Off grid food preserving

  • Off grid food preserving

    Posted by Down_in_the_holler on September 9, 2022 at 9:09 pm

    Learning food preserving off grid has been a learning curve but is doable. I learned to dry herbs and some veggies in my car in the summer months and by the wood stove in the winter. Have done canning with the help of propane. Love the this lifestyle and wouldn’t go back. Any ideas would be welcomed.

    Redcap replied 1 year, 1 month ago 9 Members · 15 Replies
  • 15 Replies
  • thewildingslanding

    Member
    September 10, 2022 at 2:15 am

    We can everything we can. I have a hanging, net, multilayer air dehydrator. We do all of our canning on a CampChef propane oven/stove combination. I fully agree with you… I don’t have any desire to ever be off grid.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by  thewildingslanding. Reason: I meant to say... I never have a desire to be back on the grid... lol!
    • Raspberry

      Member
      October 21, 2022 at 3:31 pm

      Hi! I did a web search of “multi layer air dehydrator” but my results all came back with regular, electric dehydrators. I need one of these. Do you have a link or brand name I could look into?

      Thanks in advance!!

  • Down_in_the_holler

    Member
    September 10, 2022 at 1:25 pm

    I forgot about the multilayer dehydrator I have seen those but will be looking into getting one or two . This is what I am looking for is ideas to help make my work more efficient

    thank you

  • Preppin-Meemaw

    Member
    September 10, 2022 at 2:36 pm

    I have a single-burner butane stove. Can I water bath can or pressure can on it? The current pressure canner I have can only do one layer of quart jars. If it’s possible to do pressure canning on the butane stove I could increase the amount during a session. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

    • Suburbansteading

      Member
      September 10, 2022 at 4:09 pm

      Hi, I have used the propane burner on my grill to pressure can. it worked but the amount of creosote on the bottom of the aluminum caner made a huge mess. I now use a stand alone electric burner. My guess is that butane should work for water bath. Pressure canning is a longer process but should work if you have enough fuel. I would do it outside and keep an eye on the pressure. thanks.

      • Preppin-Meemaw

        Member
        September 10, 2022 at 4:42 pm

        Thank you. I have a garage so I do have the ability to do it outside the house. I think I will try the water bath canning first just to see how that goes.

      • Down_in_the_holler

        Member
        September 20, 2022 at 11:37 am

        If your stove/burner will hold a BWN full of water you should be able to pressure can just so you have enough fuel

      • Down_in_the_holler

        Member
        September 20, 2022 at 11:38 am

        Sorry meant BWB canner

    • Cooking_Mother

      Member
      February 4, 2023 at 1:32 am

      Easier to can on wood. Just make a hot fire, get down to just feeding a blue fire with coals burned on a separate fire and can away!!

  • Redcap

    Member
    February 21, 2023 at 7:32 pm

    I dehydrate and ferment fruit and veg and mushrooms. I just started dehydrating meat and I’d like to start drying fish. I also pack meat in salt or fat. That meat gets stored in a cold room over winter. I preserve eggs in lime water. I store our tree nuts and seeds (pecans, acorns, black walnuts) in big burlap sacks and shell them as needed, but the maple seeds have to be shelled, dried and then stored in jars.

    Chicken scratch, while it’s not technically preserving, gets a dusting of DE in layers to kill the moths and weevils in it.

    I’ll clabber raw milk when I get it and can make soft cheese from it and store that in jars of oil for awhile. I make a lot of yogurt.

    I buy butter and make a huge batch of ghee that lasts months and is shelf stable. I’d like to render tallow or lard but haven’t found a local source of the fat.

    When we have any good tubers or roots (potatoes, turnips, burdock, dandelion, wild carrot), I usually dry them but some I leave in the ground and harvest as needed over winter (mostly sunchokes).

    Sometimes I can jam, applesauce, or fruit, but we don’t eat that much of it so I do a lot less of that now and focus on drying food.

  • Redcap

    Member
    February 24, 2023 at 2:52 am

    A lot of things I grew up with and a lot I learned more recently because of how I need to change the way I store and use food. It’s not hard. There are so many people here to learn from. You let me know if there’s anything specific you want me to share with you. Whatever it is, I’m sure there are lots of ways to do it.

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