This change of season brings out the squirrel in me. No buried acorns but I do buy half bushels of fruit for jam, cook up the dribs and drabs of the garden for soup and find other ways to prepare for winter eating.

If you’ve never done it, you can begin with easy and satisfying jams, jellies, relishes and chutneys. Just follow the instructions that come with packaged pectin for the jam or jellies. Chutneys and relishes usually call for a mix of fruit and vegetables, chopped finely, simmered in vinegar and sugar and packed in hot jars. Onions, raisins and mustard seeds are often part of the mix too. Try plum chutney with a few hot peppers or a green tomato relish.

Oh yes, I used to have the full water bath rig for jars of tomato sauce and so. These days, however, I look for the most basic ways to save and I’d recommend several really easy ways to put a little by for your family. When kids are part of the process, the whole family will remember the mild day you picked or bought the produce and the adventure you had getting the food ready to wait for winter. One of the winter dishes that incorporates what they’ve helped to put up might even become a favorite.

Peppers are the ideal starter veg. Cut them open and clean out the seeds; then decide if you’d rather have them diced, for chili, let’s say, or in strips for sausage and peppers. The food processor makes either choice fast. After cutting them up, pat them dry and spread them on a small cookie sheet. Slip the sheet into the freezer and wait 2-3 hours or overnight. Then loosen up the pepper pieces and dump them into a quart freezer bag. They'll stay loose enough to spill the amount you need right into your recipe. Blueberries, raspberries and sliced apples (they will soften but for cooking, they’re fine) can be frozen this way too.

It takes up less room to freeze a kind of soup base to which you’ll add stock (and light cream if you like) when you defrost it. Nearly any vegetable can be cooked with a little liquid, pureed with an immersion blender and frozen in quart freezer bags, which take up less space than hard plastic containers. This year I froze broccoli, cucumbers and a summer squash-tomato combo in this way. Some years I’ve made a more full-blown vegetable soup base (see below).

Summer herbs can be kept longer by just hanging a healthy bunch upsidedown in a dry corner, blending some into softened butter or sticking few sprigs into equal parts wine and cider vinegar. I usually make a few jars of herb mustard. Mix dry mustard with equal parts water and vinegar until you have a smooth paste. Add chopped herbs of your choice (rosemary, tarragon, chives), spoon the mustard into clean jars and let it mellow for at least two weeks. I often use leftover beer or white wine, balsamic or wine vinegar, honey and fruit juice as the liquids instead of plain water.

Save the Garden Vegetable Soup Base

It’s hard to give exact measurements for this soup base; incorporate a selection of available vegetables that your family likes and add just enough liquid to help the veg cook.

Flavor-base veg:

Dice and sauté in olive oil: onion, garlic, scallions, leeks, shallots and peppers.

Longer-cooking veg:

Slice or dice: carrots, peeled winter squash, eggplant, turnips and parsnips.

Softer veg:

Slice thinly: fresh tomatoes, summer squash, green beans, okra, cabbage, spinach and chard.

Seasoning:

Add to taste, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.

Cook until all are tender, cool and freeze in quart freezer bags. To expand into soup, defrost and add stock, a can of diced tomatoes and wine to taste, as well as frozen corn, cooked beans, cooked pasta or rice, cooked meat or meatballs, dried or chopped fresh herbs. Simmer and serve.