Good for You. Good for Mother Earth.

 

Preserving freshly picked fruits and vegetables through home canning, freezing or dehydrating is not just good for you but also good for the environment! As our society continues to throw away nearly 30 billion pounds of food per year, landfill space will become gradually scarce. Preserving your foods will capture their freshness for up to one year and prevents food waste.

 

Here are 3 ways to get the “greenest” produce to preserve:

 

1.) Buy Organic: Organic farms do not use synthetic pesticides which release chemicals that can potentially harm the soil, water and local wildlife. Organic farms also use less energy, produce less waste and help sustain ecosystems. You can buy organic produce at local farmers markets, natural food stores or other grocery stores with organic produce sections.

 

2.) Buy Local: Farmer’s markets are becoming increasingly popular. Buying produce locally not only supports your community and its farmers, but you get fresher and more nutritional produce that has traveled fewer miles. Less transportation means reduced fossil fuel usage and less carbon emissions into the environment.

 

You can also join a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program where you build a relationship with a local farmer and receive a weekly or monthly basket of produce in exchange for a monetary contribution and/or working on the farm during growing season.

 

3.) DIY Gardening: Make this the year you plant your own garden in the backyard. Or, start a container garden by reusing Ball® or Kerr® glass preserving jars as pots. Either way, picking and preserving your very own produce will be a rewarding experience. For more information, refer to our Seed-To-Table Harvest Guide.  

 

Look through our recipes to find out how you can use those bright, freshly picked fruits and veggies to make delicious and healthy creations at home. Click here to search our recipe library.

 

 

Green Food Storage Solutions: Recyclable Products & Eco-friendly Packaging

 

The Ball® and Kerr® Brands are committed to environmentally responsible products and packaging. Our glass jars are made with 10% recycled glass, and our recyclable tray packaging uses approximately 52% less material than a fully enclosed box.

 

Although our glass jars have been the ideal way to store food for almost 125 years, our newer plastic jars and storage containers can also be a green storage solution. They are durable and reusable. When their life cycle ends, you can even recycle them.

 

 

How green are you?

Share your favorite ways to be green and read about the unique or everyday ways others are joining in to help our planet.
Click here to visit the Ball Preserving Club Message Boards.