Do you make your own preserves to add to your stockpile?

[iggysbabysitter]

I started canning when my son was born, my MIL taught me to make apple sauce for him. Since 2000 I've learned lots and this year I'll be teaching my boys (12 and 8). But no pickles this year, since the beetle infestation has wiped out all of my cucumber plants

We're prepping the jars for a busy summer! So far we have plans for :
Applesauce, some with bannana, rhubarb, pear, or pinapple. (free apples from around the yards of a few friends who won't pick them, most of this will be made into fruit leather as it's needed)
Apple and crabapple jelly, some with a hot pepper tingle. (free apples and crabbapples)
Banana butter and banana jam (some with cherries) (discounted bananas!)
Pinapple chutney (in the crockpot)
Onion chutney (onions from my garden, in the crock pot)
Hot pepper jelly (alex seems to like hot, so we're aiming for "stupid hot") (discounted red/orange/yellow peppers)
Tart plum jam
Pear and cardimon spread (like pear butter, use the crockpot)
Cinnamon pickled beets (I stock up when they're $2/10lbs)
Canned potatoes (an experiment with the baby potatoes from the garden)
Dilled carrots
Tomatoes (we'll get a ton of grape tomatoes from the garden! I can't wait till they turn red!)

And since I recieved so many free jars recently, we're even making mixes in a jar! My oldest will make brownie mix in old classico jars, and my youngest will make soup mix in a jar (minestrone/friendship soup). For these dry mixes you can reuse seals that have not rusted , and use old crown jars (they look great, but few people still use them for canning) Some will be used in gift baskets to thier cousins, but most will be in my stockpile for my oldest son to cook with (I think kids should learn to cook), we've tried them both and they are great.

I needed a shelf to get all of my jars out of the way, and I decided rather than toss the broken ikea dresser from my sons room, I repurposed it! I took out the drawers and used what pieces I could, added heavier wood for shelves and made a jar safe! It'll hold 180 quart jars and up to 72 pints/half pints. I'm not sure if it'll hold the weight of that many full jars, but by Sept I should be able to find out. I'll add hooks and hangers to hold accessories and strings of rims to the sides (the best way to keep those rims organized is to tie a ribbon/string to one, and tread the rest of them onto the string, and then hang out of the way).

Now I just need to find a deal on the foodsaver with jar attachments!


What do you have planned to make for your stockpile?

[Natalka]

Awesome! This could also be in the Food section; there are other canners on SC.
I don't myself, just maybe some freezer jam.

[marstec]

From experience, I've learned to just make what the family will eat. You aren't saving any money by making weird stuff that just gets tossed out five years from now...yes, I'm talking about you, "mock cranberry sauce" made of beets (my neighbour assured me it as the best tasting thing ever...not).

I make blueberry/cherry jam, grape jelly, pickled beets, dill pickles and salsa.

[iggysbabysitter]

Yeah, I made "pickled crabapples" once... ew... I even tried to "save" it by adding brandy, but it was still kinda gross. And while the kids enjoyed the pumpkin butter, I hated it. I thought watermellon rind pickles were a good idea. In theory. I just can't WANT to put watermellon rind in my mouth. I stick to a lot of the same stuff, and experiment if I can get the ingredients for free (garden or forage).

[gourmetsue]

absolutely! I go at least 4 bushels of tomatoes every year. DH LOVES pasta and we go through a load of sauce. I started with one bushel and by december it was gone and I had to look at his sad face for the rest of the winter. Now I just go mad and can can can. I also do applesauce and variations of it (peach/apple, strawberry apple).

Would love your onion chutney recipe to try.

I have a lot of tomato plants on the go at the moment and several are cherry so I can't wait to test them out. DH's aunt says just wash, dry and freeze them and then roast for sauce.

One year I even did a bushel of dried tomatoes, but then I was living in an apartment and didn't have to pay my electricity bill.

[2010ontest]

Yes I do this...

I have around 1200 jars at home and refill some in the year...
Last year I have done approx 1500 jars, I will need more this year.
I do stuff I know we love and one part is for testing and new recipe.

I need to process around 12 bushel of tomato this year to be sure I have enough for my year. Alot of stuff are done with tomato: sauce, spaghetti, salsa, juice, pizza sauce, sweet and sour sauce, tomato pasto, ketchup, chili, ect!

I have done my strawberry sauce, rhubarb sauce, cherry sauce... and some jam.
Asparagus soup is done
daisy bud fermented is done
lilac flower jelly is done
cherries chutney

I need to do corn, wax bean, carot, relish, blackberry sauce and jam, blueberry sauce and jam, fall raspberry sauce and jam and jelly, eggplant/sweet red pepper/tomato sauce, sweet red grilled and pickled.

And so many other!!!

summer I'm in my canning and preserving mode, winter I'm in my couponing mode!

[winston]

I am picking my gooseberries and red currants this week for jelly. Very yummy!

[barbs]

Wow...I'm impressed with all of you.......I did teach myself to can years ago, and have over the years canned: tomatoes, peaches, apricots, cherries, dill pickles, plums, pickled beets, salsa, red pepper jelly, and a huge variety of different jams. (I also entered 15 different items at the country fair one year & won ribbons for everything, just for the fun of it.)

I've also learned it's best to try new recipes in small batches & only make what you & your family & friends like to eat. I once made a batch of peach butter and then had very little inclination to eat it.

I am going to can cherries tonight, and I hope to teach myself how to do pressure canning soon.

(I have a little pressure canner off Freecycle, with instruction booklet!!, and I did take a little class on pressure canning.)

[Prairie girl]

Yes I do this...

I have around 1200 jars at home and refill some in the year...
Last year I have done approx 1500 jars, I will need more this year.
I do stuff I know we love and one part is for testing and new recipe.

I need to process around 12 bushel of tomato this year to be sure I have enough for my year. Alot of stuff are done with tomato: sauce, spaghetti, salsa, juice, pizza sauce, sweet and sour sauce, tomato pasto, ketchup, chili, ect!

I have done my strawberry sauce, rhubarb sauce, cherry sauce... and some jam.
Asparagus soup is done
daisy bud fermented is done
lilac flower jelly is done
cherries chutney

I need to do corn, wax bean, carot, relish, blackberry sauce and jam, blueberry sauce and jam, fall raspberry sauce and jam and jelly, eggplant/sweet red pepper/tomato sauce, sweet red grilled and pickled.

And so many other!!!

summer I'm in my canning and preserving mode, winter I'm in my couponing mode!

Do you still have your canning blog? I'd love to go have a look.

[ninna]

Boy oh boy. I grew up on home canned goods. My mom used to can peaches and pears and applesauce and cherries and pickles and beets and jam. Oh my. There was always lots and lots of jam of every kind. We always had dessert every night when I was a kid, but frequently, dessert would be a jar of applesauce or a bowl of canned peaches. mmm mmmmmm. So good. When I moved out to attenduniversity, the care packages were boxes of home canned goods. *sniff* Always made me think of home when I'd eat my toast slathered in my mom's peach jam.

Fast forward a few (okay... a lot) of years and while I've always had the burning urge to can and have those lovely glass jars of stuff that I made with my own bare hands in my pantry, well truth be told, I suck at it. haha. Well, actually, I don't suck. I made some fantastic salsa once. But my adventures in canned creamed corn were nothing short of a disaster and I didn't know I was supposed to add something to it and all the jars exploded. Literally. omg. What a horrible mess.

So...I'm a little too nervous to can again. The closest I've gotten to homemade jam was some freezer jams I made last summer but it's not like my mom's canned jam was. Not even close. Even so--you can imagine my pride when my daughter chooses the homemade jam over the store bought jam because she says it tastes better. It made my pride swell so much that I might (just might) attempt to can some jam this summer.

[barbs]

did you pressure can your creamed corn?

[2010ontest]

Do you still have your canning blog? I'd love to go have a look.

Yes, I still have it

But remember, my blog is in french because this is my mother tongue and there is not alot of blog about homecanning in french.

Here is the link to my blog: http://savoirfaireconserver.blogspot.ca/

Have fun!
The great season is there

[Prairie girl]

Yes, I still have it

But remember, my blog is in french because this is my mother tongue and there is not alot of blog about homecanning in french.

Here is the link to my blog: http://savoirfaireconserver.blogspot.ca/

Have fun!
The great season is there

Ben oui, mais c'est pas du tout un problème, c'est pour ça que je demandais. Mdr

[2010ontest]

Ben oui, mais c'est pas du tout un problème, c'est pour ça que je demandais. Mdr

I know you are fluent in french, but this is not the case of majority of people on that board this is why I prefered to mention it.

C'est plus gentil d'avertir les gens d'abord que de les voir se buter sur une blog francophone et se faire répliquer 50 fois sur ce forum dans ce fil: "too bad, this is in french and I don't read/understand french"

[sweetproserpina]

1200 jars! that is amazing! One day I hope to reach that pinnacle

I've made my own jams for years, and we really enjoy it. I also make loads of dill pickles. This year my aim is to make 100 jars- that should get us and various family moochers through to next summer. I do salsa, and old-fashioned chili sauce too. I also do some canned peaches and pears, but plan to do way more this year. Same with apple sauce!
It's been a tough canning season so far- I have terrible morning sickness (pah, all day..) so, the actual processing of food is hard to handle.. I figure I can freeze a lot and then can when I'm feeling better