Then at the end of August, we take a week for ‘tomato’ products: salsa, chili, tomato sauce, and just good ol’ canned tomatos. We probably had like 50 pint-sized jars of a mix of the above! And the pantry was completely empty of all of that as of last weekend. For all of those, we grow tomatos, bell peppers and onion so we only need to buy a few things like jalapeno or beans for the chili, spices.

As for getting started with jars, rings, a big canning pot for water baths, I suggest checking on craigslist or garage sale. People are always getting rid of them. I bought 2 cases of pint size jars, my big pot, and a few other things for $20. She had tried canning and got sick of it I guess. The stuff was brand new. And I always see jars on craigslist for like $0.50 each and you can haggle a bit on those, like $5 per dozen.

I have not water bathed anything for decades!!

When I can tomatoes, fruits etc. that they call for water bath, we use 5 lbs for 5 min.

Some really soft fruits, we will bring to pressure after venting and turn off the canner.

Some other fruits we will process 5lbs for 15 min.

We have found that 99.5% of all pressured canned foods seal, this fall, I canned 350 qts of soups, stews, meats, and vegetable soup and I had only 6 jars that did not seal.

As for cost savings… I did u-pick for strawberries ($1/lb), green beans (5gal bucket for $5) and so on, in addition to “free” stuff from neighbors and their trees and my own backyard (and since I’ve started saving my own seeds, that cost has gone down as well!). Considering I’m able to make and can things that are at the peak of their flavor and nutrition and lacking in high fructose corn syrup (I detest those commercials), it’s just a world of difference. Feeding my young kids the good stuff is almost priceless. My 5yo *loves* green beans, and will happily tell anyone and everyone that his favorite vegetable is broccoli. My 2yo will munch down an entire apple from the tree in the yard, and would try to sneak strawberries from the strawberry beds this summer. It’s just a fabulous way of life for us – and one way for me to keep grocery costs down since we’re a one-income family.

All it takes is one batch of botulism to ruin your family’s day.

As for the costs of canning: the biggest recurring cost is the darn lids, which seem to go up in cost every year, and are never on sale. You can get jars easily from the paper…its a dying art and people are always looking to get rid of jars.

Canning is not so much a cost saving technique, but more of a value added technique…the savings can range from moderate to minimal to nominal (especially if you factor in your time), but the flavor of your own canned products is far superior to the stuff you buy at the store.

So glad to see that so many others are into canning too! Out of my large family, I’m the only one who still does it.

We are currently working on 2 bushels of plum tomatoes bought from the local farm stand, which we are turning into sauce via vintage canning equipment from my grandmother’s day. (Next year we will plant enough so that we don’t have to buy any.)

I’m curious about other people’s tomato sauce canning technique: the books usually say that the jars should be boiled after filling them and putting the lids on, but we’ve never done that, and we’ve never had problems with the lids not sealing or the sauce spoiling. Does anyone else just fill the jars with boiling-hot sauce, close them up, and let them seal on their own?

Thanks for such a great site, btw.

I looked at our grocery receipts last month and realized that because of our own garden, our normal eating budget was down by $100! So I looked at some sales of things we eat every day (certain cookies and pretzels that always go in lunches) and I spent that $100 that I saved because of the garden on those sales, effectively saving $50 by stockpiling those items. This month, because of the garden, some strategic stockpiling, and my own canning, our grocery bill should be half what it normally is.

I now can a lot less than I used to. Part of this is because I now live in a milder climate, but… To those with gardens I say:

rethink your garden layout,
try compact/container seed varieties,
and explore climate-extending techniques.

In many areas of the country you can eat fresh veggies earlier and later than you think – by selecting early/late varieties from a seed catalog instead of settling for what the garden center offers. And by using inexpensive season-extending methods.

Look into Square Foot Gardening and Raised Bed Gardening – both of which make it easier to use cold frames, mini-greenhouses, black plastic mulches, polytunnels, row covers, and other season extenders.

If you have enough space for trees, you can select varieties that spread the harvest out. A lot of garden and orchard advice is geared towards commercial farmers who want a large, uniform crop ready all at once. Instead, the home orchardist/gardener wants the exact opposite.

I now only can seasonal items that cannot be dried – largely berries and fruits that ripen in a short time window. Since I live in a place with hot, dry summers, I dry more peaches, grapes, and apricots than I can. Instead of laboring in a steaming hot kitchen in the heat of the summer, I put the fruit in trays and let the sun do the work for me.

Canning is a lot of work, and can use a lot of energy in processing. In many areas of the US, it’s not the optimal solution for food production or preservation.

Thanks for this post; I really enjoyed it. We’ve done canning before (salsa and applesauce) and we love the results. The only problem for us is time. How many hours did all of that canning take?

I would second Kris’s recommendation on the Ball Blue Book of Preservation – it really is a must have if you want to can. It has all the info you need for just about anything. Canning is not nearly as hard as people think and it is very satisfying work. When I finally sit down after spending a few hours canning and look at the jars neatly lined up on my counter cooling I can’t help but smile at the thought of all that good food being eaten by my family this winter. I love it!

I’m glad and I think so is she. My mom got me the Victorio Strainer at a yard sale for a couple of dollars a few year back and it is WONDERFUL. Everyone loves turning the crank and it seems like a miracle how that ugly stuff comes out and the applesauce comes out the other side.

The jars CAN be expensive at first (ha) but if you let people know you want to do it, I’ll bet that there are plenty of people in the area who would look out for jars at yard sales/sales for you.

Here in Poland we just use the jars that they sell other things in. They don’t have the system that we have in the states. You can reuse the lids as well. It really is cheap. But I do prefer the throw away lids as they seem to be more mistake proof.

I have a zucchini confetti relish that I make that people here love, so I make a couple of double batches to use as presents.

Yes, it can be addicting, but it is a fun addiction and one that my kids love.

The taste of my homemade peach jam and what we can buy…no comparison, mine is better. On the other hand, I prefer store bought canned peaches. Weird, huh?

For those of you just starting, my advice is to start simply. Make jam the first year to get your feet wet, using only the boiling water bath, then advance to actually canning other things like pickles, vegies and fruit concoctions. Getting a pressure canner and doing green beans is another step. It’s not really hard is only really in your imagination. It just takes time. If most people would cut out their tv time, they’d have the time they need. It’s only seasonal.

There’s an apple tree on my walking route to work and I’m seriously thinking about asking the nice people who live in the house if I can go pick their apples in exchange for some eventual apple butter.

I get tons of canning jars from older relatives who no longer process their own foods. You can also find them at garage sales and thrift stores. These last forever. Just check for any cracks or chips, especially around the rim. Cracked or chipped jars should not be used.

I also got tons of new lids, still sealed in the boxes at a garage sale. 11 boxes for 2.00. That was a score!

I do a lot of trading. My neighbors give me free pears if I give them pear jelly, applesauce, etc. I give my BIL hot pepper jelly and he gives me fresh-caught salmon, smoked salmon, pheasant, etc.

I guess you could call canning pack-ratting. At least it’s a constructive form of pack-ratting. It’s a way to save money, support my local farmers at the u-picks, and enjoy home-canned food that tastes soooo much better than anything you can buy at the store. Also, here in Michigan, you need to have some sort of emergency foods. There can be times in winter when you don’t want to (or can’t) venture out for a week at a time. Okay, and the pretty jars of jams, fruits, tomatoes look so pretty on the shelves too!

To the person who felt this was hording, sure is, just like money in the bank. Recently Money ran an article on the the best financial advice you ever got. One of the comments was, if you only had $1000 to invest, put it in non-perishable food. I compare my pantry to a good emergency fund, and it gives me the same satisfaction as a barn full of good hay. Nothing like the secure feeling of a full emergency fund, full pantry and freezer and a barn full of hay as winter looms around the corner. While not many people crave a barn full of hay anymore, most people have room for some summer fresh preserves.

(I didn’t think of doing it for vegetables, but maybe I will next year.)
I advertised really late in the summer, but still ended up with enough free fruit to can nine pints of pears, six pints of plums, three quarts of applesauce, six jars of apple butter, five jars of plum-pear jam, a dozen jars of plum jam, and I honestly don’t know how many jars of blackberry jam (it’s been put away in a couple of cupboards and I’m too lazy to hunt it down). I’ve also frozen a bunch of blackberries for winter shortcakes and to add to bread pudding.

The jam jars are different sizes, from 4 to 16 ounces, so I’m not sure what it adds up to — but there’s a lot of it. (Next year I’m keeping a log, I swear.) I’ll give much of this away as gifts; it’s especially good for those people who already have everything.

Just finished my penultimate batch of plum jam and my apartment smells WONDERFUL. This year I tried making it without commercial pectin and was pleased with the results, although it meant more boiling and stirring. While I cooked this batch I did the math and figured out that it cost me about 16 cents per 8-ounce jar. The sugar was on sale, and I got a splendid deal on jars, rings and centers at a yard sale earlier this summer. And the fruit, of course, was free.
Watch yard sales and thrift shops for canning supplies, but also rummage sales and estate sales — people are cleaning out attics and garages.

Recently there was a coupon for Ball canning products in the Sunday coupon section: Buy three boxes, get one free. I had two coupons so I bought eight boxes of centers (96 total) for just over $11, or about 11.5 cents apiece.

I urge people to give preserving food a try — but be warned that it’s pretty addictive. Even though I probably have enough blackberries, I still want to go out and pick some more because, well, they’re growing right around the corner. And they’re free.
Like I said: Addictive.

I’d really like the berry applesauce recipe!

Our garden hasn’t produced enough to can, but I’ve been bulk-buying from the farmer’s market and you-picking to get our favorites. This season we’ve canned: 20 1/2 pints rhubarb jam (rhubarb is free), 20 qts dill pickles, 1 1/2 bushels tomatoes (about 20 qts whole tomatoes and 20 pts spaghetti sauce), and 11 pints applesauce. I’ve also frozen a bushel of green beans, a gallon of blueberries, a gallon of raspberries, 12 additional cups rhubarb, and I’ve got 13 green peppers waiting to be chopped and frozen tonight. I’ve never done more than jam and applesauce, so it’s been a big year. My four year old does remarkably well with an apple slicer/corer/peeler.