This is also the time of year that I will buy meats or poultry on sale and pressure can them - all the heat is appreciated this time of the year, and in the summer, it's ready to eat with no additional heat for the air conditioner to have to deal with.
Good advice. I pressure can as well and do a lot of meat and soup stock. Then I can just grab a jar off the shelf and make a pot of soup by just throwing in the veggies.
It's nice cause you don't waste freezer space on the pressure canned meat for soups and stews.
More advice for people is to grow an herb garden of your own. Even in northern climates, (I'm in NY) there are a lot of common herbs that are perennials. I grow sage, thyme, lemon thyme, Greek oregano, and my own garlic.
Parsley is a biennial and will reseed but you have to start the first two years.
I left some rosemary in and covered it well. It can handle a mild freeze and so I'm hoping my plant will come back in the spring. If it doesn't, I'll just buy another one from some garden center.
The fresh herbs make fantastic spaghetti sauce and soup.
And you can dry your own.
FWIW, places like Sam's and BJ's sell common spices in pound sizes and spices keep a LONG time if you put them in a canning jar and freeze them. No processing needed. Just put on the lid and band and the jars are hermetically sealed and there's no risk of freezer burn or stale freezer taste.
I usually have a few herbs indoors too, but never got around to it this year. I have quite a few dried that I harvested.
I put them into mason jars with an Oxygen absorber, and use a vacuum top to vacuum out the air - no heat involved.
Another tip that I read recently, was after about a year, before they loose potency, pack a jar with the herbs and fill it with Vodka. Shake it now and then. After about 6 weeks, drain and keep the extract. Make sure to label.
Since many spices and herbs have medicinal properties, this is a way of making a tincture that can be used for medicine. Such a tincture can last up to 10 years.