Guide to Canning and Freezing Food: Save Money by Preserving Produce at Home

Canning the extra when you find specials helps even out the budget expenditures by taking the sting out of those seasons when food prices skyrocket. It also provides a reliable source of safe food when the power goes out, the freezer is on the blink, or the local supermarket gets destroyed in the area’s worst ever tornado.

For rural families the canning season is in the hottest part of the year when the garden produce is ready. For families who do not grow their own food it can be just about anytime. It is the end of December and I just canned ten pints of Irish Potatoes and eight quarts of carrots. My “Ball Blue Book”, a reliable guide to home canning and freezing of foods, indicates that you can freeze these two products, but I haven’t had much luck with home freezing either one of these two foods. I took advantage of a Christmas gift of produce that would have gone bad before my husband and I could have used it up by canning it. There-in lies an epiphany: You can take advantage of discounted produce anytime of the year and avoid the heat of late August to do your canning.

Here’s how you do it. First purchase a “Ball Blue Book” or some similar canning guide. Do not plan on using unorthodox methods such as canning in the dishwasher, the oven, or the microwave. It doesn’t work and its dangerous, both due to the possibility of exploding jars and due to the probability of inadequate processing times and temperatures leading to food spoilage.

Equipment Needed
1. Canning Jars and Supplies
2. A Pressure Canner
3. The “Blue Book” or a similar canning guide
4. Lids and Rings to fit the jars
5. Timer
6. Jar Lifter

You can find these supplies in late summer or early fall in nearly any large grocery store such as Safeway, Albertsons, Winn Dixie or Wal Mart; but in mid winter you may have a bit more of a search to do to find them. I can always find canning equipment at my local Bi-Mart store.