How long can food last when you can it?

Is it good for things like soups and meats, or mostly just vegetables?

Is it worth the trouble (outside of an apocalyptic food shortage)?

I've personally eaten canned venison that was 15 years old.  Taste and texture was same as stuff we have canned in the last year.  

I probably wouldn't suggest it, but yeah.


You can can just about anything...


Yes, it's worth it.  First, canned venison is delicious.  Second, not having all that meat in my freezer means that in the event of a freezer failure/electrical grid failure, I still have LOTS of proteins available that doesn't even need to be heated.  I'm shooting as much deer as possible and stacking them deep.  Canning lots of stuff out of the garden too.

Being the only grandchild interested in it, my 92 year old grandmother gave me all her canning stuff and recipes last year. The chokecherry jam is fanfreakintastic

Do you even food storage bro?

I can sauces. Nothing low acid yet, but tomato based stuff as well as barbecue sauce. In the apocalypse Ill be trading BBQ for protein!

Takes nothing more than paying attention to Grandma's stories and asking a few questions about it.  You will hopefully get many years of canning done and share with her some canned goods.  I am sure she will appreciate that!



I have to look that one up!  What is it?

Bill

My family still practices canning.

Water bath & pressure canning are used depending on what we are putting up.  Most of our canning is done on a propane cook top or an outdoor propane cooker, but we still have our old large outdoor wood fired canner for batches of several  dozen jars at a time.

At times we still use the dry heat oven method for applesauce & apple butter, but this is not recommended anymore in any of the newer books.

YES

I am still eating pickled things, veggies and game meat from 6-8 years ago, in some cases.  

Love canned venison.  

I have canned for decades...   Here is my take...

If you have access to bulk foods you get for little cost, it is worthwhile.  My inlaws ran a commercial apple operation.  I got apples for free.  I made tons of apple sauce.  Definitely worthwhile.  But f you buy bushels of apples to make applesauce, its cheaper to buy prepared.  Got a big garden? Canning is the way to go.  It saves freezer space for other stuff...

If you buy in bulk and want to preserve, its great.  Hamburger is on sale at $1.99/lb instead of the usual $5.99?  Buy 20 lbs and can up sauces and chili.

If you like quality food, it's fantastic.  There are nights I am exhausted from work.  I'm hungry and want a good home cooked meal, but too tired to really cook.  I open a can of my home made spaghetti sauce or chili and its a fast, low effort meal.

It does take work, effort, and some cost.  You need to buy jars and lids.  Watch for end of season sales on lids, and stock them deep.

Quick run down:  Water bath canning is high acid foods only.  Very easy to do with minimal equipment and cost, but its limited to jams, jellies, pickles, tomatoes and little else.  While all you really need are jars and a large pot for equipment, each jar of jam or pickles or tomatoes either requires a fair bit of ingredient inputs (Vinegar, sugar, fruit, depending on what you are making) or a ton of labor (tomatoes are time intensive).   Pressure canning is the only way to reliably and safely can meat and low acid foods.  You need a pressure canner, which can be expensive.  However, inputs are often less intensive cost and labor wise.  At times, I have simply stuffed chunks of meat in a jar, filled with water, slapped a lid on, and pressure canned.  No need for vinegar or other acids....

a pressure canning pot can be used for pressure canning and for water bath canning.  A bit water bath canner can only be used for water bath canning...

A tip:  Go to Walmart or look online. Buy Ball's Book of Canning and Preserving.  Well worth the $10 or whatever it costs...

Shelf life....   I have jam and jelly that is five or six years old.  It is fine and safe.  Over time the jams become darker, and loose some flavor.  Instead of a 'fresh' this-years-crop strawberry jam that is bright red and really 'berry', it slowly becomes darker, deeper red and while still strawberry flavored, becomes sweet with less bursting berry flavor.  Green beans are great for several years with no loss in quality.    As long as the lids are still sealed tightly to the jar, the food inside is "good" even if there is a slight change in color or taste.  And a tight lid is entirely and purely the result of your careful canning technique.  Use a clean jar, with a good clean lip/rim, use the proper dome lids, can per the recipe, let cans set after canning and DO NOT FUSS WITH THE BANDS/LIDS.  let them cool completely and absolutely before touching the bands.  check for good seals.  

If Some high acid foods are a bit more problematic:  The acids in the foods can attack the underside of the lid and start eating at it.  Over time, the lid can corrode.  It doesn't happen often, but it's possible.  This isn't just home canning:  Set a tin can of pineapple on your shelf for three years, and at some point it will fail when the acid eats through the damned can...

^^^^^^^^ This is some good information/advice.

If you have a garden, canning is almost a must do.

Canning is worth it, if only for homemade jams and jelly. - which seem to last indefinitely.
Better than anything from the store.

-basically, if the lid is sealed, the contents are still good.

My wife canned some holiday cranberry sauce in 2011, we open a jar every Thanksgiving, still have a few of those jars left.

Yes I do can stuff from our garden or if we get stuff cheap/free. I haven't done meat once I became an adult but we did as a kid.

Yes. Still eating apple butter I canned in 2015.

I finally got a pressure canner to do meat products. I was not very pleased with the taste and texture of chili and meat sauces, they were sort of an overcooked flavor? The cubed beef and patties that were raw packed turned out fine although a bit softer than I like. Canning chicken and beef stock also worked out very well.

We just opened a jar of jalapeño jelly I canned from the garden that is dated 2015. It’s still good. I’ve got some cowboy candy (sweet canned jalapeños) from a couple years ago that will be getting eaten up soon.

I initially got into canning because I noticed that some of my frozen meats were getting freezer burned. I read up on, pressure canning, and learn to do it. I’ve learned to Ken, our stews, our chilies, meat, veggies etc. I have recently begun pickling eggs and stuff. It is all fun and the food is especially fresh. If you eat anything canned from the store, it is not that! You can make your own recipes and can excellent food.

Our pickled asparagus
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Our pickled eggs. If put in straight vinegar, you don’t have to refrigerate them. They are wonderful, and last for about six months.

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Some of our canned stuff, meats, chili, preserves, stews, salsas, oh and Bread and Butter jalapeños! Amazing taste! etc. follow the rules and you will have a great time. The food is wonderful!
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How long do you habe to wait after canning to open one and try it?

I plan on starting next week on vacation and wanted to try some afterwards

Unitl it cools.

I have only done water bath canning, looking to do pressure canning.