Recanning from precanned foods

[Babs]

Hello,

I read thru the 3 pages of canning here before I asked this question. Really could not find the answer anywhere.

I have alot, and I mean ALOT of #10 cans of various foods. Pizza sauce, tomoatoes, corn, applesauce and a few other.

I was wondering if I can recan these into canning jars. Follow directions as I would for normal canning?

I know I can freeze the extras, but I dont want to use my freezer. I only have the one on my fridge and do not want to buy a chest/upright freezer. I am trying to stick to strickly canning.

Any ideas if this can be done and not be harmful?

Thanks,
Babs :)

[Shamrock1121]

Here's information from the National Center for Home Food Preservation. Experts on the subject of food preservation: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html

Is it safe to jar already canned food?

Often people think that they can save money by buying larger containers of canned food, transferring the contents (or leftovers from the first use) to smaller jars and re-processing it. Others wonder if this is a way to save leftovers from any size can for a longer time than they will keep in the refrigerator.

There are several problems with these practices:
(1) We have no safe tested processes to do this. In some cases, the way the heat is distributed throughout the jar during canning will be very different if you start with already canned/cooked food than with fresh. Excessively softened foods will pack more tightly into a jar, or arrange themselves differently and the process time recommended for fresh foods will not be enough for the already canned foods. Underprocessing can lead to foodborne illness or at the very least, spoilage and loss of product. You definitely could not just transfer the food and "seal" the jar. You would need some heat treatment known to destroy any organisms transferred with the food.

(2) The expense and time of recanning foods far exceed the cost savings of bulk or large-quantity packaged foods. To re-can food, you now add the expense of a jar and lid as well as the energy to re-can the food.

(3) Most likely the quality of the food will be greatly reduced in canning the food for a second time. The heat of canning does cause loss of some nutrients, and a second round of canning will further reduce the nutritional value. Textural changes from heating will be added to those already produced.

Without tested processes for re-canning foods, there is no way to know how to reduce the canning process and the default (although not a recommendation) is to process for the full time and temperature as if starting from scratch. When you consider you are not even saving money and resources, it does not seem worth the loss of food quality to practice this re-canning of commercially canned food. Our recommendation is to not plan to do this.

[leera]

I really would not reccomend attempting to reprocess store bought foods.......

I don't think it would be safe or nutritionally worth the effort.

Perhaps you could cut your losses and donte the large cans to a soup kitchen or other homeless shelter that serves food,then at least the food would not go to waste.

[DM]

Why not package it up and freeze it for longer term storage?

DM

[nancy1340]

*Why not package it up and freeze it for longer term storage?

*DM


"I know I can freeze the extras, but I dont want to use my freezer. I only have the one on my fridge and do not want to buy a chest/upright freezer. I am trying to stick to strickly canning. "

[Penny_Plinker]

My MIL bought a gallon size jar of pickles and she re-canned them into pints. They were actually cheaper than if she'd of canned her own, and of course pickles with the vinegar is pretty safe. She also did some pineapple..bought the industrial size can and re-canned into pints. There again, fruit is also pretty safe. So even you were worried abut re-canning vegatables, pickles and fruit are definitely an option.

Penny

[Penny_Plinker]

Jackie Clay talked about this in her blog today and she says she re-cans from #10 cans. If she does it, it must be absolutely safe.

Penny

[docjered]

I do it too... have done so for oh, fifteen years or so, and so far nobody has died. I have found that it makes foods softer, so if you like crisp pickles.... dont do it. I do re-can pickle relish when Sam's has it on sale in five gallon containers. I like relish soft. On the other hand, I have also recanned hamburger slices (dill pickles) from a five gallon can and they are a bit softer than some like. Things like corn, apple sauce, fruit and other similar, it recans just fine as long as you bring the product up to boiling and then fill sterilized jars and follow the standard canning times. Green beans? Forget it unless you like green mush. Same with canned beans of most types, unless you are going to turn pintos into refried and then can.

You will never find an "official" source to approve the practice because of liability issues and the general stupidity of the public.

[docjered]

I had some time to think about it, and wanted to offer this for your consideration. Rather than can like for like, why not take some of your canned goods and create finished product to can, such as opening tomatoes and making a spaghetti sauce, chili, pasta sauce, soup, etc.

What about taking a variety of canned veggies and turning them into a stew with some potatoes, spices, and meat then can the finished product?

It seems to me that this would be the best way to add some variety to your food stores, and face it: When we want to make and can a stew, we don't necessarily go out and buy every ingredient fresh, or try to find the exact day that the garden will produce each element so we can pick, cook and can... we all add some fresh, maybe some frozen, maybe some canned to "prepared" recipes then can the results. Put on your thinking cap and figure out how many different things you can convert your #10 cans into.

A lot of people who stocked up for Y2K or built a food store that is static and not dynamic have the same problem: a lot of #10 cans of a side dish or "ingredient" that to open would waste the rest. Doing the conversion thing is a way to use this product.

I thought I would share this with you, also. My food store is also changing, as when I started, I was raising teenage boys, so sizes and products were different than now that I live alone. I really don't know how to cook for one, so I usually cook for a family and freeze or can the leftovers so eventually I will have a large variety of pints and quarts of previous meals. This obviously involves recanning, some fresh from the garden, and fresh meats, but the end result, even recanned is great and building a more suitable, dynamic food store for my future as a single man approaching senility.

[pcrowder]

I've done it with the big cans of catsup, and it turns out fine...I've also done it with lg containers of picante sauce, too.