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Food Preservation: A Year at a Glance

by Carolyn Thomas | Sep 11, 2020 | Preserve

Knowing how much food you’ll put up in a year is wonderful, but life can often throw us curve balls. It’s a smart idea to have your food preservation for the year laid out ahead of time to plan for the unexpected and be prepared for anything the weather or the seasons throw at us.

Woman reaching for a jar of food from a shelf up high.

Planning Ahead

Knowing what crops will be ready to harvest at different times of the year can really help you get ahead when it comes to being prepared for canning. You can’t simply plant a garden, know the common canning mistakes to avoid, and then be ready to preserve food all year round.

It takes careful thought, taking inventory of supplies, scheduling your calendar wisely, keeping your pantry organized, and knowing how to properly store and build up your long-term food storage supply.

In this post I’ll be breaking down a typical calendar year, sharing the foods I’m preserving. This may look slightly different depending on which region you live in.

We’re in the far north of Idaho, so if you’re not sure when asparagus is typically ready for harvest in your area, then ask around to neighbors and friends who garden.

Three jars of canned tomato soup sitting on the counter with a jar lifter setting one jar down.

Preserving Tips

Your harvest windows may be very different than mine, so refer to the season rather than the month to get the most from this blog post.
Most people are happy to share the bounty of an apple tree in exchange for a few jars of applesauce. Offer preserved foods in exchange for raw materials (unsprayed).
Save beans (dry beans) for canning in the off-season when you’re less busy with garden produce.
Wait to preserve meals in jars until the garden is finished for the season.

Early Spring

April

Prepare for the upcoming canning season! You can never prepare too far ahead of time when it comes to canning season.

Tip: If you have a dial gauge canner, get the gauge calibrated before canning season starts at your local University Extension office. Be sure to know these other common canning mistakes to be sure you avoid making them.

A man leaning over planting a tomato plant into the garden.

May-June

In season: Rhubarb, strawberries, peas, greens, baby beets, spring flowers/herbs.

Tip: Use up stored produce…winter squash, potatoes, onions, and garlic. If you started plants indoors, be sure you know when and how to transplant them into the garden for the best success.

Rhubarb – freeze, jam, pie
Strawberries – jam, syrup, pie
Peas – can, freeze
Baby beets – pickle
Greens – dry and make homemade Super Greens Powder
Flowers/herbs – dandelion jelly, wine; elder-flower tea, tincture, champagne

Early Summer

July-August

In season: Berries and cherries of all kinds, beets, carrots, cabbage, summer squash, tender herbs, cucumbers, green beans, early onions, garlic, potatoes, medicinal herbs, corn, and some fruit.

Tip: Ferment just enough early cabbage into sauerkraut to get you by until fall cabbages are ready.

Berries – jams, jellies, syrups, and fruit leathers
Cherries – jam, syrup, canned pie filling, canned in apple cider
Beets, carrots, early cabbage – summer ferments, pickled beets, ginger carrots
Summer squash – pickles, shredded and frozen or dehydrated for bread, soups
Tender herbs – (basil, mint, cilantro, parsley) mince and freeze in ice cube trays covered with olive oil or lemon/lime juice; herb salts, dried herbs
Cucumbers – canned pickles, quick refrigerator pickles and fermented pickles (kosher dills)
Green beans – pickle, pickled fermented pizza beans; pressure can raw pack
Early onions, garlic – cure and store, dehydrate for spice powders, store onions for long-term storage
Potatoes and corn – enjoy new potatoes and early corn as a special treat!
Medicinal herbs – make tinctures, infused oils, salves
Fruit – canned, canned pie filling; fruit liqueurs

A finished hoop house or bean tunnel with crops growing up the sides and on the ground inside the tunnel.

Late Summer

September

In season: Early apples, stone fruit (plums, apricots, peaches, nectarines), tomatoes, peppers, tomatillos, corn, early winter squash, main crop cabbage, and root vegetables.

Tips: Prepare for root veggie storage if your area has hard winter freezes. Can sweet cider to use as a syrup for canning fruit.

Early apples – applesauce, apple butter, sweet cider for canning fruit
Stone fruit – canned singly, as juice, jam, syrup, or canned pie filling; dehydrate slices or halves, make fruit leather; fruit wine, or even freeze-dry
Pressure can Veggie or Beef Stew
Tomatoes, peppers, and tomatillos – can salsa, salsa verde chicken, marinara sauce, fermented tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, canned tomato soup
Corn – pressure canned, or freeze dried
Early winter squash – cure first to develop sweetness before eating or preserving, or turning into puree (or pumpkin pie!)
Cabbage – sauerkraut
Root vegetables – store in damp sand in root cellar (real or make-shift)

A woman standing behind a counter full of produce waiting to be preserved.

Fall

October

In season: Main crop apples, meat, vegetables, and herbs.

Tip: Harvest the last of the garden veggies and herbs.

Apples – more canned sweet cider, applesauce; hard cider
Meat – pressure canned singly and as convenience meals; render lard
Vegetables – end-of-garden pickles, canned soups, mixed ferments, dehydrated vegetables
Herbs – dehydrated; tinctures, infused oils, salves, fire cider, herb rubs for meat

Six jars of raw packed canned stew with a canning tool sliding into one jar to remove air bubbles.

November

In season: Meat, gift making.

Tips: Manage your stores to use things up before they spoil.

Make convenience meals
Pressure can broth
Cure meat – bacon, ham, sausage
Make specialty food gifts – pear preserves, crabapple butter, stews and soups for comfort meals

A large garden under snow with trees and mountains in the background.

Winter

December

Tip: Manage your stores to catch problems before they cause spoilage and loss.

In season: Gift-giving, time with family, and time off from preserving food. Enjoy your well-earned break!

Woman holding a jar of garlic salve in her kitchen.

January

In season: Household products and personal care products.

Tip: Manage your stores and use up odd bits of food from the pantry and freezer to make space for next season.

Finish rendering lard and tallow, make soap and candles
Make a year’s worth of household cleaning products, personal and skin care products, maybe some herbal salves from the infused oils you made back in the spring and summer months.

February

In season: Eggs, sewing projects.

Tip: Manage your stores and use things up appropriately.

Use cold, dark days for sewing household linens, cloth napkins
Preserve eggs by waterglassing, pickling, making egg noodles, and freezing

March

In season: Eggs, milk.

Tip: Just do the next thing! This is also a great time to start gearing up for the gardening season. Getting starts started indoors. Spring planning for your garden. Cleaning out the garden, maybe supercharging your garden beds and amending your soil (if you can get to it yet!).

Eggs – see preserving methods listed in February
Dairy – start making homemade butter, cheese to freeze, and freezing milk.
Pressure can more convenience meals, beans, and broth

And that wraps up your preserving year! This list just barely scratches the surface of what a gardening year might look like, but we did try to sprinkle in the main steps.

We hope this list is helpful in planning out your preserving year so you can stock those shelves and be more self-sufficient in the years to come.

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It is our goal to encourage you in the path to a more healthy, more secure and free lifestyle by sharing and teaching the skills that lead to greater sustainability and self-sufficiency for you, your loved ones and your community.

– Carolyn and Josh