Canned food Buy it or Jar it at home?

[tabwyo]

My wife has canned food her whole life. We haven't canned from our garden yet because to date we have just had a small hobby garden. I got permission this year to till up a section of the back yard which will triple our gardening area. Along with the 25 or so "upside down" buckets and the 50'x50' potato patch I tilled on our lot we should be able to start putting away some of what we grow. That said, we are just starting out on our "food storage" journey so we hit the flats sales at Smiths and Safeway a lot and pick up full flats of soups, veggies, condensed milk, chilli, beans.... basically anything we normally eat as we fully intend to rotate our stock once we have a suitable pantry stocked up.

[Grinnan Barrett]

I really think you do both if you can. cans from the market store easily and transport well. canning in your own kitchen is a long term prep. It is sort of like a lost art for most people. It is like making soap on your own. My wife hates to think about canning but I am back into it. I want to teach my kids to do it like my grandmother did for me. If you don't have a garden look to the farmers market for a source.

[kappydell]

I buy canned vegetables from the local cannery - dented cans by the case for $6.00. BUT I also can things I cant find commercially or like better home-canned: meats, for example, are much better in my opinion home canned, and around here the only commercial meats are spam, ham, corned beef, and some canned roast beef which is pretty pricey. My home canned is much tastier, much more varied. My canner was bought at the thrift shop for $10, tested at the county extension office for free, and directions came from a plethora of library books. Plus I can things that are not available commercially at an affordable price: margarine, butter, hard cheeses, dried cooked hamburger crumbles, etc. These are not USDA approved, but more adventurous canners have been canning them for years, ditto for 2 qt size jars.

So I do both.

[kappydell]

I buy canned vegetables from the local cannery - dented cans by the case for $6.00. BUT I also can things I cant find commercially or like better home-canned: meats, for example, are much better in my opinion home canned, and around here the only commercial meats are spam, ham, corned beef, and some canned roast beef which is pretty pricey. My home canned is much tastier, much more varied. My canner was bought at the thrift shop for $10, tested at the county extension office for free, and directions came from a plethora of library books. Plus I can things that are not available commercially at an affordable price: margarine, butter, hard cheeses, dried cooked hamburger crumbles, ham pieces, bacon, etc. These are not USDA approved, but more adventurous canners have been canning them for years, ditto for 2 qt size jars.

So I do both. I like to can.