Excellent points, thanks! I'll keep on doing my thing then, because you are absolutely correct, better to lose a pint than a quart! Today I was a busy bee. I canned chicken soup, pasta sauce, and green beans.

On a side note, I used wide mouth pint jars for pickles. It worked okay, although I had to trim the ends. Instead of wasting the ends, I made what I am calling "Pickle Bites", lol. I hope they are crunchy. I'm waiting a couple weeks to try them. If they aren't cooked to mush, I might even fry them: "Fried Pickle Bites". People keep telling me fried pickles are good..... I'm not so sure... :p

Edit to add: For us pet owners, you can even use bits and scraps from meats and whatnot to can your pet's food! I've started collecting the scraps in a ziplock in my freezer so I can do a big batch at a time. (Also people edible in a pinch!)

A neighbor has 2 apple trees loaded,offered me all I want when they finish ripening in a couple weeks,see I need more jars,Mrs has made some fine apple sauce in the past,WOOHOO!Will bring them some nice canned product for their generosity.

Been loving those pickles,the garlic has mellowed into almost sweet smooth taste,they are great.Been eating a couple pickles a day,great food bargain there at a dollar a qt!

might try here

http://allaboutfoodstorage.com/wp-content/uploads/EVERYTHING-UNDER-THE-SUN-2010-word.pdf

Canned 24 qts chicken/veg soup,all sale items comes to 30 cents per qt to fill em.

Yup,our Mexican store,Cardenas, sales on veggies sure is nice.

I just got a new dehydrator and a new smoker! I got stuff workin' 24/7! Will try to snap some pics soon...

Great Phaedrus!
Frozen veggies can be had cheap and dehydrate beautifully.If you havent done before you will be very pleased,just pour em frozen one layer on a tray and viola.

Click to enlarge pics

Heres my latest,this was the soup

Celery,onion,canned corn,creamed can corn,carrots,canned diced tomatoes,cabbage,broccoli and chicken.



==========================
Beef Jerky,just finished,simple,was just soy sauce,water and onion powder,soaked in refer for 24 hours.I do NOT use cure on my Jerky,YMMV.









=======================

Last smoker project was cheese,got this,in foodsaver wrapping.Done with the amazen smoker.

Its Mozz,Pepperjack,Monterey Jack,Colby... with Apple and Cherry smoke,50/50. Start at 9:30PM.Ambient temp 65F.

Learned something,when temps low 70's or less dont have to monitor smoker temps,it stays plenty cool.

Top,Pepper and Monterey Jack



Bottom is Mozzarella and Colby


Done after 3.25 hrs


Been giving a lot away,so far got apricots,eggs and some zucchini and beefsteak maters,LOVE IT! Great trade item!

BTW,gave some to Joanie at the thrift store and for 7 dollars got these and more!
Gotta love it!

That bread machine costs 80 bucks,barely used


The Blender base is 1970's pricy quality,runs smooooooth,so nice to have another extra.

Izzy,you will like this,and no pectin required,made these Oct 2010,were excellent and a great way to use up your green tomatoes,nice and sweet too.
=============================
This is a tomato marmalade,or jam if you like.

Makes 5 to 6 pints approximately.You may either can them,freeze it,or leave in refrigerator 2-3 weeks

Ingredients

* 2 oranges
* 2 lemon
* 7 pounds tomatoes, skinned and cut in small pieces
* 1 cup sugar per pound of tomatoes
* 1 TBSP ginger, grated
*1 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Skin tomatoes,cut out stem
2.Thinly slice 2 oranges and 2 large lemons,remove seeds,cut slices into quarters
3. Place the citrus , tomatoes, sugar and ginger in a large pot. Bring to a boil and boil uncovered for 2 hours or until the jam thickens.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the preserving jars.
5. Fill jars with hot marmalade, leaving a 1/4 inch head pace. Wipe the rims clean. Seal according to manufacturer’s directions.
6. Process the jars in a boiling water bath for 10 minutes at sea level,add 1 minute for each 1000 feet higher.
--------------------------------------------
Gather up your tomatoes.I have cherries,large,and romas,both fresh and frozen,will be using 4 lbs red tomatoes,3 lbs green






Take tomatoes,cut out stem,slice an X through skin,then throw into boiling water 30-60 seconds.Should just note skins falling off.Into ice water and peel off skins.




Put all ingredients into pan,boil lightly so it doesnt boil over.I stirred it every 15 minutes for 2 hours.




After 2 hours I took a wand mixer to it as the citrus wasnt breaking up,and got this




90 minutes more boiling,stirring every 10 minutes I had reduced it to this,and had this consistency on a spoon turned sideways,a jam like thickness.Started my lids boiling for the dishwasher cleaned pint jars.






Waterbath canned.Im at 5,000 feet,book calls for 15 minutes of boiling,I did 30 minutes because.... why not? Not worried about over processing it.


Got 3 of these




2 of these



And a pint in refrigerator


Toast with cream cheese and marmalade.This would be super on a toasted bagel with cream cheese,or on pork,or biscuits.

Sounds like lots of people are into canning etc...I have a small garden and just put in some raspberry bushes this summer. I've also canned blueberries and tomatoes so far this summer, helped a friend can a big batch of peaches from her tree (and got a few jars for myself in the bargain), frozen strawberries, blueberries, some kale and zucchini, and dried strawberries and blueberries. Soon it will be time to go apple picking and make applesauce...this year I got a food mill so I won't have to peel all those apples by hand. That was not fun last year!! I still have a lot of dried apples left from last fall so will not be doing those this year. One thing I haven't tried making yet is jerky, but I think I will try it this fall.

See another canner here,love it.You did great this year Jolt,wtg!

Jolt,we have one of those apple skinner/corer thingies,works ok I guess,sure beats doing by hand,we have apples coming real soon,I think cinnamin applesauce might be nice.



Folks who havent canned,if its ever crossed your mind to do so its really easy esp. with the web,its ALL there,great youtubes.

We made apricots in light syrup for the canned ones.



For the dehydrated cherries and apricots just run a knife around edge to pit and pop out pits.We then tossed into a bowl with 1-2 tsp vitamin C powder in a qt of water to keep color good. You could use lemon or lime juice too. The Vit C powder available at health food stores.

Got the 15 lbs of buckboard bacon (pork butts) into the smoker,2 layers......



15 hours of smoke,then 2 hours in freezer to firm up for slicing on electric slicer (Hobart model 110,late 1930's,early 1940's deli model,found on craigslist for about 120 bucks IIRC)

Got bacon ends, regular looking style bacon slices,and Canadian bacon style slices









Most of it packaged up,I just use regular ziplocks as it wont last more than 6 weeks or so before we eat it all.Got 18 bags bacon and 2 of bacon ends.




Home grown tomatoes,homemade bacon,gotta love it!