Does anyone use a pressure canner?

[Jenstet]

I had a garden last year and of course had a lot of food left over. I was wondering if this is just more time and money than it is worth or a great money saver.

[Closeacademy]

If you eat the food you can then it is great. If you don't eat something that needs to be pressure canned then it may not be a good deal. Especially since the canned food lasts longer than frozen food. I would get the biggest canner though if you plan on doing a lot of pressure canning.

We mostly do tomatoes here and only need to water bath them. :)

[CalicoKat]

My mom pressure cans. Mostly she does meat, like chickens. But she also does some of the non acidic veggies like green beans.

Everything can also be frozen. I put cut corn, green beans, green peppers, whole tomatoes for stews, zucchini, cilantro, pesto balls, carrots, and cooked squash into the freezer.

Do you have a pressure cooker already? My mom is constantly telling me to be sure to buy a really good one. You don't want it to explode--thus my phobia. :)

[Mom2legomaniacs]

I didn't want to expense especially since I don't have a garden myself. I was gifted with some produce that I wanted to can, so I just bought a water bath canner thing at Wal-Mart. It worked really well and I didn't have the pressure canner fear of blowing up issue;)


Oh, and as far as canning goes, my family put up everything when I was a kid. I loved it! The only things I recall them canning were tomatoes and tomato juice, green beans, and sauerkraut. Everything else was frozen.

[KristineIN]

If you just want to can, I would use a hot water bath and do tomatoes and freeze anything else. I really prefer frozen green beans and frozen corn, it's really better for you too. My mom always used a pressure canner, but I've used one and they kind of scare me.

Kristine

[CalicoKat]

I didn't want to expense especially since I don't have a garden myself. I was gifted with some produce that I wanted to can, so I just bought a water bath canner thing at Wal-Mart. It worked really well and I didn't have the pressure canner fear of blowing up issue;)


Oh, and as far as canning goes, my family put up everything when I was a kid. I loved it! The only things I recall them canning were tomatoes and tomato juice, green beans, and sauerkraut. Everything else was frozen.


I only have a couple quarts left from last fall's canning. That's my favorite. We make a bout 5 gallons. Used to be just for my mom & I. But now my sisters, mom's sibs, and a couple old aunties who got wind of our saurkraut operations and they've all put in dibs! So we'll have to double our total next fall just to have enough for all.
Yum!

[Jenstet]

I don't have any experience canning. I like growing vegetables though and it seemed a good way to make use of it all. I had a lot of waste last year. I am not too worried about things blowing up. I woory more about bacteria and not doing it right. It might be worth a shot.

[Audrey]

I don't have any experience canning. I like growing vegetables though and it seemed a good way to make use of it all. I had a lot of waste last year. I am not too worried about things blowing up. I woory more about bacteria and not doing it right. It might be worth a shot.

Go for it then. I can, literally, several hundred pints and quarts every summer. I use both a water bath and a pressure canner. I will can something way before I'd freeze it. I don't care for freezer things, except peas.

It saves us beaucoup dollars in food expenses. Totally worth the effort, IMO.

[Jenstet]

I'm gonna do it. I think it will save money getting rid of the big freezer too. Have you ever had any bad canning experiences? A bad batch?

[Adrianne]

The only thing I found that we would use it for is canned beets. Everything else is better frozen. Green beans, cabbage (not sauerkraut), limas, and corn. These are all better, tasting and nutritionally, if frozen not canned.

I had a friend who canned meat and soup. She had great success with this. Again I am not sure how nutritious this is. But it would be nice to have ready made soup available (without the defrost)

If you do decide to buy one, let us know, I am curious about them myself and have been on the fence about it for a while.