Quick pickles are just how they sound — quick and easy to make. Freshly chopped vegetables are bathed in a simple hot vinegar brine, then stashed in the refrigerator to marinate for a couple of days.  However, the trade-off is that quick pickles are not shelf stable. They must be kept in the refrigerator and only have a shelf life of 2 months.  Regular pickles, on the other hand, go through a much more involved pickling process. They are bathed in a much stronger brine and then vacuum sealed using a water-bath method. This makes them shelf stable with a much longer life. For example, a bread and butter pickle jar prepared this way can sit safely in your pantry for up to a year.