With rising food prices, consumers are trying to find ways to save the family food dollar. It is reminiscent of the 1970's energy crisis that fueled spiraling food costs some thirty years ago. Are we headed back to the future? For some areas of Georgia, this price upswing has also occurred in the middle of a record drought. Home gardening and food preservation has been a family food source for generations. Yet, actual costs must be analyzed in order to decide if money can actually be saved by growing and preserving food at home.<br />
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Home gardening is a source of produce that many food preservationists use for canning, freezing, and drying. Costs associated with home gardening include equipment to till the soil, seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, and water, as well as time, energy, and price of land. Producing a bumper crop will provide the most savings and the harvest value can be decided by figuring the market value minus the costs incurred in production. <br />
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Three methods of food preserving for produce include canning, freezing, and drying. Canning is usually more economical than freezing, but labor intensive and time consuming. Freezing is less involved than canning and the results are more like fresh produce; however, the equipment is more costly to purchase and operate. Drying would be more economical if solar power could be used. The cost of storage requires little space or energy. However, drying can be time consuming and humidity in Georgia prevents sun drying from being a realistic option for drying fruit. It is never recommended for vegetables.<br />
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Along with the produce, additional costs for canning and freezing will include jars and packaging, water and fuel for processing, added ingredients such as sugar, spices, and salt. It costs an average of 0.1 kilowatt hours (kwh) of electrical energy to freeze a pound of food and lower the temperature to 0 degrees F. The electrical energy a freezer requires to maintain that 0 degrees F required depends on several factors such as the temperature of the room where the freezer is located, how often the freezer door is opened, size and maintenance of the freezer, energy rating of the freezer, and the amount and turnover of food in the freezer.<br />
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Comparable energy costs associated for canning kwh/quart will vary depending on the length of processing time and how efficient the burner is in maintaining the desired processing temperature for the product. Canned foods must be stored in space that is not too hot in order to preserve quality and prevent spoilage, be protected from freezing which could cause jars to burst, and that will protect food loss due to accidental breakage. Ideally, canned food storage should be 50 to 70 degrees F.<br />
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Drying does not require expensive equipment when solar power is used for food preservation; however, as stated above, in many areas of the country it is impractical. Using oven drying is a more costly method, but often necessary. Electric home dehydrators are less expensive to run than your household regular oven. These electric dehydrators range in prices related to size, features, and quality of construction. As with canning and freezing, additional costs include water, energy, and added ingredients such as salt, marinades, and anti-darkening treatments. <br />
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Consider the costs of produce and ingredients, supplies and the necessary equipment, energy which includes both fuel and personal, as well as time. Balance these costs over purchasing the same food produced by commercial manufacturers. It will give you a good idea about savings and might surprise you to learn the actual costs involved in growing and preserving food at home. Yet, the satisfaction of growing your own food may not be figured in dollars and cents and provide benefits beyond the balance sheet. Garden goodness from your pantry shelf does not always carry a price tag!<br />
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Source: Colorado State University Cooperative Extension<br />
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<I>Debbie Wilburn is County Agent/Family and Consumer Science Agent with Hall County Cooperative Extension (770)535-8290.</I>
