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| Using Canning Jars for Storage! |
When changing my life from living on my Peaceful Forest homestead to living downtown in a small apartment I had to make many life adjustments. No garden. No more preserving food. I came here with many canning jars. I don't know, call me sentimental but I did not have the courage to get rid of them. They were a part of my life for so long. From the first time my Daddy taught me how to make grape jam from his grape vines. To the last jars of winter squash I canned at my old house. It was a lot of work but work I looked forward to. I canned all summer and fall. In winter I canned meat, soups and stews. For a long time after I moved here the jars sat downstairs in my storage locker. One day I decided I was going to start using some of the canning jars for storing leftovers. I had some large canning jars and started using them for making ice tea.
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| Beverages stay colder in glass containers |
One thing I learned when I lived for six years without any refrigeration was that glass will keep things cold longer. It will also be colder than plastic in a short while. At that time I used an ice chest with cold water fresh from my well. If you have ever used a well with a pitcher pump then you know how cold that water is. Even in summer. Several times through out the day I would change that water in the ice chest. To keep it cold. In winter I kept the ice chest in my pantry and used snow and ice to keep it cold. There was no shortage of that! I was happy when we finally got our refrigerator that ran on the solar panels. It did not have a freezer so I did not have a freezer back then. I learned to live without one and didn't really think about it.
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| Tops with a spout! |
Now living in my apartment for a number of years, I use canning jars for many things. It is no secret that the jars are great for storing your dry goods as well. I keep beef gelatin, collagen, cocoa, etc. in some of them. I purchased plastic tops for them so I don't have to use the two piece lids and rims. The plastic tops will not rust if in the refrigerator. Some of the plastic tops have spouts so I can pour from them without removing the top. The tops I bought do not leak at all. That makes a difference so when buying them remember the cheapest ones are not always the best. Especially if they leak when you are pouring from them!
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| Water storage on the counter |
I will cook up a few meals in advance which is usually just meat. Then store them in the canning jars in the refrigerator. You can freeze the canning jars. Or even vacuum pack them. Though I have never tried either method. I make up Keto Chow meal replacement shakes and store it in the jars in the refrigerator. Later on I pour it into the ice cream containers to freeze. Also I make bone broth and keep it in the canning jars. In the past I used to can a lot of soups. Sometimes I would have to work so fast to get foods canned in fall that I didn't have time to make soups, stews or sauces. So I would do that during the winter when I wasn't canning so many other foods.
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| Tops for canning jars! |
Copyright © 2024 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2024 Kathleen G. Lupole
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