Each year it seems that I move a little more into preserving. Last year was a major expansion, with an effort to freeze enough tomatoes for 100% of off season use. Am feeling pretty good about that, as just yesterday used the last block of frozen tomatoes to make a batch of spaghetti sauce. Also, last week used the last bag of frozen greens. I definitely DO NOT want to have more than we can use in one winter season. This coming year will perhaps put up another ten packs of tomatoes and will probably do about the same or maybe only two more packs of greens.
This worked out so well, will freeze a few packs of spring grown greens for summer/early fall consumption. We did a very few bags of frozen corn this year. Will try to expand that to maybe a dozen bags this year. Also, may put up a few bags of frozen green beans for use in veggie soup this coming winter.
Last year we made home made fig preserves. Will probably expand that to include strawberry, blackberry, and blueberry jam
What is something that you preserve, that you just couldn't imagine doing without? And how do you manage your inventory, to use up preserved items in a reasonable time frame?
For many years, we have dried enough tomatoes to take care of yearly needs. I usually just do that every other year, freezing 3-4 one quart bags. With dried tomatoes, a little goes a long way. On the other hand, it takes probably 15-20 pounds of tomatoes to just make one quart, so lots of effort goes into each of those little bags.