This is a re-post from a previous year.
A few weeks ago, I posted a step-by-step guide to canning peaches for beginners. I was all set to follow it with several more basic canning tutorials. Next up, tomatoes! However, as I was pulling out of the Growers Outlet parking lot last week with 400 pounds* of tomatoes in the back of my van, it hit me: This is not normal behavior. In fact, the guy who loaded all 18 boxes even tried to intervene. “Uh, ma’am, have you ever canned before? Because… this is a lot of tomatoes. Are you sure you’re up for it?” I assured him that I was splitting the order and the work with 2 other people. He still laughed at me as he closed the gate, “Good luck [crazy lady]!”
I can’t explain it. This time of year, I lose grasp on reality. I forget that I have two small children who like to eat twenty times a day and a husband who enjoys wearing clean clothes to work. I forget about the long line of emails waiting for replies in my inbox and the car that is in serious need of a vacuum cleaner. My kitchen countertops are littered with canning equipment, and the dining room table holds a random assortment of ripening produce. I love stuffing food into jars. Plain and simple. As September starts to wind down, I feel such a deep sense of satisfaction when I see row after row of jars lining the shelves. Jars that hold food that I picked and washed and chopped and simmered. Food that will get us through the long winter in the big woods. Or at least a rainy January in the Portland area.
If you prefer couponing to canning, you may still wonder where the attraction lies. However, we are really two sides of the same coin. I use fewer coupons these days, but I am still using my resources (time, skills, money) to provide my family with the best food possible on a budget. I like making chili from my own tomatoes and not buying peaches in cans. I like knowing what ingredients are in my pickles and having enough applesauce in my pantry to last us an entire year. It is really no different from those of you who are skilled with coupons or online deals or consignment sales. Everyone’s stockpiles just look a little different. I figure the more of you who join me, the more normal I will seem.
If you are new to this game, don’t be intimidated. You really can do this. I have only been canning food for five years now. I just decided I was going to start learning the ropes, and I did. Think back to when you first started figuring out Rite-Aid deals or Safeway doubles or consignment tags. Getting started is the hardest part. Are you ready?
START HERE
- Canning for Beginners FAQ’s
- Collecting the right equipment
- Water Bath Canning Guide
- Water Bath Canning Equipment
CANNING RECIPES
- How to can blackberry syrup
- How to can peach vanilla bean jam
- How to can tomatoes
- How to can pears
- How to can peaches
- How to can applesauce
- How to can apple pie filling
- How to can sweet cherries
[* You don’t have to purchase ridiculous amounts of produce in order to can food. I have a friend who just cans what her garden produces. 3 quarts of this, 7 pints of that. It’s called self-control, and I wish I had more of it.]
Leave a comment! Do you enjoy preserving food? Are you a motivated beginner? Do you think 18 boxes of tomatoes is excessive? (Because, honestly, I would like to do more next year…)
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I love canning! As I type this, there’s a Ball Blue Book on the table to the right of my computer and there’s 3 new jars of strawberry jam in the kitchen. It’s June and the fruiting and jamming season is just beginning! My favorite time of year! By the end of Fall, I will have picked strawberries, rhubarb, red/yellow/black raspberries, grapes, blackberries and blueberries. My friends and family love me at Christmas time! Happy canning!
I think it is amazing. You go girl! My mom use to can everything when I was a kid. The only thing I do is jelly. Unfortunately, my garden isn’t nearly big enough. But, I will be freezing fresh green beans.
I would love to know what your method for canning tomatoes is….honestly, I made 5 quarts last night….took the entire night and one of them didn’t even pop. I have decided that I don’t really like pressure canning. Even if I have to water bath can for 80 min, then I’m not babysitting a pressure canner for multiple steps and about an hours worth of time. I know that they have raised the canning times over the years, my mom only does hers at 5 pounds for 10 minutes, but the new regulations say 11 pounds for 25 minutes….and that doesn’t even count the 10 minutes that it has to steam, the time that it takes to get up to pressure and the time that it takes to let the pressure out after the 25 min is over.
So, do you water bath can your tomatoes or pressure can them???
I water bath can tomatoes. I haven’t made the investment into a pressure canner because my family isn’t into eating the list of low-acid foods canned.
But you’re right, the new regulations on canning tomatoes takes forever! Because of this, I have switched to canning fewer batches of whole tomatoes. I plan to do 14-21 quarts this year. Then I am going to freeze and can marinara sauce and can salsa. Those were two of the main things I was using canned tomatoes for anyway. Now they will be done, and I can save my whole tomatoes for soup, chili, etc.
Canning tomatoes: http://www.frugallivingnw.com/frugal-homemaking/canning-tomatoes-step-by-step-guide/
Roasted Marinara Sauce for the freezer: http://www.frugallivingnw.com/frugal-homemaking/how-to-make-roasted-marinara-sauce/
Years ago I taught myself to can,using a Ball canning book. Started out with produce I could preserve with a waterbath, eventually got a pressure cooker. I LOVED it. One year I had so many tomaotes I even made tomatoe paste! I’ve done apricot nectar, 3 bean salad, every fruit & vegie we would eat. Even made saurkraut. Now that my children are grown I do very little canning. But I still makes saurkraut every year or so, cause anything store bought tastes funny.
I always appreciated that I knew exactly what my children were eating, where it came from & that it met MY standards, not the federal government, which allows so much rodent hair, etc in commercially canned food.
This was my first year canning and I’m totally hooked. I did blackberry jam, spicy green beans, peaches, and pickles. I followed your tutorial for peaches and was amazed at how easy it was. I only did 20lbs, but I feel the late season peaches taunting me everytime I drive past the produce stand so I might need to do some more.
My mom always canned applesauce from a tree in our backyard. I can still remember how good it tasted, so I might try that later this fall.
I’d love a tutorial on tomatoes. It wouldn’t have occured to me to buy them in bulk and my plants only yielded enough for one batch of your roasted marinara.
I would love to can! But here’s the problem. It seems like the only things I can get ahold before it’s all gone are apples! I’d LOVE it if you posted a guide to knowing when to begin being on the lookout for produce and when it’s season is done. I’d also love it if there were a buying guide to go with it, like what is the most I should pay per pound for peaches, etc. I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts every day. You are a talented writer and it’s nice to read something that helps me and my family but also gives me a healthy dose of humor~
I just canned home-made BBQ sauce. I love it! You only have to water bath it for 20 minutes.
My favorite canning tips.
If you are new to canning buy a new modern pressure canner…..old yard sale ones can be scarry.
Yard sales are great for jars you can get them for almost nothing if you go back at the end….there really are more people with jars than can.
The Barn in Portland 148th caters to canning cases at a good price…..food not jars.
My last favorite fav is those crazy turkey fryers…..you know the propane ones that you use outside. If you have easy access off your kitchen it is sooooo great to water bath outside. Mine has been converted to natural gas so I don’t have to pay attention to a tank. I just love the heat and steam and some of the stickiness being outside!
We have been canning for several years now. It began out of necessity with having Fibromyalgia. We left our comfortable coastal home to head inland to ward off the arthritis that exasperates the fibro and have a handful of acres we homestead on. The animals make me get out of bed… and all our children help. It was a drastic 180 degree change in life to the suburban soccer mom life we led. We are a family now of 10 including our soon to be son in laws and our first grandson… but we all live together here on our mini farm.
Canning 18 boxes wouldn’t be enough for us. 🙂 We grow 75 % of our food… from meats to veggies to fruits to nuts… we grow it. If only I had acres and acres for wheat and barley!
Its a family adventure and it takes us all… I have good days and bad still, but its the only affordable way we can feed ourselves organic (mainly heirloom anymore) foods. And in return my fibro does better… I am not bedridden anymore!
This year I have not done as well… but to date (and we are nowhere near done) we have put up 200 lbs of tuna off the boats (note… next year will be the last year you can safely get tuna… the migrations after that will be full of radiation from the young tuna that are beginning to make their way to the west coast from Japan) … only 80 lbs of green beans… 300 lbs of pears in various forms, 200 lbs of apples in various forms and another tree to harvest next month… only a case or less of beets, spinach, kale, collards, lima beans and only a case of peaches…
we still have grapes to juice, corn to harvest, and pickling cucs coming out our ears, and we planted over 100 heirloom tomato plants this year so we have made 100’s of pounds of salsa’s, sauces, spaghetti sauce, chili verde sauce with tomatillos, and that doesn’t include the “jelly year” we have had… including jalapeno and habenero jelly for DH. He loves making the spicy stuff…
I honestly think we have canned over 1000 jars this year… and I realized I still need to buy more because we arent done yet. We will never go back to ‘storebought” tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with chili’s, broths, etc etc etc…
Homesteading is our way of life… and we love every moment… and this time of year will always be my favorite time of year… filling our “stock room” with shelves and shelves and rows and rows of food… from apple pie in a jar to canned chicken… canning is here to stay in our household… and what we cant grow here… we will find at another farm!
So between couponing toiletries mostly anymore and homesteading and taking care of my 19 mo old and my 3 mo old grandson… I am pretty wore out now… so happy harvesting!!! May we all continue to bring back a lost art…
To save my money, I try to only can what I can get for free. So far, I have canned salsa, stewed tomatoes, and I am working on pear sauce. Because of my couponing, canning purchased produce doesn’t seem to work out cost wise for me. So, I go crazy with the cheaper produce. I have also canned pickle relish out of summer squash!! It is amazing what you can use!!
Oh, I also can the deer meat that my husband bring home after hunting. . .So much better than frozen venison!! 🙂
oh, I forgot about our jam!! We love jam!!
I made homemade spagetti sauce from 100 lbs of tomatoes.and I really like canning with several people it makes the task easier Canned it up it is a great convience food when life gets crazy.
I didn’t get to do a lot this year due to working outside the home FT and being pregnant/having a newborn. But next year I’m back in the swing. We’ll really miss the stuff come winter.
Master Gardeners has canning clinics and the OSU Extension has good info too.
Next year the experienced could offer to teach the newbies. The first time is scary but then it gets easier. I grew up with my mom’s huge garden and her canning/pickling/freezing.
One important piece to pass on – if you are just learning to can, follow the Ball Blue book. The safe procedures for canning changed dramatically in 1989 and you do NOT want to follow any recipe that doesn’t use the guidelines developed after that time. Tomatoes are actually one of the things that need the new procedure to be safe. The acidity of tomatoes has declined since our grandmothers days and the older recipes may not be safe! Once you learn the safe rules, you can generally adapt any recipe to be safe.
Having said that, I also love to can. I grew up on a small farm. What we didn’t grow, we bought from local farms. We had one bedroom dedicated to our food storage and canning. A while back, I visited Jan at Healthy Harvest in Vancouver to buy some food storage items. She was serving a breakfast burrito made with food storage products and her own salsa. The burrito was good but the salsa was to die for – and it was her own recipe! I found out yesterday that Jan suddenly passed away Monday. 🙁 In her memory, here is the recipe that she had sent me a few months ago. I haven’t made it myself yet but you won’t be disappointed.
Jan LeBaron’s New Mexico Green Chilie Salsa
Ingredients:
12 Cups Tomatoes, diced
12-15 Garlic, Cloves, Minced
6-8 Cups Onions, Diced
3 Cups, New Mexico Green Chilies Roasted, Peeled & Diced (if you can’t find these substitute another type of milk green chilie, but if you can by them fresh and roast them it really adds to the flavor)
1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups jalapeños peppers, Roasted, peeled, diced, Depending on how hot you like it
1 1/2 or more red or green peppers
2 cups white Vinegar
2 tablespoon Sugar
2 tablespoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Pepper, Ground, Black
4 Tablespoon Cilantro, Dried or ½ Cup Fresh Cilantro, Diced
2 Tablespoons Cumin, Ground, Dried
2 Tablespoons Oregano, Dried
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in large pot and simmer for one hour
Next put into jars and water bath to seal about 10 min.
Hope you enjoy it is a very good recipe.
Thanks, Carla! I tried canning salsa a few years ago, but it turned out really bland and mild. Since then, I’ve just used my canned tomatoes to make fresh salsa as we need it, but it’d be great to have already-made jars on hand. I’m going to try it again!
So glad you shared this recipe! We have a TON of tomatoes in the garden this year, and I’m the only one in the house who likes them–unless they’re salsa. 😉 Can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
I, too, have had life take over and couponing has been put on the back burner. I still watch the sales and stock up on good deals if I happen to be going to the store but major couponing is on pause for now. However, CANNING I love to do! I’ve recently been looking for a great, delicious salsa recipe to can. I’d love it if you posted a salsa recipe or a spaghetti sauce (meatless) or anything else involving tomatoes. I think the tomatoes are going to finally start ripening here in Oregon… maybe. I’ve been waiting for over a month but the u-pick fields are filled with green, unripe tomatoes still. Canning offers an amazing feeling of self-sufficiency. I love knowing I’m saving LOTS of money and feeding my family fresher, healthier options when fresh produce isn’t available. And it’s not just produce! Canning black beans has been my biggest money saver/canning accomplishment! I look forward to reading more on canning! Happy canning!
Meaning…… if a group can coordinate a bulk order over 500. You save on the cost of the lids.
I’ve been wanting to try canning, but have yet to. In fact, I only JUST made homemade marina sauce (from the recipe you posted here… w/out peppers & onions… next time I will be sure to get them, it tastes good, but a little bland) for the first time. I’m just starting to get big into the “homemaking” thing and I have no clue where to start with all of this. Thank you for the articles you will be posting & have already. Definitely helpful. Where do you guys get the produce when you get such huge orders?
In Portland, I have used Growers Outlet (161st & Glisan) for the last 2 years. I have been very happy with their service and products. The majority of their produce is local and fresh from the fields. There are many options out there, though. Check out http://www.pickyourown.org for more!
Tattler canning lids are REUSABLE and BPA free! Love them! Bulk orders over 500 are discounted if a group orders them. http://www.reusablecanninglids.com/
Just made the switch this year. 🙂
Love canning. 400lbs sounds awesome – but when you consider how much a family uses in 1 year, it’s probably not bad. I bought 80 lbs of the most perfect peaches ever this year from Zaycon. Imagine the horror doing them night before vacation and my stove broke. Oh the horror. Hubby made me ‘just go to bed’. So yeah – canning can make a person nuts. But – I love it. My only advice NEVER buy a ceramic topped stove if you intend to can. NEVER NEVER NEVER.
Also – I’d love to hear from folks who’ve had great success with canning tomato sauce. I’ve loved canning tomatoes – but sauce doesn’t seem to taste the same. And freezing sauce also seems to change the taste. So could use pointers here. For when I get my NEW stove…
For those of you worried about using your pressure cooker, you shouldn’t be! The new canners are great and VERY safe. You don’t use a pressure cooker for fruits, you only have to water bath them. So, any fruit can be done without worry. I can everything I can get my hands on. I usually get most of my fruit for free. There is always someone who has a tree that they are not going to pick. In November when Winco or Safeway have their deals on turkeys, I stock up and can turkey meat. Canned chicken is a favorite at our house and whenever there is a great deal I buy it and can it. For those of you who say you don’t know where to start, buy the Ball Blue book or check it out from the library. How many of you were afraid or didn’t know how to start couponing? I know I wasted 3 years making excuses why I couldn’t coupon. Boy do I regret that! Canning is the same thing. There is step by step directions in the Ball Blue book. It is the bible for canners. You can also call the OSU extension office. They can help you. They have master canners (just like master gardners). You Can Do it!
I’ve been canning since I was a kid – my mother also canned. I have always kept up with it. When I was first living on my own, sixteen years ago, I needed to save money and this was one of my big ways of doing so. Then, my (now-ex-)husband was diabetic, so I wanted to control sugar and salt. Then, I needed to save money again, living on my own again. Now I have a child with a soy allergy – which makes it harder than most people realize to buy any kind of packaged good (I can’t buy anything that contains: “natural flavors,” vegetable oil, vegetable broth, soy (obviously), tofu, texturized vegetable protein. This rules out even most brands of unsalted butter.)
18 boxes of tomatoes sounds about right for a family, honestly, if you aren’t supplementing with stuff from the store. The thing I have the hardest time with is I always want to share things with friends/family and they never return my jars! Jars are so expensive!
I didn’t get as much done this year as I wanted to do – I only got about 150 pounds of tomatoes done, 50 pounds of peaches, 25 pounds of pears, 40 pounds of cherries, 40 pounds of blueberries, 20 pounds of apricots, 10 pounds of plums (plum sauce!), 25 pounds of cabbage. I never did find good pickling cucumbers this year. I save beans, corn, some pickles and other things that grow longer in the year for fall canning.
Raised by G’ma on farm and never knew anything but canning all season long. Got married and still canned, made saurkraut and anything else possible. We grow our own vegetables. Have all the equiptment from grandmother. And yes some jars do crack and blow, not very often but it does happen. I also have not poisened or killed anyone with my canning. I think if someone would offer a class people would be more comfortable with the canning process. Not everyone grew up being taught to can.
I love to can!!! I did 60 pints of strawberry jam this summer. Is that excessive? I have been too busy to do much this year. My first year (time) I canned anything I did green beans. 200 pints later……my Mother-in-law thought I was crazy! I ate them all!!! I was totally hooked too. This winter I’m going to can up all the dried beans I’ve been setting aside. Generally I always do strawberry jam, grape jelly, jalapeno jelly, green beans, tomatoes, pears. Those are the things we consume on a regular basis. We also did bread & butter pickles this year. Last year we did pickled jalapenos, dill pickles, apples, applesauce, dilly beans. Ketchup as well. What a disaster that was 😉
I’ve been canning since 2008 and love it enough that we invested in an 14 quart capacity All American pressure canner. Can’t say enough about how much I love my Back to Basics brand Victorio Strainer. I use it to make applesauce, tomato soup, and spaghetti sauce. I’ve done jams and jellies (seeded and seedless), my favorite being flavors I can’t get at the store like pear, peach, blueberry peach, etc. years past I’ve done applesauce, jams/jellys, tomato soup, spaghetti sauce, chicken, green beans, pears, peaches, apple and peach butter. I’m a little behind and have made 6 quarts and 3 pints of tomato soup, and 6 quarts of spaghetti sauce. Working on 40 pounds of peaches (Hale and O’henry) and 15 pounds of pears today. I’ve got plenty of time to can apples.
I get the fall canning/freezing/baking crazies too! I have 2 little kids and a new dog, yet I just can’t help myself from picking up boxes of fruit at the fruit stand or canning all the stuff out of the garden. I grew up on home canned sauerkraut, peaches, pears, applesauce, jam, pickles, you name it and I’m glad to be carrying on the tradition. Home canned food is so much better than the stuff you get in the store anyway. I hope someday I can teach my boys to do it too!
Those are great points — both the quality of canned goods and the ability to pass this valuable skill on to the next generation. Very cool!
I am SO excited for your canning posts….I need something else in my canning section besides pickled stuff…..although I have already eaten 3 jars of bread and buttle pickles….looks like I need to see if there are any more cukes at the U-Pick.
*butter
I love it!! Just finished canning 50 pounds of apples myself…. something about the fact that I did it myself… and lets face it homemade applesauce is so much better than store bought. I do want to hear about the tomatoes though… I have never been brave enough to touch them myself
How about a tutorial on that scarey beast they call a “Pressure Canner”?
Have it, but afraid I’m going to blow up the house if I attempt to use it. 😉
I like canning!! About 2 summers ago, I tried my first applesauce. Then, last year I canned 30 lbs. of peaches, 250 lbs of pears and about 50 lbs of apples. This year, I worked on tons of jam, about 80 lbs. of peaches and I’m getting my 250 lbs. of apples this weekend!! I’ve also gotten into freezing stuff. I froze some cherries in small portions, and I have enough broccoli to last until next summer. I made my first batch of salsa a couple of weeks ago, but we ate it ALL up! I made my second batch on Tuesday using all garden fresh ingredients and it turned out great, too! I can’t wait to get more tomatoes from friends!! Happy canning!
How funny! We are in the middle of canning five boxes of peaches, and plan to get more since we’re only going to get 60 quarts. I love canning peaches, and am getting better with jam. This year, the ultimate frugal food — peach pit jelly — is joining our repertoire, at least on a trial basis. We have enough tomatoes ripening from our 16 plants that we’ll have to preserve some, and that does seem intimidating because we’ve never canned tomatoes before. But Mom gave us her pressure canner, so what’s the worst that can happen? The nearest hospital is only five minutes away. 🙂
You go Girl!!! I have not stepped into the world of canning. Yet!, I plan to try a batch next year with my mom. If 400 lb makes you happy, then you do what makes you happy. Even if it means sending your husband to work with two day old clothes! He will understand later when enjoying the “fruits” of your labor.
I recently discovered canning because my husband wanted a way to preserve food that didn’t rely on electricity, so he asked for a pressure canner for Christmas.
I do like canning meats and soups and stuff, but I still can’t get the hang of canning fruit. It tastes “boiled,” which I suppose is what it is. I much prefer the flash frozen Foodsaver baggies of fruit in the fridge.
Any tips on avoiding the boiled flavor?
And DWC, the new canners are practically impossible to explode. They have a billion different safety features, so you might end up with a failed batch of jars if you do something wrong but you won’t create a ticking bomb. 🙂
Oops, not in the fridge, in the freezer.
canning fruit in a pressure canner will give it an undesireable texture and sometimes flavor. It essentially over cooks the fruit. I always use a water bath canner for fruit and pressure canner for meat. Hope that helps.
I used my grandma’s recipe and made pickles for the first time two years ago. My gma isn’t going to be around forever and no one else in the fam. was taking on the task of keeping my gma’s pickle recipe alive. They came out FANTASTIC! I even got the seal of approval from the master chef herself. I’m DYING to can peaches! I also make homemade applesauce but didn’t know that was a candidate for canning.
I grew 33 tomato plants from seed this year, with the intention of preserving most of them. I have, just not quite the way I intended, as our season was delayed by more than a month! So, no, you’re not crazy!
I followed your peach tutorial a couple of weeks ago with great success. It was my first time using canning jars for something other than food storage or freezing! I only wish that Costco had kept their organic peaches around awhile longer, they were a great price, and I’d love to have more.
I love to can. I agree with you about the feeling of seeing your jars all lined up. Really, nothing gives me more satisfaction. I’m going after more tomatoes today. And, yes, I’ll be covered in tomato splotches and my kitchen will be a mess. But my family tastes the love in every jar. Really.
My partner is an excellent vinegar pickler, which is an amazingly simple process that produces delicious results.
I canned for real for the first time this year by making seedless raspberry/blackberry jam – partly out of a desire to can and partly out of a desire for fresh seedless berry jam (I hate seeds in jam)! I made jam twice in the past month or so – the first made just 3 8 oz. jars and the second made 5 8 oz. jars. I kind of like the small batches – they feel manageable and are quick to make and clean up. And the results have been delicious.
This is my second year canning. I did peaches and apples last year, now this year added tomatoes and pears to my list. I also love the feeling of accomplishment of seeing all my jars lined up on the shelves. Its also the health aspect that has me canning so much for my family. Love you posts! Thank you!
I can every year. Love the feeling of putting food by for the rest of the year. Usually do it a little different each year. Some years whole tomatoes, usually I make sauce. I grow all the tomatoes that I can & usually get several dozen pints. I cannot even imagine doing 18 boxes at once! My back would not forgive me. Since I grow my own I pick a box or 2 and process those & repeat until the tomatoes stop coming. I also can applesauce, jam, tomatillo sauce and freeze many veggies/fruits too.
I grew up watching my grandma can just about anything, and my mom and I tried it a couple years while I was a teen. Now that I have a family to feed and am trying to save money and be more cautious of what we are eating, I am finding myself drawn to canning. I love it. And it’s a great time to have “girl” time. My mom helps me out and we get to chat while working. Love it 🙂
I agree! Canning with someone else makes it so much more enjoyable. I rarely do it on my own. There is safety/sanity in numbers. 🙂
I’m scared to can too, but really want to start. I’m not sure what I need, what to do. Thanks for the tutorials.
I am scared to death to can! I have all the equipment and faithfully save jars, but can’t bring myself to actually can anything! I just talked myself out of canning tomatoes and chose to freeze them instead. Part of my problem is that I don’t have anyone nearby to show me the ropes and I’m certain something will explode on me. Ugh! Thanks for the tutorials….maybe one of these days I’ll be brave enough to try it. Perhaps with applesauce….
Where do you live? Perhaps we can hook you up with an experienced canner that’s also a reader!
If you don’t have anyone (or aren’t comfortable with having new people in your space), the Ball Canning books are pretty comprehensive, explain everything in great detail and are some of the most conservative, safety-wise. If you follow their instructions to the letter, you really can’t go wrong.