Posted on 08/12/2017 2:00:52 AM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
Great find.
L
SPAM isn't good before the "best buy" date so let's just go with most every canned product is edible long past the date. Canned foods, even meats, don't have to be heated so can be eaten right from the can.
Medicines are also good past the expiration date (YMMV) though may lose potency. Don't be like that mother in the news who let her son die because his epi pen had just expired.
Hahahaha!
Sadly, people will die as they sit on the curb wishing they had a sidewalk.
Nope.
Four can openers are not enough? :)
Inca type freeze drying only works if you live atop the Andes Mountains. Otherwise, you’ll have to invest your life savings into a modern machine.
A trip to the thrift store will find yourself in the pressure canning business for very little money. Or ask around and someone will likely give you all their supplies for nothing just to get it out of their attic. You’ll need to buy fresh rings and consider getting the used pressure canner safety checked at the county extension office (if you can’t find the office in the phone book, ask a 4-H club). Important must is a new, not older publication, Ball Blue Book - https://www.amazon.com/Ball-Blue-Book-Guide-Preserving/dp/B00OEJZSNW/ref=pd_cp_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00OEJZSNW&pd_rd_r=PRHAD7HVWBR6T7HCVFKS&pd_rd_w=F4FJN&pd_rd_wg=avfG9&psc=1&refRID=PRHAD7HVWBR6T7HCVFKS
Susan’s site is great for everything garden and food storage as she does the research and explains the whys and why nots - https://www.youtube.com/user/imstillworkin . And her honey’s site for gardening - https://www.youtube.com/user/mhpgardener
Not everyone is on the right side of the Bell Curve.
Make sure to label it salt. I mistakenly used an unlabeled jar that granny said was sugar in a big bowl of beautiful strawberries.
That’s when Darwin comes into play.
Indeed.
My favorite recipe for an abundance of Zucchini, is ‘Favorite Green Soup’ from the original ‘Laurel’s Kitchen’ Cookbook. This freezes very well; I’ve just wondered how I’d do if I had a garden, because the things in the recipe come on at different times (???) I once dehydrated the zucchini and celery, to see how it would turn out from reconstituted veggies, but never got around to trying:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3259353/posts
Mormons
It looks interesting and chock full of good things.
Ouch!!!!!
Good point.
I have mine labeled.
I cannot use sea salt or iodized salt so I make sure I label it to use the correct stuff.
Start with canning acidic foods. For that, you only need a stock pot deep enough to hold the jars and water, plus something to keep the jars from touching the bottom.
You can buy a canning rack for that last part, although you can use anything that fits. I know a few people who use grill racks cut to size. A few times when I was canning more than I had canning racks for, I used my stash of dented canning rings instead, they worked fine as long as they were smaller than the bottoms of the jars resting on top of them. I’ve also used a piece of wire mesh, folded twice, but that discolored both the pot and the water, so I don’t recommend using that too often.
After you catch the canning bug, start saving up for a good quality pressure-canner to use with meats and low-acid foods. I recommend the All-American brand, it has few parts to wear out.
You probably won’t be able to compete with the price of store-bought canned goods, but you can beat them in terms of quality. You will know exactly what is or isn’t in your food. And you can can foods or combinations that you can’t get at the store. I can a few pints of sliced starfruit every year, because my nephew loves them on his birthday cake, and the fresh ones are always green and sour that time of year.
To save money of jars, look for something you buy anyway that’s available in a mason jar. For example, my mom goes through a lot of honey every week. We found a brand that uses Ball jars, the same ones I buy for canning, and the honey is roughly the same price per ounce as the plastic bottle next to it. I now have entire shelves full of quart jars waiting for the tomato harvest to hit its peak :)
I have peach-pineapple jam in the water bath canner as we speak!
There are certain foods you can can in “hot bath” method...acidic veges like tomatoes, which can include other veges in it like onions, peppers, etc like in spaghetti sauce. Or, even with beans included in vegetarian chili...which you can add meat later. Meat must always be pressure cooked for safety. Although, check out salt curing for meat long term non refrigerated storage. To my knowledge if citric acid is added to fruit...like apple you can hot bath can safely. We just put up some chunky applesauce with strawberries this past week. It is important to know how to preserve food as we may have to go years with providing our own food and for adding security to your existence if you can supply food to others as well.
What reference do you have for the Inca freeze drying?
Fruit / Vegetable leather / roll ups are a great way to deal with excess produce. The basic process is to make a vegetable paste and then dehydrate
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