Homestead Canning- A Lesson in Economics

I scurried around the kitchen today searching for clean half pint canning jars. I found more mushrooms reduced in price at the grocery store again. I grabbed ALL that were marked down to $0.99 a lb marked down from $3.98. A whopping savings, I paid $8 instead of the regular $32! As any 'shroom lover out there, Mel and I are these delectable fungi  biggest fans.  Not only were there boxes of button mushrooms in my haul, but Criminis, Portabellas, and Oysters in there too. An abundance of earthly flavors.

 I've got 5 qt jars dehydrated in my food storage already, as well as a year's worth of cream of mushroom soup, but how could I pass up such a steal?  The catch was that these tasty morsels were close to past there prime. Whatever I wanted to do with them, I had to do it quick. I'd never canned mushrooms alone before. Sure, I've canned them in a recipe, but never alone. I'd bought canned mushrooms,so I knew it could be done.

I pulled out everyone's favorite canners guide, The Ball Preserving book, and was disappointed to see, ''Not Recommended for Canning " notation beside the mushroom. They suggested freezing or dehydrating them. I do not like the texture of frozen  mushrooms. So, as always, I researched the web and YouTube. Other canners were canning these delicacies safely so I knew I could too.

So I set about brushing off my mushrooms and slicing them.  In a large pot halfway filled with water, I set it on the iron to heat. I'll add 2 tsp of salt to season. After I finish slicing the 'shrooms, I added them to the now boiling water. I'll heat it back to boiling, reduce the heat to simmer. Cover and simmer the mushrooms for 5 minutes just like the videos I watched.

But unlike the videos, I chose to strain the remaining cooking liquid through a wire strainers lined with a coffee filter. Many videographers commented that liquid was brown so they chose to use clean, boiling water into the jars. I beg to differ. The liquid is brown because of the mushrooms. It full of vitamins and minerals from the mushrooms.  I strained it well in case I missed any compost the mushrooms  were grown in. Sure, the mushrooms  aren't floating in clear liquid after canning, but you can add the liquid into a dynamite gravy for an extra mushroomy taste.

Since I was pressure canning half pint jars, The timer after it comes to pressure is 45 minutes at 15 lb of pressure based on our altitude. I used my small pressure canner for 9 half pint jars.Now this won't be the last time my grocer will have a deal like this. I fully expect to get several cases of half pint jars by the end of the year. I can even add to my dehydrated mushroom stores.

In case you were wondering, canning my own mushrooms averaged out to $0.88 a jar. In the grocery store I can sometimes find a deal on canned mushrooms for close to this price, but those are just button mushrooms not Criminis, Portabellas, and oyster mushrooms too.  Canned or frozen Portabellas range closer to the $4 price point.

So as this example illustrates, homestead canning gives you a bigger bang for your buck both in health benefits and in value. In the long run, even the cost of canning jars depreciates down to zero over time. I've had some jars since the 1970s and they are still good today. Rings can be used over and over again for years if you clean and dry them well. About the only thing you replace is the flat lids. Buying them in bulk is cheaper at about 2 cent a flat lid. For me, canning about 1,000 jars costs me $20 per year if I only used new flat lids which I don't. That's dirt cheap in today's economy. It home canning is an essential part of homestead economics.

You can buy cheap if you don't have a garden, but what homesteader doesn't have a garden of some sort? Sure, you can't grow everything, but you can by in bulk from other homesteaders that do grow what you do not. The pea pods, corn husks, snapped ends of green beans and the like of the things you buy can be composted to enrich your own garden soil so you even reap added rewards.

Yes, home canning makes good economic sense and cents.

Y'all have a blessed day.

Jo

Amish Store Purchases and Plans for Growth

Thirty cases of pint canning jars that I went to North Carolina to get a couple of weeks ago are now washed, put back in their boxes, and stacked into their respective spots in the storage building.

Plus, the food grade three-gallon buckets are washed, and filled with the GMO-free flour, wheat, and raw sugar I bought at the Amish store also from my trip to North Carolina. My van was packed coming home, but not as packed as last time when I brought home sixty cases of jars, but I did buy more flour and sugar this trip.

All thanks to one of our Cockeyed Homestead YouTube subscribers. Who lives near the Amish store. She opened her house to me and let me stay. Thank you, Ellen! Another subscriber I tried to meet on this trip had a family emergency. Maybe next year, Marie. I'd really love to see your homestead operation.

In a year, we used 40 lbs of sugar. It was used in baking, canning, and wine making. So I bought ten extra pounds to make even more wine with. At $0.88 a pound, I thought it was a bargain.

By picking up my Clear-jel also, I have all I need except for the produce to make my cream of chicken and mushroom soups for the coming year with plenty of Clear-jel for my pie fillings too. The base ingredient (thickener) for all my canned goodies that are yummy in our tummies. I'm still hitting the reduced price section for mushrooms and dehydrating them. If there is a lot of them, six# or more, I'll can my cream of mushroom soup. The chickens for the cream of chicken soup are awaiting slaughter. They'll be pressure cooked to make them tender. Now, all I have to do is wait until my onions and celery are ready to harvest for both.

I still may have to buy more sugar for the wine making though. It all depends on our Muscadine and Catawba grape harvests. I plan on setting aside a few pounds for fresh eating and jellies. I might even try canning some for winter munching. The rest will go into the 5-gallon recycled water jugs for wine. It might make an interesting flavored vinegar if the wine turns too. We've been saving Mel's wine empty wine bottles for a year now to put the wine in once it's finished. I may play with blueberry, apple, blackberry, and raspberry flavored wines also. It all depends on the harvest. I missed the dandelion harvest due to rains and busyness of planting the garden this spring. There's always next year.

In the store, I went up and down each aisle as usual. But as I expected, there wasn't much "new" or exciting to pick up. Not that I was shopping for anything else. So now I've checked off three items that I'd need for a year of baking, cooking, and canning.

No trip would be complete without a trip to their version of thrift stores. I love a good bargain, don't you? I told Ellen that I was looking for another fermenting crock. A good size crockpot bottom is what I normally use. While I had two, and bountiful harvest would overwhelm them. We found one without a lid ($3). I put in my basket and traveled down the aisle. I saw another crock on the top shelf. I thought it was a cookie jar. It was too heavy for me to lift one handed so I pulled off the lid preparing to lift it by the rim. Ellen came to my rescue and lowered it down for me to get a better look. It was a complete German fermenting pot. The same one pictured. Brand new it sell on Amazon for $59 plus shipping. My price at the second hand shop...$10.

Now, if I just had a solution for our milk consumption, we'd be set. Yes, I know we need goats. A cow, even a miniature one, is an impossibility. I've researched it. We are still not set up for housing and caring for goats. I refuse to buy any animal unless we are knowledgeable about the animal, had everything in place for the animal, and an outlet for any extra production (like milk, cheese, butter) from that animal. It's just a smart way to do it.

I'm still a firm believer that an animal pay it's own way on our homestead. Either in production we can use to replace a grocery item, or for straight cash sales in babies, or products like our rabbits and chicken do. On such a small homestead with a limited resources, this is an important consideration. The fact that we'd need multiples because they are herd animals is also part of this consideration. They will also be a huge outlay of initial cash for them and creating a habitat for them. It isn't in the budget for this year even though it was on my 5-year plan for this year. I'm running at least a year behind schedule with Mel being out of work.

I'm also still researching mini angora goats (Nygora or Pygora). They would give us triple bang for our dollars in meat/for sale, milk and fiber. So long as I'm in research mode, there won't be a purchase.

Well, that's it for this week.

Y'all have a blessed day!