Most of the posts on Home Food Gourmet are about the hobby of preserving food as in canning, dehydrating, fermenting, curing & smoking and freezing.  While for most of us preserving food is a hobby, for others it is an economical way to save money and have healthy food year round.  Some of us like gardening to get that sense of satisfaction of doing it yourself and getting good produce.  For others it is about putting food on the table.  The economy and environmental factors may cause some to switch from the hobby side to the putting food on the table side.

It’s not news to anyone that our economy has taken a nosedive into the curb.  For the over 90% that are still employed simple things like being able to put food on the table is not yet an issue. For many of the others that is not the case.  Having access to a garden can mean the difference of having vegetables for the kids or not.  Having a garden can generate a tremendous amount of fresh produce that can save money.  Money that can be used for other things such as meat, gas, clothes, medical expense and others.

It’s no surprise that internet searches for topics such as gardening, canning, preserving food, home food preservation, dehydrating and dehydrators is up 40% or more over last year at the same time.  Many people are looking at preserving food as a means of subsistence rather than a hobby. (more…)