Where do I start?

I am interested in preserving food this year. We are growing some food, getting a CSA box, and we have a farmers market near our home. I know that with two young children (1 & 4 yrs), I will not be able to do as much as I would dream of. And, I don't want to take on things that will stress me out. I am wondering what foods would be good to start with. And, I am wondering how you all balance adding this into your lives. It makes so much sense to me to preserve food, and I know it will actually save time later, but I am wondering how to find time to do it. Can you give me some tips?

[Kiara.I]

We started with freezing berries. Lots of berries. That made for smoothies and crisps and muffins and whatnot during the winter, and it's pretty easy: dump berries on cookie sheet, freeze, empty into ziploc bags, repeat.

You can also freeze bell pepper strips, to be added to stirfry, spaghetti sauce, etc.

For canning, the way it works best for us has been to do a work party (especially good after kids are asleep...) with another couple and have all four of us working. Or, even better, have whichever parent needs a break (usually because they're nursing a kid) read out of a novel to the other three who are still cutting and blanching and whatnot.

Thank you! This is great help for getting me started! We got a lot of berries today, so I think I will try this out. Bell peppers are a great idea, too.

I do have neighbors who are interested in canning, so maybe I will talk with them about doing a canning party.

[Proverbs31]

I'd start with dehydrating. It's easy, can be done in bits and pieces without a large time commitment, no worries about botulism, no boiling stuff around kids, you can leave the dehydrator running unattended, and the dried food is compact and easy to store.

We dehydrated a lot of stuff from our garden last year and enjoyed it all winter long.