Organizing your home canned food storage

[Guest Guest]

There is word circulating out there that the bf is starting to hit North America. With that bit of fact and/or rumor, it causes me to pause and to feel once again, the seriousness of our uncertain futures.

 

Organization is not natural for me...I am exceptionally experienced in winging alot of situations. I tend to excel in evaluating a particular situation, determine what the needs are, and then start plugging up the holes that I see. In some areas though, I have no idea how much I have accumulated to plug that particular hole.

 

I was sitting here this morning, thinking about the bf creeping into our country, and feeling a need to get a tighter grip on what home canned food stores I actually have. I can tell you off the top of my head that I have several hundred quarts of this canned, and tons of that canned, and a bunch of other things, but I can't tell you how much corn I have, green beans, tomatoes, sauces, etc., that I have home canned.

 

I'm going to be taking an inventory of exactly what I DO have, and then figuring out what I need to home can, to arrive at the goal I set. One of the tools available that I really like is a recent post westie placed about how much fresh veggies and fruits are needed to home can quarts and pints. Once I figure where the holes are in my home canning, it will give me a good idea on how much fresh I need to purchase to home can and complete that particular area.

 

How much does a bushel and a peck translate into for home canning

 

For the most part, y'all are going to be coming into your harvest season over the next few months. While my harvest season is during your winter months, NOW is the time for you to take stock, forget about that garbage in the grocery store as much as you can, and bust your hineys NOW, canning whatever amounts you need to arrive at whatever goals you set. For those of you that have grade school children, get them in on the act...make it a family affair and not just a chore that mom hasta handle all alone. My experience has been that although they may gripe and complain when I ask and we first start, we end up having a great time and they always walk away with a feeling of accomplishment that they were part of something that is important to our family.

 

Anyway, I look at this mundane job as one that I want to avoid cause it doesn't interest me, but still needs to be done. Once I actually DO it, at least I can get that nagging outta my mind and that burden off my heart, knowing that the job is done.