Canning questions
 

I know there is a big thread posted above on canning but it is a lot to go through. Can someone recommend a good place to buy canning supplies and jars? Should I check ebay?

Also, if I can chili or chicken soup, how long is the shelf life typically?

I have the Blue Book of Preserving and I'm anxious to get started. There are a lot of great recipes in there.

Thanks.

Re: Canning questions
 

Jeeeezzzzzz go and read the thread for grimmery sakes.

Re: Canning questions
 

Thanks, that was SO helpful. Glad you took the time to post that:)

Re: Canning questions
 

Whole food co-ops are usually a good bet for supplies, so far as jars and extra lids go. Everything else should have come along with your fancy pressure cooker, which are basically a magnetized wand and a jar lifter. You don't need a funnel or a jar wrench. Well, on second thought, depending on what you are jarring, one of those wide mouth funnels might come in handy. I don't usually need one as I'm jarring meats.

Re: Canning questions
 

Unless you're looking on-line I'd suggest local hardware stores, feed stores, Wal-Mart, and even some supermarkets have them.

Canning supplies aren't exactly hard to find.

As for shelf life, I've eaten home canned chili that was eight months old and survived.
Tasted pretty good too.

Chicken soup dosen't last long enough to be canned.Meaning we eat it all pretty quick.

Re: Canning questions
 

I suppose that what happens is the rubber seal decays enough to break the vacuum seal? Is that what finally goes wrong?

Re: Canning questions
 

Cheapest? Well, for starters when someone asks me what I would like for XX holiday, or B-day.. I ask for canning supplies..jars, lids etc.

Another place I have had good luck was with "freecycle" just post a want with your local group.

As for actually buying them, I would say walmart has the best prices. All though I have also found em at yard sales, flea mkts, thrift stores..places like that.

Time frame for the canned goods? I would agree that 3-5 yrs easy, although mine never last that long :banana:

Re: Canning questions
 

For lids & rings, check Fleabay. I bought a bunch of lids a couple months ago from seller mulberrylanefarm. NOTE: her website prices are cheaper than her Fleabay prices. See www.mulberrylanefarm.com . VERY fast service, fair prices, no games.

For canning jars, you might also check your local Ace Hardware store. Their prices are less than my local Walmart. If your store doesn't stock the jars, you can order them online at www.acehardware.com and get FREE delivery to your local Ace store.

A couple good Errornet resources for food storage/canning are the Yahoo groups Canning2 and food-storage .

Subscribe: food-storage-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: Canning2-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Enjoy your new canner. What type do you have? I don't want to spend the $$$ on an All American yet, but have been very happy with the 23 quart Presto I bought from Amazon a year or so ago.

Re: Canning questions
 

Thanks so much for the links. I didn't know Walmart carried the jars. I will go pick some up next week.

I'm a little nervous about getting started, afraid I won't be able to figure out how to do this properly. But 3-5 years of storage is great, that's what I was hoping.

This is the canner I bought:

Re: Canning questions
 

No need to be nervous! After all, if you screw things up, it's just muscle weakness/paralysis/death, right????

As long as you follow standard processes for your canned goods, you'll be just fine. I hope. (are you getting nervous yet?)

Your canner will let you do a bunch of quart or pint jars at a time.

Start out with just jars of water to make sure you've got the process down right. Don't forget to wipe the jar rims with a moist rag before putting your (warmed) lids in place. It's not that difficult, really.

Canning stuff is FUN, and makes you feel good every time you hear the "tink" of a lid popping down & sealing in place.

Enjoy!

Re: Canning questions
 

Yeah, but the prices are riduculous. $1.39 for 12 lids is highway robbery. There must be someplace that sells them by the hundred or by the gross for 1/4 that price?

I don't know what a food coop is. Nothing like that I've ever heard of anywhere near here.

Re: Canning questions
 

Mulberry lane is even higher than the grocery store's $1.39 even if you buy 360 lids, LOL, plus shipping, I bet.

These things should be dirt cheap. I used to work for companies that stamped things and had them plated etc. They are worth maybe 3 cents at cost, most of which would be to put the rubber on, i'd think.

PS: Its the cost of the lids that kill you because you shouldn't reuse them. The rings and jars can be used over and over, so you can divide their cost by the number of times you reuse them. For example, to buy a can of soup is 33 cents, but making it yourself is cheap until you pay for the jar, lid, and ring. Just the cost of the lid alone is 1/3 the price of a can of soup. That is just way too high.

Re: Canning questions
 

As I said earlier, practice your first batch with a few jars of water instead of the real food.

Re: Canning questions
 

You're on the internet.... Google what you want.

I bought a case of lids that equaled .06 ea after shipping, but I had to comparison shop it to fond the best shipping rate for my area.

Don't skimp on equip. All American canners are the very best and worth every cent.... http://www.frugalsquirrels.com/ or go to amazon.com

Go to canningusa.com for video. search youtube.com

Dive in. There's no better teacher than doing.

Re: Canning questions
 

Where'd you find them for 6 cents each? The best I've found, even buying cases, was 10+ cents each.

Re: Canning questions
 

I'll have to dig around to find the store.... bought end of 2007, so price is probably higher now.

Some folks say lids don't store well, but I've not had any problems. As long as they are kept in a cool dry location, they should seal after sterilizing.

Re: Canning questions
 

ThriftyBob,

I *think* I got them here: http://www.fillmorecontainer.com/Lid...-Dome-Lids.htm

they are higher than when I bought and I got them at closer to .08-.09 ea, not .06 when I got them. Sorry about the mispost.

Just an FYI for anyone looking at buying in bulk.... remember that a case of 60 is actually 720 lids. I use about 150-200 new lids per year, so they won't sit long enough to have the rubber go bad on me. If you only use a few new a year, you might not want to invest in a case.

Re: Canning questions
 

I found a box with 2 flats of canning lids sitting in my garage. They were bought in 1998 or 1999. I used them this winter when canning my steer, T-Bone. The only problem I had was when I used my "old " jars that had a chip in the glass. No problems with the seal. I even used them with the lid sucker, they are still tight! I got a few cases of lids on hand now. I figured it might get hard to buy when canning season hits and who knows what else happens. The LDS Cannery also carries them. I think they are .86 cents a box. They only have the small ones though. The cannery also carries pint jars.... cheaper than the stores. I can't remember the price... you will have to check!