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Coach Addison's Guide to Saving Food

How to preserve food without electricity — for every African family
☀️ Sun Dry🔥 Smoke🧂 Salt🫙 Ferment🌾 Ash Store🌿 Cool Store
👋 I'm Coach Addison Konlan
PhD Student · Force for Health Fellow · Your Food Guide
A good harvest is only half the story. The other half is making it last. In this guide I'll show you six simple ways to save food using only the sun, fire, salt, and time — no fridge, no power, no cost. These are skills our grandparents knew. Let's keep them alive together.
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Companion booklet: A–Z Foods from Africa

Want to know the nutrition and traditional uses of each food you're preserving? Explore the A–Z Foods from Africa booklet in the Force for Health library. (Exact library link to be added.)

Part One · Learn It
Why Food Spoils — and How We Stop It
Five simple ideas behind every preservation method
🦠 Food spoils for four reasons

When food goes bad, it is because of moisture, warmth, air, and pests (insects, mould, and bacteria). Every preservation method works by removing one or more of these. Once you understand this, you can preserve almost anything.

☀️ Dry itRemove the water. Mould and bacteria cannot grow on dry food.
🧂 Salt itSalt pulls water out of food and out of the germs that spoil it.
🔥 Smoke itSmoke dries food and coats it with natural substances that kill bacteria.
🫙 Ferment itHelpful microbes take over and crowd out the harmful ones — and make food safer.
🌾 Seal itClose food away from air and insects in a tight sack, pot, or drum.
🌿 Cool itKeep food cool and shaded — or leave roots in the ground — to slow spoiling.
Coach Addison says
The golden rule
Almost every method below comes back to one idea: get the water out and keep the air off. If food is fully dry and tightly sealed, it will keep for months. If any moisture is left inside, it will spoil — so always dry a little longer than you think you need.
Part Two · Live It
The Six Methods — Tap to Open
Step-by-step instructions you can use at home today
☀️
Sun Drying
Best for: maize, beans, cassava, vegetables, fruit, fish
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How to do it

  1. Cut food into thin, even pieces (3–5mm) so it dries quickly. Beans and grain can stay whole.
  2. Spread in a single layer on clean mats or a raised rack — never directly on bare soil.
  3. Place in full, strong sun. Turn the food twice a day so it dries evenly.
  4. Cover with a thin cloth or net to keep flies and dust off.
  5. Bring it indoors at night so dew does not make it damp again.
  6. Dry until it is hard and snaps, or rattles when shaken (2–5 days).
Lasts 6–12 months when sealed
Coach Addison: Raise your drying mat off the ground on stones or a frame. Air flowing underneath dries food twice as fast and keeps animals away.
🔥
Smoking
Best for: fish and meat
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How to do it

  1. Clean the fish or meat well. Rub with a little salt if you have it.
  2. Lay it on a rack about 30–50cm above a slow hardwood fire.
  3. Keep a steady stream of smoke — you want heat and smoke, not big flames.
  4. Turn the pieces every hour so they dry and colour evenly.
  5. Smoke 4–8 hours until the food is firm, dry, and deep brown.
Lasts 2–4 weeks (longer kept dry)
Coach Addison: Use hardwood, not softwood — softwood smoke tastes bitter. The fish must end up fully dry; any soft, moist spots will spoil first.
🧂
Salting
Best for: fish, meat, some vegetables
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How to do it

  1. Clean the food and pat it dry.
  2. Rub salt generously over every surface, inside and out.
  3. Layer the food with more salt in a clean container, or hang it to let the salty liquid drip away.
  4. Leave 12–24 hours for the salt to pull the water out.
  5. Then sun-dry the salted food to finish — salt plus drying lasts far longer than either alone.
Lasts 1–3 months
Coach Addison: Salt is a multiplier — even a small amount greatly extends life. If the food is very salty, soak or rinse it in clean water before cooking.
🫙
Fermenting (Gari & more)
Best for: cassava, milk, some vegetables
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How to make gari from cassava

  1. Peel and wash the cassava roots well.
  2. Grate the cassava into a soft mash.
  3. Put the mash in a clean cloth sack and press out the liquid with a heavy weight.
  4. Leave it to ferment 2–3 days — this sours it and makes it safer to eat.
  5. Sieve, then roast the granules in a dry pan, stirring constantly, until light and dry.
Lasts 6+ months sealed and dry
Coach Addison: Fermenting cassava is not only about storage — it also lowers the natural toxins in cassava, making it safer. This is a skill worth teaching the whole family.
🌾
Ash & Airtight Grain Storage
Best for: dried maize grain, beans
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How to do it

  1. Make sure the grain or beans are fully dried first (they should rattle).
  2. Mix in a handful of clean, cold wood ash per container — it repels weevils.
  3. Store in a tightly sealed sack, clay pot, or metal drum with a lid.
  4. Keep the container raised off the floor and away from damp walls.
  5. Check every month for insects or moisture; re-dry in the sun if needed.
Lasts 6–12 months
Coach Addison: Wood ash is a free, traditional weevil repellent. A truly airtight container also starves insects of the air they need to survive.
🌿
Cool & In-Ground Storage
Best for: cassava, sweet potato, onions
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How to do it

  1. Cassava: leave the roots in the ground until you need them — they keep for months in the soil.
  2. Sweet potato: let the skins toughen (cure) for a few days, then store in a cool, dry, shaded pit or basket with good airflow.
  3. Onions: dry the outer skins, then hang in a cool, airy place away from sun.
  4. Only harvest or remove what you can use or preserve within a few days.
Lasts weeks to several months
Coach Addison: The ground is free cold storage. Cassava left in the soil stays fresher than cassava harvested and sitting in the heat.
Part Three · Practice It
Match the Food to the Method
You're the expert now — choose the best way to save each food
Coach Addison says
Before you choose
There is often more than one good answer — but one is usually best for the food and the tools you have. Pick what you'd really do at home, then read why.
🐟 A neighbour gives your family 3kg of fresh fish. The market is far and there is no fridge. What do you do?
🌽 You have harvested a large amount of maize. You want it to last until next season. What is the key step?
🍠 You have more cassava than your family can eat in the next few days. What is the smartest move?
🍅 You have a basket of ripe tomatoes and leafy greens that will spoil in two days. What can you do?
Part Four · Share It
Pass the Skill On
A preserved harvest feeds a family; a shared skill feeds a community
A word from Coach Addison
MyHealthy Africa
Saving food is one of the most powerful things a family can do for its own health and security. When you preserve well, no harvest is wasted and no season is feared. Teach these skills to your children — and they will carry your family through every hard time to come.
MyHealthy Africa

Coach Addison Konlan · PhD Student & Force for Health Fellow
A Force for Health Network resource · Companion to the A–Z Foods from Africa booklet
This guide may be printed and shared freely within your community.