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How Much is Enough?

© Pier Jones

Whether you are putting up food in anticipation of whatever Y2K may bring, or preserving it just because it's there and you can't stand to see it go to waste, you are probably wondering how much canned, frozen, and dried food your family will go through in a year's time. Keep in mind that if you are putting food away because you foresee more time spent at home due to Y2K, then you may need to increase the number of servings per week compared to what you are using now. Or, if you are looking at meeting your family's food needs as you venture into a homesteading lifestyle, calculate into your equations the fact that people working outside, performing tasks of physical labor, will eat portions of a larger size than those with a sedentary lifestyle.

Consider all the things you generally put up, then look at your pantry, and see what items you have purchased from the supermarket, that you could can, freeze or dehydrate yourself. Meats, for example, or convenience foods and other items that allow you to prepare quick, nutritious meals.

Keep in mind that some produce items are harvested only once a year, like pumpkins, or apples, so you should put up a full year's worth when you are preserving. Other foods, such as greens, or broccoli, can be grown in the early spring and again in the fall, so you'll only need to put up a few months' worth at a time.

When you are calculating how much you will use, don't forget that even though you may not serve tomato juice three times per week, you could easily use those servings each week when making soups, stews, roasts, and even bread. I always try to put up several times more juice, applesauce, and salsa than I think we could ever eat, because all too often I reach for those items when cooking and baking.

There are lots of helpful tools out there to help you determine how much of which foods to preserve. There are people who are glad to share with you their family's annual food needs, or you can make you own chart, as I do. Here are the category headings in my chart, and how I use them:

Food

List the food to be calculated.

Serving Size

List the average serving size per family member. Some suggestions: juice, 1 cup per serving; vegetables, ½ cup per serving; jelly, 1/8 cup per serving, etc.

Servings Per Meal

If the average size is, say, ½ cup, as it would be with many vegetables, and you have teenage