Articles · Topic
Articles about Food Safety
27 articles across 6 sections
Section
Community
Faith Community Preparedness Guide
A practical guide for churches, synagogues, mosques and temples: choose a safe emergency role, write the plan, work with local partners and know when to stop.
Faith-Based Emergency Feeding Guide
Choose a safe food role for your faith community in an emergency, from sealed pantry boxes to hot meals, with the temperatures, time limits and stop rules.
Section
Self-Reliance
Aquaponics
Growing fish and vegetables in one closed loop. System types, cycling a tank safely, the food-safety line between fish waste and what you eat, and the tilapia permit question most guides skip.
Cheesemaking
Turning milk into cheese at home. Why pasteurized milk is the default, what the 60-day raw-milk aging rule actually guarantees, and the Listeria risk that shows up even when the milk was safe.
Dutch Oven Cooking
Cooking in a camp Dutch oven over charcoal: choosing a 12- or 14-inch oven and the tools to go with it, lighting coals in a chimney starter, Lodge coal counts and placement for baking, safe internal temperatures, seasoning and care, and the CPSC outdoor-only rule for charcoal.
Food Safety
Food handling safety, power outage food decisions, cooking without electricity, and outdoor cooking safety. Grounded in USDA FSIS guidance.
Freeze-Drying
How home freeze-drying works, what it does and does not do for food safety, which foods freeze-dry well, and how to store the results so they actually last.
Heritage Recipes
What your grandmother made, verified against what we now know. A collection of vintage family and community recipes, and the food-safety line every one of them needs checked against before it goes in a jar.
How to Dehydrate Food at Home: Temperatures, Times, and Safe Storage
How to dehydrate fruit, vegetables, herbs, fruit leather, and jerky at home: drying temperatures and times, pretreatments and blanching, doneness tests, conditioning, storage times, and the USDA rule for meat. Sourced to NCHFP and USDA.
Hydroponics
Growing vegetables in nutrient solution instead of soil. System types, mixing and testing the solution, and the corrosive chemicals in every pH kit that deserve more respect than the bottle suggests.
Outdoor Grilling
Charcoal and gas grilling done safely. The carbon monoxide and propane hazards that cause real injuries every year, and the cross-contamination habit that undoes a perfectly cooked meal.
Solar Cooking
Cooking with a box, panel, or parabolic solar cooker. What each type can actually reach in temperature, and why a thermometer matters more here than in almost any other kitchen tool.
Sprouting Grains and Seeds
Why FDA lists raw sprouts among the riskiest foods a household can make, what actually causes it, and the seed treatment and rinsing discipline that makes home sprouting worth doing carefully.
Vacuum Sealing
What vacuum sealing actually preserves, and the one claim about it that is dangerously wrong. Safe uses for dry goods, fridge, and freezer, and why a sealed bag is not a substitute for canning.
Cooking with Leftovers
Use leftovers deliberately, not reluctantly. The USDA FSIS safety rules for storing and reheating, plus practical strategies for cooking once and eating twice.
Getting Started With Food
Four practical habits before you grow, preserve, or cook: food safety, pantry rotation, building a working pantry, and preparing for supply disruptions.
Jerky Making: Drying Meat Safely at Home
Making jerky safely at home, covering the USDA temperature requirement most dehydrator manuals skip.
Power Outage Action Plan: Day Two and Beyond
What changes when a power outage passes 24 hours. The freezer decision at the FSIS limits, refueling while stations still have power, generator fuel budgeting and the charging-window model, light discipline, hygiene and sleep, the neighbors, and the thresholds that mean it is time to leave.
When the Power Stays Off: A Household Timeline for Extended Outages
What changes in your household after 72 hours without power, and what to do about it. A day-by-day timeline covering food safety, air quality, water, hygiene, fuel, and morale across a two-week outage.
Section
Preparedness
Cooking at Home When Eating Out Costs Too Much
What has actually happened to restaurant and fast-food prices since 2020 (BLS data), what a home-cooked meal costs in current grocery prices, a worked sandwich comparison, a first-week learning path into the site's cooking guides and courses, USDA leftover safety rules, and links to the pantry and meal-planning sections.
Cooking During a Power Outage in an Apartment
Safe ways to heat food in an apartment during a power outage. What works indoors, what belongs on the balcony, what is prohibited, and the honest case
First 24 Hours
The first day of a power outage, in order. What to do in the first ten minutes, how long the refrigerator and freezer hold, keeping warm or cool without power, and the carbon monoxide mistake that kills people every year. Hands off at the 24-hour mark, where the Power Outage Action Plan takes over.
Grid Down: What to Do When You Have Done Nothing to Prepare
Running a household when the power will be out for days or weeks: generator carbon monoxide safety, food safety timelines, emergency water treatment, heat and light, with no preparation. A complete action plan for an extended grid-down.
Trusted Food Resources
Fourteen outside food sources we have read and would send you to: USDA, FDA, and CDC food safety, the National Center for Home Food Preservation, state extension preservation and storage programs with staffed hotlines, Ask Extension, and ATTRA for small livestock, each with why it earned the spot.