How to Preserve Food with Drying, Canning & Freezing

Before placing food into a jar for storage, you must first sterilize the jar by boiling it.

There are several methods for food preservation that can save you money throughout the year, in addition to providing a healthy alternative to store-bought food filled with chemical additives and preservatives. Although the process and method varies depending on the type of food that you want to preserve, there are several general methods you can apply to the process of drying, canning and freezing foods.

Things You'll Need

• Baking trays
• Small wood piece
• Timer
• Pot
• Mason jars
• Clean towels
• Kitchen tongs
• Freezer bags
• Freezer wrap

Instructions

Drying

1. Select between 4 to 6 lbs. of food that you want to dry. Make sure that this food is in good condition.

2. Set the oven's temperature to the lowest heat setting, preferably between 140 and 160 degrees Fahrenheit.

3. Place 1 to 2 lbs. of food in a single layer on a tray. Depending on the size of your oven, you can place up to four trays in your oven.

4. Allow the oven door to stay open slightly. If your oven closes automatically, place a small piece of wood into the door to keep it open.

5. Rotate the trays every 30 minutes and remove them from the oven at the time your recipe requires. Keep in mind that if you have a full oven, you may need to keep the trays in the oven for a longer period of time.

Canning

1. Choose a food product that is in good condition. Never try to can something that is no longer ripe or that is going moldy. Before you begin the process of canning with your selected food, always consult current food safety guidelines. While canning foods is a tradition that goes back for centuries, an outdated recipe could provide incorrect food safety information.

2. Boil mason jars in a large pot for 10 minutes. Boil as many jars as you will need for the food you have selected. After 10 minutes, remove the jars from the pot with tongs and place them upside-down on a clean towel.

3. Fill the jars with your food and leave approximately 1 inch of space at the top of the jar. If your recipe calls for adding preservatives such as salt or ascorbic acid, or liquids, add them to the jar at this time, though make sure that you leave the 1 inch of space at the top of the jar.

4. Wipe the jar rim with a clean towel and make sure that no food residue is left on the rim.

5. Boil a new pot of water. As soon as the water boils, take it off of the heat and place the jar seals into the hot water for 2 to 3 minutes. This will soften the seals. After a few minutes, remove the seals with tongs and place them on top of the jars.

   Seal the jar by twisting on a jar ring onto the seal. You don't need to use an extreme amount of force, just make sure that the lids are shut tightly.

Freezing

1. Select food for freezing that is good quality and in a good condition. There are certain foods that do not freeze well. For a list of these foods, consult the University of Georgia's National Center for Home Food Preservation's website.

2. Package your food in a freezer-safe bag or wrap. Make sure that you leave as little air as possible inside of the bag or wrap.

3. Set your freezer temperature to 0 degrees Fahrenheit as a maximum temperature, though -10 degrees Fahrenheit is an optimum temperature for freezing foods quickly.

4. Place the food into the coldest part of the freeze, which in most cases is the very back of the freezer. If you are freezing more than one bag, do not stack the bags against or on top of each other until the food is completely frozen. This will allow good air circulation and even freezing.

References

• University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, College of Agriculture: Drying Food
• National Center for Home Food Preservation: Canning
• National Center for Home Food Preservation: Freezing

Resources

• National Center for Home Food Preservation: Don't Freeze Foods