Preparedness for when

maryb

Meant to say, Mrs TP, I'm fairly sure the Kilner discs are the same size as the Mason / Ball narrow discs so if you still have family in the States you could get some sent to you

ALIBOBSY

Mrs_T_M wrote: »

I use a water bath canner (for high acid foods) and I use jars with one piece lids. I don't know if posting links to businesses is allowed here, but I buy jars in bulk! If the link is ok, let me know and I'll recommend where I get my jars. Also, for water bath canning, jars from the store (like sauce jars, mayo jars, etc) can be reused with new lids!

Pressure canning - definitely go with the Kilner type. I miss having Mason/Ball jars in stock this time of year for next to nothing. I brought over 5 of my half US gallon Ball brand jars last year and I am constantly using them for dry storage (and for mixing up homemade ice cream starter).

Ball band jars are now available on amazon uk and seems pretty good value at aound £20 for a dozen, not sure what delivery would be.

I have done some limited water bath canning, but I am a little unsure as to what I can and can't do.

Ali x

PS just checked and its free delivery in the uk. Would love the link re the jars, never know if its ok on here lol. I think if you are recommending something rather than posting a link to a company you own/work for its ok?

Plus homemade icecream starter? tell all

Mrs_T_M

maryb wrote: »

Meant to say, Mrs TP, I'm fairly sure the Kilner discs are the same size as the Mason / Ball narrow discs so if you still have family in the States you could get some sent to you

Definitely still have family there (I'm the only one that's moved!), and every visit I make, I shove things inside of empty ball jars and next time we go, I'll be packing a few boxes of lids. There, I can get 2 boxes (12 each) of the lids for $1.50, and a dozen jars (depending on size) for between $7 and $12.

ALIBOBSY wrote: »

Ball band jars are now available on amazon uk and seems pretty good value at around £20 for a dozen, not sure what delivery would be.

I have done some limited water bath canning, but I am a little unsure as to what I can and can't do.

Ali x

PS just checked and its free delivery in the uk. Would love the link re the jars, never know if its ok on here lol. I think if you are recommending something rather than posting a link to a company you own/work for its ok?

Plus homemade icecream starter? tell all

£20 for a dozen! EEK! I'd rather pay £1 each for kilner jars when I find them for that! They're essentially the same thing.

I honestly water bath can everything, but I definitely cannot recommend it for others. It works for us though.

http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html is the basic guidelines I would use for water bath vs pressure canning.

For the jars, I typically get them in bulk from here: http://www.jamjarshop.com/ and their standard one piece lids fit most pasta jars, mayo jars, jam jars from the store, etc.

For the ice cream starter I have in the fridge at the moment I just used 1 container extra thick double cream, 1 container of double cream, rinsed the dc container out with whole milk, added vanilla extract (2 tsp homemade I think), cocoa powder, and sugar to taste. Let it sit in the fridge for a bit until it's nice and cold, then we dump it into our ice cream maker. We have one that uses the frozen canister. All of the ice cream bits were on clearance between Tesco and Co-op, so two containers of ice cream is/was less than a quid.

Many people think you need to make a custard to make homemade ice cream. You don't (although the custard kind does taste better!).

hauxwell

I buy my kilner type screw top jars for my pressure canner from philipmorrisdirect. (sorry I can't do links yet) I buy the Deluxe preserving jars usually in bulk in the 0.5ltr size. They are a little bit cheaper than the actual kilner branded ones and have found them just as good. Kilner lids and rings fit them fine.

I also (against all advice you can find online form the US I must point out!) reuse the jar seals even in the pressure canner. I have only ever had one jar not seal in several years of doing this and never had anything go bad. I just throw them out when they look too worn.

I am careful when I open the jars (I use the side of a spoon to prize off the lid) and this stops the lids bending etc. Obviously this is apparently not advised but I am far too tight to keep replacing lids I feel are perfectly useable.

Mrs_T_M

hauxwell wrote: »

I buy my kilner type screw top jars for my pressure canner from philipmorrisdirect. (sorry I can't do links yet) I buy the Deluxe preserving jars usually in bulk in the 0.5ltr size. They are a little bit cheaper than the actual kilner branded ones and have found them just as good. Kilner lids and rings fit them fine.

I also (against all advice you can find online form the US I must point out!) reuse the jar seals even in the pressure canner. I have only ever had one jar not seal in several years of doing this and never had anything go bad. I just throw them out when they look too worn.

I am careful when I open the jars (I use the side of a spoon to prize off the lid) and this stops the lids bending etc. Obviously this is apparently not advised but I am far too tight to keep replacing lids I feel are perfectly useable.

I reuse lids I find on glass jars I pull from peoples glass recycling bins.

I think the main thing to take away from this talk on canning: do what works for you. I'd recommend starting with the USDA guidelines, then you can experiment once you have the technique down.

The only thing that I will say about canning: botulism from improperly prepared foods can kill, has no smell, no taste, and no visible signs. With this being said, deaths from botulism in home canned goods in the States is next to nil. If I remember correctly, there hasn't been one in the past 2 decades, and I KNOW that some people re-use lids and don't follow the USDA guidelines.

The best thing I can say: if in doubt, throw it out. I know, goes completely against the preserving mindset, but I'd rather throw out a batch of food if it's off than eat it and spend a few weeks in hospital or worse!

siegemode

Finally caught up !!!!!

So much to catch up on in just a few days.

Thank you BB and GQ for reminding me to check the toilet roll mountain. I do love a bargain but we have 154 in stock currently so I'll sit the latest offers out.

Love all the talk and advice on dehydrators and canners, but unfortunately I have neither room for the stores or the appliance

A few pages ago someone mentioned bobs when away from home (sorry can't remember who). Well this was my dilemma last weekend and a couple of weeks back.
We visit FIL 6 to 7 times a year and I hate being 200 miles from my home bubble of security and comfort. I pack twice as much stuff just in case ! but we never have enough water/stocks/cooking ability etc. In fact if TSHTF whilst away we would be stuffed to put it politely. FIL already thinks I fuss because I insist he has a few extra cans and bottled water and candles tucked away.

More recently OH and I went to see The Wall Live at Wembley and stayed in a hotel. A few things disturbed me.
1, I was away from home.
2, driving through the suburbs I realised how lost I could get and how alien and busy everywhere was. (I live on the edge of a small mkt town) Bit of a culture shock.
3, Whilst in the stadium with 70,000 others I had to leave certain multi tools and stuff back at the hotel.
4, Had anything major kicked off then we would be right in the S***.

All in all I felt very vulnerable.

My bag when last weighed was over 4kg :eek: because of all the what if gadgets and misc stuff it contains. And it's not even a BOB just my everyday bag.

maryb

I think the US has a higher incidence of botulism spores occuring naturally in the soil than we do here, so it is more of a risk.

Also ChocClare who used to post on the tough thread, gave a link to the le Parfait site, which has a translation of sorts. The point being, the French preserve all sorts of things in an ordinary pressure cooker.

I've looked at whether you can use a pressure cooker to can. The official advice is that it needs to be a proper canner because the heating up and cool down times are part of the total processing time and a pressure cooker heats up and cools down quicker because it is smaller.

Having said that, the times they quote are exactly the same regardless of the size of canner!

There is a well respected book called Putting Food By which has up to date advice and that does talk about using a pressure cooker and gives additional precautions if you decide to ignore official advice and use one instead of a canner.

Most European pressure cookers only have two pressures and the top one is only 12psi and to be absolutely sure of reaching the right temperature it would be better to have one that reaches 15 psi like the old style Prestige pressure cookers. It's also important to be able to vent the cooker without the weight for a period before bringing it to pressure. Again, an old Prestige would do this but modern pressure cookers which don't have a separate weight tend to come to pressure as soon as you close them

jk0

By the way guys, don't whatever you do, search for pressure cookers online, unless you want a visit from the men in black, (particularly if you recently searched for a back pack.)

https://medium.com/something-like-falling/2e7d13e54724

pineapple

Looking again at the cost of dehydrating, it wouldn't save me money because it is an alternative to freezing - because I will still run the freezer and wouldn't think of buying an extra freezer. If you see what I mean... But if you are a gardener with a glut of produce or simply want to stock up at the lowest price when things are in season or take advantage of supermarket value family packs then that might counteract the extra electricity costs. In fact as a single person I can see it might pay for itself. I think I have to do some sums!

[Deleted User]

PINEAPPLE I wouldn't want to be without the freezer, it's part of our lifestyle of growing and preserving, I have the dehydrator too and think I'll use it more and more to store surpluses as time goes on and I aquire the proper storage equipment. The electricity is a once off with dehydrating, the electricity is a constant use with the freezer. I love the security that not having to rely on the electricity supply gives me, it's a personal thing, to know that if the power does go, my stores are safe and useable, I guess we all have to decide what works best for ourselves don't we? Cheers Lyn xxx.