If you’ve ever considered buying a pressure canner, but hesitated because you’re not sure what you can do with it, well here are a few ideas.
Pressure canners are pretty versatile appliances. With a pressure canner you can put up shelf stable foods of all varieties. Most vegetables and meats can be canned. There are a few exceptions such as cauliflour and zucchini, which tends to turn to mush, but other than that you’re only really limited by what you can grow (or buy).
You don’t have to limit yourself to raw ingredients either. Pressure canners a great for preserving homemade soups, stews, chili, pasta sauce, etc. If you are not following a tried and true recipe from a caning book, just check the processing times from everything you put in and process at the time specified for the longest ingredient.
Your pressure canner doesn’t have to be used under pressure. These things are great for water bath canning high acid foods as well…just leave off the weight or keep the lid cracked a bit. This way you’re getting 2 appliances in one, which can help justify the cost. Pickles, fruits in syrup, jams and jellies, and tomatoes can all be canned this way.
Don’t just think of your pressure canner as a seasonal appliance that only gets used when you are harvesting your garden or butchering some chickens. I’ve used mine to take advantage of grocery sales even when my freezers are full, as they are now.
Medical equipment such as a suturing kit can be sterilized in a pressure canner. Special envelopes and trays are available for this, but they are quite affordable.
There are disadvantages though. Home canned food is stored in very fragile and heavy glass jars. This makes it impractical for foods that will be transported for bugging out. Also, if you are putting up food for a larger group of say 20 or more people, it becomes impractical to can that much food in one liter jars. Pressure canning is great for your own family, but you would need several jars of everything for a meal for a larger group.