# how many?



## Groene Pionier (Apr 23, 2009)

I am working on my new canning planning for this year's harvests. I have to buy new jars and I have to make it a whole sale order, which will mean a lot of jars The canning jars aren't that cheap here so it is more wise to buy in bigger quantities.
What I did last year, was calculation how much I would need on a yearly base for my family of 3. 
How did you calculate how many jars you needed?
Xant


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## PixieLou (May 1, 2010)

I decide how many jars I plan to put up. For instance I plan on doing 50 jars of jam, 35 quarts of tomatoes. 54 pints of marinara, etc. When I get my count, then I double the number - since things come up and you end up making more. For instance, you get a wonderful apple harvest so you put up 50 jars of applesauce instead of the 20 you had planned. Or you are gifted 10 lbs of raspberries - so you make raspberry jam that you weren't planning on.

Personally I have found that you can never have too many jars!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

I figured we would eat 1 pint of green beans per week,so that is 54 pints. I guess you could do the same with the whole list of foods you want to cann. Then after that, figure that you will put up extras if you have then because the next year your crop may go Bust and it's better to have too much than none. Just hope you don't get the wiggies like I did- can't stand to have empty jars. But I got thru that after a couple of years. Just collect jars until you have a few thousand.


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## Just Little Me (Aug 9, 2007)

There are never to many jars. I can just about every day. I collect every jar I can find and still run out.


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## arrocks (Oct 26, 2011)

What's the old saying? "All good plans of mice and men never come to no good end." 

No matter how well you plan you never have enough jars. So you just buy as many as you can afford at the time and hope it is enough. And it never will be.

Like Pixie said, you can't have too many jars. Or lids.


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## kenworth (Feb 12, 2011)

I see you listed your location as _Across the ocean_. Do you know of anyone that would want to pitch in with you to place an order to help with costs? Is it any cheaper to order from the UK? They have Kilner jars that are similar to Ball/Kerr.


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## Groene Pionier (Apr 23, 2009)

Thank you for your thoughts, Kenworth, yes, I am in Europe. there aren't a lot of ppl who can here, some do some hot filling jam making but not to the extent do canning. I do have the possibility to buy whole sale because I have my own company ( you can't buy whole sale if you don't have a company with tax number etc). at this moment I am having mostly weck jars which are not cheap to buy. I have been water bath canning for many years now, but now I also started with pressure canning. Just got my pressure canner imported from the states... we don't have them here. I have tried a couple of times to pressure can with the weck jars, and I am not sure if I like that, sometimes the glas lids are having small chips where the iron clamp was. I have to look into the costs of the glas list comparing to the cost of getting the ball/kilner lids and jars from the UK. The shipping cost arent that bad, I need to order a lot to make it worthwile. 
That why I was thinking how much should I invest/buy in jars. But I do get the picture... a girl can never have enough jars

btw here is the weck system I use: http://weckjars.com/
this is some of my canning done this year: http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m564/xdewit/DSC01272.jpg
Xant





kenworth said:


> I see you listed your location as _Across the ocean_. Do you know of anyone that would want to pitch in with you to place an order to help with costs? Is it any cheaper to order from the UK? They have Kilner jars that are similar to Ball/Kerr.


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## Just Cliff (Nov 27, 2008)

Hey now! It's not just women that can! 

How are you getting them shipped? Would it be cheaper in the long run to get a full pallet of jars shipped as opposed to getting boxes of them shipped?

Just a thought. If you are in business already, you might branch out and get a sideline of canning supplies for the European market?? Maybe also carry different books on how to do it? With the tough economic times all over the world people are looking to save money and have some food security. Sounds like a good well rounded business to me.


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

You Jars are Beautiful! Do you have any stores that we have,like Ace Hardware, Walmarts(tho their jars are from China)etc. They might be able to order pallets for you. But I like Cliff's Idea, add bulk foods,Items that one can get at Homesteding type stores here.


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## kenworth (Feb 12, 2011)

These are the ones that I have friends in the UK using: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kilner-Orig...0FG0/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1327531095&sr=8-9

There are a few pressure canner people over there, but you are right, they are few and far between.

I do think you would get a better deal in the US, however. If you get a deal on a pallet, we would appreciate sharing the news!

Someplace I have a scale for a family of 4 of how many vegetables to can up. I imagine it was from the 1940's or abouts. I think this is what you are wondering about.

BTW, your canning/bottling efforts look very nice!


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

How many depends on how much you plan to eat of out them. I have about 800 jars (quarts, pints and half pints) for our family of four....that's a guess and may be low. Here's a break down I found: http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitive/howmanycansa.htm I just keep buying jars and keep filling jars. When I'm low on jars I buy more, when I find a deal I buy them even if I don't need them.


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## wanda1950 (Jan 18, 2009)

I just accept all gifts of old jars & buy more if on sale or in dire need. Can never really plan on what our garden will produce due to weather, disease etc. It will eventually be used.


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## Guest (Jan 26, 2012)

Ohio dreamer said:


> How many depends on how much you plan to eat of out them. I have about 800 jars (quarts, pints and half pints) for our family of four....that's a guess and may be low. Here's a break down I found: http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitive/howmanycansa.htm I just keep buying jars and keep filling jars. When I'm low on jars I buy more, when I find a deal I buy them even if I don't need them.




You rock...:rock: I hope to have that many jars filled someday..If you have any pictures I would love to see what that many jars look like..


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## Groene Pionier (Apr 23, 2009)

Just Cliff said:


> Hey now! It's not just women that can!
> ** Well now, I am sorry, I don't know any male who is doing any canning here
> 
> How are you getting them shipped? Would it be cheaper in the long run to get a full pallet of jars shipped as opposed to getting boxes of them shipped?
> ...


**It would look like that, but ppl are not into pressure canning, the weck system I talk about is available here. For the books, we do all speak some form of English  but not a lot of ppl like to read English...I have to special order my english books, not available here.



7thswan said:


> You Jars are Beautiful! Do you have any stores that we have,like Ace Hardware, Walmarts(tho their jars are from China)etc. They might be able to order pallets for you. But I like Cliff's Idea, add bulk foods,Items that one can get at Homesteding type stores here.


** we don't have any of those shops here. The only country I know of where you can buy some canning equipment just in the supermarket, even the small local ones are in France, but I haven't been there in a while
Those are all water bath canning equipments though.
I have ordered my pressure canner, weighted caugh, from the States, the pan costed 90 usd, shipping costed 70 usd, taxes were about 40 usd if I am not mistaking, that are no jokes



kenworth said:


> These are the ones that I have friends in the UK using: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kilner-Orig...0FG0/ref=sr_1_9?ie=UTF8&qid=1327531095&sr=8-9
> ** Thanks, I should look into finding some whole sale companies there! I think it will be my best shot: England or the German brand Leifheit..
> 
> There are a few pressure canner people over there, but you are right, they are few and far between.
> ...





Ohio dreamer said:


> How many depends on how much you plan to eat of out them. I have about 800 jars (quarts, pints and half pints) for our family of four....that's a guess and may be low. Here's a break down I found: http://www.alpharubicon.com/primitive/howmanycansa.htm I just keep buying jars and keep filling jars. When I'm low on jars I buy more, when I find a deal I buy them even if I don't need them.


** Thank you very much for your link, it is really cool! I try to eat as muc out of the food storage I can. I like my own cookings LOL
and I know what I put in the jars...More over it is the most secure feeling to have food on hand.
I realized I should invest in smaller glasses as well, I am with 2 children now, and they will be gone, i expect within 7-9 years. Doing their own thing. I will be canning in smaller quantities. 
Thanks for all your time and effort in thinking with me, I do appreciate it. i see a lot of ppl canning but not really planning what they need for their family. I would like to go to the point where i can eat mostly home made canning year round 

btw here is a picture of the way I preserve fruit juices: 
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m564/xdewit/49bottlesofjuice.jpg
http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m564/xdewit/3xsteamjuicer12bigbottles4small.jpg
I know it is not recommended to do it this way in the USA...


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

mythreesons said:


> You rock...:rock: I hope to have that many jars filled someday..If you have any pictures I would love to see what that many jars look like..


I'll show you mine if you want,also Groene Pionier(and all)-come to Flickr a photo website, we have groups where we share pictures of our canning and share recipes and Info.! These jars are 3 deep. The shelves on the left are redone and full now also.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

mythreesons said:


> You rock...:rock: I hope to have that many jars filled someday..If you have any pictures I would love to see what that many jars look like..


Well, some of those 800 jars are in the attic of the garage (empty), stacked on the shelving units outside the pantry room (empty) and then the rest are full. I've run out of room to put filled ones......but we are working on that. Dh has the new shelves up but we still need to make the boxes to put the jars in. The shelves are MUCH too deep to reach to the back in, so we need boxes to pull them forward. Shelf depth was determined by the way our house is constructed. 

I drool every time I see 7thswan's pantry!! It's so pretty, neat and tidy (at least at the time of the picture!). My stuff's in a dark dank basement, lol.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Groene Pionier said:


> ** we don't have any of those shops here. The only country I know of where you can buy some canning equipment just in the supermarket, even the small local ones are in France, but I haven't been there in a while
> Those are all water bath canning equipments though.
> I have ordered my pressure canner, weighted caugh, from the States, the pan costed 90 usd, shipping costed 70 usd, taxes were about 40 usd if I am not mistaking, that are no jokes


We could buy caning jars at Tesco in Hungary. BUT the cost of them was crazy...500FT or more a piece ($2.50-3 USD). But they were like the ones you called weckjars. 

When we were over there I left all my canning stuff here. In talking to our landlord (only English speaker I came across there) he was amazed at the thought of canning....no one did that. We introduced him to dehydrating fruit, too (there were 10 fruit trees on the property)....we left our homemade solar dehydrator with him.


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## Suzyq2u (May 17, 2010)

Oh so beautiful! I love seeing all those jars lined up!!!! I only have a few jars of turkey stock that I've canned myself  Need some good deals on fruits and veggies to fall in my lap!!


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

Ohio dreamer said:


> Well, some of those 800 jars are in the attic of the garage (empty), stacked on the shelving units outside the pantry room (empty) and then the rest are full. I've run out of room to put filled ones......but we are working on that. Dh has the new shelves up but we still need to make the boxes to put the jars in. The shelves are MUCH too deep to reach to the back in, so we need boxes to pull them forward. Shelf depth was determined by the way our house is constructed.
> 
> I drool every time I see 7thswan's pantry!! It's so pretty, neat and tidy (at least at the time of the picture!). My stuff's in a dark dank basement, lol.


I have an awful basement,so I feel your pain. Luckly there is only 2 of us, so takeing over the laundry room for the pantry was doable. I turned our walkin closet into a landury/storage room. And my pantry is not nice and tidy right now. I need to go in take everything out and organize it by dates,and clean the shelves off-we had a mouse get in:grumble: That meens I need to wash every jar:sob:


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## Groene Pionier (Apr 23, 2009)

7thswan... what an impressive amount of food! Very well done, I just love the colours so much! What flickgroup are you talking about? 
Xant



7thswan said:


> I'll show you mine if you want,also Groene Pionier(and all)-come to Flickr a photo website, we have groups where we share pictures of our canning and share recipes and Info.! These jars are 3 deep. The shelves on the left are redone and full now also.


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## Groene Pionier (Apr 23, 2009)

As far as I know, mostly water bath canning jars here. the only brand I know but hard to get is Leifheit. Very expensive lids as well...
How interesting you were in Hungary Lots of ppl buying houses there!
Do you have any plans how to make the solar dehydrator?Xant


Ohio dreamer said:


> We could buy caning jars at Tesco in Hungary. BUT the cost of them was crazy...500FT or more a piece ($2.50-3 USD). But they were like the ones you called weckjars.
> 
> When we were over there I left all my canning stuff here. In talking to our landlord (only English speaker I came across there) he was amazed at the thought of canning....no one did that. We introduced him to dehydrating fruit, too (there were 10 fruit trees on the property)....we left our homemade solar dehydrator with him.


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## Calico Katie (Sep 12, 2003)

Groene Pionier said:


> .... btw here is a picture of the way I preserve fruit juices:
> http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m564/xdewit/49bottlesofjuice.jpg
> http://i1132.photobucket.com/albums/m564/xdewit/3xsteamjuicer12bigbottles4small.jpg
> I know it is not recommended to do it this way in the USA...


I bought a steam juicer several years ago at an estate sale but haven't used it yet. I haven't had enough fruit at one time to make it worth while. I'm very interested in how you make yours and what kind of fruits you use. 

This is like the juicer I have.

http://www.amazon.com/Focus-Electri...BK/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1327605586&sr=8-14


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## 7thswan (Nov 18, 2008)

We have "food in jars", homesteading groups, cast iorn stoves ect.There is a search box for groups, just use it like gooogle, type in what intrests you and groups will come up. You can just look or actually use flickr and post your pictures and comment back and forth.


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## kenworth (Feb 12, 2011)

7thswan said:


> I have an awful basement,so I feel your pain. Luckly there is only 2 of us, so takeing over the laundry room for the pantry was doable. I turned our walkin closet into a landury/storage room. And my pantry is not nice and tidy right now. I need to go in take everything out and organize it by dates,and clean the shelves off-we had a mouse get in:grumble: That meens I need to wash every jar:sob:


:hijacked:

No! Just wash prior to removing lids. Don't go through all that work! I know they wee all over, but it won't degrade the lids to contaminate the food. I wash the entire jar and lid all over in soapy bleach water, then rinse under clear water before opening.

Sorry about hijacking thread. My bad. 

:hijacked:


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## Turkeyfether (Dec 10, 2004)

If you are eating from your canned foods on a regular basis, then you should have empty jars on a regular basis. Therefore, things like soups, etc, that don't need to be canned during heavy harvest times I do in the winter.I open 3-5 jars a day because we also can our own grape juice, eat fruits for breakfast or lunch & then there's the veggies.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Groene Pionier said:


> Do you have any plans how to make the solar dehydrator?Xant


Not off hand. We know how they work so we just did it. Bought a "cheap" bookshelf from Praktiker (not sure if they are everywhere or just HU....I don't remember seeing them anywhere else - but I wasn't looking) and sheathed it in wood DH brought home from work (a shipping create they were going to toss). The bottom third on the front we put a clear sheet of plastic. Painted it all black and caulked much of the gaps. Got up to about 55C in there.


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