buying produce to can

[Homekeepn4life]

Right now I have a pretty good sized garden. I don't buy much produce at all for canning. With the exception of peaches, pears and some apples for sause.

However I am thinking I may want to buy some extras this year. Can anyone give me some guide lines as to how to tell if I am getting a good deal or not when buying bulk produce to can. I am thinking I might want to buy a case of celery to add to my soups. Other than that what can I look for that is ussually econonmical and still worth it.

I found the case of celery for $15 at a resturant supply store.

[Guest Guest]

That's pretty difficult to say, because it varies so much from place to place.

 

Which state are you in? Are there big farms nearby, or does food need to be trucked in from a distance?

 

We have a produce auction house nearby, so I try to buy there in the summer.

 

 

[Homekeepn4life]

So what your saying is some produce is worth buying for canning.

There is a whole sale produce place near here.

Is there a formula I can use to figure out how much to pay for the produce.

I know I paid $14.95 for peaches last year and got 28 pints from that. so my cost would be about $.50 a pint plus apple juice, lids and electric.

I can them in apple juice instead of sugar syrup because my DH is diabetic.

 

 

 

[momahen]

Here's how I figure it out...

 

Let's use green beans as an example. You can do the same thing with any type of food.

 

I go to the grocery store and find out what the best sale price is for a can of green beans. Let's say it's 50 cents a can.

 

Then I figure out how much green beans it takes to fill a pint jar. Westbrook posted some great info about amounts - on this thread: http://www.mrssurvival.com//ubbthreads/s...amp;amp;fpart=1

 

So a bushel of green beans makes about 20 pints. If a bushel of the beans cost you $5, then you could figure 25 cents of beans per pint. Plus whatever a canning jar lid costs you (around 10 cents usually). I don't figure in natural gas for my stove, but you could if you wanted to get technical. You also may want to figure in how much time it takes - again, I don't figure it in because I know that my home canned stuff is MUCH better for us...plus you'll never hear about someone finding a finger in MY YUMMY CANNED BEANS...or a mouse...or a roach...YUCK!

 

So store bought is 50 cents

versus

Home canned with purchased produce at 35 cents

 

Is this what you were looking for? I think I need another cup of coffee.

 

Keiko

[Guest Guest]

Keiko pretty much nailed it on the head. That link that westie provided is really good to get an idea of how much produce will translate into how many jars.

 

I buy bulk produce all the time. I home can whatever is on sale. Like tomorrow, strawberries (yes i said strawberries, you'd think that 500+lbs later I'd forget the strawberries, but I hafta teach a friend here how to make jam) are on sale, so I'll be snatching them up cause they're at one of the lowest prices I ever see around here.

 

When you hear me talking about buying 300 ears of corn, or 4 bushels of green beans, or 300lbs of tomatoes, it's cause I found that produce very cheap and I'm gonna take advantage of the savings and put the time and effort into it then.

 

As to what you can buy that's economical, generally when things are *in season* and there's an abundance, the prices are low. I have found that waiting a little bit after the season starts, that I'll find the prices generally dropping a little bit.

 

Let us know what ya find to can!

[Guest Guest]

Cat, you are lucky to have a produce auction place nearby. We used to go to the produce auction 2 or 3 times a week before we moved. We were about an hour away from the auction place - now we are a 3-hour drive away from there. We would stand back & watch all the grocery store & produce market owners buy until they were all glutted (and their trucks were getting full up) - then prices on things would go down also. We brought home bushels of tomatoes for $2 a box.

 

Wish we could find another one closer to our new place. We've heard rumors that we might have to go check out soon.