Been thinking about canning lately; maybe because I’ve been doing a lot of it. And any rate, I got to thinking about how canning is beneficial to basically everyone.
I love going out to my shelves and seeing the jars full of food all lined up in rows. It makes me feel good to know that we have food for the winter months ahead. And of course, it makes my tummy very happy!
How Canning Benefits Everyone:
The Earth: Buying canned goods produces waste. Even if you recycle (and you should!) it still takes energy to complete the recycling process.
Glass canning jars, commonly known as Mason jars (even though there are other brands too) can be used time and time again. If a jar gets chipped and can no longer be used for canning, there are a hundred other ways you can use it. Just search for mason jar uses on Pinterest.
Your Wallet: The initial setup can be a bit costly, perhaps a couple hundred to get your canner and jars, but you can find great deals at garage sales and online too. However, the payoff is huge!
We are able to grow a lot of stuff too and I wrote a post earlier this year on How Gardening Saves Money. In that post I break down how much we save on average a year. In there you will find how much we saved by canning it as well.
I also can my own chicken. I buy them from a farm and cook them down and can. WAY cheaper than buying canned chicken.
Your Health: Most, if not all canned products have high amounts of sodium, buy canning your own foods you are in control of that. You are also in control of where your food comes from. Most of our canned goods come from the garden, but some comes from a farmer’s market.
Another thing is the cans themselves. The tin cans are coated with a plastic stuff that can be harmful. Tomatoes especially should not be in tin cans because the acid of the tomatoes eats into that coating. So you could be eating plastic with your foods.
I could probably go on and on about how canning benefits us, but I think you get the point. 🙂 Good for the earth, your wallet and you, so what’s holding you back? Canning isn’t hard at all, and if you are new to canning why not check out my post on common canning problems and solutions?
If you are a regular canner, what is your favorite foods to can? Mine is salsa!
do you do all your canning on a flat top stove? my husband delivers appliances and his boss told him they sell a lot of new stoves because people break their flat top while canning. Thanks!
I do have a glass top stove. And yes it worries me a bit about breaking the top, but I don’t really have much choice. The stove I have was used and my brother bought it and used it, then wanted something different so gave it to me. If it breaks, well it breaks.
I wonder if some of the breaking occurs when the canner is pulled off the hot burner to cool. I always lift mine clear off the stove when it’s done on the hot burner.