Family Nutrition - Food Preservation and Storage

Families will learn to preserve and store food properly.

 

Objective

Families will preserve and store food properly.

Lesson Preparation

Before the lesson find:

1. Information from the local health, extension or agricultural department on what they recommend for good methods to store food for your climate.

2. Examples of foods that are ready to be stored: dried foods, salted foods, or other preserved foods.

3. Containers to store water as well as soap, bleach and a brush or rag to clean them with.

Concepts to be Taught

Click on the magnifying glass of any image for enlargement.

1. Families need to store a variety of food to last until the next harvest.

2. Stored foods need to be protected properly.

3. Store some water to use for emergencies.

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Concept #1

Families need to store a variety of food to last until the next harvest.

There are many reasons why we may need to have food stored to last us several months or longer. Most of our forefathers had methods of keeping food preserved to last until the next harvest came. What ways can people save food until food is available again? (#1)

• drying in the sun

• drying in an oven

• cultivating crops that will grow year-round (#2)

• raising live animals that can be used for food (#3)

• storing by burying or leaving food in the ground

• salting food

• fermenting food

It is important to store foods from the basic three food groups so that the family will have a balanced diet as they are eating from their stored foods (#4). Name from foods from the growth group that can be stored. (Dried meat jerky, life animals, soybeans, etc.) Name some foods from the energy group that can be stored. (Wheat, corn, rice, and other grains.) Name some foods from the protection group that can be stored. (Dried fruits and vegetables, etc.)

Tell story: The Aguilar family decided to see how long they could live on the food they had stored in and around their house. They thought they could live for several months but only could eat from their stored foods for two weeks. One of the things they found was they had not stored enough variety of foods. They had mainly corn and got tired of eating only corn after a few days. The children cried and wanted to eat other foods too. The children stopped eating the corn after a week because they got farther down in the pile where the corn was stored and the children could see it was full of bugs. What lessons did the Aguilar family learn from their experiment? (To store more food, to store a greater variety of food, to store it properly so that insects do not get at it.)

Learning Activity #1

Family will determine how much food they have stored and how long they could eat if they could only eat from what is around their home.

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Concept #2

Stored foods need to be protected properly.

Stored foods can be protected by several methods. Some of them are:

• keeping stored foods cool by storing them in a cool, dry place such as a cellar, keeping them in a refrigerator (either electric or iceless see Lesson 6.2 on the iceless refrigerator) or by keeping them in another cool place (#5).

• storing foods in a package or container that will: keep the food dry, protect it from temperature extremes, protect it from animals, and keep dust and dirt off (#6).

• keeping foods out of sunlight.

A relatively easy way to preserve foods that has been used throughout the world is to dry food. Foods such as fruits, vegetables and meats can be stored by drying tem first in the sun. The basic steps for food drying are heat (from sunlight), circulating air, and protection from dust, dirt and animals. The food should be cut into fairly thin sections and placed on a screen of thin cloth that allows the air to circulate (#7-8). The food should be dried until there is no apparent moisture when the food is bent.

Learning Activity #2

Demonstrate and practice drying a locally available food. (Bananas are easy as they only need to be peeled. Other fruits may need the stems and seeds removed.)

Concept #3

Store some water to use for emergencies.

Some water should be stored in case the normal water supply is cut off (#9). Sanitize the water as described in Lesson 5.1. Store it in clean sanitized containers such as glass or plastic. These containers need to have tight fitting lids. Store the glass bottles well so they will not easily break if an earthquake occurs. Check the bottles regularly to be sure the lids are not rusting. Also store some bleach to be able to purify more water if you run out.

Learning Activity #3

Decide what containers available to the family would be good to store water. Plan where they can be stored in or around the house.

Family Activity

The family will discuss and decide how much food they would like to have stored as well as the kinds of foods. Depending on the season and food availability, they can start storing some foods.

List of figures for lesson 4.5

(Click on the numbered links below to view and print full-sized figures.)

1. Food can be stored in bottles, and containers in cool places.

2. Food can be stored in a garden.

3. Food can be stored as live animals.

4. Food should be stored from the four food groups.

5. Store food in a cool, dry place.

6. Store food in a secure package or container.

7. Dry foods by selecting ripe fruits of vegetables, cutting them thinly and placing then on a screen or gauze.

8. Place the food in the sun until it is dried so no moisture is apparent.

9. Store purified water in proper containers. Check regularly for leaks or rust.