TheCG

Mmmm...apples.

 

I should get a dehydrator at some point.

No Fred's here.

 

We'll probably see if they want me to bring the kids out Saturday for a bit.

Big pots are expensive unless you run into a good sale. Ask your MIL if you can borrow it back. She might be glad to give or loan it to you.

 

I've given my DIL lots of things thinking I wasn't going to use them anymore and she's happy to let me use them again. It makes more sense than spending a fortune when you can wait for a sale.

 

A big pot is $7 at Walmart.

 

You're right, but she lives out of town, doesn't drive, and my scooter can't leave town, so it'll probably be at least the weekend before I can kidnap it back.

Is there any way to order So Easy to Preserve online?

I'm going to assume the USDA Guide to Canning should be safe?

 

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Canning-Preserving-Revision/dp/1607962810/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1346257734&sr=8-2&keywords=so+easy+to+preserve+5th+edition

Ask Violet. Even with some of the newer books, they're not all following the safety guidelines.

 

Unless it's Violet-approved, I don't buy the book and I don't consider canning the recipe. Botulism isn't something I ever want to experience, suffer from, or DIE from.

 

I *think* the Violet-approved book so far are:

 

the Ball Canning book (I think the 2 newest editions are the safe ones)

Ball Complete Guide to Home Preserving

So Easy To Preserve

The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving (mine is copyrighted 2007 and printed in 2009)

 

 

hoping Violet confirms that and can possibly add to this...

 

 

Wasn't there a year that all the canning techniques were updated for safeness? Something like 1994 or so? (Maybe I'm imagining this...)

 

There is a year, you're not crazy (well, not because of that. I can't confirm whether you're not crazy for other reasons), I just don't know what it was. For canning, I'm not looking at anything prior to 2000.

 

Woohoo! Mine's on that list! I have the Ball canning book, now I just need to get the other 2. Right? Gotta collect 'em all?

Violet can give you better info, but this is how I start...

 

I looked it up on Amazon, because they usually show all editions.

 

http://www.amazon.co...atch+Preserving

 

I see that there are two versions - one from 2001 and one from 2007. I'm guessing if yours is from 2001, there might be a few recipes that were revised in the 2007 edition.

 

But then I'm also gonna guess that as recently as both books have been published, they would have considered all the more recent recommendations.

 

That's how I start researching those things. Another way would be to Google it and add in "+ reviews". That should bring up the good stuff and the bad, if any. I'd do it but I'm rushing through right now.

 

Mine is from 2007. I've found a few recipes that include cornstarch or olive oil, but not many. They have the Health Protection Branch of Health Canada listed in their acknowledgments. None of the reviews have complained at all about the safety of the recipes, so I guess use my common sense?

How do you know that a canning book doesn't have recipes that will kill you?

 

How do you know they've been checked out properly and aren't just "what Grandma used to do"?

 

I have a book called "The Complete Book of Small-Batch Preserving" that seems okay to me, but that doesn't mean I actually know enough to know whether the recipes in it are alright.

I'm going to go see how much a cheap, big pot is this afternoon. Mom doesn't have one big enough either, as the one they use for shrimp boils is in the camper about 2 hours away! My mother-in-law is who has the big pot I used to have, but I hate asking for things back.

 

It'll be fun figuring out how to carry a big pot on my scooter. I think my cargo net might be the best thing I ever bought for it!

I went a-Googling.

Woah.

1 Walmart in town had a couple cases of jars, a pressure canner, and pectin packets.

 

The other Walmart? About 20 cases in various sizes, multiple types of pectin and seasonings, and all sorts of accessories.

I think that while I'm at the store getting a bigger pot, I'm going to also get the accessory kit that has the jar lifter, funnel, magnetic lid lifter, and narrow plastic spatula. That will probably be $7 well spent.

I have a Ball Home Canning Discovery Kit, including the 3 original pint jars.

 

I have 12 8 oz. jars, plus 24 lids, plus 8 plastic lids (for opening and closing in the fridge later on!).

 

I have no sugar needed pectin.

 

I have 2 pounds of strawberries (the recipe needs 5 cups).

 

I...do not have a pot big enough.

 

*hangs head*

http://www.amazon.com/Other-Jerky-Recipes-Deborah-ebook/dp/B005OEBPPG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1346173561&sr=8-1&keywords=beef+and+other+meat+jerky

I have a solar charger that I can hang on the back of a backpack and is strong enough to charge a cell phone, but not an iPad. I wonder if it could charge a Kindle...

Lau, thanks for the GF flatbread recipe. I'll have to try it one of these days.

I re-read this thread, and am checking The Civil War Cookbook out from the library again.

1319981455[/url]' post='368059']

It's a lot tougher to be frugal when you are doing the low carb thing to manage diabetes in the family...

 

Vic, I cook up a mess of chicken thighs in the crock pot with onion and garlic, then skin & debone the meat. Put about 3/4 cup or so in each baggie, then toss in the freezer. I take one out in the morning, then sauté it in coconut oil, olive oil, or butter with tomatoes or whatever is handy, and season it. Lunch!

 

Since I can occasionally get chicken thighs for $1/lb, it's a pretty cheap meal for me. Also get lots of broth from the crockpot.

Just an idea.

I've resisted spending my pennies!

I have a black thumb, but I can tell you that their place is absolutely gorgeous from the road and my mother keeps threatening to make my dad stop there when they're in the truck.

I picked it up yesterday evening!

 

I like that book, will end up making a few copies from it before I return it.

There's another copy at one of the other branches, so I've requested that they bring it over for me. They're also going to bring over a make-a-mix book.

I had it in my hands at the library...then when I went to check it out, it wouldn't scan. They said since it's not in the system, it had to go back to their cataloguing department.

*sniffles*

My food when I'm broke:

- Lentils & rice (cheaper than ramen, can season however you want)

- Frozen ravioli ($3 for a bag that will feed me for ten meals) & spaghetti sauce

- Tunamac - cook noodles, drain, add cream of mushroom soup and a can of tuna (packed in water, drained)

- Mushmush - brown ground beef/turkey combo (still tastes like beef to me!) with some minced onion & garlic, then add a can of mushrooms & a can of cream of mushroom soup. Can eat it with potatoes, noodles, rice, toast, etc. A pound of meat done this way will feed me lunch at work for a 5 days.

- Chili - a pound of ground beef/turkey, I normally use ranch beans & canned tomatoes & green chiles, but will vary to use what I have on hand

- "Baked" beans - cook a bag of beans, add in tomatoes, garlic, a good couple spoonfuls of molasses (yes, as a matter of fact, I do have molasses in my cupboard)

I hadn't heard of the True Lemon and True Lime stuff - I'm going to have to look for them at the store, I love having a bit of lemon or lime in my water, but hate having to carry around the little bottle at work!

 

I'm not allowed to buy anything else until after I move, else I'd be buying this.

 

 

Bromelain, found in fresh pineapple (not canned), is a meat tenderizer. If you ever put fresh pineapple in jello, it won't set because it's messing up the protein bonds.