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Finding that perfect gift for someone can be a difficult, anxiety-inducing task. This list I put together is full of my favorites for home preservation. I own everything on this list for a reason. They make preserving the harvest feel less like work and more like fun. I tried to allow for a range of budgets… Hopefully, it gives you ideas on what to get your home preserver!
- The Dehydrator Bible: This book has everything you need to really take off dehydrating foods. From how to on individual foods, to how to put together recipes and cooking with dehydrated foods.
- Silicone Dehydrating Mats: These trays work with the Excalibur dehydrator. They are great for making fruit leathers and pureed foods like pumpkin and mashed potatoes.
- Excalibur Dehydrator: I won’t recommend any other electric dehydrator. I have tried a couple of different brands and the Excalibur is the best. Initially, I got a more budget-friendly dehydrator and it just didn’t work. It would blow hot air from the top pushing it down, resulting in unevenly dried foods that took so long. I eventually just stopped trying and put it in storage. It’s saved for when we start drying mealworms for our chickens. I should have just gotten the Excalibur to start, saving me time, money, and frustration.
- Pressure Canner: I recently upgraded to this to be able to can half-gallon juice jars. As far as I’m aware it is the only model safe to use on glass cooktops.
- T-shirt: My absolute favorite canning t-shirt. I can never get enough of these puns.
- Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving: A must-have book full of tested recipes. It covers waterbath and pressure canning. It is my go-to book every season.
- Waterbath Canner: This water bath canner works amazingly. It has a gauge on the lid so you know when to start your timer.
- 30 Qt Stock Pot: A 30-quart stock pot is a must for making your own broths, any bulk soups, tomato recipes, and fruit sauces. I use it mainly during preservation season.
- Food Saver: A must-have for freezing anything. It removes all the oxygen before sealing, preventing freezer burn and making your frozen foods last way longer. I not only use it for preserving the harvest but also for buying meat in bulk packages and breaking them down before putting them into the freezer. Also great for sealing jars or dehydrated foods and marinating meats.
- 22 Quart Roaster Oven: This is amazing for roasting tomatoes, making applesauce, and cooking whole birds. I make all my pasta sauces exclusively in this during preservation season.
- Food Mill: I use this for my kitchen aid mixer. If you have a kitchen aid mixer, this food mill attachment is a great purchase. It powers through tomatoes like they are air. The one downside is it has a smaller holder so it can take longer to do big batches. For really big batches this sauce maker works really well.
- Steam Juicer: Steam juicer. Works really well. I make apple juice, grape juice, pear juice all kinds of juices with it. It’s very simple to use and clean. It’s great for pits and peels. I throw them in the top and make juice from all the scraps.
- Apple Peeler: Huge time saver. Takes a little bit of adjusting to get it right but once it’s set it is incredible. When doing bushels of apples it cuts the time down by 80%.
- Electric Pressure Canner: This takes a lot of the guesswork out of pressure canning. It’s super easy to use. You really just set it and let it go. You can not water-bath quart jars in it, there isn’t enough head space but for pressure canning/water-bath canning anything smaller it works really well. It is great if you have littles you can’t take 90 + minutes away from to watch the canner.
