You're probably familiar with the idea of home canning - rows of glass jars sitting in grandma's basement, full of preserves or vegetables. Or maybe you've got friends who dabble in jam or salsa.
What you might not know is that canning has more to offer than just jars of jam. Here's three reasons you should try canning!
1 - Canning isn't just about food preservation - it's also food preparation.
If you clean, cut up and pack green beans into a jar, then pressure can it, you've just done meal prep! Nearly any food you can needs to be broken down and prepared before canning, which then cooks it. The result is a jar of food that's ready to eat.
2 - You can actually can a huge range of foods!
While jam or pickles are an easy entry to canning, there are so many other foods you can prepare and preserve through canning!
Do you like chicken soup? You can actually make a big batch and pressure can it, except for the noodles. When you want to eat it, just bring the soup up to a low boil, add those noodles and let them cook while the soup warms up.
How about beans? It's so easy to pack and pressure can dry beans - and then they come out of the jar ready to eat.
Here's a few other foods you can make and can - ketchup, pulled pork, fruit compote, salsa, chutney, ground beef, soup, ranchero sauce, and apple pie filling.
3 - Canning saves you money!
When you grow or buy fresh fruit or vegetables, you can save money on your winter grocery bill by canning them in the summer. You can also lower your food bill by stocking up during sales and canning some of the food. Finally, if you have food you're not going to eat before it goes bad, you might be able to can it and enjoy it later.
If you want to learn more about canning food, check out my full Canning and Preserving archive.