Creative Homemaking

[melissa t]

Hello all,
I was just wondering who has their own veggie garden and if they do any canning? We did have a garden and I canned some tomatoes and pickles but this spring I would like to do enough canning for the winter, Can you save $ that way too?
melissa t
sahm cassie 17
joseph 4
stephen 4
Katherine 10 1/2 months
Kristopher 10 1/2 months

[Lynny]

I love to can!!!! It saves so much, I make my own spagetti sauce (multipurpose), bean soup, meat, tomatoes, jelly, relishes...all sorts of stuff. It is so nice to be able to go to my pantry when the time is short, and have a great meal in a matter of minutes!!!!
Lynn

ranching mom of two great kids in wyoming!
Lynny@ourchurch.com

[coolwhip]

I also can!! I usually just do the basics...tomatoes, tomato juice, green beans, and sometimes pickles and salsa!! I think it does save some, but for me, it's more of a feeling of accomplishment!! Just knowing that I grew the vegetables and canned them for my family makes me feel wonderful!! I usually freeze the corn, as I think it has a better flavor than canned corn.

I also make my own jams and jellies, which is a lot of fun, and they also make wonderful additions to gift/goodie baskets!!

I think the initial start up cost usually turns some people off, but I'm sure you could probably find a used canner at a thrift store or yard/garage sale. Same with the jars! I got the bulk of my canning jars by driving by a house, that had about 8 boxes of "junk" in them, and all the boxes were marked $5! Two of those boxes had nothing but quart size canning jars in them!! I went to the door to pay, and the older gentleman that lived there handed me a smaller box, and explained that he had found some more jars..and I could take those too!! When I got home, Brian and I counted them, and I had over 80 usable jars, and about 8 of those green/blue glass top jars. I used those to decorate our home, etc. So just look around....start collecting jars now, for next season!! And Good Luck!!
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Angie~
sahm to-
Sarah and Andy 2/11/00
Better half to-
Brian 9/4/93

[M]

Once you buy the jars and canning pot it is not so bad. I get the snap lids at a discount. It does take a lot of energy to heat up that big canner to boil so it is best it you do a marathon (get someone else to help and bring their big pots too) to do the heat sealing.
I do peaches, jelly and marmalade, chutneys. My husband is not keen on tomato sauce. When you look at the price of the items in the store there is a big savings but I am not sure what the cost of the electricity is for canning. I know the jars cost and I get really steamed when people do not return the jars.

[kona126]

I discovered canning a few years ago and now I don't buy jams and jellys at all from the store. I can my own salsa, my husband could live on that alone. I don't have alot of pantry space in our home so I had to get creative so I do alot of freezing, we have a large freezer and I get my tomatos, (those I have grown and some I buy at a local fruit stand if I don't have enough) and stew them, then put them in ziploc containers and use them for everything from soup to marina sauce.

I buy things at the farmers market when they are in season and freeze them too. Things like green beans, corn (I take it off the cob first), and most fruits freeze well if you keep them from being exposed to air for too long. I peel peaches and fill the container as full as I can and just pop it into the freezer. One container is just about perfect for a pie in the middle of winter. Look for fruit stands in the area that grow their own fruit and buy when it is in season for the best taste.

I freeze the containers indiviually first with space between them so they freeze faster then I stack them when they are solid, I use old milk crates in the reach in freezer so I don't "lose" things in there.

[Karen NZ]

I can (preserve) these things:
Tomato Relish
Tomato sauce- (ketsup)
Worcestershire sauce
Plum sauce
Pickle
apples,pears,peaches,nectarines,apricots,mangoes,kiwifruit, and fruit salad

Raspberry and strawberry jam, a little apricot ----and various curd recipes that I freeze e.g passionfruit,lemon,peach, raspberry etc
As we cannot getting proper canning equipment in NZ I freeze the surplus vegetables out of our garden. You can freeze sweet potato as long as you blanch them first.

[bubbles]

I used to do a lot of canning when the children were at home. For Xmas of this year, I plan on making both of my children (and spouse) a case of homemade jam/jelly. They each love strawberry and strawberry/rhubarb, so those will make up the bulk of the case, and they will also get some other "flavors" - raspberry, peach jam, pear jam, cherry jam, etc. I also can cherries after I have picked them, and use them to make wonderful cherry pies and crisp in the winter. I have a recipe to can apple pie filling, which I will also do for the kids for christmas. They already know if they want some of mom's homemade goodies, they need to save and return the jars!!

[M]

People should be careful when canning vegetables. If you don't can vegetables properly, you can get botulism food poisoning and die. Get a good and current recipe book with instructions for canning. There is a government website that has information about canning.

Tomatoes and pickles are ok because acid (vinegar, lemon juice) is added to make the recipes safer. Other types of vegetables usually need to be canned in a pressure cooker.

I can fruit because my family likes it. I tried salsa and tomato sauce. I liked it but my husband doesn't eat too much of it so I decided it was too much work. If you are worried about the cost of the electricity, then try doing it on one day. (get help). I have seen some large propane burners that people rent to do canning in their garages. You can't use them indoors.

[jfriendly]

Because we can, friends and relatives give us their canning jars. A thrift store also sells them cheaper than buying new.
We can turkeys at Thanksgiving when they are always about 1/4 the cost they normally are. I can pinto beans so they are just the way I like them. A city street has cherry trees and I pick and can them. In August, public places have large ripe crabapples falling all over the place - even the State Capitol property has this problem. I make crabapple butter (jam) - you can't buy it anywhere, and it's great tasting.
I'm about to make pasta sauce from some #10 cans (6lb 10 oz) of tomato puree that we bought at closeout for 75cents each. Great for frugality, and just the way I like it to taste.
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Joe from Colorado

[Ravish30]

We plant a garden every year...I can most of the items and I also freeze some of the items.
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~*Shelly*~

http://my.tupperware.com/Ravish30
http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com
http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com
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[lightbringer]

I also plant a garden each year and can vegetables. Our garden this year was larger than last year's; however, we didn't get as much out of it as we would have liked. The weather didn't exactly cooperate. So my freezer is not as full as it should have been. The only vegetables we have left is corn on the cob. I have a few jars of tomatoes and green beans left. I enjoy making recipes up as soon as I can so that I have food ready to eat without all that preparation time.
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Cindy
Bringer of Light
Visit Shades ETC for unique, handmade gifts!

[Ravish30]

I have been doing a lot of canning and freezing this year as our garden is doing great.
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~*Shelly*~

http://my.tupperware.com/Ravish30
http://www.workathomebusinessoptions.com
http://wahmshelly.blogspot.com
http://passionateaboutcrafting.blogspot.com