Canned Nerd

The rings should stay on (usually loosely) until cooled and then they are removed, jars cleaned and stored away.

My friend kept the rings on (tight) and that gave me an audible noise when the contents expanded. But of course he did everything apparently by open kettle method and jars sealed only from cooling.the contents. Everything looked fine until the contents started spoiling.

Unfortunately my experience with my friend has made me gun shy on accepting/eating anyone else's canning projects unless I've actually seen them in action and I even limit my stuff going out to others.

I am always saddened when I hear of a case of Botulism poisoning since it is so easy to avoid if one just respects the process. And I just shake my head at all of those that don't want to respect it.

I of course lost a friend about 10 years ago because of food poisoning from his improperly canned foods. I tried to open his eyes to reality but he didn't want to listen and his luck ran out.

A lot of people, including me a long time ago, believe buying in bulk is a money saver. It can be, if you use it in bulk, but for the rest of us it can be an expensive waste of money. You cannot "re-can" into smaller containers. Once a container is opened it must be considered fresh and be consumed as such. Stick with buying smaller containers.

I once got a good deal on a #10 can of Bamboo Shoots. 7 years later I still have it and frustrated now on if I will ever be able to use it for something. On the other hand, I acquired some #10 cans of Diced Tomatoes and those I use for making/canning salsa from the mixes sold by Ball® and Mrs. Wages®

Recommend this be read before starting: Canning Homemade Soups

Those steam waterbath canners are not approved for home canning and you probably won't find any recipes for them.

You can read more at http://http://extension.usu.edu/htm/faq/faq_q=219

Not able to do hardly anything. Have some sort of rare arthritis, they think. I can not even walk in the mornings for hours. So, I am not able to do my normal amount of canning.

My sympathies. I had something similar for several years. My doctor said I had a form of severe Arthritis and not much I could do about it also. Walked like a penguin with a cane and was about to get a walker the pain was so bad in the feet and in my right wrist. To make a short story long, another doctor friend said I should try "Allopurinol" and "Colcrys" since it appeared that I had GOUT not Arthritis though they are related. I've been functioning normally ever since. No pain no cane. Oh yah, I changed doctors for having put me through pain for years for no reason.

Don't give up hope and get other opinions and tests. You might actually find a solution.

My first question is what pressure is it capable of producing? Pressure Canners (sans dial gauge) will have a weight gauge capable of 5#, 10# and 15# psi.

The reason for 'boiling' before eating, based on my early understanding, was to kill the poisons that sometimes occurred with (improperly) canned foods. People learned that boiling the food coming out of the container would most likely (not always) prevent whatever was making people ill or worse. They did this even for commercially canned food. The scare was very real. This was later learned to be the Botulism toxin and the survival of the C. Botulinum spore that grew the toxin.

I was intrigued by a recent viewing of oldie "Emergency" on TV involving a case of "Botulinum Intoxication" caused by a Stroganoff casserole.

Lindals, a pressure "cooker" is not any use for canning meat anyway since you need a pressure "canner".

Opened a jar of my canned chicken, some canned potatoes, and whipped together some chicken gravy from a homemade mix. Nothing special other than the chicken and potatoes were from 2008 and they were as flavorful as the first day they were canned.

I'm fortunate in many ways since I only have to store for myself, no other family or friends involved, and I have about a year's worth of food and as much water as I'm able to work with. When you start adding extra people into the mix the amount needed to store can go beyond your available space. I can suggest you store what you can with the space available and you are comfortable with. It should be part of your regular pantry so foods are regularly rotated and not just stored away and forgotten.

I preserve and store more as an effort to stave off higher prices from inflation and reduced availability. Water is maintained for emergency situations, assuming I survive the emergency. You can go without food for a long time, but not water.

Just a reminder for us preppers, having dehydrated food has its advantages but it may not be an advantage in an emergency situation where water (or the ability to boil it) is not available or in limited supply.

I'm doing similar, but with cans of Mixed Vegetables that have been on my prep shelves for too many years and kind of ignored during my normal rotation consumption. Still good but decided to make space for better/newer items so I'm dehydrating the contents which will make nice additions to future soups.

I remembered at one time seeing a sign encouraging bulk purchases for parties so I assume it would be worth asking.

For me it was a clear bag labeled "Fajita Mix Peppers & Onion (10 oz)". First time I've ever seen it. Company was Taylor Farms Pacific, Tracy, CA 95376. It's probably a local thing. Nothing more than thinly sliced colored bell pepper and onion.

Found our "pepper/onion" bags at $Tree again, so stocked up BIG time, and they're in the deep freeze for the time being, but will be on the dehydrator starting tomorrow or Tuesday!

Thanks for the note since I saw the same thing today at my 99 Cent store and wouldn't have noticed it without your comment still in my head. Got a couple bags to try in the dehydrator. Smell is awsome.

I love store specials when their produce is reaching the Sell By dates. I got 4 packages of Baby Portabello mushrooms at $0.50 each which went immediately into the dehydrator. Also had frozen hashbrowns at 50% off which almost caused a audible giggle of happiness when I saw them. I love my dehydrated hashbrowns. I also picked up multiple loaves of sandwich bread at $0.59/ea for making croutons.

Canning meat is sooooooo much easier than doing veggies.

she's got 40,000+ likes on Facebook -- that's an awful lot of people getting dangerous guidance ...

I believe the mind-set is if it is on the Internet, especially FaceBook, it has to be true.

I joined its forum recently in order to respond (correctly) to questions that show up there. I was hoping to get some interaction going but nada so far.

Also keep in mind that jars need to be consumed quickly once opened since there are no preservatives. Even with a large family quart-size jars would be impractical and sometimes even a pint jar can be too big to finish off in short order.

I have lots of 'red seal' $2 bills that I would love to joke with some of the young cashiers, except those are worth more than their face value now. Sold a bunch on eBay awhile back for a good price.

It would be interesting to use 50 cent or Susan B. Anthony coins in the same way.

I've never seen a recipe where they had to be soaked first. Seems to be the exact opposite with roasting them first and having them completely dry, then oil is added to make the butter.

Unfortunately absolute cleanliness (as in bacteria/germs) is just in the eye of the beholder and not in fact, especially when exposed to the air we breathe. One has to give thanks for a normally efficient immune system that handles our everyday bacterias in our home.

I don't know about cheap based on the number of cans, but it sure is convenient since it uses just about every canned food in my pantry. Definitely plan on making it though I will have to eat it for days on end (no room in freezer to store it for future).