Canning vs Freezing vs Dehydrating,,, some pros and cons of each

Greetings!

Before we get started I would like to say that this is just a partial list. I could go on all day with pros and cons of each but that would make this post humongous and it is large enough as it is. What I hope to do is give people something to think about when planning their food storage for both winter months and emergencies. Also, the photos below all came from google images and are not my own.

Well, let’s start with canning, my personal favorite way of putting up food for winter or emergencies. When canned food is properly processed and stored it will last indefinitely. If the power goes out, it will still be good.

Wait! What? Did I say it will last indefinitely? Yes, I did! Canned food does not suddenly go bad after a short period of time or even a couple of years. It does not spoil when it is done right in the first place. What does happen, is it starts to lose flavor after about 3 years, but not spoil.

Also with canning, it is usually in some sort of a liquid, with few exceptions. So you do not need to worry about having a water source to reconstitute it. Which comes in handy if you have an electric water pump and the power is out.

Freezing. I do have two freezers that are currently full. I have been slow going on my canning this year due to health reasons. Typically what I like to do is use the freezer more like a temporary holding place until I can get things canned up and in the pantry. But what do you do if the power is out for any length of time?

The average size freezer, filled to capacity will stay about 4 days without power if you do not open it. So, if you have a good supply of food canned you don’t need to open that freezer door. I include a few jugs of water in my freezers. Naturally they freeze and become jugs of ice. The larger blocks of ice will help to hold the temperature longer and extend your freezer life before you have to start worrying about losing your food. These are just averages and will vary due to ambient air temperature, capacity of the freezer and how full it actually is. A freezer half full will warm quicker than one filled to capacity.

Dehydrating food. This too has it’s pros and cons. Dehydrated food takes up less space to store. It is more easily portable if you have to go somewhere. But what about re-constituting it? You need to have a good water source. I am not of the mind-set of “bugging out” as some preppers are, but dehydrated food would be much more easily transported to another place than canned food in glass jars would be. You could fit several days worth of meals into a back pack rather easily. However, do you know if you will have a useable water source wherever you bug out to?

And that brings me back to the subject of canning. Do you can water? You should!! I keep canned water on hand for medicinal purposes as well as cooking and drinking. I will write a post about canning water in more detail soon. I also keep plastic jugs of water for cleaning, bathing and flushing the toilet. Yes, I said flush the toilet. Keep in mind if the power is out, the toilet might not flush properly or at all. Dump a bucket of water in the bowl and it will flush just by gravity.

In the near future I will write about some food storage ideas, even if you are in an apartment.

If you liked this post and found it useful or interesting I sure would appreciate you up-voting, re-steeming and leaving a comment. And if you have any questions please feel free to ask. If I don’t know the answer I will try to find it for you. Thanks so much for reading my blog!!