Home Canning

Ok, so I have inadvertently  insulted the canning gods, apparently.

Ordered 20 .5L Kilner jars from Sainsburys online. They were to be delivered tonight. Delivery hour passed, no delivery. Phoned customer service. They had no idea, phoned the store. Oh gosh, someone should have phoned me - they didn't have them in the store so they cancelled the order. No email, no phone call, nada.  SO, customer service put in a bulk order and rescheduled for the same time next week. But couldn't "promise" that they would actually be able to deliver them.

So WhyTF are they advertising them on their website as available if they are not available? Color me rather unimpressed with Sainsburys, so far!

Sainsbury's habit of canceling of orders without notifying... this is why I put up with Tesco's poor poor customer service for 20 months.  Because at least they brought me some of my food!

Yoiks!  Tesco has been pretty good here. They had a spell where they were not sending everything I'd ordered, but for the most part they've been decent.

Went to Lakeland and got some of their "jam" jars and got them home to find that they are the kind with screw on lids that you don't actually process. You put a wax ring on top of the jam, seal it up, and pray nothing grows. Not sure how comfortable I am with those, but may use them for salsa and other things with a high vinegar content.

You put a wax ring on top of the jam, seal it up, and pray nothing grows.

Made me giggle! 

I have an unnatural (or maybe prudent?) fear of botulism.   

BUT, apparently if one thoroughly disinfects the jars, and has the jam (or whatever) pretty much boiling, and you get it into the jar up to the top and put the wax seal on and then put a lid on it immediately, it's supposed to "keep" for quite some time. I had never heard of this method, only boiling water (where you put jars with lids on in water and boil away for like a half hour) or pressure canning. Neither of which you can do with the screw on lids, I don't think. I guess if the wax inserts actually do form a barrier, that would work. Seems to be a very old-fashioned method.  Then again, maybe I'll just use those jars for items I'm going to keep in the fridge or freezer, just to be doubly safe. Wish I had a real freezer, not this freaking Barbie sized one!    And I need a pantry, darn it!

Flipping a coin as to whether or not Sainsburys is going to deliver my 20 Kilner jars next Tuesday.  I sent in a complaint to their central office, haven't heard a peep back, but it's early yet. Tomorrow is carrots day. I got a good deal on what I think will be at least six half-litres' worth of canning carrots (organic). That will leave me with about a half-dozen jars left after that point to work with, until Sainsburys ponies up my order (or doesn't). We are going out for tea on Friday and will stop at a small shop that has good veg, and I'm hoping to get quite a lot of various peppers and will try to make a chow-chow. (A kind of hot relish. Haven't had that in years.) And maybe some more onions - we had some of the onion soup I put up and it was good, but the onions were freakishly sweet. Need to find a hot onion for that kind of soup.

I did like the Lakeland store today - lotta nice stuff in there and the staff was extremely friendly and helpful. A bit pricey, but the quality was good.   I gritted my teeth as I purchased six quilted Ball half-pint jam jars and paid around 10 quid for them. So 1.62 ($2.20) each. At "home" I could get a dozen for $9 ($0.75 each).  I am STILL kicking myself for giving away my three cases of unused jars and various used ones. I could have had one more box for the movers and saved myself $100, easy. Still, one only has to pay for the jars once. (sigh)

We are on day 5 of our "under 1,000 and trying for 800 calories a day" diet. The Daughter was almost in tears last night and finally had to have a small bowl of cornflakes. I was doing shopping this afternoon with my stomach aching. But we are doing it! And since we couldn't find a meal replacement without sucralose or aspartame I'm doing incredibly creative (for me) cooking and eating more salads than I thought possible. It does seem that I'm feeling "no longer hungry" on much smaller meals now, which I think is a good sign? Will know in six or seven weeks, I guess?

Have your daughter bump up her fat intake if you can. It'll be above the calorie goal but it may help her manage the overall decrease in calories. Depending on how active she is (walking on campus etc), she may truly need more than 1000/day.

I miss my ball jars and wish I hadn't given them away. But we have no where to put them!

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I have an unnatural (or maybe prudent?) fear of botulism.   

BUT, apparently if one thoroughly disinfects the jars, and has the jam (or whatever) pretty much boiling, and you get it into the jar up to the top and put the wax seal on and then put a lid on it immediately, it's supposed to "keep" for quite some time. I had never heard of this method, only boiling water (where you put jars with lids on in water and boil away for like a half hour) or pressure canning. Neither of which you can do with the screw on lids, I don't think. I guess if the wax inserts actually do form a barrier, that would work. Seems to be a very old-fashioned method.  Then again, maybe I'll just use those jars for items I'm going to keep in the fridge or freezer, just to be doubly safe. Wish I had a real freezer, not this freaking Barbie sized one!    And I need a pantry, darn it!

My nana used to make jam. She would sterilise the jars in the oven then pour in the boiling jam and use the wax circles. Takes me back! 

I think the high sugar content helps keep the bugs from growing.

My nana used to make jam. She would sterilise the jars in the oven then pour in the boiling jam and use the wax circles. Takes me back! 

I think the high sugar content helps keep the bugs from growing.

Yeah, it does. Just like the vinegar for savory items.  I've decided to take the jars back to Lakeland, though. When I make jam it is very low-sugar, and so one of the major mechanisms for keeping bacteria at a minimum is gone. I don't think I will be comfortable having the Daughter eat that kind of jam if it's not at least hot-water canned. I would use the jars for pickles if they were larger jars, I think. but these are  half-pints (or close to) and I don't think it's worth trying. I have 30 days to return them.  Oh, well. Live and learn.

We had a thread on here before which talked a lot about the UK method of canning, in which I asked the same question Nan. Have a read through,it's interesting.

https://talk.uk-yankee.com/index.php?topic=47299.0;all

Thanks! I with the links to the allotment site weren't dead, as I bet they had a ton of info there.

Hmmm. Maybe I'll keep the Lakeland jars and use them for salsa, etc.  I am really leery of putting any of our fruit into them using the wax paper on top or wax disc method, though, due to the lack of sugar. I think it would be safe for vinegary things... and it doesn't get terribly hot in our place so they should last at least through the winter.

Have to go peel carrots, time to fire up the pressure canner. 

Have your daughter bump up her fat intake if you can. It'll be above the calorie goal but it may help her manage the overall decrease in calories. Depending on how active she is (walking on campus etc), she may truly need more than 1000/day.

I miss my ball jars and wish I hadn't given them away. But we have no where to put them!

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

She's not doing a lot of activity right now, head is seriously buried in books. She has an ample supply of beef jerky, olives, peanuts, etc., available to snack on. (The jerky is the highest caloric load, tho.)  She is rather serious about weight loss right now....

Ok, so I got a jar of carrots that didn't seal (again). I have NEVER had this much problem with jars not sealing. I'm taking that Kilner jar out of rotation, as there must be something wrong with the surface of the rim that I can't see. Am using it now for dehydrated carrot skins (the peelings), for Thor Hamsterdahl's future enjoyment. Thor is a little upset with me now, as I totally nuked out her cage. And rearranged the stuff in it. It was time, but she hates change. I did leave her nasty old bedding in her little flour box, so it's not like she's been placed on a completely alien planet in there. 

I have never used the "cold pack" method before. I thought it might leave the carrots being a bit less mushy than when you pre-cook them and put them into the jars while boiling. I suspect that even doing it this way, the carrots are going to be suitable for soups or baking, rather than eating, as they will be too soft. In any event, I either overloaded the jars (they were full, but I didn't think they were THAT full), had hidden air in them that I didn't catch, or had the canner just a tinch too hot, as I had some water wickage out of the jars. They are still safe and useable, but it's not ideal to have any of the carrots above water leve, for aesthetics later on. Hmmmm...   Need to always have at least four jars in the canner, and only had three for the second batch, so I chopped up two onions, added some garlic, added a boullion cube, added a little boiling water, and processed it as the fourth jar. Since one has to process onion for longer than carrots, I can't "put it up" on the shelf for later, but it's in the fridge and will be the start of a nice soup in the next few days, I think. Will be interesting to see how it came out.

[Edit: Soup was incredibly bland. Need to up the spice load heavily if I do that again.]

Sainsburys did it again. No show, no call. Had put in a bulk order, per their customer service team a week ago. And so they should have had stock on hand. So nobody shows up last evening. THIS MORNING I get an email that my order is cancelled.

That's the last I deal with Sainsburys.

Sainsburys did it again. No show, no call. Had put in a bulk order, per their customer service team a week ago. And so they should have had stock on hand. So nobody shows up last evening. THIS MORNING I get an email that my order is cancelled.

That's the last I deal with Sainsburys.

Oh, no! Sorry Nan. 

Yeah, it's a bummer, because Tesco is selling red onions rediculously cheap right now and I wanted to get a bunch to can up. (That's the best time to put food up - when it's really cheap!)

Back to either Lakeland or Amazon - both are about the same cost (rediculous), but Lakeland has REALLY good customer service. I bought a spiralizer from them (that works a treat!) for 14 pounds and a flan tin with a separate base. Got home and the base was too big for the tin! Phoned them, immediate apology on their behalf, said I didn't need to take it all the way back to the store. They sent a replacement at no charge (arrived today) and I was to do whatever I wished with the other one. Wish I could figure out how to make the base insert about 1/4" smaller all around, and then it'd fit. Lovely heavy metal, too, so it's a shame I can't use it.

So it'll probably be another trip down to Lakeland and then up to Tesco, later this week. Tesco is selling chicken for cheap, too. Might as well add some of that to the "put it up for later" session. It really is nice to have stuff in jars in the house - bad weather making going to the shop not doable, feeling too poorly to cook, no problems! Just open a jar, add a sauce (or combine jars), stick in the microwave = instant dinner.

Just open a jar, add a sauce (or combine jars), stick in the microwave = instant dinner.

The original ready meal!