Preserving cabbage and winter vegetables without power

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Power-free methods come first: cool, dark storage, curing, fermenting and pickling keep working when the power is off. Freezing and electric drying are listed too, but they need power.

• Store only the best. Keep sound, unbruised, dry produce for storing. Eat damaged ones first.
• Check often. Look over stored food every week or two and remove anything soft or mouldy before it spreads.
• Keep apart. Apples and pears give off ethylene gas, which yellows cabbage and makes potatoes sprout. Keep onions away from potatoes.
• Label everything with what it is and the date.
• Clean jars. Wash jars and lids in hot soapy water, rinse, then dry in a low oven (about 140°C) for 10 minutes or boil them in water for 10 minutes. A camping stove works if the power is off.
• Fridge and freezer: keep the fridge between 0 and 5°C and the freezer at around -18°C (Food Standards Agency). Blanch most vegetables before freezing (boil briefly, then cool fast in cold water) to keep colour and texture.
• If in doubt, throw it out: bulging or leaking lids, spurting, fuzzy mould, slime or a bad smell all mean discard it. The Food Standards Agency says not to eat food from containers that are bulging, leaking or damaged.

Bottling and canning safely

• Water-bath bottling is only safe for high-acid foods: most fruit, jams, chutneys and vinegar pickles, and tomatoes only with added acid (see Tomatoes).
• Low-acid foods need pressure canning or another method. Plain vegetables, potatoes, beans, peas, squash and greens must never be bottled in a water bath or an oven. They can carry the bacteria that cause botulism, which is rare but life-threatening. Use a proper pressure canner with a tested recipe and times, or freeze, dry, ferment or pickle them in vinegar instead.
• Use tested recipes for bottling and pickling, as the Food Standards Agency advises, and do not reduce the vinegar, sugar, salt or acid.
• Never keep garlic, herbs or dried tomatoes in oil at room temperature. Keep them in the fridge and use within a few days, or freeze them.

Simple sauerkraut

No power needed. Makes about a 1 litre jar.

1. Take 1 kg of firm white or red cabbage. Remove the outer leaves (keep one clean leaf) and the core, then shred finely.
2. Weigh it and add 2% salt by weight: 20 g of salt per 1 kg of cabbage. Plain salt without iodine or anti-caking agents is best.
3. Squeeze and massage the cabbage for 5-10 minutes, until it is limp and sitting in its own juice.
4. Pack it tightly into a clean jar or crock, pressing down hard, until the juice (brine) rises over it. Leave about 5 cm of space at the top.
5. Keep it under the brine: cover with the spare leaf and a weight, such as a small jar or a sealed bag of water. If it is not covered after a day, top up with brine (20 g salt in 1 litre of water).
6. Cover loosely so gas can escape, stand it on a plate, and leave it at cool room temperature (about 15-21°C) for 2-4 weeks. Press it down every few days and skim off any thin white film.
7. When it tastes pleasantly sour, close the lid and keep it somewhere cool. It keeps for months, as long as it stays under the brine.

Throw it away if it is slimy, smells rotten or grows fuzzy or coloured mould.

Cabbage

Dense, late-season heads (winter white, red and Savoy types) keep best.

Short term

• Whole and unwashed in the fridge crisper drawer, loosely wrapped, with the outer leaves on: up to 2 months.
• Once cut, wrap the cut face and use it within a week.

Medium term

• Somewhere cool, dark and humid at 0-4°C, such as a basement or outhouse if it stays frost-free.
• Hang heads upside down by their roots, or put them on slatted shelves, or wrap each in newspaper so they do not touch.
• Check weekly, and keep them away from apples and pears.
• Keeps 2-5 months.

Long term

• Sauerkraut No power: best for emergencies: 2% salt by weight, kept under the brine, 2-4 weeks fermenting, then months somewhere cool. See Simple sauerkraut above.
• Vinegar pickling No power: best for emergencies: best for red cabbage. Shred, salt overnight, rinse, pack into clean jars and cover with spiced vinegar. About a year sealed in a cool, dark place; keep in the fridge once opened.
• Freezing Needs power: blanch shredded cabbage for 1-2 minutes, cool, drain and freeze. 9-12 months, for cooking only.
• Dehydrating Needs power: blanch, then dry until brittle and store airtight. 1 year or more, and very light to store.

Potatoes

Early (new) potatoes do not store well, so eat them within a week or two. Maincrop potatoes keep through winter.

Short term

• In a paper or hessian bag in a cool, dark, airy cupboard: 1-3 weeks. Not in plastic.
• Keep them dark: green patches and sprouts should be cut off, and very green potatoes thrown away.

Medium term

• Sack storage No power: best for emergencies: dry the skins for a few hours on a dry day after lifting. Store maincrop potatoes in paper or hessian sacks somewhere completely dark and frost-free at about 5-10°C, such as a garage or shed. Check monthly. Keeps 4-6 months.

Long term

• Clamp No power: best for emergencies: the traditional way for a big harvest. Heap potatoes on a bed of straw on well-drained ground, cover with a thick layer of straw, then about 15 cm of soil, with a straw "chimney" for air. Keeps several months through winter.
• Freezing Needs power: freeze them part-cooked (blanched chips, roasties) or as mash. Raw potatoes do not freeze well. Up to 12 months.
• Dehydrating Needs power: cook slices until just tender, then dry until brittle. About 1 year, airtight.
• Bottling: potatoes are low-acid, so pressure canning only. Never use a water bath.

Onions

Short term

• Whole, dry onions in a cool, dry, airy place, not the fridge: weeks.
• A cut onion: covered in the fridge and used within 2 days. Spring onions keep in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Medium term

• Cured and hung No power: best for emergencies: lift them when the tops flop over, then dry them in the sun or an airy shed for 2-3 weeks until the necks are dry and the skins are papery. Hang them in nets, old tights or plaited ropes in a cool, dry, frost-free place. Keeps 3-6 months, and longer for good keeping varieties. Use thick-necked ones first.

Long term

• Pickled onions and shallots No power: best for emergencies: peeled, salted or brined overnight, then packed in vinegar. About a year sealed in a cool, dark place.
• Freezing Needs power: chop and freeze without blanching, double-wrapped against the smell. Up to 6 months, for cooking.
• Dehydrating Needs power: chop or slice, then dry until crisp. 1 year or more, airtight.

Carrots and other root vegetables

Includes parsnips, beetroot, swede, turnips and celeriac.

Short term

• Cut or twist off the leafy tops (they draw out moisture), leaving about 2-5 cm of stalk on beetroot so it does not bleed. Store unwashed in a bag with holes in the fridge drawer: 2-4 weeks.

Medium term

• Leave them in the ground No power: best for emergencies: parsnips, swede and late carrots can stay in well-drained soil over winter. Cover the row with straw or fleece in hard frost and lift as needed. Parsnips taste sweeter after frost. Watch for slugs and carrot fly.
• Box storage No power: best for emergencies: lay unwashed roots in boxes, not touching, in layers of slightly damp sand, sawdust or old compost. Keep the boxes cool and frost-free (about 0-5°C) in a shed or garage. Keeps 3-5 months.

Long term

• Fermenting No power: best for emergencies: carrot sticks or grated beetroot in 2% brine (20 g salt per litre), kept under the brine like sauerkraut. Ferments in about 1-2 weeks, then keeps months somewhere cool.
• Pickled beetroot: cook, slice and cover with vinegar in clean jars. Keeps several months sealed; once opened keep it in the fridge.
• Freezing Needs power: blanch sliced carrots, parsnips or swede for 2-3 minutes (small whole carrots 5 minutes). About 12 months.
• Dehydrating Needs power: blanch, then dry until brittle. About 1 year, airtight.
• Bottling: roots are low-acid, so pressure canning only. Never use a water bath (pickled beetroot in vinegar is the exception, because the vinegar makes it high-acid).