I eat a lot of pickled things from the store - Whole Dill, Red peppers, Pepperonici etc. After I eat all in the jar I replace it with a vegetable. I put garlic cloves in one and habanero peppers in another. I can leave them in the fridge for however long. When I cook my meat I brown the garlic and habanero in the pan first and eat it with the meal. I'm surprised this isn't commonplace - I don't have to worry about the vegetables going bad and its as easy as taking it out of the jar and putting it in the pan.
I chopped up some sweet potato and put it in my large empty jar with the pickle juice. I want to branch out into other vegetables. My next thought was to wash some red beans and put them in a jar so they will be soft and ready to cook when I need them. I am wondering a few things. Anyone doing this? Other than high salt content, any real drawback i.e. are significant nutrients lost in the pickle process? Can you pickle just about anything? Thanks.