My mother used to make kumquat preserves which were always a hit. Those aren't native here and have to be trucked in from the west coast.
I think if it comes to TEOTWAWKI, we will not be so inclined to make the sweet stuff but concentrate on survival preservation unless you have extra energy. Years ago, women sometimes used to get together and do this sort of thing, not go it all alone like my mother did and then me. I have 2 daughters. Finally my eldest has gotten into gardening, but mostly pickles.
My mom would let me cook when she didn't need to be in the kitchen. She never wanted help (except setting the table and dishes), wanted to do every procedure of the cooking herself. That made me kind of like that. I ended up having to teach myself how to can from her canning books I inherited after she departed this world.
Another nice thing to can for is pie fillings. Most fruits and rhubarb are better frozen, but I never had the luxury of a freezer other than what's part of my fridge so I can't freeze or buy meat ahead as much as I'd like.
Did you ever read the book "The Kumquat Statement?" It was a political treatise that I read many years ago when I lived in Bezerkley, CA and had kumquat trees coming up everywhere that somebody spit a seed. The author's premise was that Berkeley attracted so many radicals because they thought that they could come there and live off the street (because the climate was mild), camping in the bushes and eating kumquats and loquats that grew everywhere and were free for the taking.