Chapter 2 Jars

 

        How many days are there in a year?  You, in the back row, blue shirt.  “Bing”, you’re right, 365 days.  Okay, next question.  How are you going to preserve your garden bounty?

 

        Most people will blithely say “by canning it”.  Now put that together with 365 days in a year.  This is very important, so pay close attention here.

 

        In order to eat at least one jar of something every day, that’s 365 jars and lids, not to mention enough of ‘whatever’ to put in the jars to be canned.  Three...Hundred...And Sixty-Five jars.  For one jar a day.

 

        That’s a scary thought, and even more scary if you have, for example, a family of 4. One jar of food probably isn’t going to be enough.  

 

        That means two a day, or 730 jars a year.  Three a day…1,095 jars, plus an equal number of canning lids. It’s recommended that you not reuse the lids for canning, so you’ll need that many each year. Lids can be reused for non-canning purposes such as storing dehydrated foods.

 

        So for you and your family, if you have others besides yourself, to eat one jar, total, three times a day, is 1,095 jars.  How many do you have?

 

        I've had people smile proudly and say “I picked up three boxes of them on clearance this Fall!”  That's a good start but it's still only three dozen jars.  36 jars.  New jars usually come with lids and rings, so the first batch is ready for canning.

 

        Don't be overwhelmed.  Buy whatever you can add to your jar collection each year.  Watch for sales during canning season, clearances and mark-downs after canning season, and keep an eye out for them at yard sales and thrift stores.

 

        When we got serious about food self-sufficiency about ten years ago, canning wasn't popular.  The economy was good and fewer people were growing a garden and canning.  Most people I knew with gardens were freezing everything.  This is great if you have the freezer space, live with 'grid' electricity (which is pretty much unlimited), and expect to continue to be able to run your freezer.

 

        We live with off-grid solar power, which is limited, so canning and dehydrating food is a big part of our life.  I put up notices at the grocery stores and community bulletin boards:  “Family needs jars for canning”.  A lot of older people gave me all their jars and canning stuff because the younger people in their family weren't interested.  I got literally hundreds of jars, rings, and boxes of new lids, for free.

 

       With the upsurge in gardening and canning it might be harder to get jars this way, but it's worth a try.  You never know what people have stashed away in their attics or garages.  There are probably a lot of people who would feel good about passing them on to someone interested in it.

 

        I started ordering lids by the case through our local food co-op.  They're slightly cheaper that way, and with the large amount we use each year it adds up to decent savings.  Most grocery stores and department/box stores have them, in boxes of twelve lids.

 

        For dehydrating you can reuse lids you took off jars of home-canned food.  It's not important to have a vacuum-seal, though vacuum-sealing jars of dehydrated food is becoming more popular.  I use non-canning jars such as salsa jars for dehydrated food, as well as any canning jars that have chips on the rim and aren't safe for canning any more.

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        Back to how many canning jars you'll need... if it’s more manageable to think in terms of dozens of jars, that’s 34.2 dozen at the rate of eating one jar of food a day for a year.

 

        91.2 dozen jars for 3 jars a day!  Well, okay, that still sounds like a lot of jars, and it is.  Imagine 91 cases of twelve jars sitting in a stack.

 

        They take up a lot of space. I know. I have at least that many.  Where to store them?  You can get creative and keep boxes of them under beds, stacked in closets, stack and cover with a table cloth and use for an end table or bedside stand, line them along a wall under a window, cover with a cloth, and grow potted herbs on top of them.

 

        If you live where the temperature goes below freezing you'll have to make sure you store the jars where the liquid inside won't freeze and break the jar.  Meats canned without water, and canned cheese and butter, won't break the jar. 

 

        When I need boxes to put the jars in, I go to the grocery store.  Quart jars fit nicely in the cases mayonnaise comes in, and pint jars fit in cases that some sizes of jelly or pickles come in.  They also fit in the cases the large cans of baked beans or Progresso soups come in.  A lot of grocery stores are recycling cardboard now, but if you ask they might save a few for you.

 

        Those in the south can get by with fewer jars by eating from their garden for several months, which reduces the amount of food needing to be canned or otherwise processed and stored. 

 

        In all climates you can try to use up the canned food before the next harvest.  The need for jars can be reduced by using other food preservation methods such as dehydrating, brining, pickling, and using a root cellar.

 

        Most fruits and vegetables are easily dehydrated by slicing them into 1/4” or smaller pieces.  Spread them on a screen and put them in a dry place, preferably out of direct sunlight and where bugs and birds can't help themselves to your goodies. 

 

        I have several mesh trays that came in a package as “extra trays” for an electric dehydrator that I've never owned.  They were at a thrift store.  I use them just sitting about the kitchen to dehydrate food.  We live in a climate that is hot and dry in the summer, and we don't have air conditioning.  It's a good place for food and herb drying.

 

        If your climate is too humid that might not work well.  The food might become moldy before it dries. 

 

        If you have a gas oven with a pilot light you can set the trays in there and it'll be warm enough to dry the food.  I put a dish towel in the oven door to allow a small space for moisture to exit the oven, but I don't know if that is necessary.

 

        The plastic canvas screen-type stuff sold in craft stores makes good drying racks.  You have to set them on something, like cookie sheets or cooling racks, for support.  They come in different sizes.  I bought the large ones that are about 18” by 24” and I lay them on old bread racks that a bakery was throwing away.

 

        If you have access to extra oven or refrigerator racks you can set the plastic screening on those.  That would give support and allow a lot of air circulation.  Sometimes you can get these from thrift stores, and here where we live, the county dump has a drop-off place for appliances.  I asked nicely and they let me salvage racks and from stoves and refrigerators.

 

        Something else I've done when I had a lot to dehydrate was to set up our tent and put the racks in there.  I left all the windows and door flaps open, and the screens protected the food from birds and bugs.  The sunshine and wind worked to dry the food, which one year was a bumper crop of peas. 

 

        Once the food is dry, pack it into plastic bags, or plastic or glass bottles.  Glass is the most desirable for long-term storage, but if you're trying to be self-sufficient you'll probably be eating and rotating the food fast enough that plastic is okay. 

 

        There is some concern about whether plastics are porous and allow air in over time, and other concerns about the plastics themselves and whether they change the taste and odor of food, and the possibility of harmful chemicals in the plastic.

 

        Store the dehydrated food in a cool, dark place, if possible.  Dark protects flavor and color, and a steady, cool temperature gives it a longer shelf life.  Fluctuating temperatures are hard on any stored food.  That usually happens when food is stored in an attic, garage, or shed.  Days are warm, nights are cold, and the food is constantly warming or cooling.  Try to avoid that. 

 

        We've begun dehydrating nearly all of our fruits and vegetables to save jars for meat and dairy products.  We do our canned meat as chunks, burgers, and ground.  We also can cheddar, mozzarella, and cream cheese, butter, and egg nog. 

 

        The egg nog was a joke the first year.  Since it's a seasonal item we canned some and put it away as a surprise for “Christmas in July”.  Now it's a family tradition.  Chill the jar of egg nog before opening it.  We forgot one year and it's not as good at July room temperature.

 

        Root cellars are very handy to have.  We hand-dug a pit about 6' by 8', and about 6' deep, laid logs over it, covered it with plastic, and shoveled the dirt back over it in a mound.  We dug a tunnel into it from the side, sort of like the tornado shelters that used to be on farms in the middle parts of the country.  We framed in the doorway and used an old exterior door that was laying around.

 

        It makes a serviceable root cellar.  It has dirt walls and floor, and no vents (vents are preferable).  We keep carrots, potatoes, turnips, and rutabagas in it clear into the next summer, and they're as good as the day we dug them from the garden.  It didn't cost us anything but a lot of sweat. 

 

        If hard times or a disaster come along and you have to provide and store your own food, you might be able to do something similar.  Basements can be used in much the same way.  In warmer climates you can dig a pit in the middle of your garden and pile up things like potatoes or carrots, and just cover them with dirt or straw.

 

        If you can find a copy of Mike and Nancy Bubel's book, “Root Cellaring”, it's the best book on the subject, and most of their ideas don't cost anything to build.  If you have the money and the time, put in a decent root cellar.  You'll be glad you did.

 

        With all the work we do of slicing, chopping, peeling, and shelling of food to get it ready for canning or dehydrating, it's wonderful to dig up wheel barrow loads of potatoes and just wheel them to the root cellar and dump them in the bins my husband made out of scrap wood. 

 

        Same with carrots, turnips, and rutabagas.  Chop off the tops and haul them to the root cellar!  Done! 

 

        I don't have experience with brining, sugaring, or pickling, but if they're something you're interested in learning to do, there are books at most libraries, and free information on the internet.  Look for youtube videos on any subject you're interested in, or join a gardening forum so you can ask and learn.