How much canning in a year?

How many jars of canned food do you put up in a years time; on average? I have been canning all summer and probably have put up about 500 jars; and still have hunting season to go. I am very proud of my pantry but i am running out of room. I also am very resourceful so I will take care of it. Happy canning.

Joyce Pierce
Greenville, Alabama

I honestly can’t say how many jars I can in a year. (Maybe I wouldn’t want to know!) It’s hard to keep track, as I can all year around and jars are constantly being used and then washed and reused right away. Then there are jars down in the pantry that have been there for a year, two…or ten. When we moved here, we were kind of hard up for cash…then we inherited my elderly parents, who didn’t have a whole lot, either. So we ate mostly from our pantry for two years…with a tiny in-progress new garden. So my jars emptied out a whole lot faster than I filled them. Now I’m actually having to buy jars! Everything is full and the pantry is once again fat. What a good feeling! I hope you get to can venison soon! Happy canning to you, too. — Jackie

Cornish cross update

Do you have any new updates on your “homegrown” Cornish cross meat birds? I am interested in doing that myself and just wondered how they turned out? Another question, is it possible to pressure can on a wood cookstove?

Gayle Rush
Eugene, Missouri

Our homemade Cornish rocks are doing very nicely. They didn’t grow as fast as the hatchery Cornish crosses, but not one is inactive or stupid and none health/leg-related problems. All are active and are also pretty darned big. They are not as big as Cornish broilers. They do need to be crossed again, several times, to stabilize the characteristics we want but we’re not poultry breeders and will go about it incorrectly, I’m sure, but we have fun and the extra roosters are sure fine to eat. We will be butchering soon!

Yes, definitely, you can pressure can on a wood cookstove. I did it for years and years. You get smart and learn to gently drag your canner slightly off the hottest spot and pull it back on, when necessary, to adjust your pressure. With a wood range, canning with a weighted gauge is a lot easier because then you drag much less than when you use a dial gauge! — Jackie

5 COMMENTS

  1. We don’t hunt, not because we are against it but because we have beef. A young boy down the road gave me three deer a few years ago and it is now all gone. We just butchered thee steers and I need to get canning. Almond season is over so now I have time. Chilli and beef stew especially as we got about 500 pounds of that. Want to try to can some steaks also. I love to can. I wore my “I eat local because I can” sweatshirt out somewhere with my daughter-in-law and some guy ask me if I really did can. My DIL told him just how much I can.

  2. my daughter and i just finished canning 96 quarts of sweet potatoes.now we have to put them in our pantry. next weekend starts our deer hunting season and i plan on canning a lot of deer meat. we also cut and split 2 cords of firewood this weekend. friday before the season starts we are going to get persimmons to can. jackie,you are so right when you say there is always something to do on your homestead.i just hate to see anything ruin;so far my daughter[heather] and i have been able to keep up with everything.my husband[david]is all over the state working,so that leaves the 2 of us to handle most everything.

  3. Leigh Ann,

    I can venison stew meat, ground venison (plain and seasoned for taco filling), spaghetti sauce, venison stew, roasts, steaks, mushroom and venison chunks, etc. Any meat is so easy to tweak into tasty canned meals!! I love it.
    You have a right to feel proud of your pantry!

    Jackie

  4. I’ve canned venison chili and it is wonderful. When we had the rolling black outs here in TX last winter, I had my family over and we heated it up over my gas stove I had to manually start and enjoyed a hearty meal… and stayed warm! What other venison recipes could be canned? I’m fattening up my pantry slowly. I love looking at it and admiring how much I have saved as far as cost and I know exactly what’s in it all.

  5. you are probably. i don’t really want to know.for the first time in years i have bought jars. i called my daughter,jennifer[she lives about an hour away] and told her to come shopping here this time.

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