While on vacation last August, I finally ordered what I had been saving for and found the courage to spend my hard eared money on – An All American Pressure Canner. When I decide to do something, I rarely go small. And so it was with my canner. It holds 14 litre jars at a time and it’s BIG! – I call it my space ship canner.
Of all the baking, cooking, and creating I do, nothing brings me as much joy and satisfaction as using this canner. I can’t help but smile when prepping and loading the canner. Looking at the jars I have preserved on my shelf brings a smile to my face each and every time I see them. For those of you who have discovered the joy of canning and home preserving – you understand. And for those of you who have not yet ventured into canning, a world of wonderment is waiting!
There is nothing that makes me feel more satisfied than the home canned food I have prepared for my family. The satisfaction that I am not dependent on others and can be self sufficient in this small way while taking care of my family brings me great joy. It makes me feel fulfilled as a woman.
This weekend like many weekends, I got the urge to do some canning. I looked in my pantry to see what I had an abundance of and whether i should create something to can or can something I already have. I decided to make chicken stew. Stew is a staple in our house as everyone will eat it and it is a quick meal once canned or fast weeknight meals.
That reminds me – for anyone thinking that canning is simply for food preservation, think again. I could buy food everyday and freeze food in my large upright freezer (which I do by the way), but canning is about home cooked convenience food. Not fast food but food fast when it is needed. For all the other working mothers out there you understand what I am taking about.
You rush home from work and have 30 minutes to get supper on the table, kids fed, and off to whatever program/lesson/sports/church/social event that is planned that night. You could pick up take out and you could just have everyone eat in the car but who knows what is in that “frankenfood” and meal time no matter how fast is family time. Solution? Home canned meals.
For my family of 5 which includes 3 pre-teen and teen boys I can open 2 litres of canned stew, place in a pot on the stove, thicken with arrowroot, and have everyone eating in 10 minutes from the time I walked in the door. That leaves 20 minutes to eat, ask about everyone’s day, connect together over a meal and then out the door. Yes – home canning is a huge benefit to a busy working mother. The cost savings is also a benefit. I calculated how much I spent to create 9 litres of chicken stew for my pantry shelf:
Organic Chicken – $22.00
Organic russet potatoes – $4.00
Organic carrots – $2.00
Organic onions – $2.00
Organic celery – $2.00
Total $32.00
That gives us 4.5 meals so about $7.11 per meal for a family of 5 people ($1.42 per person). All organic and no GMO, additives, preservatives, colourants, or other frankenfood ingredients. How much was your take out???
You have to follow safety guidelines for pressure canning to ensure your food is safe to eat so be sure to do your homework if you plan to take up pressure canning your own food. My recipe for stew is what I use for both chicken and beef stew – I just vary the spices for both. I will share that recipe in an upcoming blog. I hope you join the canning adventure and feel the satisfaction and joy of providing for your family the way I do.
