Today I harvested more of my herbs and veggies (a carrot and about 6 snow peas/sugar snap peas). I cleaned and prepped the herbs and have them dehydrating now. With some of the herbs I previously harvested and a few store bought, I put together a couple seasoning mixes and canned a small batch of Blueberry Lemonade Concentrate. I’d love to grow more of my own herbs, and plan to expand them next year. Currently I just have basil, oregano, chives, rosemary, parsley, sage, and thyme. I also have in my pantry dehydrated jalepeno and bell peppers to make into ground or “crushed red pepper”. I absolutely love having my dehydrator and hope to eventually learn how to preserve the strawberries and other fruits. I think I over dehydrated them last year. They definitely were not soft and chewy like store bought. lol. Scroll through photos, I added recipes there which I used to make my mixes and concentrate.

Does anyone know of any forms out there for tracking information when preserving foods. I’m particularly looking for dehydrating foods, but would be interested in canning, fermentation, or anything else too. I’ve look online but not seeing something like I’m envisioning. I want something that lets me track what works and what doesn’t. And help me to better understand timing and temps for dehydration of my harvests. I’m still learning to dehydrate, so would love to have a form that lets me track what is in dehydrator, temp, time, additional time added, notes etc. Thanks!

When I was a small child, my mom always had a large family garden and would can the harvest for the winter months. One afternoon she had spent the day canning peppers and I saw the jars sitting on the counter. I kept asking her if so could have a pickle. She replied they were not pickles. Guess who was surprised when she snuck into the kitchen to sneak a pickle and instead took a big bite out of a hot pepper. lol.

Tonight we get our first bowl of fresh greens from the garden as well as Snow peas for a salad. Mixed lettuce, greens, spinach, and kale all fresh from my garden.

One of my favorite ways to slash the grocery budget is by saving vegetable scraps until I have enough to fill my roasting pan full and make Homemade Vegetable Stock. 
I keep a few gallon sized ziplock bags in my freezer which I toss carrot peels, pepper scraps, mushroom stems, celery leaves and ends, onion peels, and tomato scraps. I will also toss in veggies that are past their prime for eating fresh, but not yet inedible. I also like to add garlic cloves and skins, leeks, and other non starchy vegetables. These are just what I almost always have on hand and use most. 
Once I get three to four bags of scraps saved up, I dump them in my big roaster pan, cover it with water and add spices. I don’t measure, I just season to taste with Garlic, Thyme, salt, peppercorns, and Bay Leaves. 
I then turn it up to about 400° until it’s about to boil, turn it down to 350°and allow it to simmer covered for one hour. I then strain the stock into my stock pot and bring to a simmer on stove. 
I then process in my Presto Canner according to the Ball Blue Book for canning. 
My last canning session I got 18 pint size jars and 9 half pint sized jars canned up. 
When I buy store bought vegetable stock it lacks the richness I get with my home canned nor do I always use the whole carton before it goes bad. By canning my own, I can it in smaller quantities for less waste. 
I love having this on hand to use for seasoning, rice, or other grains, use in soups or other meals that call for small amounts of broth. 
What is your favorite way to cut down your grocery budget? 
#grocerysavingtips #preservingfood