Who'd have thought that home preserving could be a tool for healing? I know it was never on my radar when we first started to preserve our own food but I have a little story to tell you. A little story with a big outcome.

My husband, Mike, was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis back in 2006 just after we got back from our honeymoon. He saw a specialist (actually multiple) at the time and was put onto immune-suppressants - these got stronger over time and for the most part, never really managed the condition so steroid use became quite common during periods of inflammation. As you may well imagine, the immune-suppressants and steroids caused multiple other issues such as kidney damage and bone density changes.

We asked the specialists on so many occasions about connections with diet and whether we should try eliminating certain foods. This was always met with scepticism and we were told it was a waste of time. Here... we will prescribe a stronger immune-suppressant.

Early 2020, another family member was diagnosed with an autoimmune condition and this was a springboard for finding answers. At this point, we started seeing a functional practitioner for both family members and, thankfully, the whole space of gut health and it's function in autoimmune conditions (and our overall health) came into our consciousness. We ended up following the autoimmune protocol diet (AIP) for most of 2020 and then slowly reintroduced some grains, eggs and a little butter plus some vegetables that we'd stayed away from over 2020. We are still completely gluten free, soy free and almost completely dairy free.

Anyone who has had to make big changes to their diet will tell you that it can be hard. Prior to making these changes, we had a good diet by most people's standards. I was making sourdough bread, we were really careful with additives in our foods and generally eating a clean diet. So, for us, whilst the changes were hard, they weren't too bad and it was helped along by the fact that I'm confident in the kitchen and happy to experiment. We quickly ended up in a place where we had meals that we liked and, whilst time-consuming, it was ok. And, to this day, we really don't have any issues creating beautiful meals that serve our health needs.

But, there are challenges. 

• it's virtually impossible to eat out (or just not worth it) so it's hard to get a night off cooking, and
• when away from home, we have to be prepared for meals as it's not always easy to find somewhere that we can eat.

But there was a light and it was in the form of a pressure canner. I remember buying that canner in 2020 and thinking about how good it would be to have more food preserved when the world was incredibly uncertain (and yes, that's definitely a good thing to do). What I never imagined was that this would be a tool for healing and that this would make our lives so much more easeful.

Imagine if you will, it's 5pm on a busy day and you need to starting getting something ready for dinner. Takeaways aren't an option because you simply cannot eat that food. You could go to the supermarket and get something appropriate but that takes time too plus multiple trips to the supermarket always add a lot to the weekly food bill. Instead of any of those options, you pull a jar from your pantry and in that jar is a pressure canned beef stroganoff or chicken in a tomato sauce or a gut healing chicken soup with lots of collagen. You simply need to heat it, sauté off some vegetables to have with it (if necessary) and your dinner is served. This is what we had and this was easeful living that served our health (and still does).

Pressure canned meals and meal components became a tool for us. Because we were always cooking from scratch, our pressure canned meals and meal components became our convenience food - they were affectionately known as our takeaways. And to this day, we are still reaching for those jars on our shelves at least once every week.

But it doesn't stop there. Over the past few years we've really enjoyed the beauty of going on holiday as a family with meals already made. We take our jars and anything else we need and our meals are served within 15 min, start to finish. This means that there is no compromise on our health when travelling and, as a parent, it's a mental load that we just don't have to wear. This is our preferred way of travelling now.

So, you might be wondering how my husband's health is at this point in time. It is currently the best it has ever been. He went off all medication towards the end of 2022 and he is still completely in remission almost 18 months later. We've made life changes along the way too but the foundation of a diet that was appropriate, really tuning into your body and rebuilding gut health were the building blocks that all other changes were made on. 

I share this story today because I want anyone with an autoimmune condition to know that they have so much power within themselves to heal. My husband had been on immune-suppressants for almost 17 years, it was almost inconceivable that he could end up completely off them with no issues and actually have improved other aspects of his health as a result (bone density now fine, still working on the kidney damage). Whilst every situation will be unique, I share our story as it may resonate with someone and be the key they were looking for on their own healing journey.

Food truly is medicine - it can either be health-serving or health-taking. With the pressures of modern living, maintaining a diet that is suitable for your own body and its optimal function can be a challenge. It is with an absolute hand on my heart that I share preserving food as a tool to support your healing journey. Whilst we lean heavily on our pressure canned meals, it may well be that your freezer is a better option for you. Or, adding some basic ferments into your life could be beneficial too.

Your health matters.

If you are curious about the meal in the photo, this is pressure canned meatballs in a maple mustard sauce served on cauli rice with a salad. I make the maple mustard sauce and heat the meatballs up in that as it's cooking down. During that time I can cook standard rice or make cauliflower rice and prepare a salad. All done in about 15 min. The recipes for the meatballs and the maple mustard sauce are both in The Preserver's Kitchen membership - we eat these almost every week!

If you are just getting started preserving your own food or have already started but wanting support, come and join us inside The Preserver's Kitchen. This is a membership that will support the development of your preserving skills but also give you access to a whole community of other home preservers. You will feel inspired, motivated, and, best of all, have the opportunity to make rapid progress on achieving your goals.