While you may find it possible to eat up all of your produce as soon as you harvest it, you might also find that you have more zucchini or tomatoes than you know what do to with. Additionally, if you live in a temperate climate where you cannot grow year-round, you might also want to consider preserving some of your hard-earned produce yourself. Canning, freezing, drying, and cold storage (in basements or root cellars) are great ways to save money and reduce your “foodprint” because you can enjoy local produce all year.

Canning is a time and energy-intensive process, but offers many benefits. Canned items can be stored without refrigeration, save money, and can come through in a pinch for a quick meal. Tomatoes are a classic example; they can be preserved whole, as tomato sauce, or even as salsa.

Herbs and garlic can be dried simply by being strung up in a kitchen, garage, basement, bedroom, or anywhere else you can find space. Fruit and vegetables can also be “sun-dried”. Quite literally, sun-drying requires nothing more than slicing the fruits and vegetables and leaving them in the sun on a warm day. Dehydrators can be used as well to dry out fruits or vegetables, although they are often considered one of the most energy intensive preservation processes. For more information on drying see:

Another preservation method that has been around for ages and requires very little energy for storage is fermentation. Beer, wine, yogurt, and sourdough bread all rely on the process of fermentation, in which carbohydrates (sugars) are converted to alcohols or acids under anaerobic conditions (without oxygen). You can easily ferment any variety of vegetables but some well-known examples include cabbage to make kimchi or sauerkraut and cucumbers to make pickles.