This week saw one last big push (making applesauce) and now I think I’m done.  I’ve been asked a couple times about how much food we preserve for the winter and how I know how much to preserve.  I just organized my freezers and shelves (thanks to Mark’s abnormally/heavenly long nap this morning) and inventoried everything.  Here’s our grand total.  For your planning purposes, this is for a family of four: two adults, one three-year-old, and one 10-month-old who is already a voracious eater! 🙂

Vegetables, Frozen:

• tomatoes (15-oz bags): 28
• sweet corn, off the cob (quart bags): 20
• long-neck squash (like pumpkin), puree (2.5 C bags): 21 (ten leftover from last year)
• zucchini, shredded (2 C bags): 15 (10 left from last year)
• jalapenos, diced (quart bags): 3
• poblano peppers, sliced (quart bag): 1
• banana peppers, diced (quart bag): 1
• pesto (in “cookies“, quart bags): 2
• yellow wax beans (quart): 2
• broccoli (gallon bags): 6 plus 2 not completely full

Fruit, Frozen:

• blueberries (gallon bags): 2 (plus one already used up)
• strawberries (quart bags): 2 (plus one already used up)

Fruit, Canned:

• peaches, sliced (pint jars): 56
• applesauce (quart jars): 32

peaches, fresh from their hot water bath

Extras:

• strawberry jam (pint): 13
• nutmeg plum jam:  12 (1/2 pint), 3 (pint)
• peach syrup: 2 (1/2 pint, canned), 5 (pint, frozen)
• apple butter: 8 (pint, canned), 2 (partial pints, frozen)
• sweet garlic dill pickles (pint): 19
• curried pickles (pint): 16
• dill pickles (pint): 1 (as a special gift for a friend – we’re addicted to sweet pickles!)

How do I know how much to “put away” for winter?  This is my sixth preserving season and by now I have a pretty good feel for how much our family is going to eat through the winter.  The first couple years was complete trial and error for us.  I kept good records of how much we had preserved (including how we preserved it and what size bags/jars we froze/canned everything in) and tracked how much was left at the end of the winter.  I also noted if we ran out too soon of something.  In both situations, I adjusted accordingly the following year.  As both Ellie and Mark start to eat more, I know we’ll have to start freezing and canning more.

Looking at this list gives me a really nice sense of accomplishment, actually.  It helps me realize that I’ve spent far more time doing this over the past four months than I’ve given myself credit for.  So I’ll just put a few more points into my productive column, thank you very much! 🙂

For now, I’m just glad that it’s over!  Time to start sewing for Handmade Christmas 2013!

P.S. I’ve made myself a list of other questions that I often get asked about this stuff (like “how do you have time to do this?” and “where do you get your produce?”)  I’ll try to answer those in a [not-too-far-in-the] future post.