How to store a year’s worth of food in just a few months

Kelsey Shaw, a -year-old mother of threechildren, began keeping food on her five-acre farm once the family relocated from Crown Point, Indiana, in September . Shaw learned how to preserve anything, including pickles and beef stew. She used methods like water-canning, dehydration and freezing for preservation in order to have enough food for her family. Shaw needs three months to preserve the food. After that she is able to feed her family for an additional eight months.

Shaw began preserving food to ensure her family had access to local foods throughout the year. This also helps Shaw to be ready in the event of emergency or pandemic. Shaw is a stay-at-home mother as well as a photographer, explained: “When we moved to our farm, we wanted to be more relaxed and wanted to know what we were eating and where it was coming from. In order for our family to have fresh food throughout the cold winter months, I learned how to store and preserve food items.

It’s a long and hard process to preserve food. I usually spend 2 hours each day in the garden, and then the procedure of conserving things could be a long time as I go back to things in stages. I’m extremely proud each when I go into the pantry and find that I’ve got it fully stocked so that we can eat around two meals a day from October through to May. It was a great help during the outbreak since we didn’t have to fret about running out food.

Following the move out of Highland, Indiana to her family’s farm in Crown Point with her husband and children, Shaw began to learn the art of preserving food. She began by researching the books and videos on canning pickles. However, she has widened her knowledge to preserve all sorts of foods. Family members grow fresh fruits and vegetables, and raise dairy goats and poultry for consumption. With her help The family is able to have an inventory of meals that are preserved that can last for any emergency or lockdown.

Shaw has stated that she can preserve tomatoes in many different ways. Also, she tries to maximize everything in the kitchen. I save the tomato skins for dehydrating them, and making powder to use in meals. My pantry is full of tomatoes. there is tomatoes in cans and diced tomatoes. Shaw utilizes an inventory system for keeping track of the items she has within her kitchen. The woman said that even though it is a lengthy process to keep all of the food in her pantry but it’s worth it as I’m always stocked with new ingredients.

“I often focus on an individual thing at a time,” she said. “For example, in one instance I’ll go through all the peppers and then preserve them. Following that, I’ll do the tomatoes. Shaw maintains her kitchen stocked with food items that aren’t grown, such as flour, rice, pasta and more. She said that she is only minutes away from the grocery store, so often goes every other week to replenish her stock of these items. We eat fresh food and receive eggs from our chickens each day. Food scraps are fed to chickens, or composted.

Conclusion

Shaw’s tips for conserving tomatoes are time-consuming but effective. Therefore, her pantry always is stocked with nutritious and tasty foods.