It is so satisfying to see a garden overflowing at the end of the season, but it can definitely get overwhelming when everything ripens all at once! Let’s get you preserving vegetables like a pro, without all the work.
Instead of letting your hard work go to waste, you can easily save that harvest for the winter. I go over the 5 most common backyard garden vegetables we grow. And combine that with the absolute best, beginner-friendly ways to preserve garden vegetables.
All the different ways of preserving vegetables, from dehydrating, freezing, fermenting, water bath canning and pressure canning – all slow down respiration or deterioration in the plant cells in different ways.
And each food has its favorite way.
Preserving Zucchini & Summer Squash
We’ve all been gifted a baseball-bat-sized zucchini that we didn’t know what to do with, or have that one plant that just won’t stop…
The Best Way to Preserve: Shredding and Freezing.
- How to do it: Grate your zucchini using a box grater or food processor. Squeeze out the excess moisture with a clean kitchen towel, measure it out into portions you use for baking or cooking, and freeze it in bags. As winter drags on, you will have the perfect pre-measured amounts ready for baking zucchini bread, dropping into soups, or mixing into pasta sauces. This is my favorite way to thicken soups and sauces.
Preserving Bell Peppers
Peppers are fantastic because they require almost zero effort to save before the first frost hits.
The Best Way to Preserve: Freezing
- How to do it: Unlike most vegetables, bell peppers don’t need to be blanched (scalded in boiling water) before freezing. Just wash them, chop them into fajita strips or dice them, spread them on a baking sheet to freeze solid (called IQF or Individual Quick Frozen) and then dump them into a freezer bag. They are perfect for winter stir-fries, soups, and fajitas. If you’re feeling fancy, roast them first for extra flavor.
Preserving Tomatoes
Tomatoes are the crown jewel of the summer garden, but they turn mushy fast. The method to preserve depends on how much time you have.
The Best Ways to Preserve: Freezing or Canning.
- How to do it: Freezing – If you are short on time, just wash whole tomatoes, core them, and throw them straight into freezer bags. The skins will slip right off when they thaw! If you have a weekend afternoon, cook them down into a simple marinara sauce or diced tomatoes, I love saving this for the winter when I want to spend more time cooking. You can freeze the finished sauce in freezer bags or freezer containers.
- How to do it: Canning – if you don’t add in any seasoning while roasting, you can make them shelf stable by processing and canning by water bath canning.
- You can dehydrate halved cherry tomatoes too, just know the skins and seeds will stay with those more than in a sauce
Preserving Cucumbers
When cucumbers start producing, they don’t stop. Since they are mostly water, they do not usually freeze well, however my friend Crystal has cracked the code on freezer pickles.
The Best Way to Preserve: Pickling.
- How to do it: You don’t even need special canning equipment for this. You can make “refrigerator pickles” by slicing them up and packing them into jars. A basic recipe is: 1 cup water, 1 cup vinegar, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar + spices. Bring to a simmer, then pour over sliced cucumbers+ refrigerate. They will stay crunchy and delicious in the fridge for months. If you want them to last on a pantry shelf, you will need to give them a hot water canning session, follow trusted recipes from the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
- Fermenting pickles is another way to preserve cucumbers while adding to the nutrient value. For this kind of pickling, you’ll mix salt and water (always about 2 cups water to 1 Tablespoon of Kosher/Sea salt. Here’s a link to my basic fermented pickle recipe.
- Freezer pickles from Crystal at Wholefed Homestead – this recipe is only available in her book, Freeze Fresh and it is so worth it!
Preserving Green Beans
Green beans give you a massive yield, because they are a low-acid vegetable, you can’t safely can them in a regular water bath without a pressure canner.
*Remember you can leave them on the vine to fully mature and dry giving you dried beans, and or seeds for the next season too.
The Best Way to Preserve: Blanching and Freezing, Water Bath Canning or Pressure Canning
*Sorry, I couldn’t choose just one way.
- How to do it:
- Freezing: The easiest is freezing! Snap the ends off, leave them whole or chop them into bite-sized pieces, and steam or boil them for just 3 minutes. Immediately dunk them in ice water to stop the cooking, dry them off, and freeze them in freezer bags. This keeps them bright green and snappy.
- Water Bath Canning: Dilly Beans are a great option Adding vinegar and pickling Green adds enough acidity to make water bath canning a safe and shelf stable option. Follow my recipe for delicious crunchy dilly beans.
- Pressure Canning: You’ll want to have a LOT of green beans to make preserving this way worth it. But the results are shelf stable beans that last for years and taste like my childhood. They are a little softer than frozen, but also keep more of their flavor this way.
Other Options for Preserving the Harvest
Some vegetables do well with cold storage in your refrigerator or in a cool pantry once cured. For root crops, just make sure to let them dry enough to brush off most of the dirt then get to curing them for long term storage.
Curing + Storing
Potatoes:
Place them in a dark, cool, and well-ventilated area (45 to 60°F) with high humidity for 1 to 2 weeks. Store them in complete darkness inside breathable containers like burlap sacks, paper bags, or ventilated boxes in a cold, dark basement or root cellar, or sometimes an attached garage- kept at 38°F to 45°F while using over winter. These want the coolest and dampest of the root crops.
Onions:
Spread them in a single layer in a warm, dry, and well-ventilated spot out of direct sunlight for 2 to 3 weeks. Then cut off withered tops and store in breathable containers like mesh bags, wire baskets, or wooden crates in a cool, dark, and dry area around 45°F to 55°F.
Squash:
Leaving at least 1 inch of stem while harvesting, lay them out in a warm, dry, and well-ventilated location (75 to 85°F) for 1 to 2 weeks. Store in a cool, dry, and well-ventilated space like a basement or cool spare room between 50°F and 55°F.
Cold Storage
Finding the right spot in your refrigerator for carrots, beets, apples and cabbages can help you keep them for months rather than weeks.
Preserve Vegetables Your Way
By understanding how different foods lose freshness we can reduce food waste and eat more food we preserved ourselves! But preserve vegetables the way you know you and your family will enjoy them the most. I hope these ideas for preserving vegetables help you enjoy more local food all year long!
Enjoy!
Michelle
I'd love to hear your thoughts!