I’m one of those people that see fear as a helpful ally rather than an enemy or “show stopper” and I learned to use it for guidance in the last two decades since I’ve thrown myself into the world of emergency preparedness. Fear has a way of slipping into a household uninvited and making itself […]
from Survivopedia
Friday, July 10, 2026
How To Train A Dog As A Useful Survival Companion, Not Just A Pet
Most people bring a dog home for companionship, and that reason is completely valid on its own. But somewhere between the puppy chewing on shoes and the long walks around the neighborhood, a lot of owners start to wonder what their dog could actually do if things ever got difficult. Could the dog warn them […]
from Survivopedia
from Survivopedia
How to Dry Can Food
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
If you’ve been on the homestead long, you probably already have plenty of experience canning food from your garden or orchard. I had heard of dry canning but naively thought it was the same as vacuum sealing the mason jar using the valve attachment.
While vacuum sealing does remove the air from within the jar, it doesn’t necessarily kill all of the eggs or bugs that could be lurking in your dry goods.
As homesteaders, we can all use new techniques to extend our food stock, and dry canning is just one option to use. Dry canning is not a new idea, but there are some critics out there that only believe that traditional canning is the way to go.
While all canning methods have specific rules to follow, you can preserve low moisture foods with the dry canning method. Learn more about how to dry can food with these tips.
Step #1: Gather Supplies
It is important to choose low moisture food when dry canning. The rule of thumb is to only dry can items with less than 10% moisture content without any added oils.
Most homesteaders dry can flour, rice, beans, and powders. I chose to dry can some white rice and pinto beans that we harvested from the garden last year. Many homesteaders buy dry goods in bulk amounts and then dry can the food in smaller batches for maximum storage.
Again, to reduce the risk of botulism, you only can dry can those foods that are already pretty dry to begin with. You should not try to dry can vegetables, meats, fruits, or any other food that could contain botulism. Even things like nuts and popcorn shouldn’t be dry canned due to their oil content that includes some kind of moisture.
You’ll need the following items for dry canning:
- Dry food that you want to preserve
- Glass canning jars large enough to hold your dry food
- One new lid and canning ring for each jar
- One shallow dish to hold rings and lids in the oven
- One canning jar lifter
- One magnetic lift wand (optional)
- One canning funnel
- One measuring cup or scoop
- Potholders (not shown)
- Paper towel (not shown)
- Sharpie marker (not shown)
When gathering your canning jars, it is important to have enough jars to use for the amount of food that you have to can. I had 3 half-gallon jars for the white rice and 4-quart jars for the pinto beans.
It is vital that you select jars to use that aren’t cracked, chipped, or in any way compromised. I saw that one of my quart jars had a chip on the neck area that disqualified it from being used.
Step #2: Clean Out Jars
While you can pop your jars into the dishwasher, I chose to hand wash my jars with a lot of soapy hot water. Even if the jars look clean, it is important to run them through a wash cycle to make sure that they don’t have any bacteria in them before sitting on the shelf.
Step #3: Dry & Sterilize Jars
Set your oven temperature to 250°F while you finish washing out the jars. Some homesteaders prefer the jars to be totally dry before this step, but the hot oven will dry out the jars as well.
Place the jars into the oven for at least 15 minutes. You may want to increase the time in the oven if the jars are really damp. It is crucial to make sure that there is no moisture either inside or outside of the jars!
When the jars are fully dry, use the jar lifter to grab the jars out of the oven. Remember that the glass jars will be hot to the touch. Place the jars on a clean surface like the top of the stove or a clean counter.
Remember that at this point, the jars are sterilized and shouldn’t be handled any more than necessary.
Step #4: Fill the Jars
Use your canning funnel and scoop to fill the jars with the dry goods. You’ll want to make sure that the food is completely dry and doesn’t contain any additional moisture.
Fill the jars until there is about ¾ inch to 1 inch of headspace at the top. A good rule of thumb is to stop filling when the food reaches the neck's first ring.
Some homesteaders like to pull out the cans and fill them one at a time, but if you work quickly, you shouldn’t have any issues with the jars cooling down that much. I did pop my pinto bean jars back into the oven while I filled the larger half-gallon jars with the rice.
Continue filling jars until all of the dry goods are in the mason jars. I had a little bit of beans and rice leftover, so I just added them to my pantry storage to use soon. It is essential to ensure that every canning jar is full to the top with the needed headspace for proper canning. Do not try to can jars that are only partially filled as they won’t seal properly.
Step #5: Sterilize the Food
Place all of the filled jars back into the hot oven without their lids or rings. Make sure to leave a space for the canning lids and rings to go into the oven later on. Set a timer for 45 minutes to heat up the food within the jar.
Once the 45 minutes is completed, add in the pan of lids and rings to the oven for an additional 15 minutes. You must allow the rings and lids to have enough time in the oven to sterilize them. Again, they shouldn’t be sterilized in a water bath as that would introduce moisture into the canning process. Dry heat is critical.
Step #6: Place Lids and Rings on Jars
At this point in the process, I did pull out the jars one at a time to keep the rest of the food as hot as possible before sealing. Make sure to grab the jars from the oven using potholders, and be careful not to spill them. Then, wipe down the jar with a clean and dry paper towel to make sure that there is no dust or particles on the rim of the jar.
You’ll need to have quick hands, a potholder, and all of the help you can get with the magnetic lid wand to place the hot lids on the jars. Be careful not to contaminate the lids or rings at this point.
Once the lid is placed, quickly put on the ring and tighten it down. The rings weren’t as hot as the rest of the jar. It is essential to tighten the ring as tight as you can without over-tightening it.
I had one that I tightened too much, and it disfigured the shape of the ring. Make sure that the rings are as tight as possible without damaging their shape. Continue removing one jar at a time from the oven and placing the lid and ring on top.
Place the completed jars on a safe surface, and then listen for the jars to seal as they cool down. Sometimes you will hear a popping sound, but I didn’t hear it for all of mine.
It is important to check the lids of each jar to ensure that the middle is sucked down to ensure the seal.
If a lid isn’t sucked down, then the can is not sealed and won’t last as long on the shelf. You can always take the lid back off the jar, check the headspace, and heat it up again in the oven. Then repeat this step.
If you are still concerned about the amount of air within the jar, I would consider adding in the vacuum sealing step here to remove all of the air. Dry canning and vacuum sealing the jars would be a great way to make them last longer in your food stock.
Note that you can’t use the vacuum sealing attachment when dry canning powdery items like flour, cornstarch, etc.
Step #7: Label & Store
It is so important to label every jar that you use for this process. Usually, I write the contents of the jar, but with dry canning, you can see the food very well.
I did label each lid, stating that I dry canned them and the date. This is important so that whoever pulls this jar from the shelf years down the road knows that it was preserved using the dry canning method.
You should label every lid so that it can’t be used again for canning. You can reuse rings, but you shouldn’t reuse lids. If you mark the top now, then you know that it can’t be used later on.
Store your dry canned goods on a shelf that is in a dry and cool area. Always check the jar and lid for any issues before consuming the food inside.
Dry canning can preserve food for up to 15-30 years when canned and stored correctly. If you ever question the look or smell of the food once opened, it is better to toss it.
The dry canning process is a lot like the traditional canning process but without the use of water or a pressure canner. It is a great way to store and preserve dry goods in your stock that could harbor eggs or bugs that are hard to see with the naked eye. Dry canning your food kills those possible bugs and helps prolong their shelf life.
Originally published on Homestead Survival Site.
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Thursday, July 9, 2026
7 Forgotten American Survival Meals Worth Bringing Back
If you’ve been at this a while, you already know how to dry meat and put up beans. So this isn’t another list of the obvious.
These are the older, stranger, harder-won foods that carried this country across mountains and through wars and depressions, the ones that have mostly slipped out of living memory.
Our great-grandparents fed armies and families on them with no refrigeration and no grocery store within a hundred miles.
How Lewis and Clark Carried Soup Across a Continent
Long before the bouillon cube, there was portable soup, also called pocket soup or veal glue. It’s broth boiled down over many hours until the collagen sets it into a hard, rubbery slab that keeps for months without spoiling. The British Royal Navy carried it by the barrel. When Meriwether Lewis outfitted the Corps of Discovery in 1803, he bought 193 pounds of it in 32 tin canisters to carry across the continent.
To make it, simmer high-collagen cuts like beef shank or veal bones into a rich stock, strain it, then reduce it down low and slow until it turns to a thick gel. Dry that gel into hard cakes. When you need a meal, drop a piece into hot water and it melts back into broth. It carries a lot of nourishment in a small, light package, which is exactly why it crossed the Bitterroots in a saddlebag.
Another soup that carries a long thread through survival history is stinging nettle soup. Colonial and frontier households leaned on it the way they leaned on portable soup, stretching thin provisions when fresh food ran short.
Nettle came up wild and early, often before any garden crop was ready, making it one of the first green foods after a winter of salted meat and stored grain. Young nettle leaves carry more iron than spinach, along with vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and a solid dose of plant protein, all locked inside a weed most people step around on a hike. Blanching or cooking neutralizes the sting instantly, turning a roadside nuisance into one of the most mineral-dense meals you can pull from open ground.
I tracked down the exact method foragers used to turn the sting into a warm, mineral-rich bowl, and it’s laid out step by step in this old-world nettle soup recipe. I was skeptical the first time I made it, but one bowl in and I was hooked, it’s earned a permanent spot in my kitchen.
Pioneer Women Dried These Beans on a String
Before canning jars were cheap and common, mountain families preserved their green beans with nothing more than a needle and thread.
They strung whole bean pods on long strings and hung them by the hearth or across the porch to dry, where they shriveled brown and wrinkled like a pair of soaked and dried-out trousers, which is how they got the name.
The method most likely came from the Cherokee, with German settlers drying beans the same way. Stored dry and out of the light, leather britches keep for a year or two.
To cook them, you simmer the dried pods low and slow for a couple of hours with a piece of salt pork or a ham hock until they turn silky and tender, then serve them with cornbread. They’re protein and comfort for a winter table, put up with two cents of thread.
A Pocketful of Corn Could Feed You All Day
Plain parched corn is prepper basics, but rockahominy is the step beyond it, and it’s worth bringing back. Native peoples in Virginia parched their corn, then beat it into a coarse meal they could carry in a small bag.
In New England the same food was nokehick, and out West it was pinole. A few handfuls stirred into water from a trailside stream made an entire meal, and it swelled in the stomach to keep a traveler full for hours.
The Southwestern version, sagamite, mixed the corn meal with a sweetener or a little fat and sometimes mesquite flour, and frontiersmen carried it in a pouch alongside their dried meat. Toast dried corn until it’s nutty brown, grind it fine, and store it. Two to four tablespoons in a cup of water is a fast, filling ration that lasts in your body far longer than a bowl of cornmeal mush, and it weighs almost nothing in a pack.
Bread That Rises Without a Speck of Yeast
Commercial yeast wasn’t available until the 1860s, and sourdough cultures struggled to survive in isolated cabins. So the pioneer women of Appalachia did something remarkable. They learned to raise bread with wild bacteria instead, and the earliest written recipe traces back to 1778 in what’s now West Virginia.
You make a starter from cornmeal or chopped potato with milk or water, then hold it warm, around 100 to 110 degrees, for somewhere between six and twelve hours until it foams and turns pungent. The smell has been compared to ripe cheese, and that funk is the sign it’s working.
Mix that into a dough, let it rise, and bake. The result is a dense, fine-grained white loaf that makes unforgettable toast. It takes attention and a warm spot by the stove, but it proves you can leaven bread with nothing the modern store sells.
This recipe was never lost. The Amish still make bread this same way, and their famous bread in a jar can even be turned into cake in a jar. I found the full method through an online class that taught recipes you won’t find anywhere else, and these two recipes are the ones I tried myself, it’s now a permanent fixture in my family’s recipe book.
When it comes to survival knowledge, this is the real thing. Give the class a try.
Washington’s Army Stayed Off the Sick List on This
This one is pure American grit. The Continental Army issued its soldiers up to a quart of spruce beer per man per day, because the evergreen tips it was brewed from carried enough vitamin C to hold off scurvy through long campaigns. Nobody understood the chemistry then, since vitamin C wouldn’t be identified until 1932, but they knew the men who drank it stayed on their feet.
The recipe ran in Amelia Simmons’ American Cookery in 1796, the first cookbook written by an American. You boil spruce tips or spruce essence with molasses and water, then let it ferment a week. If you’d rather skip the alcohol, a simple spruce tip tea delivers much of the same benefit. Spruce, molasses, and a little patience kept a ragged army healthy enough to win a revolution, which is reason enough to remember it.
I started digging into what modern citrus-based options exist for keeping your body running strong through a long haul, and ended up trying Citrus Burn for myself.
When I landed on their website, one review is what convinced me this was worth trying, a woman in her 40s wrote that she’d tried every powder and shake out there without much hope, but within a week her jeans fit looser and her energy stayed steady all day with no jitters.
That was the exact result I was after:
Nothing From the Hog Went to Waste Here
The Pennsylvania Dutch, who were German immigrants and famously thrifty, built scrapple out of a simple principle, which was that nothing from a butchered hog goes to waste. It descends from a German dish called panhaas, adapted to the New World by leaning on cornmeal. At hog-butchering time each fall, families simmered the trimmings and scraps into a rich broth, thickened it with cornmeal and sage and pepper, then poured it into loaf pans to set.
Once chilled and firm, you slice it and fry it in a hot pan until the outside turns dark and crisp while the middle stays soft. Served with eggs and a little apple butter or maple syrup, it turns the humble end of the hog into one of the best breakfasts in American cooking. Treat it as a butchering-season tradition rather than long-term storage, keeping it cold or frozen, and you’ve got a way to honor the whole animal the way our farm ancestors did.
Keeping Meat Through Winter Without an Icebox
Before the icebox, families preserved cooked meat by potting it. You cook the meat down until tender, pack it tightly into a crock, then pour clarified fat over the top to seal it. That fat cap locks out the air, and stored in a cold cellar it kept for weeks and into the cold months. It’s the same instinct behind French confit, done in an American farmhouse.
A word of caution, since this crowd respects doing things right. Sealing meat under fat creates an airless environment, and that carries a real botulism risk if it isn’t kept genuinely cold. Treat potted meat as a cold-cellar or refrigerator method, not a shelf-stable pantry item, and eat it within a sensible window. Done with care, it’s a fine way to put up a surplus of cooked meat the old way.
My grandmother potted meat every fall without ever writing the method down, and I didn’t think to ask her how before she passed. A neighbor pointed me toward The Lost Frontier a few years later, and the potting method in there matched hers close enough that I finally understood what I’d watched her do a hundred times without knowing it.
I keep it on the shelf with my canning supplies now, because the day the trucks stop running, the family that knows how to turn flour, corn, and a hog into months of meals is the family that survives.
Pick one of these this month and actually make it, while you’ve got time to get it wrong and try again. There’s a particular satisfaction in feeding your family the same way the people who built this country fed theirs, and a real security in knowing the recipe lives in your hands and not just on a page.
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The post 7 Forgotten American Survival Meals Worth Bringing Back appeared first on Ask a Prepper.
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Peach Facts: What You May Not Know
Peaches are a flavorful fruit from peach trees that are native to northwestern China. Although they were originally found growing in China, peaches are now readily available around the world. While you may know this fruit tastes good on its own or in smoothies and fruit bowls, there are many things you might not know about it. So if you want to learn more about peaches, you’re in the right spot!
There’s a town in Utah called Brigham City! My family used to go there and buy several bushels. We didn’t make the trip this year; they are winding down. A friend brought my daughter about 20 super-large, juicy, absolutely the best peaches anywhere. The bonus is these peach seeds slip right out when you cut them open.
This may not seem like a big deal, but I had had trouble getting grocery store peaches to ripen and remove the seed. The peaches would end up shriveled before they ripened, and I couldn’t remove the seed.
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In case you missed this post: How To Make An Easy Peach Glaze
Peach Facts To Know
How Many Varieties of Peaches Exist?
Most people don’t realize there are dozens of peach varieties! It’s the reason why some taste sweeter than others. Believe it or not, there are more than 2,000 varieties worldwide, with at least 30 available in the United States. These are a few popular varieties you might’ve tasted before.
Yellow Peaches
Yellow peaches are among the most popular peach varieties. The skin is thin and slightly fuzzy, but you can still eat it all and enjoy every bite. Although they’re known as yellow peaches, they can have light red, pink, and even orange hues. If you want to bite into a juicy peach, this is a great option.
Donut Peaches
Donut peaches get their name because of their flat appearance. Although they tend to look more like mini pumpkins because of their shape, they’re sweet and delicious. These peaches have a subtle almond flavor that pairs well with their naturally sweet taste. If you like to eat sweeter fruits, this variety is an excellent choice.
White Peaches
White peaches aren’t nearly as acidic as yellow peaches, but they still provide a great taste. In addition, they have a slightly sweet and slightly floral flavor that makes them a great addition to fruit salads with berries, chopped apples, and other fresh ingredients.
Please do not “can” white flesh peaches. I quote Penn State Extension, “White-fleshed peaches have a natural pH above 4.6, which makes them a low-acid food; therefore, water bath or atmospheric steam canning will not destroy harmful bacteria in white peaches. Freezing is the recommended method of preservation for white peaches. Jun 30, 2020″
Clingstone Peaches
The clingstone peach is tasty and perfect for eating on the spot. These peaches don’t do as well in baked goods, but they’re still worth buying. If you like to grab a peach on the go, this is the perfect kind.
Of course, plenty of other peaches are available and easy to find in different places, such as the grocery store and farmer’s markets. If you love the fruit, it’s good to know of these different varieties.
You can begin trying the different types of peaches and then make a list of your favorites. When you know which ones are your favorites, you can buy them from the store or grow them at home to make sure you don’t run out.
More Peach Facts
Which Peach Is the Sweetest?
Of all the peach varieties available, the donut peach is known for its sweetest taste. Some people might even consider such a sweet taste slightly sour, but that makes this fruit variety taste so great.
You can add it to smoothies with other ingredients, such as fresh spinach and mashed bananas. The peach’s sweetness will give your smoothie the perfect flavor. You wouldn’t need to add any extra sugar or other types of sweeteners to the beverage!
How Long Does It Take to Grow Peaches?
Once the flowers on a peach tree are pollinated, it takes at least three months to harvest the fruit. Three months is the minimum, and it can take up to five months before you can harvest peaches to eat. It’s normal for peaches to be ready for harvest in the warmer summer months. The average peach tree will continue to produce fruit for at least 10 years, with most producing peaches for up to 12 years.
Is It Challenging to Grow Peaches?
If peaches are your favorite fruit, you might wonder if it’s challenging to grow them at home. It’s a process that requires both effort and commitment. If you’re willing to put in the effort to water the tree, provide regular feedings, prune branches, and keep pests away, you can grow these peaches with no problem. However, if you don’t have the time to care for a peach tree, you should consider buying peaches at a grocery store or a farmer’s market.
How Do You Clean Peaches?
It’s a good idea to clean your peaches before eating them to remove any dirt, germs, or bacteria. The best way to clean peaches is to fill a large plastic bowl with two cups of cold water and a teaspoon of vinegar. Place the peaches in the bowl and let them soak in the vinegar-water mixture for 15 minutes. Next, remove the peaches from the bowl and hold them under the faucet, letting the cold water run over them while brushing off any debris you see. It’s that simple. Once you’ve washed the peaches, you can put them in your fridge to keep them cold and fresh, or place them on the countertop. It’s been my experience that they’ll last longer in the fridge. If you’re anxious to have them ripen faster, then the countertop might be your best option.
Things You Can Do With Peaches
While peaches are great for breakfast or a quick midday snack, you can do so much more with them. You can slice them, freeze them, and then add them to your blender to prepare smoothies. You might want to add fresh peach chunks to your oatmeal or cereal in the morning. Peaches are a great ingredient for baking a variety of foods. You can make peach pie, peach cobbler, and even a sweet peach loaf bread! Peach Cobbler
Mark loves peaches, and his favorite way is to slice them into a cereal bowl and pour milk over them. Depending on the peach variety, he may or may not feel the need to add a little sugar. He also loves fresh peach pie! He’s pretty easy to please.
Health Benefits of Peaches
Peaches are more than just a sweet summer treat. One medium peach has around 50 to 60 calories and no fat or cholesterol, so they make a smart snack when you want something naturally sweet without the guilt.
Peaches are a good source of vitamin C, which supports your immune system and helps your body fight off infections. They also provide vitamin A and the antioxidant beta-carotene, both of which are important for healthy eyes and skin.
You’ll also find potassium and fiber in peaches. Potassium helps regulate blood pressure and supports a healthy heart, while the fiber in peaches helps keep your digestion moving as it should.
Peaches also contain smaller amounts of magnesium, iron, and B vitamins. Magnesium can help your body relax and may even support better sleep. Iron plays a role in the formation of healthy red blood cells.
Since peaches are mostly water, they’re a great way to stay hydrated, especially during the hot summer months when they’re in season.
If you can eat the peach with the skin on, even better. Much of the fiber and many of the antioxidants are found in the skin, so a good rinse under the faucet and eating it whole gives you the most nutritional benefit.
How To Make An Easy Peach Glaze
Fruit Trees: The Ones You Need To Grow
Final Word
Now that you know more about peach facts, you may pay closer attention to the different varieties available at big-box stores, local grocery stores, and the farmers’ markets you like to visit. Beyond how good they taste, peaches offer real nutritional value, from vitamin C and fiber to potassium and hydration, making them an easy way to add a little extra goodness to your day. You can stock up on peaches or even plant a peach tree in your backyard if you have the time to maintain it. May God bless this world, Linda
The post Peach Facts: What You May Not Know appeared first on Food Storage Moms.
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