On Oct 12, 5:00*pm, Nick Odell
wrote:
On Fri, 12 Oct 2012 05:51:43 -0700 (PDT), harry









wrote:
On Oct 12, 9:43*am, Nick Odell
wrote:
My freezer is full and I use it all the time. However, last time I had
a freezer breakdown I ended up, at ten o'clock at night, giving frozen
food away to my neighbours then working through the night to cook,
bottle and otherwise preserve the remainder.

I love the fact that with my freezer I can take advantage of those
last-minute yellow-label offers at the supermarket and know they won't
go to waste but I love the way bottling stuff is a final solution that
requires no further energy input to preserve the contents sometimes
for years and years. I also get satisfaction from doing something
people have done for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Bunging
some raspberries into a plastic bag and putting them the other side of
a door just doesn't feel the same.

I have two freezers. It means as the produce is used up, I can close
one down.
Also if one breaks down, I can swop over (assuming they're not both
full). But they're usually both full over Winter when a breakdown is
less of a problem.
You need a temperature *alarm. *Gives you some leeway/warning. Should
activate before anything melts.
Also neighbours will help out with spare space if there is a
breakdown.
Did they have glass bottles thousands of years ago?

Dunno about glass bottles but they certainly had ceramic pots and
animal fat to seal them with. I've always hankered after doing some
old-fashioned potting but not yet got the necessary tuit.

Nick

I think the main way of preservation in days of yore was by drying.
Meat, fish and vegetables.
They used to clamp grain (bury it) & the trapped CO2 preserved it.
(A bit like silage)