Take a look below and see if any of these are ideas you are already trying. My personal favorite is #3 and I’ve implemented it often!

1. The Freezer is Your Friend.
The process of freezing your food is not only very simple, it makes for a simple meal in the future. Get ready to fall in love with yourself over and over again throughout the year when you open the fridge to grab a batch of pesto or last fall’s apple sauce.

Have a pile of tomatoes that reaches a mile high? Perfect. Take an hour or so to gather them up, chop them, and make a huge batch of your favorite red sauce. Let it all cool down, and simply bag them up for freezing. Repeat with any of your favorite sauces and get ready for hassle-free and delicious eats in the coming months.

2. Pickle For the Pinch.
Who doesn’t love a good pickle? If you have a particularly go-getter batch of cucumbers this year, pickling is a wonderful way to enhance your crop and to keep them all crispy and delicious. Don’t stop the fun with cucumbers! Tomatoes, beets, carrots, and almost anything you can try is worth the little time and effort that it takes to begin your pickling adventure.

Simply wash and chop your vegetables in any desired size and shape. You may want to blanch or briefly cook some vegetables in boiling water. This is best to do with carrots, beets, ginger, and other harder foods. Softies like tomatoes or cucumbers don’t need this extra attention. Next, you can arrange your veggies into jars. Mix and experiment with different combinations of herbs and veggies. Add some dried chile peppers, mustard seed, turmeric, cumin, celery seed, jalepeño pepper, oregano, or anything else you’d like to try.

After your ingredients are ready to go, it’s time to make a brine. This can be a sweet or sour brew depending on the sugar content. Basically, you’ll need about 3 cups of distilled white vinegar, 3 cups water, and a dash of salt and sugar (or in the case of sweet brines, about 1.5 cups sugar). Boil ingredients until all is dissolved and let cool. Once the brine is cool and ready, fill the jars, seal the lids, and refrigerate for at least a day.

3. Share your spoils with your neighbors (but before they spoil).
Admittedly, this tip is not a preservation method as much as a way to make new friends and avoid wasting any of your precious harvest. Summertime is when all of us are stretching our legs, soaking up some sun, and spending time outdoors, so make a point to say hello and share in the joys of summer by sharing your extra fruits and veggies. Chances are that even if they don’t have a green thumb to help them repay the favor, a batch of cookies may just find their way to your door in those cold winter months.

There are more ideas and tips over on Home and Gardening Ideas, including using a dehydrator. This is something we’ve been thinking about and wanting to do for a while and am very close to making our first purchase. Kind of exciting!

By the way, with #3 our family was invited over for a terrific Summer BBQ one year, with steak and pork chops, and all that was asked was that we bring over some fresh-grown vegetables and our appetite. Awesome!