I use vinegar, pickling salt,sugar, pickling spice.
I bring to vinegar to a rolling boil, drop everything in & stir until salt & sugar are gone, melted away then I pour the mix over the sweet banana peppers & garlic & hand seal jars.
Do a search on garden web or yahoo till you find a recipe you like.

Here is a link that might be useful: Harvest forum

Many discussions about this over on Harvest forum, the food preservation forum here that joli linked for you.

Link below is to the standard Pickled Hot Peppers instructions. You can "can" vacuum seal the jars for shelf storage or you can just keep the jar in the fridge.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Pickled Hot Peppers

You can also just throw them in a ziploc & freeze them whole or sliced. They're fine for cooking with, as they get soft during cooking anyway.

Ok, I checked the label on a jar of red peppers and onions. I love that mix. there is no vinegar at all. It just says roasted red peppers, onions, water, salt, olive oil, calcium chloride, and citric acid.

What is the chloride and acid doing? Is the citric acid lemon juice? Is that taking the place of the vinegar?

A friend of mine simply throws everything in vinegar. Is that safe? I am reading that you really need to cook/roast, or at least pull the skin off of most peppers prior to storing.

I guess what I am looking for is an easy, quick way to store peppers and other vegetables. I really am not interested in canning and all the equipment that comes with it.

Am I asking for unrealistic things?

Not if you will go to the correct forum to ask the questions. It has been linked for you above.

There are certified food preservationist on the Harvest forum, people trained in the safety issues encountered when one is working with a low-acid food like peppers.

As I said above, canning is not required. But if you do not can them or freeze them or ferment them then they must be kept in the fridge stored in vinegar. The guidelines stipulate a minimum of 5% acidic vinegar. Those are your choices - canning, freezing, fermenting, or vinegar brine in the fridge.

The blanching, blistering and/or peeling indicated in the guidelines is done for 2 reasons:

1) to increase their storage life in the fridge by killing surface bacteria and destroying the enzymes that hasten rotting and

2) to insure penetration of the pepper by the vinegar.

Peppers done that way have a fridge shelf life of approx. 3-4 months. If you choose to skip that part you need to at least cut a slit in the pepper so the vinegar can get inside. The fridge life of those peppers is approx. 3 weeks to 1 month. After that time listeria can begin to grow in them.

Again, all of this is discussed in far greater detail over on the food preservation forum and in even more detail at NCHFP also linked above.

Dave

Regarding your jar of peppers and onions prepared commercially, the calcium chloride adds saltiness and crunchiness and the citric acid is an acidity regulator. In small amounts (since it is at the end of the ingredient list) it cannot play a role as a preservative. That kind of mix would not be a good idea for home canning because there isn't enough acid. Commercial canneries have other ways of ensuring sterility.

Another suggestion for you would be to stir fry them without seasonings in a little bit of oil and then freeze them. They take up much less space when cooked, and it's less time consuming than blanching.