Canning

It's already August again and this past weekend my wife made and canned some applesauce. The night before last we made and canned salsa. I figured it was time to do and inventory of what we currently have on hand in the pantry and start coming up with a plan for canning over the next couple months.

Here's what I found:

Freshly canned:

• 6 pints of applesauce
• 3 pints of salsa

From last season:

• 7 pints of baked beans
• 3 pints of applesauce
• 5 and one half pints of grape jelly
• 7 pints of sweet pickles
• 2 quarts of dill pickles
• 2 pints of corn
• 2 quarts of stew
• 1 half-pint of blackberry jam
• 10 half-pints of strawberry jam

In the freezer we went through all the tomatoes and have a bag or two each of peas and green beans that did not keep as well as I would have hoped. I think we're going to have to vacuum seal the bean and peas this year.

The stew, corn, dill pickles, and blackberry jam all seemed to get good use, even if some of it was given away (my wife's cousin's husband consumed a good chunk of the blackberry jam and we gave pickles away frequently as we thought we had too many).

This year we're talking about canning some spaghetti sauce, probably more stew, and corn. Our garden is slow this year as it's been a cold summer. Very few tomatoes and none ripe yet, no cucumbers yet, and we've only just begun to get a few beans. The peas have been doing well but are only just now starting to produce beyond what we can keep up with. We have a batch of carrots and onions ready now. I have a feeling we'll be canning from the local produce stand more than from our own garden this year, sadly. 

The other thing we need to worry about is meat in the freezer. I'm putting off buying a large meat package from the local butcher because, A) we're saving up for a trip to North Carolina in October, and B)  I'm hoping for a deer or elk (or both) this fall. That could cover the meat department for us.

Time to start stocking the pantry!