Food Preservation - The Off-Grid Build-Along Video Vault

Making Sauerkraut: Crock and Jar Methods

A patient extension kitchen demo, from salting shredded cabbage to canning the finished kraut

38 min

Cabbage, salt and a food grade bucket put up months of vegetables, and the ferment does its work with no power at all. This teaching kitchen demo walks the whole crock, start to finish.

The numbers that matter: shred to the thickness of a quarter, mix in 3 tablespoons of canning salt per 5 pounds, pack it under its own brine with a weighted plate, and hold it at 70 to 75 degrees for three to four weeks.

You also get the quart jar method for small batches, plus boiling water canning when you want jars that sit on a shelf for good.

The ending is the part worth keeping: a troubleshooting rundown of soft, pink or dark kraut, so you know what went wrong and what is still safe to eat.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Pressure Canning Fish in Jars

A 2009 Alaska demo of pressure canning your catch, from packing jars to checking sealed lids

14 min

The moment the power goes out, a freezer full of salmon becomes a countdown clock. Sealed jars on a shelf keep for a year with no electricity at all.

Fish is low in acid, so pressure canning is the only safe road. This Alaska demo shows the full run: pack the jars solid with 1 inch of headspace, vent steam for 10 minutes, then process pints for 100 minutes at 11 pounds on a dial gauge.

The details that save a batch are all here: up to 4 tablespoons of oil in lean fish like halibut, rings finger tight, and a seal check after a 12 hour cool.

Learn it once on camera, and your catch stops depending on the grid to stay food.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Pressure Canning Game Meat in Jars

A complete walkthrough of jarring moose, venison, and caribou for a year of shelf storage

13 min

A moose in the freezer is only yours while the power holds. In jars, it keeps on a dark shelf for a full year, no freezer and no grid required.

Game meat is low in acid, so pressure canning is mandatory. The routine, all on camera: cut one inch cubes, trim the fat and gristle, pack hot or raw with an inch of headspace, then process at 10 or 11 pounds depending on your gauge, 75 minutes for pints or 90 for quarts.

You also see the steps people skip and regret: venting the canner for ten minutes, checking every seal after cooling, and how to rescue a jar that fails instead of losing the meat.

One afternoon of processing turns a season of hunting into shelf stable protein.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Pressure Canning Game Meat in Metal Cans

A 2009 Alaska teaching video on pressure canning wild game in metal cans instead of glass jars

21 min

Glass jars break. Metal cans do not, and they travel light when you have to move fast.

This teaching demo covers the full run for moose, caribou or any wild game: brown the meat, pack it loosely with a quarter inch of headspace, heat each open can until the middle hits 170 degrees, seal it, then pressure can at 11 pounds on a dial gauge, 70 minutes for half pound cans and 99 for pound cans.

You also learn to read a can seam, why a lid that pulls in as it cools proves a vacuum formed, and three ways to save a can that fails to seal.

The payoff is protein you can stack, stash or throw in a pack without a second thought.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Pressure Canning Fish in Metal Cans

Step by step Alaska demo, salmon and halibut packed into metal cans that travel light and last

19 min

When protein has to be light, tough and stackable, cans beat glass every time. This demo packs salmon and halibut into metal cans that shrug off a drop from a truck bed.

The full run: figure two pounds of fish per one pound can, pack with a quarter inch of headspace, heat the open cans in simmering water until the fish hits 170 degrees, then seal and process, 95 minutes for half pound cans and 115 for one pound.

Leave the bones in your salmon. Processing softens them into extra calcium, calories most people throw away.

The result keeps in a cool dark corner for a year, no refrigeration and no grid.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Pickling Vegetables: Fresh Pack and Crock Fermentation

A calm kitchen demo from an Alaska extension course, covering quick pickles and crock fermentation

18 min

Salt and vinegar are two of the oldest preservation tools on earth, and they still work when nothing else in the kitchen does. This calm demo shows both ways to use them.

First the fresh pack: a full dilly bean recipe, two pounds of green beans into hot sterilized jars with garlic, dill and cayenne, under a boiling brine of water, salt and 5 percent vinegar.

Then the crock: cucumbers fermenting under weighted jars at 70 to 75 degrees for three to four weeks. You learn why pure pickling salt keeps the brine clear, and why trimming the blossom end keeps pickles crisp.

There is even a fix for hard water: boil it and let it settle for a day. These are the proportions that keep garden vegetables safe on a dark shelf, no refrigerator running.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Infusing Vinegars from Garden Herbs and Wild Berries

Full kitchen demonstration of herb, berry, and fruit juice vinegars, canned for the pantry shelf

18 min

Vinegar does the preserving for you. Its acid banks garden herbs and wild berries for months in a pantry, and this kitchen demo shows three versions start to finish.

You make a simple herb vinegar by pouring vinegar heated to about 190 degrees over a few sprigs per two cups, then a blueberry basil blend, then a lingonberry orange vinegar simmered with a cinnamon and clove spice bag.

The routine is patience more than skill: steep three to four weeks, strain through cheesecloth, and give the berry vinegars ten minutes in a boiling water canner so they hold.

It closes with the mold and fermentation warning signs that tell you when a batch gets tossed instead of tasted.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Five Warning Signs of Severe Food Poisoning

Official public health quick reference, five symptoms that mean it is time to see a doctor

Official resourceunder a minute

When you live on stored and home preserved food, you need to know the line between a stomach bug and an emergency.

This official public health short gives you the five thresholds: fever over 102 degrees, bloody diarrhea, frequent vomiting, dehydration, and diarrhea lasting more than three days.

Government guidance, not ours, included because it holds up. When the nearest clinic is a long drive away, these five signs tell you when to ride it out and when to go.

Making Jerky From Game Meat or Beef

A practical Alaskan kitchen demo covering wet and dry cures, safe drying temps, and wild game rules

19 min

People have dried meat since before history, and it still solves the same problem: protein that keeps with no freezer.

This Alaska kitchen demo runs the whole process with a sharp knife, a marinade pan and an oven or dehydrator: slice lean deer, moose, caribou or beef into quarter inch strips, cure them wet or dry, and hold the temperature between 160 and 200 degrees so bacteria never get a window.

It covers what most guides skip: freeze wild game at least a month first to kill parasites, why bear meat is never safe for jerky, and the bend test that says a batch is done.

Sealed and kept cold, the strips stay good for up to a year.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Drying Food at Home: Sun, Oven, and Dehydrator Basics

A university extension walkthrough of home food drying, from sun and oven to electric dehydrators

14 min

Dried food is light, compact and keeps without refrigeration, which makes it the most grid independent shelf in your pantry.

This university extension walkthrough compares sun, room, oven and dehydrator drying, and explains the number that matters: 140 degrees. Hotter air case hardens the outside and lets food mold from the inside.

You learn to run an oven with the door cracked 2 to 6 inches and a fan for airflow, test dryness by cutting pieces for beads of moisture, and condition fruit in sealed jars for 7 to 10 days before storage.

Anything dried outdoors gets pasteurized, 48 hours below zero or 30 minutes at 160, so insects and their eggs never reach your shelf.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Drying Fruits for Long-Term Storage

A full dehydrator walkthrough from a university extension kitchen, pretreatment to packed jars.

14 min

Fruit is sugar and water. Take the water out and you keep the sugar: lightweight, nutrient dense calories that need no refrigeration.

The full dehydrator run, on camera: slice a quarter to a half inch thick, dip in an ascorbic acid or pineapple juice bath so nothing browns, then dry six to eight hours until strawberries turn leathery and blueberries rattle.

Whole berries and grapes get checking first, a 30 to 60 second boiling water dip that cracks the skins so they dry through instead of case hardening.

Finish with seven to ten days of conditioning in a sealed jar, and the fruit keeps a month on the shelf or up to a year in the freezer, no canner required.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Drying Vegetables for Long-Term Storage

A step-by-step kitchen demo on blanching, drying, and storing vegetables with no freezer needed

13 min

A shelf of dried vegetables is food that needs no freezer and no grid, and it starts with the one step most people skip.

That step is blanching. Steam or boiling water stops the enzymes that turn stored vegetables brown. From there: slice evenly so every piece dries at the same rate, and run an oven as low as 140 degrees if you own no dehydrator.

Doneness is a feel test, crisp, tough or brittle at about 10 percent moisture, then everything seals into sterilized jars or bags for 6 to 12 months of storage.

The bonus habit: crush dried onion, celery or tomato into flakes and powders, instant soup base with no factory involved.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

How to Dry Herbs: Air, Oven, and Dehydrator Methods

A practical extension demo of simple ways to dry and store herbs with little or no power.

7 min

Herbs are the easiest preservation win in the vault: little or no power, no special gear, and the payoff seasons a year of cooking.

Every method is shown: air dry sturdy bundles like sage and thyme, hang mold prone basil inside a paper bag with holes punched in the sides, dry leaves flat overnight on nothing but the heat of an oven light, or run a dehydrator one to four hours until the leaves crumble.

Harvest early morning, just before the flowers open, and store airtight in a cool, dry, dark place.

Remember the strength rule: dried runs three to four times stronger than fresh, so use a quarter to a third as much.

License: CC0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

How to Make Kefir at Home

Countertop milk fermentation with kefir granules, a kitchen demo, no heat and no special gear

16 min

Kefir turns plain milk into a probiotic drink at room temperature, none of the 110 degree babysitting yogurt demands. When the power is out, this is the fermentation that still runs.

The whole method: drop the granules into a jar of milk, cover with a cloth under a canning band, and wait a day or two, three or four when the kitchen runs cool. Strain, drink, and drop the granules into fresh milk.

Keep a backup culture in the refrigerator or freezer, filling a freezer jar only half full so it cannot burst.

The granules grow, so you divide them and share. Even an overdone batch just separates into whey and a soft feta type cheese instead of spoiling. This is a culture built to survive neglect.

License: CC BY 3.0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.

Build a 25-Year Chili Storage Kit

A practical walkthrough of sealing beans and spices in Mylar bags for 25-year storage

18 min

This is not a bucket of beans. It is complete meals engineered for a 25 year shelf life, packed by a working prepper on a garage table.

The method: five pounds of beans per one gallon Mylar bag with a desiccant pack and a 300cc oxygen absorber, sealed with an ordinary clothes iron, stacked into free food grade buckets salvaged from a grocery store.

His A, B, C bucket system keeps the beans, spices and freeze dried tomatoes, chiles and beef in the right proportions, with the chili recipe packed in the A bucket so whoever opens it can cook.

Soak the beans overnight and the pot cooks fast, which matters when fuel is short and the grid is down.

License: CC BY 3.0. From the original source. Full attributions on the credits page.