# how much do you can a year?



## Tammy (Sep 12, 2009)

I'm new to canning.I plan on start canning my garden this next year, but i was wondering how much supplies that i should get ready. I would like if yall could reply and tell me about how much you active canners can each year. I know that it varies due to how much your garden produces,but generally most people try to can so much of each type of vegetable. What do yall each try to do? I appreciate hearing from each and everyone of you who gives my post the time. thanks


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## Tammy (Sep 12, 2009)

Also i forgot to ask earlier...What size jars do you can your stuff in. pint or quart? Which is better?


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## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

I can about 20 quarts and 10 pints usually each year, depending on how much we consume, I will can again when the crop, pickles, tomatoes, fruit come ripe. Jar size depends on what size family you have to feed, the wife and I don't need as much at one time so we use the pints for tomatoes, sauce, and jams. Whole fruit is better canned in the quart size. My greenhouse will provide some vegetables up through the winter and saves me the time on canning. Pickles are my forte' and we, family, and neighbors go through them quite quickly. Make sure you follow the steam bath directions carefully when canning non-acid vegetables, I always put a little vinegar in each jar to help. I have a canning pressure cooker for soups and such to almost guaranty sterilization, and make sure you sterilize everything you use in boiling water. I put the jars, ladle, funnel, rings and lids in the boiling water bath before canning.


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## Tammy (Sep 12, 2009)

i plan on canning a whole lot more than that. I'm wanting to try to live off the land as much as possible since the price on food is going up. so i'm trying to plan in advance. I've looked a lot of canning recipes up. I have on that i really want to try ketchup. I plan on doing corn, green beans, tomatoes, and a whole lot more.


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## CVORNurse (Oct 19, 2008)

Tammy, this was my first year to can in about 17 years. A lot of what you get to can depends on what your garden puts out. I figured I would have lots of green beans to can, but instead, they seemed to ripen in smaller batches that it didn't seem worth it at the time to pull out the canner. In retrospect I should have gone on and canned smaller loads. I put up lots of tomatoes and pickles. The cucumbers were all from my own garden. The tomatoes, we found a source to pick them relatively cheaply to go with the ones I planted.

I would say now is the time to be online researching which canner you want to purchase. And do hit yardsales and thrift shops looking for jars year round. Be sure and check the rims for chips, and only get genuine canning jars, not the old mayo jars. If you are lucky enough to find them marked down in a store, grab them. Wal mart has not marked theirs down so far this year, and they have gotten to the point they just have a few left ( they also seem to be playing hide the jars- everytime I go in, they are in a different spot and there are fewer of them).

Be sure and get a good canning book, such as Ball's Blue Book. There are also multiple sites that offer canning information if you do a search. And the USDA canning guide is available online in pdf form. I printed it out and put it in a binder.

Good luck


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## Rody (Sep 4, 2009)

We try to can anywhere from 50 to 80 jars of green beans every year. Usually 20 or 30 quarts of tomatoes. Only five or six quarts of beets, (my wife likes them but I don't). We can two or three dozen jars of bread and butter pickles. Always end up running out of those before the next year though. We don't bother with corn. It's far cheaper to just by corn considering how much space it takes up to grow it compared to how much you get out of it.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

45 qts & 9 pints of tomato sauce 10 1/2pints of paste.
9 pints of tomato soup 
17 qts of pickles
16 pints of pickled beets with about 6 more to do 
21 qts of peaches
6 qts of pears ( bad year for pears  )
6 1/2 pints of blackberry jam
8 pints & 6 1/2 pints of peach preserves

I also can leftovers. We make large batches of spaghetti, beef stew. chicken corn soup, etc. and I'll put up 2-3 pints so we have ready-made meals. Keep in mind, you'll need to use a pressure canner for this type of stuff. I tried it with a water bath last year and had 8 pints of stuff go bad.


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## mandiex4 (Mar 14, 2009)

UncleJoe said:


> 45 qts & 9 pints of tomato sauce 10 1/2pints of paste.
> 9 pints of tomato soup
> 17 qts of pickles
> 16 pints of pickled beets with about 6 more to do
> ...


We also can leftovers....we make extra just to can it. Taco Meat, stew, chicken, and meatloaf. We eat everything (4 kids) as fast as we pick it in the garden....We plant a big garden, but we eat it as fast as it grows...I think my kids just walk outside and grab a snack. LOL, we will get it to the jars someday. LOL


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## bunkerbob (Sep 29, 2009)

The amount that I can every year does not include the amount that I freeze in the vacuum bagger. Vegetables seem to taste better when freezing than canning. I also buy large cuts of beef and pork and either grind to course for chili and second grind for hamburger, the rest will be stew meat, meat loaf, etc. Then make sausage from what remains. Vacuum bagging is a god send when buying in 'family packs'. I freeze the meat or sausage first then seal in bags, this helps to maintain the form better. Unfortunately, because we are off-grid we have to keep the size of the freezer smaller than I would like.

I also use the vacuum to seal jars for dry products for long term storage, just add one small oxygen absorber to each 1/2 gallon mason jar for added protection. Then keep them in the box they came in for protection. Always write the date you seal on the lids for reference. I've done this now since the mid '70s, each year I open up the 5 gallon bulk storage of rice, wheat, TVP, beans, pasta, and redo with co2, add a oxygen absorber and reseal. I sample each to see if it is still viable.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Canning is one thing that I'd like to get into. We don't do any now but I'd like to get to that point. We have the land and as my son leaves his infancy behind we will have the time. DW stays home with him now rather than going to work just to spend her whole paycheck on daycare so someone else can raise our son, so as he gets a little bigger I thing the 2 of them will get into more homestead type stuff. It's a subject that intrests her and me alike.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Last year was my initiation into canning. It's a lot easier than I thought. It looked so complicated when I was 8-10 years old and watching my grandmother doing it. Now it's second nature. I've never had a jar fail to seal. The leftovers I tried to can did seal but apparently the water bath didn't kill the bacteria and as it multiplied it popped the seal.


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## ditzyjan56 (Oct 3, 2009)

Tammy, Just joined also and just started canning seriously after several years of being lax. I can everything I can out of the garden, but my son hunts and i can venison and when I have left over turkey I can the meat to make homemade noodle soup with it. The venison I can with 2 beef boulion cubes and it tastes great in stews or bar-b-qued. I also het the sales on meats at the local grocers, go on mondays, all the weekend meat is usually put on sale by midmorning. Hope this is helpful


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## In the pines (Dec 13, 2009)

*What I can? everything I can*

I have a large garden from which I can beets, pickles, corn, cabbage,potatoes,peas,tomatoes and sauce,turnips. I also can different meats, applesauce, jellies,peaches,pears, pickled bell peppers, greenbeans,yellow beans.What we dont eat right away I find a way to either freeze, can or dehydrate . Im sorta like a squirrel from March until November Im putting up and saving busy busy busy.Saving for a rainy day.


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