A quick snipping of some herbs growing in my patio container gardensHow preserve nature's bounty for one person.
When the crickets chirping becomes more intense, the goldenrod blooms alongside roads, and the daylight seems to magically shorten, summertime is giving way to fall, and now is the time many people "put up" the season's bumper crops to savor for the upcoming winter months.
Preserving food may seem old-fashioned, rural, or suitable for those with large families, but the person cooking for one can still preserve the truly fresh flavors of locally raised food for later.
Canning in glass jars is one way to keep foods. Through canning, the food is processed under high temperatures and sealed to keep out bacteria and fungi. Although not very difficult, canning can require processing more food than the single person could use through the year and requires an investment in appropriate equipment.
The single person enjoys eating homegrown foods during the dead of winter just like anyone else, but smaller quantities, limited time, and uncertainty of how to go about doing it, set them back.
Preserving your own foods for one person has many benefits. You know what is in your food and what was done to it before you consume it. You preserved the food at the peak point of ripeness and freshness. It didn't sit around for a long time during transport or retail. True ripeness and freshness are unmistakenable qualitities of good food. You control the portion sizes. You can make as little or as much as you wish, and you can preserve them in consumable quantities for one person.
If I am going to preserve food either from my garden or my local farmers' market for one person, I want to select food that is easy to preserve and stands apart in flavor and quality from commercial alternatives. The following are three such foods that meet those criteria: tomato puree, berries, and herbs. Try preserving one of these fresh products to have an easy taste of summer whenever you are cooking for one person.
Fresh Tomato Puree
Preserving Berries
Drying Fresh Herbs
Homemade peach pie for one personIf you've been fortunately spoiled to eat homemade pies and cakes, it's sometimes challenging to not let your mouth get critical with industrial bakery goods. You are cooking for one person, and sometimes a slice of homemade pie sounds so good. Thoughts creep up of trying to consume a whole pie, passing it around to friends to help you eat it, or how you could shrink that 9 inch pie pan in the cupboard. 
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