# Canning and drying- is it really worth it



## JohnL751 (Aug 28, 2008)

:hairFor most people the answere is a strong yes. For me, it is questionable. I have been working 10 - 12 hour days for months. Seventh day work is double time. I have been buying almost all my table vegetables from people like you all and at the farmers market. I can't afford the time to cann and dry much stuff.:hair


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## wanda1950 (Jan 18, 2009)

I was never able to do it & have another job, too. It's just too much--not enough time in the day. I canned 7 quarts of tomatoes today & it took most of the afternoon & they were already picked. 

Drying stuff is not so time consuming so you probably could do some of that. It only takes minutes to slice up some Romas & throw on dehydrator tray. My dehydrator is a cheapie but with a good one they would probably dry overnight.


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## PNWKatie (Aug 4, 2012)

truthfully it wouldn't be worth it to me either unless I was growing my own stuff. The stuff at the farmers market in town really isn't cheaper than the stores for the most part. Yes, it's local and that's why I'd rather buy there than at the store, but really, it's not saving me anything. The drying is easier and faster and works for most things. Canning probably wouldn't make my list of things to do if it was just me and a long hour job like you describe.


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## rancher1913 (Dec 5, 2008)

It is always worth it to me as we grow our own, but there's just sometimes not enough hours in the day. That's when the green beans or tomatoes get washed and thrown in ziploc bags until I have time to can them. Same for peaches and other produce.

Moldy


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## gilberte (Sep 25, 2004)

I think the key is to be mindful of what you really need to can, both in terms of the type of foods and the amounts. I see folks all the time who can pickled beets, or pickled cauliflower or whatever and then wind up throwing it out several years down the road because they realized that they don't like pickled beets or whatever. Oh well, they sure are pretty sitting there on the shelf. Or sometimes a couple of folks will decide to can forty or fifty quarts of tomatoes and then only use twenty before the next crop of tomatoes start to come in. 

We vaccuum pack and freeze things like corn and green beans and such, most anything from the garden which lends itself to freezing well. The we can only those things which don't lend themselves to freezing very well and only can what we will use within a year or so (maybe with a little extra in case of a bad crop next year).


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## suitcase_sally (Mar 20, 2006)

The biggest gain is when you are able to can something that you can't buy off the shelf, such as my fave, Peruvian sauce.

Yeah, I've made things that I've never eaten, such as pickled peaches. They just didn't turn out the way I remembered them as a child down south.


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## Guest (Aug 19, 2012)

If you have to buy the produce it probably isn't worth the time. Unless you get a really good deal on a couple bushels of apples or something. I probably have a thousand jars here, and I buy a case of lids when they show up in the dollar store here at $1.25 a dozen. Fair sized garden and orchard, so, all in all, it costs me about 10 cents per jar to can stuff. Lot of time involved in both gardening AND canning. No doubt that I'd be better off financially to work that time and buy from the store. However, self sufficiency is not really a matter of finances, rather a frame of mind.


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## praieri winds (Apr 16, 2010)

the main reason for putting up food is that I know where the food came from and what if anything was sprayed on it or what kind of fertilizer was used on it the stuff in the stores have had so much put on them or the way they were handled just feel safer with my own stuff


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## RedDirt Cowgirl (Sep 21, 2010)

I would say you're a specialist, doing what nets the most value right now. Garden fresh is always best, whether you grow it or buy it, and I think poor nutrition to make canned or dried goods a mainstay. You've only to look at a vitamin loss chart to see what's lost, even most cooking techniques don't consider the loss of enzymes some people feel are necessary for a natural diet. My only motivation to preserve food is to have something I want to eat and can't buy, but that does include clean tomatoes cooked and jarred in glass, fruit jams made just the way I like them, an olden days recipe for chili sauce from a neighboring ranch family. It's never been a cheaper option. 

Self sufficiency is a grey scale.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

For some things I have found that even with store bought foods, drying is well worth the time and effort. Celery especially is where I tend to be wasteful unless I dehydrate it. Otherwise I use a stalk or 2 and end up pitching the rest. And it is a time saver to have a bunch of dried veggies all ready to toss in a pot of boiling whatever. The main difference that I have found is that home dried veggies don't have preservatives in them. The preservatives or color enhancers in commercial products make me a little sick.


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## Gladrags (Jul 13, 2010)

zong said:


> If you have to buy the produce it probably isn't worth the time.


It is to me because I know where the produce came from and what ingredients are in the finished product. I can make a barbecue sauce, a salsa, a jam etc. just the way I like it.


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## Jeepgirl86 (May 18, 2012)

I preserve for many different reasons. I do it to save money, have control over what goes into my food, have a stockpile to get me thru to the next harvest season, and to keep the tradition alive. My great gram, grandma and mom all canned when I was growing up and I'll teach my son. I treasure those memories. I don't have bearing fruit trees (yet) so I buy from a local grower, but I definitely still save money canning it myself.


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## Yellowmug (Aug 7, 2012)

If I worked as much as you do, I wouldn't can either. Prior to this year I have only put up some things now and then, mostly freezing because it was quicker, because I did not have the time and I bought the produce because I didn't have a yard. But now we have a huge garden and more time because we decided to make a massive change to our lifestyle. Now it is worth it to me, I enjoy it, I love feeding my family with food from our own yard or very local (fruit, which we don't have yet) and I know exactly what is in things. If you are my neighbor you will find some jars of goodies, eggs, or bags of swiss chard on your porch every now and again


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## NoClue (Jan 22, 2007)

I'm in a situation pretty similar to you. Not always, but quite often, the hours I have to work are brutal. Add to that housekeeping, yard maintenance, the garden, home repairs, time with kids, and a rudimentary social life, and I hardly have time to remember where I am, let alone canning, etc.

Still, I so what I can, and to me it's worth it.


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## imthedude (Jun 7, 2011)

a solid yes for me. i'm only knocking back 40-45 hours a week @ work, but i definitely think it's worth it to can/freeze everything i can from my garden and others' fruit trees. i will go home tonight, take care of two small boys until they go to bed @ +/- 7:30, then go pick some tomatoes and run a batch through the canner. 

in january when there's snow on the ground, it's very satisfying to pull a jar of green beans or tomatoes or fruit or whatever out of the pantry and know that you grew and preserved them. wouldn't have it any other way.


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## netskyblue (Jul 25, 2012)

I, too, work every day, long into the night. I cruise the ads for the local grocery stores while at work (shh, don't tell my boss...), find the sale items I want to buy, and usually pick them up on Wednesdays, and can them on Thursdays, as these are my evenings off.

It's worthwhile to me to be able to come home at 12:30 in the morning, after working 16 hours, and open a jar of beef and one of potatoes and have homemade roast beef and potatoes in the time it takes me to stir up a gravy, or open some shredded chicken for a BBQ chicken sandwich.

I'm hungry and too tired to prepare a meal, and this saves me $ and my health, because it means I'm not stopping at McDonalds for fast food, or eating some junky frozen dinner. I'm getting healthy, homemade food, for the lowest possible price.

It doesn't really take all that long - most of the time while the canner is going, I'm doing laundry or cleaning, or surfing the 'net, because I can still hear the jiggler. If there's prep to do beforehand, I usually do that the day I get the groceries, so everything's ready to go on canning night.


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## Susie (Sep 25, 2008)

imthedude said:


> In january when there's snow on the ground, it's very satisfying to pull a jar of green beans or tomatoes or fruit or whatever out of the pantry and know that you grew and preserved them. wouldn't have it any other way.


Amen :nanner: My husband and I own our own business, we work over 60hours a week and this past year due to the economy has been extremely stressful. Instead of watching TV and relaxing I tend to the garden and preserve...I wouldn't have it any other way either!


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## Feisty Farm (Apr 10, 2012)

I think it comes down to, how important is it to you. To me, it is life. I have to have the canned goods whether I have time to do it or not. With both my husband and I teachers (though, I only teach part time) 2 small children, a dairy goat farm and a produce business, my day starts at 5:30 am and ends at 11:00. What I try to do is, while I am cooking dinner, I have something going in the canner. I also try to devote a day where I can get a large amount of canning finished. That day for me is Mondays. Yesterday I canned 14 quarts of greenbeans, 7 quarts of grape juice (picked at 9 pm the night before), and 12 pints of jelly. tonight I am going to make pizza for dinner, so I will make about 12 pints of pizza sauce in the process. 

With the extreme weather and poor crop yield this year, it is my biggest fear the food prices are going to be out of this world. So, I kill myself now, so my family can eat this winter.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

If you have a family of 4, and working two jobs combined and paying daycare for two children, you can sometimes raise and can enough food to eliminate your job. 

If you ask someone how much they spend on groceries per month, the figure they give will almost always be about half of what they actually spend, unless they budget and stick to it which very few people do.

We spend less than $20 per month on groceries. Well.. sometimes we may spend more if we need coffee or if we want something out of the ordinary. 

The key to canning is to can ONLY what you and your family will eat and to grow it yourself.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Got to disagree with you on only canning food you have grown. Not all of us have unlimited acreage and sometimes there are crop failures. Trips to the grocery store aren't cheap so many people can save money by buying in bulk at farmer's markets or large quantities on sale at the grocery and preserving those foods.

My carrots were an utter failure this year. I can never get celery to grow. Portabella mushrooms are even harder to grow. And critters got most of my potatoes. Apples did terrible. Bananas don't grow in this area. But the grocery does put these items on sale. One trip, large purchase, spend the week canning and drying. Then when the price goes up or the weather gets bad I eat from my stores. The electric goes out and I just open a few jars, pour the contents into a pan, set the pan on the woodburning stove and heat. It's a time and money saver. 

Yes you can save even more money by growing your own but sometimes things just don't work out. Buying stuff on sale and preserving it can save you money too. You just have to be diligent about checking for sales and getting the food preserved.


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## Feisty Farm (Apr 10, 2012)

I agree with Danaus. I do grow most of what I can, however, I do get deals on things and stock up and can. For instance, at a local flea market they had pineapple for .70 a piece. I purchased a case and took it home and canned it. Another week at the same flea market, I got 75 bananas for $5. A local man has apple trees and doesn't use the apples himself. He picks 3-5 lb bags of apples and sells them for $1 a bag. I cannot grow this stuff, nor if I had the ability I couldn't grow it for that price. It is all about knowing cost and making sure it is something that you like to eat. Another money saver, is to buy dry beans and can them! Those are a money and time saver!


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## sherry in Maine (Nov 22, 2007)

this is the year I took the leap & bought a canner. Someone else (sweet) bought me a dehydrator.
The garden this year is crap!!
Cold, rainy rainy rainy weather first few weeks, garden full of slugs & snails. When finally came the extreme heat (happy about it for the garden, but dont like it personally) there are 3 different kind of bugs that have eaten my kale, broccoli, squash & vines, and to a lesser extent my beets. I have tried all sorts of stuff on them, nothing is working.
The only thing holding up is the tomatoes, and they aren't really taking off yet; a few now and then. Probably doesn't help that I have a kid who thinks it is not a big deal to throw the almost ripe ones into the road or to the chickens or back into another garden bed (to hide the evidence)
I've seen a couple of beautiful garden orb spiders, left them alone hoping they'd eat all the bugs, but guess there was too many-- plus the stuff I used to kill the sqaush bugs, flea beetles, cuke beetles etc etc did not do a thing but slow the bugs down.


I have some winter squash growing that hasn't been bothered yet; I found it growing in compost pile, transplanted it to garden before I even knew exactly what it was.
I bought some 30lbs of blue berries, and plan on making jam, but waiting for school to start so I can actually focus on something other than my kid.
The peas weren't bothered too bad; by the time the japanese beetles came, they were almost done. (we ate them as they grew) Planted pole beans, nothing. . . .

When am I going to be able to use this amighty machine? I also got a jam/jelly maker . . . . had some fantasies of being a canner/jam maker and wine/beer producer.

oh well, at least some wine is going, and some beer in near future. Jam in next 2 or so weeks.


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## countryfied2011 (Jul 5, 2011)

Since we started our garden about 4 yrs ago I worked nights and didnt get a lot of canning done each year, instead I would put most harvest in the freezer. 

This year my job offered me an early retirement July 1st so this summer I have been doing a lot of canning. I canned some of the garden and froze some of the garden...and now that most of the garden is through I am taking last years frozen veggies and making soups, stews, sauces to can. So I am rotating and using what we didnt eat from last years gardens instead of using this years produce that I canned last month. We picked wild blackberries off our property back in June, I didnt have time to make jam because I was canning other stuff, so i cleaned them--put them in freezer bags and froze up until last weekend, then I made blackberry jam.

So if you dont have the time to can right now....freeze and then can later when you have the time. Today I used corn, okra, tomatoes, etc that I froze last year, then took bits and pieces of leftover meats etc that I froze and I have a big cooker going with vegetable beef soup. We will eat some for supper tonight and the rest I will can for this winter.

Our fruit trees are young, so I buy my bulk of my fruits to can from pick-your- own or the farmers mrkt...to me it is worth it whether it is cheaper or not.


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## julieq (Oct 12, 2008)

When we were running the medical practice full time, I did a little gardening and canning, not much. And that was only because I was office manager and took off whenever I wanted. I purchased more canned and preprocessed foods back then and always kept a good supply on the shelves though.

No way at this age I could work full time and then garden and can. We have two home based, part time businesses right now and we are OK with that.


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## Fetherhd (Aug 16, 2012)

I think the only way it would be cost effective is if you grow your own. It is my experience that farmers markets are pricey. Hubby and I are retired so we do have the time to grow although our climate makes it difficult. Last year we put up 52 pints of green beans this year I was lucky to get 12 BUT I am putting up carrots, beets, and had a neighbor give me a huge bunch of sweet corn so it is going to balance out. We put together a simple greenhouse last year using cattle panels and it is producing tomatoes like crazy....I think with some heat lamps I will be able to grow cold weather crops such as kale all winter...had rabbits hung in there last winter to ehem "fertilize" my planting boxes and their water never did freeze. I also pick currants, choke cherries and crab apples that grow wild here for jellies and jams (canned some crab apples in a honey spice sauce whole this year...totally yummy) The fact that I can control the salt (not to mention "other" things) that go into my food makes it totally worth while to me. PLUS knowing that if things go down the drain...I already have the skills in place needed to grow and preserve food that might be badly needed.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

But still, there are things you simply can't grow. However by keeping an eye on sales and buying in season you can still save quite a bit compared to the cost of buying store brand canned goods. Even some dried foods are extremely pricey when you look at the finished product. But when you buy the items on sale and dry them yourself you can save quite a bit. 

Onions are a good example. Yes they are relatively easy to grow and most people can get a good crop from a bag of sets. But even if you buy the onions from the store (watch sales and buy in season) then chop and dry them yourself you come out much cheaper than you would buying little jars of dried minced onion.

And a couple examples of what I did this year. Portabella mushrooms and potatoes. I know the store potatoes were sprayed with herbicide while my home grown ones aren't. However some 4 legged critter decided it wanted them more than I did. The week after I saw the devastated potato patch the grocery store had a buy 10 for $10 get the 11th item free sale. 5 lbs potatoes and 8 oz portabellas were what caught my eye. 60 lbs potatoes for $11. 4 lbs mushrooms $8. Bought a couple other items too. With the potatoes, we ate 6 lbs with a roast. Canned approx 9 lbs (7 quarts) potatoes and dried 3 1/2 lbs mushrooms (ate the other pkg fresh) which ended up as 2 pints. Cost per quart canned potatoes even after electricity and lids will be less than $1 per quart. Price for a 1 lb can in the store is close to $2. It takes at least 2 1 lb cans to equal 1 quart of potatoes. Price per pint for the mushrooms is right around $4. Dried mushrooms were around $6 for a couple ounces last time I checked. Not quite exactly sure of the volume but it would take several little baggies of mushrooms to fill a pint size jar.

I don't want to think about the price of apple and banana chips. I can fill a quart jar of either for less than $3 for bananas and less than $5 for apples (after buying the produce). No preservatives or color protectors. 

I haven't done the math for the dried beans yet. But I bought 1 pound bags of dried beans for $1.50. The big jars of beans are somewhere around $4 each now and don't contain a pound of beans.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

I would like to have the $$$ to spend on fresh salmon so I could can that. The little tiny (6 oz I think) cans are now more than $6 each and don't contain half a pound of salmon.


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## PaulNKS (Jan 11, 2009)

Danaus29 said:


> But still, there are things you simply can't grow.


It seems you misunderstood the OP's question. The question isn't about what you can or can't grow. The question was if it is really worth it and the answer to that is YES. If you have ground and resources, food is almost always cheaper to grow and very well worth it.

To your comment, if it can't be grown, we normally won't eat it. We do occasionally buy fruit that we can't grow such as bananas. But as far as berries, apples, peaches, pears, etc. we can those. We don't grow mushrooms. We pick mushrooms such as morels and dry for use all year.


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## bluebird2o2 (Feb 14, 2007)

I have an Orchard ,we have cherries, apples , peaches and plums.im a stay at home mom.my sons in school soo i do my canning in the daytime.we plant a garden soo most everything i canned i also grew.we also have Grapes soo we can our own grape juice.I love canning.no pesticides on my fruit.It is worth it.I hate the taste of store bought applesauce.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Paul, I totally understood the op's question. My comment was directed to the few people who firmly believe that if you don't grow it yourself there's no need to try to preserve it. That's like saying "why make your own cookies from scratch when you can buy packaged cookies from the store". There are many people who read these boards that cannot, no way no how, ever grow enough food to feed their family for the entire year. Even people who cannot grow their own whatever can save money and benefit from canning and dehydrating store or market bought produce.

I happen to appreciate grocery stores and a world wide market. I'm not yet willing to give up flour and cocoa and all the other little products that are sooooo good to eat.


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## MoTightwad (Sep 6, 2011)

We live on a small farm and are in the older age group. But each year we grow lots of our own produce to can/freeze/dry. This year the weather has been very bad for gardening, but the produce house down the road from us was selling 25 lb boxes of tomatoes and I got 3 boxes of them to make juice, sauce, salsa and have done lots of our other things. After having 2 apple trees here for over 20 years, we finally got a crop and made many pints of applesauce and apple butter. With the produce house and our garden we have filled our pantry shelves and freezers for the winter. I would say to me, the canning is definitely worth the work even tho I have a hard time getting around.


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## ChristieAcres (Apr 11, 2009)

I can/dehydrate, freeze, and soon will be steam juicing, too. Included in that, jams, and fruit syrups...

I was asked today how many fruit trees we had and how many were bearing. Out of 22, there were 18 that bore. These are semi-dwarf mostly, with just a few dwarf. We have (8) different types of apples, (6) different types of pears, and (3) different types of plums, and a few that will start bearing next year (Frost Peach, Nectarine, and one other type, I forgot). Oh, yes, and (3) different types of cherry trees. We also grow Thornless Blackberries, Marionberries, Blueberries, Strawberries, Raspberries, and Grapes. The Kiwi is set to start producing next year (the female bloomed this year, but no Kiwi's yet). The male has been blooming for the last three years. 

In addition to that, we grow a nice sized vegetable garden, also DH hunts, we fish, go crabbing, clamming, harvesting oysters, and hunt wild mushrooms.

Worth it? Considering we have to buy so little at the store, I'd answer with a resounding YES! I can also relate to a busy schedule, lots of work hours, and single parenting on top of that, but I still preserved what I could. I consider organic whole foods a critical major part of my diet, so there you go.


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