The most popular time to look for food preservation ideas is during the height of the garden season.

However, just because it’s not the main garden season doesn’t mean you can’t preserve food.

In fact the off-season is an ideal time to prepare items such as breads, pastas, desserts and use up those little bits of fruits, meats and vegetables in your freezer (affiliate link).

This is done by dehydrating, turning that excess food into soups, stews or adding it to recipes that you can eat right away or preserve for later use.

Advantages Of Food Preservation During The Off Season

I like off-season food preservation because I don’t feel as rushed.

I can enjoy the process, take in the smells and be a bit more creative.

The key to making the most of this process is to properly dehydrate or freeze the foods during the height of the garden season.

This gives you a quality product to start with.

Food Preservation Ideas For Pasta

This past week I made up several types of pasta, dried it and froze it.

Fresh pasta must be dried before you freeze it – and this can be done with a dehydrator (affiliate link) or by laying it out to dry.

Be sure to turn it over at least once during the drying time.

Once it is dry, gently put it in freezer bags (affiliate link) or better yet, freezer (affiliate link) containers so it doesn’t get crushed.

Homemade pasta preserved in the freezer (affiliate link) is good for six months, but unless you make a lot it won’t last that long.

Other Food Preservation Ideas

Other foods I process during the off-season is sweet and savory cooking cubes.

Fresh herbs and fruit mixed in butter then frozen are favorites at my house.

I also chop up fresh herbs and top off my trays with olive oil or water (affiliate link) then freeze them.

I add these cubes to many recipes throughout the year.

When I make bone broth or meat the the grease drips off of I freeze the grease to use as cooking oil.

I also freeze leftover heavy whipping cream so I always have cream cubes on hand for gravies, mashed potatoes, etc.

This would work for milk and many other liquid items as well.

Don’t Forget To Stock Up On Baked Goods

I challenge you to look in your freezer (affiliate link) and pantry to see what items you have that need used up and come up with some creative food preservation ideas.

Be sure to take inventory while you are at it so you know if you need breads or desserts.

Now is a great time to prepare or bake and preserve those as well.