Day 28: Preserve Something (15 Minute Prepping Projects)

Welcome to DAY 28 of our 15 Minute Prepping Projects series. Today we’re going to pick whatever method suits us and PRESERVE something.

Every day for the month of September we will celebrate National Preparedness Month by undertaking a small task to help us get more prepared. Do as few or as many days as you want. Jump in at any time. Do them out of order, or more than one in a day. And feel free to share what you are doing!

Click here and scroll to the bottom of the post to view all the past days’ projects.

A big part of preparedness and food storage is learning to preserve food for long term storage. Yes you can buy food already packaged with a long shelf life, but it’s also important to learn how to grow and preserve your own food should times get even tougher. Plus it’s a lot cheaper to do it yourself! There are several ways to preserve food, I will go over a few of them here. But your task today is to pick ONE and preserve something, anything at all. It may be perfect timing with your gardens reaching their final harvest for the season, or you may have to buy something from a farmer’s market to preserve it. Whatever you choose to do today, I hope you’ll share your results 🙂

Canning: Canned goods are heated enough to kill bacteria in the jars and form a tight seal to keep things from growing later. Preserve high acid fruits and vegetables by canning in a water bath. Preserve meats and lower acid vegetables using a pressure canner. Canned goods can last 3-5 years if stored in a dark cool location.

Dehydrating: Dehydrating removes the moisture from foods by heating at a low temperature for a long time. You can eat the foods plain or add them to soups and stews or rehydrate them and use as normal in any recipe. Beef jerky and fruit leathers can be made in a dehydrator and make great snacks. Dehydrated foods can last 7-10 years if stored in a cool dark place.

Freeze-Drying: Freeze-drying removes the water through a sublimation process and retains the natural shape and all the nutrients of the original food item. If you have the means to purchase a home freeze-dryer it can be a good investment. You can freeze-dry all kinds of foods that are not available from companies including leftovers, full meals, and candies! Freeze-dried food typically has a 20-25 year shelf life.

Food-Saver: Using a food saver allows you to extend the shelf life of foods. You can use a jar lid attachment and remove oxygen from jars to store grains and legumes. You can seal meals in bags. You can seal many fridge and freezer foods to extend their shelf life and avoid freezer-burn.

Freezer: If you don’t have any tools to do any of the other preservation methods, freezing is also a valid form of food preservation. You may not have access to freezer foods in a powerless emergency but they can sure help get you through tough financial times, and help you save money by stocking up on sales.

Hope you have fun preserving something today!

Share Your Results

Take a picture of whatever you are preserving today. I’d love to see what you are up to in your kitchens! Here are some ways you can share:

Instagram: Use #15minuteprep and tag @jodi_foodstoragemadeeasy on any post or story you do featuring your project. You can follow the hashtag to see everyone’s projects and if you tag me I will repost in my stories throughout the day (if your account is public).

Facebook: Comment on the PINNED posts in my Facebook Group (If you are not a member yet I will try to get you added within 24 hours so you can play along). The most recent day should show up at the top and you can scroll to the right to see past days. I will try to share some of these to Facebook stories as well (no names will be used, don’t worry!)

Text me: If you are not already signed up to get the daily challenges via text just text 15minuteprep to 717-788-3663. You can always reply to the daily text with your “report” so I can check in on you.