As avid gardeners, we’re always looking for ways to preserve our garden harvests so our family can enjoy homegrown food all year long. Preserving food can include anything from dehydrating to freezing, canning, or fermenting. Whatever the food item is, there are probably a few different ways you can preserve them for long term storage. Whether you’re new to preserving food or shopping for your favorite gardener, these 10 items are a great place to start.

Whenever purchasing a product, we recommend looking for used options first. Check your local buy nothing groups and thrift stores before opting to buy new. Since second hand items are not always available, we have provided links to these products below.

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Food preserved for long term storage including bags, containers, and mason jars.

1. Mason Jars

Most people think of mason jars as something only used for canning, but they are incredibly useful for any type of food preservation. We prefer to use Ball canning jars when possible, which are easy to find at thrift stores, local yard sales, or online. These mason jars are made of glass with metal lids and rings that can seal to the jars when used for water bath canning or pressure canning. You can also freeze items in mason jars, which we love to do with nasturtium pesto each summer. They also work great for everyday use, like storing our dried herbs and spices or packing lunch to take to work.

There are different size mason jars available, so pick the size that works best for how you will use the jar. We like to use Ball Pint Jars (affiliate link) for storing herbs, canned salsa, and making overnight oats for breakfast. Ball Half Pint Jars (affiliate link) are great for storing smaller items and canning jams and jellies. We use the Ball Quarter Pint Jars (affiliate link) for freezing pesto to enjoy all winter. If you’re new to canning and don’t know where to start, check out the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (affiliate link) for easy and safe recipes.

2. Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer

If you plan to store any dry ingredients in mason jars, an electric mason jar vacuum sealer is an essential. When we have an abundance of homegrown flowers and herbs or we buy a large amount of a dry ingredient, like flour, we opt to store them in glass mason jars for the best quality. The vacuum sealer ensures the items preserve longer and keep their freshness. We didn’t realize how much of a game changer this was for our dried goods until we tried it.

This Electric Mason Jar Vacuum Sealer Kit (affiliate link) works on both regular and wide mouth mason jars and comes in a variety of colors.

3. Stasher Reusable Bags

Reusable bags are one of our favorite sustainable swaps that have helped us preserve our garden harvests. We’ve tried a number of brands, but our favorite hands down are Stasher Bags. They are made of durable food grade silicone and are safe for your dishwasher, microwave, and even your oven. With other brands, we’ve had a hard time with staining or getting the seal to close completely, but we’ve never had those problems with our Stasher bags. We’ve had Stasher bags for years and once you try them, you’ll never want to buy another plastic bag again.

Stasher food storage bags come in a variety of sizes, but if you’re new to reusable bags, try out the Stasher 4 Pack (affiliate link), which gives you a variety of sizes to try out. We love the Stasher Stand Up Mid Bag (affiliate link) and Stasher Stand Up Mega Bag (affiliate link) for freezing large amounts of garden harvests like tomatoes, peppers, and garlic.

Stasher bags filled with frozen veggies from the garden.

4. Souper Cubes

Another fantastic storage option for the fridge and freezer are Souper Cubes. These storage containers are made of food grade silicone and are oven and dishwasher safe. We use our Souper Cubes several times a week and it makes organizing your freezer so much easier. Plus, they are fantastic for meal prepping so you can have easy meals straight from your freezer. All you have to do is throw your leftovers or your processed garden veggies into the Souper Cube, let it freeze overnight, and then you can pop them out and store them in a reusable bag.

We use the Souper Cubes 1 Cup (affiliate link) for freezing individual portions of food and even our homemade dog food. The Souper Cubes 2 Cup (affiliate link) is great for storing larger amounts of food and works great for large garden harvests, like corn and diced peppers and onions.

Souper Cubes filled with rice next to a frozen block of corn frozen in a Souper Cube.

5. Herb Drying Rack

During the summer, it can get very hectic trying to keep up with the garden and preserve everything we’re growing, so we appreciate having an easy place to throw herbs, flowers, and peppers when we don’t have time to deal with them. After a week or two, most items will be completely dried out and can then be stored in a glass mason jar for long term storage. A drying rack is a great, eco-friendly option to drying and dehydrating garden harvests.

We use the AC Infinity 4 Tier Herb Drying Rack (affiliate link), which is collapsible and easy to store away during the winter. It hangs from a hook in our ceiling or a curtain rod throughout the spring and summer and we can throw our herbs and flowers for tea in them throughout the growing season. We often wish we had more space because our herb and tea gardens keep expanding, so consider the AC Infinity 6 Tier Herb Drying Rack (affiliate link) if you grow a lot of herbs.

6. Digital Food Dehydrator

A digital food dehydrator is a great way to dry out herbs, as well as things with more moisture, like fruits and peppers. While most things can be dried out with regular air flow, a digital food dehydrator makes the process a lot faster. We love to use ours for drying out peppers to make our own red pepper flakes and paprika, and it works great for making snacks like apple and banana chips.

We use the Hamilton Beach Digital Food Dehydrator (affiliate link), which is the perfect size for storing away and drying out a large quantity of things at once. This dehydrator doesn’t require you to move the trays around for even drying and includes a mesh screen for herbs and fruit leather.

Dehydrator trays next to peppers and a chopping board.

7. Glass Fermentation Weights

Fermenting weights are a simple, but essential tool for gardeners who love to preserve their harvests. When you make fermented foods like pickles, kimchi, or sauerkraut, the vegetables need to stay submerged completely under the brine to prevent mold. Glass fermentation weights sit on top of your veggies and keep them below the liquid surface while they ferment. Glass is an easy material to sterilize, which is why we use these for our fermentation projects.

Whether you’re fermenting homegrown cucumbers, herbs, or cabbage, these Fermentation Glass Weights (affiliate link) are a great option to ensure a clean fermented product and help you enjoy your garden harvests all year long.

8. Nut Milk Bag

If you like to cook, you’ve probably used cheesecloth at some point to strain something. Cheesecloth usually comes in a large square that can be hard to use for larger food items. We prefer a nut milk bag, which is essentially cheese cloth built into a bag (with a string to tie it up). We use our nut milk bag to strain homemade yogurt and oat milk, but it also works great for canning recipes that require straining. We use ours when making blueberry syrup and apple juice and love that we can use the strings to hang the bag from a cabinet.

Whether you’re making your own milk, yogurt, or straining something for a juice or jelly, this Nut Milk Bag (affiliate link) is a great tool to have on hand in the kitchen.

Nut milk bag hanging from cabinet knob straining blueberries.

9. Stainless Steel Funnel

If you plan to use mason jars to store anything from your garden, consider getting a funnel to help you fill the jars. We love using a stainless steel funnel because it’s easy to sterilize when we are water bath canning salsa or jams.

This Stainless Steel Funnel (affiliate link) has a large mouth, which fits most mason jars, and a convenient handle on the side.

Stainless steel funnel used to can tomatoes in mason jars.

10. Label Maker

When we first started preserving food, we thought we would remember exactly what was in each jar and bag, but we quickly learned we were wrong. You think you’ll remember packing up that garden harvest, but they all start to blur together once you’re in the middle of winter staring at a bunch of unlabeled items. Labeling your items is a crucial step to ensuring you can enjoy the food that you spent time and energy preserving.

We love using our Nelko Label Maker Machine (affiliate link) because it’s easy to use with wireless printing and a ton of custom print templates. Plus, it’s really small and easy to store away when we’re not using it.

Start Preserving Food

Preserving food is a rewarding task that not only provides you with delicious food during the winter, but reduces household food waste. These 10 items are ones that we use almost daily during the garden season and have saved us so much time and money. Whether you’re preserving garden harvests or something you purchased from a local farmer’s market, we hope this list inspired you to try preserving your own food.

10 Essential Tools You Need to Preserve Your Own Food