Preserving for winter

This week I've canned tomatoes.  I use the recommended hot pack method.  I only did up 1/2 bushel this year.   Canning is pretty easy, although time consuming.    A lot of time is spent blanching and peeling.

  I also did a single batch of peach jam. We don't eat a lot of jam so one batch will last us for the whole year.  I process the jars in a hot bath canner and the fruit starts to float.   I haven't found a way to stop that from happening yet. 


Last year I had been given a whole bunch of excess produce.  I tossed 5 cauliflowers and almost 10 lbs of carrots in the freezer.  Then carrots went on sale for super cheap, as they tend to do this time of year and I put another 20 lbs in the freezer.   I'd never bothered to freeze carrots before but found them incredibly convenient last winter after my hip replacement.   When they went on sale this week, I put 20 lbs in the freezer.  Not really a money saver but a huge time saver on those busy days.

 Beets were also on sale.  I didn't have many from my garden this year so I was happy to find them at the store for such a good price.  Nobody else in the family really like beets, so I froze a bunch in small packages and the rest I pickled, mostly in smaller jars.  This way, I can get my beet fix and not have to waste any.

I am almost out of freezer space!