Freezing verses Canning and/or Dehydrating foods for SHTF.

[Taz Baby]

When you prepare for putting up foods for the SHTF, I see people freezing, canning and dehydrating food. As most of you guys and gals know we have been living in the SHTF style for 2 years now. I do not use a freezer because our power comes from a genny or solar. We do have a small chest freezer but it is used in the winter only and outside not plugged in. We do have a small propane fridge tho to at least have some things cold. I want to know what you (that are freezing your food for the SHTF) are going to do when there is no power from the power company. If you freezer your food, how are you going to keep it from ruining. I can and dehydrate so it can be put in a cold dark place and when our root cellar is finished it will go in there. Our game that we kill will be canned right away and smoked in a smokehouse to preserve it. I would like to know what your plans are.

[Evolver]

We use the trickle down method. As most of you know we just bought a chest freezer and now have it stocked Justa buys meat in bulk for the discounts so the chest freezer is ideal to short term storage and to eat out of. We are set up if we do loose power all the meats in the deep freeze can be caned with in a few days with no problem and will go next to the X amount of already caned meats that we have in our storage. Our dehydrated foods fall under the same category as caned. We also store freeze dried for our (long term) for when/if our caned goods run out because we can't replenish then or if we need to use it as a supplement. We store what we eat so it's rotated but our 25 year + freeze dried will only be opened if when needed. (for rotation or need)

[bacpacker]

We are similar in nature to what Evolver does. We use the freezers to store stuff in generally for no more than a year. We both work outside the home and don't always have time to can or dehydrate right away. With the freezers we get to work on stuff to fit in our schedule. For example, we've been picking concord grapes for close to a month, but in general just a quart or so at a time. It takes quite a lot to make jelly, so we will just freeze them till we finish the harvest. The we will spend a Saturday making Jelly. This works well for us.
If we lose power for an extended length of time. I have enough gas stored to run the genny enough to keep the fridge and freezer cold long enough to can or dehydrate everything. Our canning will be done on propane burners, dehydrating will be a combo of sun dried and running both of our electric models.
t probably isn't the best solution, but it fits our needs for now.

[JustAPrepper]

To sort of echo what Evolver said, first, we have a generator and plenty of fuel on hand to keep the fridge and freezers running for many days. If we are talking a short term event, with notice such as a hurricane, I will turn everything down to its lowest setting to get the hardest freeze I can.

When I was single, after Hurricane Frances in 2004, my small deep freeze held it's freeze, on it's own, for almost a week. As things on the top started to thaw I started cooking on my grill for the relief crews (to be specific the Baptist Men's Groups from North and South Carolina) that started rolling in and fixing all my neighbors roofs and clearing trees and debris. They were so appreciative they ran lines from their generators to my deep freeze a few hours every day just to keep the food chilled as long as possible while I in turn kept them fed with chicken, beef, pork chops and all kinds of vegetables. We kept this up as long as they were on my street and when they finally left after about two weeks after the storm, *every* *single* *one* *of* *them* came to my door, shook my hand, thanked me and we all prayed. In the midst of such an awful time it was one of the most touching moments of my life and I'll never forget it. And something NOT ONE of my other neighbors was able to experience, including those who had generators and were too selfish to share.

Fast forward to today. When we had the same small freezer stocked it would have been no problem to can the excess if need be. Now, with the larger freezer, we have so many pounds of meat that, realistically, we don't have enough jars to can it all if need be. We definitely need more jars.

If your plan is to can your meat in case of an event, make sure you enough spare jars.

[bacpacker]

Great story Justa. As far as jars go, it's just the two of us, so most everything we can goes in pint jars now. Just a good meal size. We have cases of quarts stored that are never used. Plus we buy a few new cases of pints every year. And when i can find them I'll buy a case or three of half gallons. I buy lids every time I run across them and think of it.

[Evolver]

Note to self and to Justa... We need more jars!

[Brownwater Riverrat 13]

We use the trickle down method. As most of you know we just bought a chest freezer and now have it stocked Justa buys meat in bulk for the discounts so the chest freezer is ideal to short term storage and to eat out of. We are set up if we do loose power all the meats in the deep freeze can be caned with in a few days with no problem and will go next to the X amount of already caned meats that we have in our storage. Our dehydrated foods fall under the same category as caned. We also store freeze dried for our (long term) for when/if our caned goods run out because we can't replenish then or if we need to use it as a supplement. We store what we eat so it's rotated but our 25 year + freeze dried will only be opened if when needed. (for rotation or need)


As everybody stares ............Hmmmmmm, I wonder how long it would take to can him?



Be safe..............the night is your friend

[bacpacker]

I find them on Craigslist all the time. I've also found them at yard sales, flea markets, ect. Sometimes when you get them like this, there will be a few bad ones in the batch, but for the price you still come out pretty good.

I've also started picking up some of the Tattler reuseable lids to put back. I will not break into them until all our regular lids run out.

[JustAPrepper]

Great story Justa. As far as jars go, it's just the two of us, so most everything we can goes in pint jars now. Just a good meal size. We have cases of quarts stored that are never used. Plus we buy a few new cases of pints every year. And when i can find them I'll buy a case or three of half gallons. I buy lids every time I run across them and think of it.

Like you, BP, everything we can is in Pints. It's the perfect size for the two of us. I do have a few cases of Quarts stashed back and a few extra cases of Pints as we rotate things out but all in all, it's not enough to cover what's in the new freezer. It's time for Walmart to start throwing canning goods on sale (in our area) but the last two years the "sales" have not been anything to get excited about. I'm gonna take a guess that more and more people are canning so they don't feel the need to deeply discount the canning goods. At any rate, I'll be buying when the opportunity presents itself.

[JustAPrepper]

As everybody stares ............Hmmmmmm, I wonder how long it would take to can him?



Be safe..............the night is your friend

HUH? I don't get it.

[Evolver]

Dressed, cleaned, and processed into a jar?... 3hrs tops. (If we had enough jars). ;) She would even have me labeled and dated in that time frame. Kinda reminds me of Soylent Green. :)

[Taz Baby]

Big Lots has jars under $10.00 a case and then there is Dollar General. Even Wal-marts are under $10.00 right now. I thought that was a good price. I have also found them at Tractor Supply.

[Katrina]

I have a standby jenny so I will have electricity till the natural gas runs out. By that time I believe we will have either eaten whats in there or I've caned/dehydrated what is left. Also look on line I have a $3.00 off a case of Ball caning jars,from manufacturer, came in the Sunday paper about 7/6th I think and the local store has the jars on sale right now. So I will be getting more jars, lids , rings.

[Kodiak]

All this canning talk makes me want the canner that i bought to get here asap. We're pretty much on the same page as everyone else, we have a freezer full of meat and whatever else we can fit in it. If we lost power long term, ive got a a genny that will keep it cold till we can either can (when we get the canner) and/or dehydrate it. Has anyone thought about salting your meat? Ive never researched it and dont have the means (salt/barrel) to do it, but it might be something to look in to.

[ladyhk13]

I also can in pints so it is enough for just the 2 of us. The chicken I have done one breast per jar and 2 or 3 thighs per jar since I eat white and he eats dark. That way I can grab one of each and nothing is left over. We have a genny that would run our whole house so as long as there is gas we will have power so everything will stay in the freezer. I have started buying 1/2 gallon jars for milk however. Even though I don't have a cow yet, it's in the plan for the future so I am stocking up on them now while I can get them...just a side note.

[Sniper-T]

smoke, dehydrate, and can.

My gen will run both freezers, fidges, and the smokers dehydrator until everything is done.

In the winter, I have lots of time, and can process it over a fire