Food Preservation

Plastic-Free Freezer Storage

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Plastic-Free Freezer Storage

We’ve been talking a bit over on the Attainable Sustainable Facebook page about how to store food in the freezer without using plastic containers. It’s a big stumbling block for people like me who want to preserve garden bounty (I freeze vegetables like green beans; their acid content is too low for water bath canning) or things like soup stock and premade meals without the health risks of plastic. Here are some options to consider: Glass storage containers: This collection of Pyrex glass containers is on my wish list. These are oven safe, plus they’re good for both refrigerator and freezer storage and they have glass lids as well as plastic. I have some glass containers that I use for freezing, but they have plastic lids that are beginning to crack and I’m having a heck of a time finding replacements. Glass lids are so much more durable. If you are the parent of a baby and making your own baby food, rejoice! Check out these super cool freezer safe glass baby food storage containers. Alas, these aren’t exactly inexpensive options. Life Without Plastic has some great bpa-free storage options, but again, not cheap. Glass jars: I freeze some...

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Switching from Boxed and Canned to Homemade

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Switching from Boxed and Canned to Homemade

Basing my assumptions on a trip through the grocery store, it looks like much of America begins the process of “cooking” with something that comes in a box or a can. Mother Nature does not produce food that comes contained in a box; this is purely a human invention to a) speed up the process of getting dinner on the table and b) make tons of money for the company that produces the product. Cooking from scratch is really very easy, and I’ve found that once I learn a new recipe, it doesn’t take that much longer than using the store bought shortcuts. The deal is, you have to make a recipe several times before it becomes as second nature as opening a box or can. Wondering what recipe you can switch to homemade without losing hours of time to prep work? I’ve eliminated these convenience items from my cupboard with very little trouble. Pancake mix: I grew up on Bisquick and Krusteaz pancakes, but started making my own from scratch twenty years ago and never looked back. Following the recipe in my Betty Crocker cookbook, it might take me a full minute longer to follow the recipe than...

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Easy Homemade Jelly in the Middle of Winter

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One of my sons is a P,B & J hound so I’ve got to keep jam and jelly in the house. The trouble is, almost every single brand of jelly that my grocery store carries is made with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). I don’t like that. One local brand does use sugar instead of HFCS and there are organic options, but sheesh, it’s expensive! More than five bucks for slightly more than a cup of jam? This is why I’ve been making my own jam and jelly for years. I know that some of you are suffering through snow flurries and blizzards right now, but what better way to spend a snow day than to whip up a batch of jelly? Making freezer jam or jelly is so easy. Truly. And get this: you don’t even need to have fresh fruit to make jelly. The freezer or juice aisle of your grocery store is your ticket to HFCS-free jelly in the middle of winter. Look for ready-to-serve 100% juice in the drink aisle (you may have to seek out a natural food store) or a frozen concentrate (Welch’s is one brand that offers 100% juice). It may not...

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Tomato Math – How Many Plants is Enough?

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Tomato Math – How Many Plants is Enough?

One of the primary reasons I garden is to fill my pantry with canned fruits and vegetables that are (almost*) free of bpa and pesticides. Of all the different things I preserve, tomatoes are far and away the most-used ingredients in my household; it seems I’m constantly pulling a jar of some sort of tomato product or another out of the pantry. In previous years, it’s been pints and quarts that I put up from our big California garden. I ran out of the canned goods I brought with me when we moved some time ago  and I’m reduced to buying canned tomatoes – it’s killing me. (And yes, the movers DID think I was nuts. But I needed the jars; why not bring them full?) As the time for planting a garden nears, I’m gearing up to once again fill my pantry with tomatoes from the garden. In the past, I’ve planted as many as 40 tomato plants in a season and always had plenty for me as well as lots to share, but my space wasn’t nearly as limited. Here on this small lot where (ironically) full sun is scarce, there’s not room to wantonly plant excess....

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Welcome

It’s one thing to think, “Hey, I’d love to be more self-sufficient!” and quite another to implement a lifestyle change that might require learning some new skills.

Attainable Sustainable is about bridging the gap between wanting change and making it happen without becoming overwhelmed. Nobody’s saying you have to go get a tractor and a cow. Attainable Sustainable is about discovering – one step at a time – how to make changes in your life to support a sustainable lifestyle.

The Author

Kris Bordessa has been gardening for most of her life. She's been authoring books and writing features for the past ten years or so. It's about time she combined the two, don't you think? [More about the author]