Why Do We Bother?

If your mom or grandmother preserved their harvest, chances are you either follow in their footsteps or have at least tried to follow at times. With the availability of food in the grocery store, you may have wondered if preserving food at home is worth the effort.

The reasons people can, dry or freeze food to be used later are varied. Some people have large gardens that produce more than they can possibly consume. Others do it because at harvest time, produce is so inexpensive that they buy up all that they can to save money on their favorite fruits and veggies during the off season in their area.

Then there are the label readers. These wise shoppers have discovered that a lot of canned foods, prepackaged foods and foods processed in other ways contain ingredients that we've never heard of. The thought of feeding our families safe and nutritious foods makes the effort of preserving fresh foods well worth it.

Check out the label on a can of green beans from the grocery store. There can be up to 500 mg of sodium in the 2 cups of beans that the can holds. We all know that there is no sodium in fresh green beans. Why add all of this to our families diet when we are struggling to lower the daily consumption of sodium?

No matter what your reason for preserving your fresh bounty, you want to do it safely. There is a proper way to put up food for the future so that it is safe to feed your family at a later date.

Make sure everything you use is clean and without defect. Make sure you mark the date on all packages and know how long they can be safely stored. If the container has been damaged during the storage time, don't take chances serving it to your family. Dispose of it.

Have you learned some time saving tricks or devised new recipes for foods you preserve? Why don't you take a minute and share them in the comments section. One of my personal favorites is dropping a teaspoon of my own raspberry jam into the holder before adding my cupcake batter. It's an easy way to add a special touch, and I know exactly what's in the tasty treat.