Can the Sales!

Often times when the subject of canning comes up, the common response I get is that the person I'm talking to doesn't have a garden, so they don't can. The thing about it is, though, you don't necessarily need a garden! Most grocery stores have their weekly ads available online, so why not check out what's on sale and can that? As we have learned in my previous post What to Can, there are a great number of items that can be preserved by canning.

For example, my local grocery stores have the following "cannable" items on sale this week:

Beef Roast (Rump)

I realize that this first one is a little bit of a strange one, but canned meat is fantastic! One of my nursing home residents told me that her husband used to go hunting every year, and a portion of what he shot got canned. Later on, after his health had declined a bit and he was no longer able to go hunting, she would scan the ads to find meat that was on sale, and can it. Grandma always canned a portion of the game that grandpa shot, too. I thought it was a great way to preserve your meat, and it is super easy to use. Some of the best loose meat sandwiches I've ever had came from home-canned meat! Here are some instructions on canning meat.

Roma Tomatoes

Since Roma tomatoes are a paste tomato, it stands to reason that they would be made into tomato paste. Click here for an easy tomato paste recipe that includes canning instructions.

Grapes

Grapes are nice because you can juice them and can the juice, or you can make grape jelly. You could even mash them up to make wine, but then you would need to bottle it, not can it. Besides, that's another blog post in itself.

Peaches or Nectarines

In my family someone always had a peach tree, so there were always peaches to be canned in the fall or winter. While the obvious choice would be to preserve peach slices in a light syrup, you could also make them into jam, jelly, or pie filling, and can that. Nectarines can also be used in place of Peaches, since the only difference between the two is that nectarines lack the fuzz that peaches have.

Plums

I had never considered it before, but you can make plums into jelly or jam. Although I've never tried it, I think it would be an option worth exploring!

Asparagus

Asparagus is an fairly easy vegetable to can. If you have tall, thin jars you can preserve the spears whole, if not, you can just as easily snap them and preserve them in another type of jar. All you need to can asparagus is a little salt and some water, but if you're feeling daring you could always pickle it! Either way, the instructions are here.

Pineapple

Although I had never considered it before, I came up with the idea that one might be able to can pineapple at home several months back, and I spent an entire workday obsessing about the idea. When I got home I finally had the opportunity to research the subject, and was quite satisfied at how easy it is to can pineapple.

Carrots

  You can either can your carrots on their own, or you can use them to compliment other items, such as pickled jalapenos. Likewise, you can pickle carrots and can them.

Apples

  I love apples because there's just so much you can do with them! The top "cannable" items to be make with apples are, for me, apple jelly, apple butter, apple sauce and apple pie filling.

Don't forget! If you have any questions about canning equipment, boiling water canning, or pressure canning, I've got info to help you! Please note that the boiling water canning link sends you to a recipe, but at the bottom of that recipe is boiling water canning instructions.

Food Storage: Buying in Bulk

It used to be that at our house buying in bulk and having a well-stocked pantry were just not things that happened. One day, though, something clicked and we began to realize that keeping the food items that we use most often on hand is much easier and cheaper than going to the store and back a million times. So, how does one keep the things they need on hand at all times, without going broke in the process? Buy as much as you can while items are on sale, while shopping with coupons, or while shopping at stores that provide bulk amounts at discounted prices (such as Costco or Sam's Club.) The questions you should ask yourself when selecting items to purchase are: Is this something my family will use on a regular basis? Do I have a means of storing this item long enough for my family to use it? Will my family go through enough of this item quickly enough that it doesn't spoil or go to waste? You should be able to answer "yes" to all three questions in order to select an item for purchase. Purchasing food that will not be eaten is wasteful, and we all know my opinion on wastefulness.

Let's talk about storage for a bit. Storing canned and prepackaged dry goods is fairly easy. Store in a cool dry place, rotate oldest product forward and newest to the back. In the restaurants I've worked at we remembered FIFO: first in, first out. I also like to face my canned and prepackaged dry goods, so that you can read the label and know what it is, and group like items together, such as all your veggies in one spot and another spot for broth and gravy.


Frozen goods should also be pretty easy. If your food is individually wrapped, fine. If you have things you need to portion, remember to label and date your container. This way to know what you have, and when it went in, so that you can determine when it will go bad. For help here, please see my Load Up Your Freezer post.




Often times staple items such as sugar and flour are sold in large bags. Buying these commonly used ingredients in bulk is a very smart way to go, so long as you have a way to store it. Five gallon buckets will usually fill this role rather nicely. You can typically purchase buckets and specially designed lids at hardware stores, feed stores, or super centers. The lids that we use are called gamma lids, and are snap on lids with a screw on inner lid. This makes it fairly easy to access your food without having to constantly pry off the lids. It also allows you to open the bucket without accidentally dumping in any dirt or debris that may have accumulated on the lid during storage.







If you don't have the money to invest in this bucket and lids system, just do what my mom did when I was growing up. Start purchasing your laundry detergent by the bucket. When the bucket is empty, thoroughly wash and dry it. Line it with a drawstring garbage bag and add your foodstuffs. Draw the top of the bag closed, fold it over and apply your lid. The garbage bag will prevent the aforementioned dirt and debris from being dumped into your food. No matter which method you use, remember to label your containers so you don't have to guess which bucket your bread flour might be in. At my house we have all-purpose flour, bread flour, corn meal, white rice, white sugar, and ramen noodles in buckets. Mom kept egg noodles, lasagna noodles, flour, sugar, powdered milk and pinto beans.

For those food items that you have a lot of, but not enough to justify a 5 gallon bucket, you can use half gallon canning jars. We use half gallon jars to store our salt, powdered milk, popcorn, coffee beans, brown sugar, lentils and chickpeas. (To name a few) You can purchase plastic storage caps for your jars, so that you don't have to mess with the ring and lid combo, and you can use a label maker to label all your products. For items you don't use often, you can buy a lid sealer what is compatible with a Food Saver vacuum storage system. It will vacuum seal a canning lid onto your jar to keep the food inside fresher longer.

Food Preservation: What to Can

Bread and Butter Pickles from my
mother-in-law's pantry

We all know that canning is a great way to put the foods we grow in our gardens away for a rainy (or snowy) day, but what exactly are you able to can? 

Well, pretty much anything!

Jam, Jelly, Preserves, or Apple Butter
Peaches, Apricots or Pears
Apple Sauce
Pie Filling
Veggies (carrots, green beans, corn, etc.)
Potatoes
Tomatoes

Taco Soup, Dill Pickle Relish and
Marinara Sauce from my pantry

Pickles
Pickled Peppers, Okra, Squash or Asparagus
Salsa, Taco Sauce or Chili Sauce
Pasta or Pizza Sauce
Soup, Stew, or Chili
Barbecue Sauce
Meat
Fruit or Vegetable Juice

Chokecherry Jam from Mom's
pantry

In my family we have always had our canned "staples."

Grandma and grandpa always kept a fairly large garden, and grandma would can the resulting produce. Strawberry jam, canned peaches, tomatoes, chili sauce, salsa, and she also canned meat. I know what you're thinking: "WHAAT?! Canned meat?! Why would one need to can meat?" Well, grandpa worked for the state fish and game association and, therefore, went hunting on a regular basis. When he brought home a deer, elk, or pronghorn most of the meat went into the freezer, but a good portion was also canned by grandma. It was tasty, already cooked, and made the best loose meat barbecue sandwiches you've ever tasted. So, why can meat? Why not?!

Aunt Steph's Apple Pie Filling

At my parents house my mom made strawberry jam, peach jam, canned peaches, tomatoes, salsa, and pickles. At the house they live in now they have a peach tree that produces far too many peaches for any human to eat, so mom stays pretty busy canning jam and peaches each fall.

At our house Willie and I have canned taco soup, marinara sauce, green beans, dill pickle relish, potatoes, and tomatoes.

So, by now I'm sure you're asking "But what about your great uncle? What does he can?" The answer: Jalapeno jelly.

I've asked my family to take photos of the canned food in their pantries for this blog entry. Photo credits go to: Cheryl Nisonger, Pat Williams, and Stephanie Black.

Aunt Steph's Pickled Beets

Aunt Steph's
Raspberry Jam

Aunt Steph's Tomato Juice
and Crushed Tomatoes

Aunt Steph's Salsa

Aunt Steph's Bottled

 Venison

Aunt Steph's
Applesauce