Information and discussion about canning and dehydrating tomatoes and other garden vegetables and fruits. DISCLAIMER: SOME RECIPES MAY NOT COMPLY WITH CURRENT FOOD SAFETY GUIDELINES - FOLLOW AT YOUR OWN RISK
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View Poll Results: Canner or foodsaver? | |||
Canner |
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21 | 65.63% |
Foodsaver |
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8 | 25.00% |
Other, which I'll tell you about below |
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3 | 9.38% |
Voters: 32. You may not vote on this poll |
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#16 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: WI, USA Zone4
Posts: 1,887
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Go to garage sales and you can buy used small canners as cheap as $5. The big ones go as cheap as $10-$15 dollars. They usually are older models, but I see them all the time. Make sure you get the weight(s) and the lid seal.
Last edited by dustdevil; March 18, 2015 at 10:45 PM. |
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#17 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: Louisiana
Posts: 587
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It really depends on your end goals, what you want to save, and for how long, and under what conditions.
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#18 |
Tomatoville® Recipe Keeper
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Roseburg, Oregon - zone 7
Posts: 2,821
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I freeze a lot more meat than I can but can see the issue of being in an area where the power might go out in storms. For things like tomatoes, tomato sauce, etc that can be water bath canned, I prefer that to freezing. Tough call really.
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Corona~Barb Now an Oregon gal |
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#19 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,919
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I ended up going with both - Presto Pressure Canner (currently $89 on Amazon) and the Foodsaver V2244 (selling for $69 on Amazon).
I use the canner (either pressure or water bath depending on what I'm canning) for all liquids such as tomato sauce, broth, etc., and the Foodsaver for meats and cheeses I buy in bulk, and dry foods. |
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#20 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Jacksonville, FL
Posts: 1,413
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#21 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: MA/NH Border
Posts: 4,919
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![]() I too have to spread my acquisitions out. Last year was the Presto and Foodsaver, year before was the Excalibur dehydrator. The year before that was when I invested in a larger supply of canning jars (picked them up just before winter on clearance). And I believe the year before that was when I bought my shelves and lights. I haven't come up with anything I need this year...yet. |
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#22 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Between The Woodlands and Spring, Texas
Posts: 553
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Pressure Canner!
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#23 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Colorado
Posts: 124
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We got a food saver for a wedding gift 21 years ago and love it. I do the canning my wife does the freezing. For stuff that is juicy we put it in the freezer bags close the top with a clothes pin and freeze first then seal. Just found some chillies dated 2006 the other night in the freezer that were as good as anything we froze last year. If you get all the air out and seal good stuff lasts forever. We like to freeze cherry tomatoes to put on pizzas or garlic bread, very tasty !! Also freeze some larger toms for chile and such, the skin comes right off when you run them under warm water.
Good luck Marcus |
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#24 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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Every time someone votes it shows up as a new post but it is only the vote causing it.
![]() Worth |
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#25 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: mo
Posts: 24
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Lots of replies! Regarding power outages, we do have them somewhat frequently, but most generally last less than a day and are due to thunderstorms. Our severe weather risks are from ice storms and tornadoes, so if there was an ice storm, I'd stash stuff outside if needed and if there was a tornado, I wouldn't care about the freezer.
My budget for this item is around $70. When I checked Walmart online, getting a WBC with accessories would run me about $40 and a 24 pack of jars would be about $30, and a foodsaver would be about $70. Then there's also the fact I'd need to get a food mill. I may end up having both, but getting them both this year isn't in the budget at the moment. |
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#26 | |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Den of Drunken Fools
Posts: 38,539
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What kind of stove top do you have? If you have the glass top it wont get hot enough to boil the water in a water bath canner. At least mine doesn't. I have to use one of my huge and I mean huge stainless thick bottomed kettles to water bath can in. One thing about the canner you dont have to buy the bags over and over again. Just take care of the jars and rings and all you have to replace is the lids. |
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#27 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Vermont
Posts: 1,001
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We have tried pretty much every which way to preserve our food, and we have settled on this: The only thing we still can is tomatoes (and she prefers to just do them either whole or in chunks, depending on the size of the tomatoes in question; she likes to be able to decide what to do with them when the time comes to actually cook.) We decided that we just prefer the fresher flavor and broader cooking options of pretty much everything else when frozen. That especially applies to meats, but also goes for corn, asparagus, peas...well, you name it. So, since tomatoes can just fine with a boiling water bath and don't need a pressure canner, that's what we use. We no longer have a pressure canner. We do have a glass-top stove and a big, cheap, aluminum canner pot, and ours boils just fine. Must depend on the stove, Worth. But our stove is just a low-end Sears Kenmore, with a bit of age on it now.
So for the freezer, we make lots of use of our Foodsaver. For moister stuff and more delicate stuff (like berries) we pre-freeze, then pack up, as has been mentioned. More recently I have started to dehydrate more. I like the dried produce, in general, but we need to retrain ourselves to remember to actually use it, since it is a relatively new process for us and our habits are old and somewhat dried up as well. Dried tomatoes, Oh Yeah! They add an almost fresh flavor to sauces and a nice thickening, like paste does. Dried leeks were pretty successful. And, of course, peppers and herbs. The nice thing about dried stuff is the minimal storage worries and space required, although I do keep our dried tomatoes in the freezer, since I did have some get moldy on me once. Shawn
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"Red meat is NOT bad for you. Now blue-green meat, THAT'S bad for you!" -- Tommy Smothers |
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#28 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: mo
Posts: 24
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Worth, we have an electric coil range, so we're good there.
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#29 |
Tomatoville® Recipe Keeper
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Roseburg, Oregon - zone 7
Posts: 2,821
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I don't know what size jars you use but I get the pints and quarts from around $8-$10 a dozen. $30 for a 24 pack seems a lot higher...is that including shipping?
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Corona~Barb Now an Oregon gal |
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#30 |
Tomatovillian™
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Michigan
Posts: 126
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I have a waterbath canner, a pressure canner, and Foodsaver. The pressure canner basically never gets used because canning with it is SO FREAKING ANNOYING and takes forever. I can anything that I can safely process via waterbath, most everything else is vacuum sealed and frozen. Shoot, I didn't even have a waterbath canner until last year. I just used a big stockpot I had and put rings on the bottom to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the pan.
That said, I also hunt and raise meat chickens, and I process everything myself. I hate canned meat, so I prefer to freeze anything that can handle freezing. If all the air is removed, meat keeps from being freezer burnt for a long time. I have chicken breast in my freezer that's nearly two years old and looks like it did the day after I froze it. The vacuum sealer gets used A LOT. Best Mother's Day gift ever ![]() |
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