Best food preservation and storage books
Canning, drying, fermenting, curing, and root cellaring all keep a harvest edible without a freezer. Start with a tested canning guide, then add the methods that need no power at all.
17 books, beginner-friendly first.
Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving
Ball Corporation · 2024
The long-running home canning guide from Ball, with tested recipes and processing times. Inexpensive and widely trusted.
beginner
Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving
Judi Kingry, Lauren Devine · 2006
Hundreds of tested recipes for canning, pickling, and preserving. The bigger companion to the Ball Blue Book.
beginnerBasic Butchering of Livestock & Game
John J. Mettler Jr., John J. Mettler · 2003
Step-by-step butchering of beef, pork, lamb, poultry, rabbit, and venison.
beginnerComplete Guide to Home Canning
U.S. Department of Agriculture · 2021
The USDA's research-based canning guide, the source many other books draw on. Free from the National Center for Home Food Preservation; print copies are cheap too.
beginnerFree legal PDF
The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 1
Steven Rinella · 2014
Steven Rinella on big game: hunting, field dressing, butchering, and cooking.
beginner
The Complete Guide to Hunting, Butchering, and Cooking Wild Game: Volume 2
Steven Rinella, John Hafner · 2015
Rinella's companion volume on small game and fowl.
beginnerSpiral / lay-flat
The Dehydrator Bible
Jennifer MacKenzie · 2009
Covers drying fruits, vegetables, meats, and complete meals, with recipes for using them. Dried food is light and keeps well.
beginner
The Encyclopedia of Country Living
Carla Emery · 2012
Carla Emery's massive reference on growing, raising, preserving, and cooking food. If you only keep one homesteading book, many people pick this one.
beginnerLarge reference
The Joy of Cooking
Irma S. Rombauer, Marion Rombauer Becker, Ethan Becker, John Becker, Megan Scott · 2019
The all-purpose American cookbook, with basics on staples, game, and scratch cooking. When stored food is all you have, a full kitchen reference matters.
beginnerLarge reference
Making the Best of Basics
James Talmage Stevens · 1997
A long-running guide to building and using a home food storage program. Strong on what to store and how to rotate it.
beginner
Preserving Food without Freezing or Canning
The Gardeners and Farmers of Centre Terre Vivante · 2007
Traditional French methods for keeping food without electricity or canners: drying, salting, oil, vinegar, and cellaring.
beginner
Putting Food By
Janet C. Greene, Janet Greene, Ruth Hertzberg · 2010
A long-trusted home preservation reference covering canning, freezing, drying, curing, and root cellaring.
beginner
Root Cellaring
Mike Bubel · 1991
How to store fruits and vegetables through winter with no electricity. Covers building simple cellars and which crops keep longest.
beginnerSo Easy to Preserve
University of Georgia Cooperative Extension
University of Georgia Extension's preserving guide, based on USDA testing. Covers canning, freezing, drying, and pickling.
beginnerSpiral / lay-flat
Wild Fermentation
Sandor Ellix Katz, Nora Steinbrun · 2016
An approachable guide to sauerkraut, yogurt, sourdough, and other fermented foods. Fermentation preserves food without power or canning lids.
beginner
Charcuterie
Michael Ruhlman · 2005
The craft of salting, smoking, and curing meat. Old preservation methods explained by a professional cook.
intermediate
The Art of Fermentation
Sandor Ellix Katz, Alejandro Pareja Rodríguez · 2012
Sandor Katz's deep reference on fermentation traditions worldwide. For when Wild Fermentation leaves you wanting more.
advancedLarge reference