
Measure post lengths to give you 1-2 inches of space at the top, and 4-6 inches of space at the bottom. Then give yourself either 5 1/2 or 11 inches for the slats (depending on whether you are doing one layer or two). Cut 4 equal segments. If you are doing a longer box, you will need to add 2 additional posts to give it more stability in the middle.

Side Slats
Determine the size of box you want to make. For a 4 foot square box you would ideally give yourself a few extra inches on each side since they will be stuck into the posts. However, since the slats come in 16 foot lengths we opted to just make our box a little smaller. Cut into 4 equal segments. Again if you are doing a longer box, make additional slats as necessary. Don’t make the slats longer than 4 or 5 feet in length.

Post Holes
Draw yourself a template for the holes. Start down 1-2 inches from the top of the post (depending on what you measured for). Make sure to mark the center of the post. Measure your fence slat (should be about 1 1/2 inches) and mark that width down the post starting from the center. So you will have 3/4″ on each side of the middle line. You can either measure 11″ and draw the lines, or simply trace around your fence slat to get a pretty good outline. Use a large drill bit to start a hole in the outline. Then using a jigsaw, cut out the hole. You will need two holes per post and they should be on sides right next to each other.

Assembly
If you glued your two layers of slats together, wait for them to dry. Then stick the fence slats into the holes you made in the posts and form your square foot garden box. Once you determine where your box will go, dig holes in the ground for the four post holes and stick your box in! We like to fill our posts with dirt after to make them more stable. Then stick on the post caps for a beautiful finishing touch.

Cost of a 4′x4′ Box (all parts from Home Depot)
72″ vinyl post jacket – $15.97
16′ vinyl slats x 2 – $29.94
Fence post caps x 4 – $6.68
TOTAL COST – $52.59

Time Required
A simple 4×4 box like the one we built can be done in an hour or so. Depending on how much of a perfectionist you are with the measuring and cuts it could take a little longer. If you have a table saw and a jigsaw it could take a little shorter. To do a bigger box with more cuts and more complex measurements it will longer as well. Also if you choose to glue the slats together it’s best to let them dry overnight.

Hope this is helpful! If you or your spouse makes one of these boxes let us know in the comments how it works out for you.

Family trip to the dump to get compost for my vegetable gardens – PRICELESS

A BIG pile of … dirt

Gotta love a beater truck that’s not afraid to get dirty (my husband loves classic cars)

Hubby forgot his gloves … I’ll let you chew on that thought for a bit

The kids thought it was a grand adventure!

And my gardens are beeeeeautiful!!!!!!

And now if the weather would just cooperate I could actually start getting something DONE in my beautifully filled garden beds. If you need help with your vegetable gardens this year check out my cousin Emily’s eBooks and website on Square Foot Gardening. Tons of great info that I use all the time!

p.s. Once we recover from the weekend we will be sharing a lot of great stuff about the Food Storage Fair we attended on Saturday. You won’t believe some of the great products and companies we learned about, amazing authors we met, etc. Make sure to subscribe to the blog or follow us on facebook so you don’t miss a thing!

Gather everything you need to get started, including some helpers.	Chop off the tops of the berries and any gross parts (2 quarts = 1 batch).
Chop up the berries. Oh how I love my imitation slap chop. Although it IS falling apart so I might have to splurge for a REAL one soon!	Pour the beautiful chopped berries into a large pot and start cooking (if you like chunkier jam you can mash the berries with a potato masher first).
Pour in 1/4 c. lemon juice (some recipes don’t call for this).	Add the pectin.
Add 1/2 tsp. of butter to reduce the foaming.	If you like smooth jam like my family, puree it with a Bamix at this step (I love my Bamix too!)
While you wait for the strawberries to come to a boil, measure out 7 cups of sugar into a bowl. (Yes SEVEN!)	Now take a well-deserved quick break and enjoy an ice cold diet coke. This step is mandatory at my house.
Dump the whole bowl of sugar in at once. Bring back to a boil and stir for 1 minute while it boils.	Meanwhile, sterilize your jar lids on the stove and try to ignore the fact that my burner looks freakishly purple.
Remove the pot from the stove and pour the delicious jam into sterilized jars. One batch makes about 4 small jars.	Add the lids and rings and wait for them to pop to know they are sealed. Isn’t this just a beautiful site?

While I didn’t include this part, you should make sure to water bath can your finished jars according to the directions on your pectin package or in your canning guide. This will make sure your jam is properly preserved for long term storage.

Happy jam-making!

Well we had a great “Food Storage Fools Day” where we actually did some things we have been putting off FoReVeR! We were so glad our readers joined us and got some great emails, facebook discussions, pictures and feedback about what you all did. Wasn’t it so much more fun to do it together? We were just glad to have the accountability to actually DO stuff.

Although Julie was tending her nephew, had unexpected dinner plans come up, and was kinda feeling lazy on April 1st, she was THRILLED to have this day to FORCE her to get some things done! These are the things she accomplished.

-Purchased propane fuel and charcoal for the Volcano II stove she has. This is her current “electricity free” cooking plan, but it wouldn’t have worked well without fuel!
-Got some new foods for her 72 hour kits that required no cooking. Some of the things she added were beef jerky, raisins, granola bars, crackers with canned chicken, and new candy.
-Took all the disaster kits supplies out of the big awkward bin that is hard to carry and moved it into two bags.
-Packed bigger clothes for her toddler in the bags, and actually put clothes for the baby in the bag.

Jodi has been feeling behind with her gardening. Even though the weather was awful this week she was still able to get a great start on some of her gardening tasks that she has been putting off for several weeks now. Here’s what she got done:

- Printed and put together her new gardening binder
- Planned out and typed up her garden plans for this year.
- Sorted through all her seeds and made a list of what she still needs to purchase
- Planted a TON of seeds in her jiffy pellets using the planting schedule from her gardening binder
- Made a plan for getting the outside gardens ready for planting some seeds directly outdoors, hopefully to be done this following week!
- NOW I finally feel ready to start gardening this year, yay!

For those of you who submitted your pictures and results we entered you into a giveaway for our Food Storage Made Easy Binders! And the winners are…

Stephanie W
Alisa D
Sondra M

Email us at info@foodstoragemadeeasy.net and we’ll get you the download!

Here are a few of the pictures we got from all of you! Good job guys, you inspired us with your emails, hard work, and diligence!

Square Foot Gardening FAQ

Hello FSME readers! I’m exited to have the chance to answer some of your gardening questions! Just a little background on me—I’m a mom of two boys, and this is my fourth year of gardening. I’m not an expert, but I am determined to learn all I can and pass it on to others. So here we go!

1. What soil mix is best for raised bed gardens?
I suggest a combination of ingredients called Mel’s Mix. It is equal parts compost, vermiculite, and peat moss. For specific instructions, go to my website and click on the Build It tab, then read the post there.

Each spring I add more compost to my boxes—I usually need to add one quarter to one third of the volume of my garden bed. Also, after harvesting you can replant in that square. Before you do, add a scoop of compost and mix it in.

2. What are cold frames and how do you use them?
A cold frame is like putting a glass roof on your garden. Imagine a mini-greenhouse, built around your garden beds. It helps you plant and grow sooner, and it extends the season later by protecting the plants. I would not suggest using cold frames if you are a beginner unless your weather conditions require it.

3. SEEDS

3a. Do higher quality seeds really make a difference?
YES! I’ve personally experienced this. You know those super cheap seeds by American Seed Company? There’s a reason they are so inexpensive. They have a very low germination rate, about 10%, which means you are paying for a bunch of seeds that won’t sprout.

3b. Where do you buy your seeds?
I have always purchased whatever brand I find at Wal-Mart, Home Depot, or IFA (Intermountain Farmers Association, the local farm coop store). I have found all of these seeds to be similarly priced and comparable in quality.

The advantage of buying seeds at a local store (like IFA) is that they often carry brands that have been developed specifically for the climate in which you live. The advantage of purchasing from a catalog is that you can choose from endless varieties and types of vegetables. I just hate waiting for something to come in the mail!

3c. What are Heirloom seeds?
Heirloom seeds, or vegetables, are varieties that were grown in the “old days.” Many have been used for over 50 or 100 years, and there are many more varieties. However, they are not as disease resistant as the seeds you will find at the store.

Since the industrialization of agriculture, seeds have been bred for consistency and disease resistance. This has resulted in fewer varieties (sort of a “one size fits all”) and hybrids, which are more expensive.

3d. How do I store seeds?
If you use the square foot gardening method, chances are you’ll have tons of seeds leftover. I put mine in snack size ziplock baggies, so if the seeds spill out it’s no big deal. Then I keep them in a cool, dry place. In the summer I put them in my fridge or basement. In the winter I keep them in the garage.

4. What are good plants for colder climates?

Root veggies (beets, carrots, onions, leeks, turnips, radishes, potatoes)
Cabbage family (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, mustard)
Peas and beans

If you have a short growing season, buy varieties that harvest in a shorter time frame.

5. Can you share any composting tips for beginners?
Don’t do it. Okay, that’s not totally true. If you have the space and want to compost for environmental reasons, by all means go ahead. But unless you have a lot of mass (think 100 gallons) and are willing to do a lot of work (turn it every week), you won’t be generating compost for this year. I live on 1/5 of an acre and with the grass clippings and the food scraps from a family of 3, combined with donated leaves, I have barely made enough compost to refill a box or two.

There is no compact, easy, non-messy, non-labor-intensive way to make compost that I know of. I am going to research composting this summer by interviewing my friends and neighbors to see if anyone has a magic composting trick.

The only composting I know of that is compact, very little work, but does use food scraps (fruits and veggies only), is vermacomposting—that’s right, with worms. I have a friend who does this. The compost she gets is like gold, but is measured in cups, not cubic feet. I’m going to do a post on this as well!

6. What’s the best way for a beginner to get started? Step-by-step instructions!
See my special offer below.

We had too many questions for one post, so stay tuned for more great info from Emily coming soon in a future post!

Gardening For Beginners

Emily is the author of a set of two new eBooks that are super helpful for beginner gardeners. We love her easy step-by-step approach to gardening that walks you through the entire process, just like our BabyStep program does for your food storage! She is offering a limited time discount to Food Storage Made Easy readers.

If you are a brand new beginner, here is a fantastic intro to Square Foot Gardening that we filmed last summer with our cousin Emily. We love love love the Square Foot Garden method developed by Mel Bartholemew.
 

How will we help you this year?
1. We will be posting periodic updates on how we are doing in our gardens along with details about what we will be doing next so you can follow along in your own gardens (ok we’ll be honest, JODI will be doing this, Julie hasn’t caught the gardening bug yet).
2. We will be having Emily from mysquarefootgarden.net do a series of guest blog posts on some of the more advanced gardening topics (leave a comment below if you have a specific topic you would like to have covered). Emily has some great eBooks you can check out by clicking the banner below. And her website offers tons of free information all through the gardening season!

Use coupon code FSME20 to get 20% off the bundle!

Jodi’s To-Do’s This Week
1. Make a garden plan
2. Purchase grow lights (Emily convinced me that these are golden!)
3. Purchase materials needed to start seedlings (soil, plant pots, etc.)
4. Catalog leftover seeds and purchase any I am short on
5. Start appropriate seedlings indoors and plant peas outdoors (yay!)
6. Convince dear husband to help me start prepping my garden beds

Happy Gardening!!!

While not critical for sustaining life, fruits and vegetables are a welcome addition to any food storage program for the health benefits, variety, and to help you save money on your day to day grocery shopping. Include the Day 9 Tags to complete today’s gift ideas:

Gardening Seeds

Gardening is a great way to become more self reliant. Try giving a few packs of gardening seeds to help motivate people to get going on gardening. If you know the person doesn’t have a lot of space, pick herbs, or things you can grow on kitchen counters.

Canning Supplies

A fun way to start using foods you garden, or buy in season for great prices is by canning them. A lot of people don’t have what you need to start canning and don’t think of buying it for themselves. A small canning kit is a great idea to get started.

Food Dehydrator

Another way to preserve fruits and veggies is through dehydrating. Again, if you’re feeling generous a great idea is a food dehydrator. You might want to be sure this is something the person is open/ready to get going on. You wouldn’t want to intimidate them too much

Back to the 12 Days List

Next up on our list is Legumes! Legumes can be very intimidating to a lot of people so this is a great one to help people realize they aren’t so bad. Here are some ideas to help people use, and understand legumes a little better:

12 Bean Soup

Purchase a 1 lb bag of 12 bean soup mix from the grocery store. Tie a ribbon around it and include the Day 7 Tags. If you want to be really ambitious you can include this 12 Bean Soup Recipe on a cute recipe card too. It’s delicious!

Sprouting Kit

Ever tried sprouting? Well if you know someone who wants to get into the real good stuff, give them this sprouting kit. Sprouting is a great way to use some of your food storage, and it’s super healthy and nutritious! Add your Day 7 Tags and it’s the perfect food storage gift.

Pressure Cooker

Here’s another one of those – if you’re feeling REALLY generous gifts. This pressure cooker is a DREAM come true for cooking dry beans. No pre-soaking, waiting hours, and worrying about your beans turning out ever again! Don’t forget your Day 7 Tags.

Back to the 12 Days List

Drying is the oldest method of preserving food. The early American settlers dried foods such as corn, apple slices, currants, grapes, and meat. Compared with other methods, drying is quite simple. In fact, you may already have most of the equipment on hand. Dried foods keep well because the moisture content is so low that spoilage organisms cannot grow.

Drying will never replace canning and freezing because these methods do a better job of retaining the taste, appearance, and nutritive value of fresh food. But drying is an excellent way to preserve foods that can add variety to meals and provide delicious, nutritious snacks. One of the biggest advantages of dried foods is that they take much less storage space than canned or frozen foods.

Recommended methods for canning and freezing have been determined by research and widespread experience. Home drying, however, does not have firmly established procedures. Food can be dried several ways, for example, by the sun if the air is hot and dry enough, or in an oven or dryer if the climate is humid.

With the renewed interest in gardening and natural foods and because of the high cost of commercially dried products, drying foods at home is becoming popular again. Drying is not difficult, but it does take time and a lot of attention. Although there are different drying methods, the guidelines remain the same.

Although solar drying is a popular and very inexpensive method, Illinois does not have a suitable climate for it. Dependable solar dehydration of foods requires 3 to 5 consecutive days when the temperature is 95 degrees F. and the humidity is very low. The average relative humidity in central Illinois on days with 95 degrees F. temperatures is usually 86 percent. Solar drying is thus not feasible.

Drying food in the oven of a kitchen range, on the other hand, can be very expensive. In an electric oven, drying food has been found to be nine to twelve times as costly as canning it. Food dehydrators are less expensive to operate but are only useful for a few months of the year. A convection oven can be the most economical investment if the proper model is chosen. A convection oven that has a controllable temperature starting at 120 degrees F. and a continuous operation feature rather than a timer-controlled one will function quite well as a dehydrator during the gardening months. For the rest of the year it can be used as a tabletop oven.

Dehydrating foods is still one of those things that is a little intimidating to us, but we are researching it and getting ready to attempt some things soon. We will post our progress as we learn!

So you can use me as an example, just because I wasn’t able to do what I had hoped I could do, I was still able to have somewhat of a success with my garden, and I will have more than NOTHING. You just can’t give up. If everything feels overwhelming take BabySteps and do it at your own pace. As long as you are progressing you are achieving success! I won’t have lots of tomatoes and cucumbers to can this year, but I am still planning to buy some peaches and apples so at least I can get a little of my canning itch to be satisfied

How is your garden coming along this year? Share your successes and failures in the comments below! And don’t be ashamed, at least your garden can’t look worse than MINE!

p.s. If you can’t get ANY sort of garden this year, all is not lost. You can still achieve success by getting some fresh veggies from friends or family, or even buying it from the corner stands or a farmer’s market. Julie has a story and recipe to share about that that she will be posting soon as well!

Common Types of Sprouts:

• Grains
  • Wheat
  • Rice
  • Oats
  • Corn
  • Barley
• Legumes
  • Peas
  • Lentils
  • Soy Beans, Garbanzo, Mung beans
  • Dried Beans (black, pinto, navy, kidney)
• Nuts + Seeds
  • Almonds
  • Sunflower Seeds, Sesame seeds, Alfalfa
  • Vegetable Seeds esp. pumpkin

Health Benefits of Sprouts:

• Sprouting a seed enhances its already high nutritional value (i.e. Oats when sprouted contain 600% more vitamin C)
• Sprouts are high in antioxidants that prevent DNA destruction and protect from the effects of aging
• Sprouts contain concentrated amounts of phytochemicals which help protect against diseases
• Alfalfa sprouts contain saponins which:
  • Lower bad cholesterol and fat but keep the good hdl fats
  • Stimulate immune system
  • Help prevent cardiovascular disease
• Sprouts are a nutritious, low-fat filler for meats or addition to soups, etc.

How to Grow Sprouts:

1. Prepare the seeds
   • Remove broken and discolored seeds
   • Wash seeds
   • Soak overnight (if necessary)
   • Drain
2. Place seeds in sprouting container and rinse thoroughly.
3. Drain off all excess water.
4. Place in a warm area where temperature will remain even.
5. Rinse 2-3 times per day.
6. Once they reach the desired length, place near sunlight until leaves become green.

For a full tutorial with pictures on how Jodi experimented with growing Lentil sprouts visit her post on How to Grow Sprouts.

Sprouting Resources:

The Complete Sprouting Cookbook – This book is from the 70’s but it has everything you could want to know and more. Jodi’s mom had it hidden in a cupboard and we just raved over it when we found it.
Sprouts: The Miracle Food – More recent book on sprouting.
Sprout Master Sprouter – The kit that Julie uses to grow her sprouts.

Have you had successes or failures with sprouting? Share your experiences in the comments below!

We decided it would be good to revise each BabyStep as part of our Summer Crash Course. So jump in and get started … it’s not too late! This week we are covering the following steps:

BabyStep 8: Fruits and Vegetables (click here to view the full step)
BabyStep 9: Comfort Foods (click here to view the full step)
BabyStep 10: Fruits and Vegetables (click here to view the full step)

    

• Updated each page to reflect the ideas shared in comments
  - Items with an * are new to the list
• Updated the online resources of each page

Homemade Applesauce Recipe & Canning
Best Rice Krispie Squares
Cleaning Supplies Using Food Storage

Stay tuned for some advanced posts on this topic coming later this week.

How to Make Your Own Plant Pots – Video

How to Make Your Own Plant Pots – Instructions

1. Take a single full sheet of black and white newspaper (color paper can have chemicals that may leach into your soil so it’s best to avoid it).
2. Fold the paper on its seam. Fold in half one more time. If your paper is larger in size you may have to fold it once more. Make a good crease on folds.
3. Take a glass and place it on its edge halfway onto the newspaper. Wrap the newspaper tightly around the glass and then shove all the edges down inside the glass.
4. Pull the newspaper off of the glass. Take the inside edges that you had previously folded into the glass and unfold them a bit to make the base of the pot. Press them down hard (you can use the base of your glass to really get it sealed down in there.
5. Transplant (or plant) your seeding into the newspaper pot with some good potting soil and place it in a tray and put it into direct sunlight. I use a little indoor greenhouse I found online.
6. When ready to move the plants into your garden simply remove the newspaper and place the plant in your garden.

p.s. The author of our sister site EverydayFoodStorage.NET just announced an awesome giveaway for her new book “I Can’t Believe It’s Food Storage”. Who doesn’t like more free stuff? We are so excited for her new book and think it’s a great companion to our Food Storage Made Easy Binders as she can give you even more ways to use your food storage once you start actually going through our BabySteps.
CHECK OUT HER GIVEAWAY TODAY!!!

• Installing my irrigation system (ok my husband is doing this part, he must really love me). Last fall we installed sprinklers in our whole yard but just left one pipe open for my gardens. So we need to install a drip system that will run all through my vegetable gardens. Hitting Home Depot on Saturday!

  

• Refilling my garden beds with compost. If we can get our truck working I will buy a whole truck bed full. This is only about $40 at our landfill. If the truck is out of commission I will probably just buy a few bags from WalMart. Look how empty and sad my garden beds are!

  

• Purchasing my potting materials. My favorite method of starting seeds indoors is to just use the little jiffy pots and put a few seeds in each pot and make as many pots as I want to have plants. It works great and is super cheap and easy. Once the roots start poking through I transfer them into bigger containers filled with potting soil.

  

• Make my Garden Plan. Every year I move plants around, change up what I plant depending on what we actually ate and canned the previous year. So this week I’ve been obsessing over my plans for this year. I think it will be a GREAT gardening year. I’m really excited to plan my garden based on what I need/want for food storage.
• Replenish my seed supplies. Ok this is the funnest part. I love picking new seeds! My only problem is I very rarely use up all of the seeds in a packet in one year. So I typically only have to buy a few refills and the rest I reuse from year to year. They might not get QUITE as high a germination rate but they still work well for me.

  

• Start some of my seeds indoors! I’ve been following the website of my cousin Emily at mysquarefootgarden.net and she has come up with a GREAT color system for knowing the right time to start planting things based on where you live. I am going through her charts this week and figuring out the things that I’m able to start planting indoors already based on my area’s last frost date. It looks like I can start broccoli, parsley, celery, and hot peppers already! I’m so excited to get cracking. I have this cool little indoor greenhouse I love to use to get my plants going inside. I’ll be bringing it up this week to help out with the new seedlings!

  

How are you all doing on your gardens? Don’t forget to head over to our Food Storage Forum if you want to have lots of great conversation about gardens this year

A few weeks ago, I was talking to my mom (affectionately known as GrandmaLori around here) about sprouting as I can remember doing alfalfa sprouts with her when I was little. She just happened to have an old sprouting container that she inherited from her grandmother that she doesn’t ever use and she let me “borrow” it for my adventures.

This sprouting container is pretty neat but the holes are too big to do tiny seeds like alfalfa, so I decided to start with lentils which I have on hand from my long term food storage legumes supply.

Day 1

First I rinsed the lentils and picked out any gross looking pieces, discolored ones, or things that did NOT look like lentils (see picture). Then I soaked the lentils overnight as that is what my sprouting book recommended. There are a few types of items you would NOT need to soak so just make sure you follow the directions for whatever you are sprouting.

Day 2

In the morning, I poured my soaked lentils into the sprouting container and rinsed them off again. I set them on the counter beside my stove as it seemed to be one of the warmer spots in my kitchen but out of direct sunlight. I also set a paper towel over the container because it seemed weird to just leave them sitting out with no covering. That evening I rinsed the lentils again. Each time I rinsed I made sure to really let all the excess water drain out before setting it back in the little tray.

Day 3

When I took the paper towel off on day three I had a pleasant surprise. SPROUTS!!! I was so excited. All I did on day 3 was rinse and repeat the instructions from day 2.

Days 4-7

Each day from 4-7 I rinsed the lentils at morning and at night and took a photo of the progress if I remembered to. It’s really so easy, just takes about 30 seconds each time and they just grow on their own!

Day 8

After rinsing on the morning of day 8, I lifted off the paper towel and let the sprouts sit in the sunlight all day. They turned a very nice green and grew even longer!

Day 9

I think I let my sprouts get a little bit too long but I was really busy the last few days of my experiment and didn’t pay very close attention to them. So on the final day I pulled them all out of the sprouting container and put them into a large canning jar and stuck them in the fridge.

And now for my confession. I tasted the lentil sprouts and they tasted like fresh peas. I don’t really like fresh peas all that much so I’m afraid I don’t really want to eat these just plain. I’ll have to try making a yummy salad and sprinkling a few on top. Or I might try them in a meatloaf to use as filler. I have to say my first experiment was a success in that they GREW, but kind of a failure in that I didn’t really grow something that my family will use on a regular basis. Back to the drawing board

Since Julie didn’t “inherit” a sprouter she recently bought this Sprout Master Sprouter at Kitchen Kneads. She hasn’t tried it out yet but it looks like it would work about the same as mine.

Homemade Applesauce Recipe and Canning Instructions

Step 1: Get your pot ready

I used my biggest pot and put a little water in the bottom to keep the apples from sticking. As I peeled the apples I just started throwing them in to start cooking.

Step 2: Peel a TON of apples

I used my handy dandy apple peeler which the kids thought was WAY fun to help with. If you don’t have one of these peelers, you can always try the method which Kaila’s husband came up with. Check out this video, it’s hilarious. Just as a reference, I used about 14 pounds of apples (before coring/peeling) and it netted 5 quarts of applesauce.

Step 3: Cook up those apples

By the time we were done peeling all the apples the first ones were really well cooked. I just let the whole thing cook for about 10 more minutes to make sure they were all soft.

Step 4: Prepare your canner and jars

While the apples were cooking I ran my bottles in the dishwasher to sterilize them. I also filled up my canner and started to boil the water. Lastly, I started some small pots of water boiling to sterilize my lids and rings. If you are new to canning, I would HIGHLY recommend getting a Home-Canning Kit to get all the tools you need to do proper canning. If you don’t have a canner or jars yet you can buy an all-in-one kit which will include EVERYTHING you need to get started!

Step 5: Make the applesauce!

Once the apples were all soft, I used my hand-me-down 1970’s-style baymix to puree them. I’m not sure why I call it a baymix but that is what my mom always called it when I was growing up. I couldn’t find the exact one online to show you, but I absolutely LOVE mine. Some of these hand blenders look similar but I can’t vouch for them. You could also use a food processor or even a blender to do the pureeing. But the baymix was SO easy because I could do it straight in the pan. At this point you can add any seasonings you want. I added 2 cups of sugar but could have gotten away with just one. Ours turned out really sweet and delicious. Some people like to add cinnamon or other things but I prefer to just add those when we eat it.

Step 6: Pour the applesauce into jars and seal ‘em up

Use a funnel as this can get really messy. I ladled the applesauce in leaving about 1/2 an inch of space at the top of the jars. Then I used my tongs to pull out a lid and ring for each jar. Try not to touch these things with bare hands as you don’t want them to get unsterilized. Screw the ring on tight once the lid is on.

Step 7: Put your jars into your canner and boil (make sure the water goes ABOVE the jars. I added more after this picture.

As I filled each jar I would put it into the canner. As you put more jars in the water level rises, so you don’t need to start with the canner all the way full. Once I had all 5 jars in I filled up to the neck level of my jars with hot water. You have to wait until the water is boiling before you start timing. Let it boil for 20 minutes and then remove the jars. Way easy huh?

Step 8: ENJOY! (my kids sure did)

For more canning recipes and ideas we recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. I got it from my mother-in-law for a gift and I use it a TON!

Sneak preview: Watch for a post later this week showing how Jodi has been working on step 8!