Zero Waste Food Preservation

I returned to harvest from our friend's garden and reaped even more vegetables than I did the first time. Today involved canning 21 half-pints of blackberry jam and 8 pints of salsa. Yesterday found eight quarts of whole tomatoes canned and five gallons of green beans dehydrated. I am fortunate to enjoy using an Excalibur dehydrator to preserve the summer's bounty.

Here in the country woods of Arkansas we seem to lose electricity a lot. Once after a large ice storm we lived "off grid" involuntarily for 21 days. While both my husband & I have both dreamed of living an off-grid lifestyle, we were not setup for such or prepared to do so. Everything in our chest deep-freeze was lost during the prolonged power outage. While I do enjoy canning, limited experience and storage room prevent heavy reliance on this method of food preservation. My preference is to dehydrate our produce when possible since it requires minimal storage room and no energy to prevent spoilage. The dehydrated produce is then stored in glass containers.

Dehydrated Green Beans

The simple blackberry jam is lovingly being contained in beautiful Weck jars. There is a sense of accomplishment knowing that there is no BPA in the rubber rings used to seal the glass lidded jars. Being able to reuse the rubber gaskets contributes to the experience being zero waste.

Blackberry Jam in Weck Jars

The whole Funny Farm is running in zero-waste mode today. The chickens appreciate the flurry of kitchen activity since they will be upcycling the produce scraps into delicious free range eggs tomorrow.

Summer abounds with opportunities to be plastic free with zero waste. A little extra effort is required - but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Begin with a small step: grow a small herb garden in a window sill or try your hand at canning a couple of half-pint jars with fresh seasonal produce from the farmers market. Here's a great reference I found at the local library this week: Preserving by the Pint: Quick Seasonal Canning for Small Spaces by Marrisa McClellan.

Up next, preserving peaches, okra, squash & cucumbers. I've never made pickles or relish before. This will be an experiment..

What is your favorite zero waste food preservation tip?