The Canning Thread

I cant speak for everyone else but I enjoy the process and like using my home grown veggies. Home grown tomatoes are worth it. I don’t do it to save money.

tdt91 said:

My parents and in-laws used to can veggies back in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
No a days it really don't seem worth it considering you can get a can of green beans for 39 cents or sometimes less.
How much time and energy will it cost you to can veggies? My guess is it's not even close to being worth it.

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Joseph said:

I cant speak for everyone else but I enjoy the process and like using my home grown veggies. Home grown tomatoes are worth it. I don’t do it to save money.

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Flavor and satistfaction of homegrown stuff is worth it.

tdt91 said:

My parents and in-laws used to can veggies back in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
No a days it really don't seem worth it considering you can get a can of green beans for 39 cents or sometimes less.
How much time and energy will it cost you to can veggies? My guess is it's not even close to being worth it.

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Not long ago everyone was scrambling to get canned goods, toilet paper and hand cleaner. And it was with just a couple months of pandemic induced demand and reduced supply and delivery

Imagine if it’s twice as bad or ten times as bad

It’s best to be prepared

And you know exactly what your getting when you do it yourself

So go buy a few cases of canned goods from Aldi's or Ollies. No one argues that it is good to have the supplies on hand when SHTF. But will we ever see a time when we need to can veggies or harvest Ice from the frozen rivers again and store it in ice houses 30' deep. Hell, the rivers don't freeze like that around here anymore so I guess we are sol

tdt91 said:

So go buy a few cases of canned goods from Aldi's or Ollies. No one argues that it is good to have the supplies on hand when SHTF. But will we ever see a time when we need to can veggies or harvest Ice from the frozen rivers again and store it in ice houses 30' deep. Hell, the rivers don't freeze like that around here anymore so I guess we are sol

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I have a years worth of food , probably 14 or 15 months, on hand now and we still can and get long term good when we shop

You can never be prepared enough or know enough or have enough ammo. Contrary to what liberals believe canned fruit and vegetables and meat don’t grow in the cans at the supermarket.

Knowing how to preserve various foods is a useful skill to have. Better to have the equipment and knowledge before you need it.

Joseph said:

Knowing how to preserve various foods is a useful skill to have. Better to have the equipment and knowledge before you need it.

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Ding ding ding we have a winner!!!!!

Knowledge is far more valuable than money if the shtf. Personally I think it’s more valuable than money now but others disagree

I have someone every day ask me “ how do you know how to do that “ and my response is how come you don’t?

I started pickling/canning to make what I cannot buy, i.e. things that are not available commercially (i.e. spicy canned pickled eggs) that are suited to my personal taste, and that I made myself. Never looked at the cost of doing it, even if I could compare my results to something I could buy off the shelf (which I cannot).

With pressure canning coming up next for us, we will be able to can the S.U.’s soups, chili, sauces, etc. which again, are not available in stores.


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Does anyone know of a brand/type of plastic crate, like a milk crate but not as tall that would hold quart jars nicely? Stackable would be preferred. Something with individual slots for each jar would be nice.

Joseph said:

Does anyone know of a brand/type of plastic crate, like a milk crate but not as tall that would hold quart jars nicely? Stackable would be preferred. Something with individual slots for each jar would be nice.

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Dunno how sturdy these are.

https://www.lemproducts.com/product/jarbox-for-pint-and-quart-jars/canning

I have seen those but I am holding out for something more like a crate.
Thanks though.

The ping of a successful seal, after today's labors. 8 jars total, including eggs, small pickles, and baby corn. Spicy pickled corn make a great addition to a bloody mary.

Nice work

S.U. and I just opened and consumed a spicy pickled chicken egg that was pickled and canned by me in December 2018, and stored since then at room temp. They're the oldest ones we have in stock, and they smell and taste delicious. If botulism has set in, I suppose we'll find out soon.

smkranz said:

S.U. and I just opened and consumed a spicy pickled chicken egg that was pickled and canned by me in December 2018, and stored since then at room temp. They're the oldest ones we have in stock, and they smell and taste delicious. If botulism has set in, I suppose we'll find out soon.

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If the lid isnt popped its good imo

I have eaten tomatoes 5 years old and they start to brown a bit and loose a slight bit of flavor, but they are still fine to eat. As a kid we routinely had jelly and preserves that was 4 to 5 years old. It is best to eat them within two years, but not really required for substance. Now if you're making gourmet meals they probably won't keep you happy when over a year.

Mom taught me economy of scale with this stuff. We didn't get one bushel of apples, we got 4 and I sat in front of that trash can peeling and coring them all. In one day we made apple jelly, preserves and canned apples for pies/cobblers. The first two went into pints and the latter into quarts. Those lasted for years and next year we bought peaches or pears or something else.

If the stuff was heated right and the lid is down it will last longer than they tell you. The longer you keep it the quality will lower but it will still be plenty edible.

What kind of shelves are you using? My Mechanical room is limited in space and I worked on this design for a 4' wide area. I didn't think this would be big enough until I did all the math and reduced from 15" shelves to 12" shelves.

It is still 132 quarts and 273 pint space allowed. I didn't think this one rack would hold that much.

Archeryrob said:

I have eaten tomatoes 5 years old and they start to brown a bit and loose a slight bit of flavor, but they are still fine to eat. As a kid we routinely had jelly and preserves that was 4 to 5 years old. It is best to eat them within two years, but not really required for substance. Now if you're making gourmet meals they probably won't keep you happy when over a year.

Mom taught me economy of scale with this stuff. We didn't get one bushel of apples, we got 4 and I sat in front of that trash can peeling and coring them all. In one day we made apple jelly, preserves and canned apples for pies/cobblers. The first two went into pints and the latter into quarts. Those lasted for years and next year we bought peaches or pears or something else.

If the stuff was heated right and the lid is down it will last longer than they tell you. The longer you keep it the quality will lower but it will still be plenty edible.

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If you keep your jars away from light it takes even longer for any discoloration. And heck, I have eaten stuff like green beans and jelly that was over ten years old and it tasted great k to me and I ain’t dead lol

Archeryrob said:

What kind of shelves are you using? My Mechanical room is limited in space and I worked on this design for a 4' wide area. I didn't think this would be big enough until I did all the math and reduced from 15" shelves to 12" shelves.

It is still 132 quarts and 273 pint space allowed. I didn't think this one rack would hold that much.

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We have a few closets with shelving at 12” on center from the floor to the ceiling

Ay my parents house when we all lived there we had shelves starting 2’ above the floor that were 2’ wide and 12” on center up to the ceiling in the utility room that had a furnace in it for heat and hot water. The rooms 12’x8” I believe but it had a door and a furnace in there but everywhere else was shelves

It seems like in that room mom would put way over a thousand jars a year on the shelves

Sounds like a lot but we had jars everywhere we could put them

Feeding 6 people 3 meals a day plus pies and jelly and such it takes a lotta jars of food lol

Canned 3 quarts and 3 pints of peaches last night as well as 8 pints of peppers. Going to can some Borscht tonight also.

Not canning, but having all home made (except the buns) dinner tonight. Venison burgers, home made ketchup, corn I picked an hour ago and green beans from the garden. Venison was harvested 30yds from the garden last fall...

I am honestly a bit too excited about the corn. Garden is my wife's and I help her with it some (mostly picking things she can't reach, making garden beds, occasionally watering it).

But we planted an orchard out front this spring. Its my baby. Last house we had 3 apple trees, un fenced and I mostly ignore it. Deer or bugs got the apples every year and cedar apple rust stunted the trees. Now I am actively taking care of them. 4 apples, a plum, a plumcot, 2 5-in-1 peaches, 2 almond and 2 cherry trees. The later 6 trees were dormant starts, so they are still little. Picked most of the blossoms off the apples, but I've got 2 Fuji and 3 honey crisp that are doing well (picked off one of each early as they were turning out bad and didn't want the growing energy diverted on bad apples). If the deer don't jump the high fence and get in there, might actually end up with edible apples for the first time ever. I planted corn also in a bed. I didn't do it all right. I didn't thin it properly and didn't water quite enough (its 400 feet from the house, so next season just need to get a crap load of hose and deal with coiling it up when I mow for July at least). But I got what appears to be 5 edible ears off this morning. All the stalks have ears growing, but some are going to end up not much bigger than baby corn. Most are smaller than they are supposed to be.

I think it was 1, not enough watering in July with the ridiculous heat (a lot of leaf curl), using just a 2 gallon watering can and a few trips back and forth most days it didn't rain. I think 2nd reason was not thinning properly so a bit of a combo of fighting over nitrogen as well as a bit of shading of each other reducing growth. I think the last reason is I started late, just a few days before memorial day.

Anyway, lessons for next year. Going to plant 2 beds and put in green beans once the corn sprouts to help with the nitrogen and run the hose. Plus both properly thin it, as well as plant more of it (the bed is about 15'x4' with 2.5 rows of about 20 plants in the two rows and 5 in between them). I also need a rotor tiller. I hoed that bed by hand and it SUCKED. Our main garden is all raised beds except berry bushes that went straight in the ground. Going to try to do 20'x6' beds with an honest 4 rows. Work in compost (I did do that).

I might end up canning some corn in a few days. Especially since most of the ears are too small to be decent corn on the cob eating (most are around 4" in size, but some are going to milk now. Biggest I pulled today was about 7" and this variety is supposed to be 8-8.5". Others were around 6"). Might have enough to make a nice pot of chili and get a pint of canned corn out of the rest. Maybe 2 pints.

Really looking forward to the apple harvest. I'll probably hit up Larriland for that (that's where the peaches were from). Didn't do much apple sauce last year. I am hoping to can up at least 2 gallons of apple sauce this year and finally make apple butter. I've been wanting to do that (apple butter) for years. Good excuse this year.

Not an exhaustive list, but I think we are up to 4 quarts of pickle spears, 8 pints of relish, 4 pints of sandwich pickles (half are dill, half are bread and butter. I prefer the former, my wife the later). 4 pints and 4 jelly jars (half pints) of salsa. 2 jelly jars of minced garlic. 9 pints of blue berry jelly (half was from our garden, half from Larriland), 6 pints of raspberry jelly (almost all Larriland sadly. Need another year for our raspberries to grow), 6 pints of peach jelly (also Larriland), 17 quarts of spaghetti sauce or red pepper spaghetti sauce and 3 pints of white tomato spaghetti sauce. Other than where mentioned, all from our garden.

That doesn't count all the stuff we've been eating fresh, frozen or drying. We've got a minimum of another 8-10 quarts of spaghetti sauce/diced tomatoes that'll end up coming ripe the next few weeks. If the green beans do well this fall in the former corn bed, I'll likely can a bunch of them. Not sure all that my wife has plans for, for the garden for a fall planting/harvest. I know she's put in some more peas and beans already. I think greens again.

I also have my hydroponic lettuce process I think nailed down and its doing well. Only have 1 head ready for harvest shortly and another on the way. But a lot of experimenting the last couple of months (kraty method in mason jars). I plan to keep growing lettuce year round in jars. I'll probably experiment with some other stuff. I might try cherry tomatoes, but I've had no luck pollinating tomatoes when grown in pots in doors before. So not sure on that one.