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Big Lots has pint and jelly jars for $6.50 a box and quarts for $10. I've had excellent luck finding quart jars recently at thrifts, so next paycheck I'm going to grab several boxes of pints!

 

SaveMor grocery store has pints, quarts AND half gallons for $8.95. They're also competitive on lids and rings.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hello I am new here and have a glass top stove and would like to buy a canner.I have decided to buy a presto canner and was wondering if this is going to give me the same results as the expencive one not sure of the name.I am new at canning and nervous about doing meat and getting someone sick,,,,,,But I know how important it is to have the suppies of good protien available for my family and they dont eat beans hmmmm I would love sugestions on this thnks.Christine

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Hi Herbal, welcome6

 

My canner is a Mirro and works great. Mirro's are cheaper ones too but it was all I could afford at the time and I love it.

 

If you follow the Blue Book instructions canning meat is really a simple thing to do. It mainly just takes lots of time so be sure you have a free day to just work at it.

 

Do you know for sure your glass top stove is ok to use for cannning? They didn't used to be so just a word of caution there.

 

We're always anxious to hear from someone when they've given canning a try and have learned to love it. Be sure to let us know!!!

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I bought Golden Harvest jars back in the 90's and have had no problems with them. I was a little nervous because I got them at Dollar General but all is ok.

 

The lids that came with the jars crinkled under pressure but sealed all the same...it was weird! So if I buy anymore I'll use the lids for water bath NOT pressure.

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It depends on the stove. My stove is about 5 or 6 years old and the manual doesn't say anything for or against canning. Any full canner is heavy. Even a waterbath is heavy. I do can on my stove. So far so good, but I know (in that back of my mind) that I *might* be running on good luck.

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Originally Posted By: herbal
thanks for reply is a mirro better than a prescot canner ..Can any canners be used on glass top stoves??? I thought it was only the big heavy one...I hope not that would be very sad..was getting ready to go and start canning


Hi Herbal and Welcome,

You should be able to find the manual for your stove online.

My glasstop is a KitchenAid. The manual states that I can use canners, but that no pan I use should be more than one inch overlap on any burner. Otherwise the glass top may overheat and crack.

Now Presto states that their canners are good for glass top stoves. I bought one and they are right! Thought the canner has maybe two inches overlap with my burner, the part that actually touches the stove fits on the burner exactly!!! And that part is very flat, which is something else you need for glass top stoves.

So this issues for you include (a) how much of the canner is actually touching the top of the stove and (B) is part that touches the stove flat. Some aren't flat. Your stove might have other restrictions like weight.

My canner is a Presto 01751. And thought I haven't seen her around in a while, just wanted to thank Heather for her canner purchase advice a few months back.

Best wishes,

NMChick

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Hi Herbal and WELCOME!

 

I've been using my Mirro canner for almost 20 years and I love it. I can meat and vegetables in it. About your stove top, I'd check your user guide on the weight limits. A filled canner is very heavy.

 

Never mind...my canner is a Presto not a Mirro. I knew it ended in an "O" blush

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A canner is a canner is a canner, for the most part. Just different bells/whistles/abilities. I started out canning in my mom's 30 year old canner, on a glass top stove. I canned over 1000lbs of tomatoes in that sucker in the beginning. You'll here us talk about the All American canners as being the Cadilliac of canners for a few reasons. They're a heavier gauge metal, they're designed differently. They don't use the rubber seals that the others need (and have to be replaced every couple of years), plus they're a weighted gauge canner vs a dial gauge canner. Dials have to be checked for accurate pressure every year, the weighted gauges do not. The mirros and prestos are coming out with weighted guage canners so if you can get a weighted one, I would suggest that.

 

The instructions on home canning things like meats and other things are very detailed and exact. If you follow the instructions, you can feel at peace over what you have preserved. Looking for things like lids that don't seal after they cool down, etc, are additional ways to check and double check that your jar is done properly. The only thing that will get rid of the nervousness is to just jump in and start. Try a veggie first so that you get the feel of handling the jars and lids and canner. Move forward to the other types of home canning that scare you more later.

 

The reason that so many of us (ok, I'm talking about me here) are so passionate about canning is because it's FUN!!!!! It is alot of work, but it's a job I love doing. Don't be afraid to ask any questions you may need...there's a wealth of experienced canners here who love holding newbies hands and walking them through the process. We all get excited when someone starts out.

 

Good luck!

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My old presto has a weighted gauge. The jiggle type. I've been canning off and on with it for 20 years and have only had to replace the gasket once. I might just be lucky though. I do store the gasket in the lid so it doesn't get bent out of shape.

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I posted somethhing about this in another thread and I don't know if that was right but I just wondered if anyone has experience with a steam canner. They wouldn't be so heavy to pick up I think because they use less water. Katmom

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Steam canners are not recommended for use by USDA. They do not get the contents of the jars as hot as in a boiling water bath canner. The only ones promoting their use are the ones selling them and manufacturing them.

We tell everyone to turn them upside down and use them for something else besides canning.

If you will check the Ball Blue Book and any of the USDA/ university information, you will not find processing times for the steam canner. The reason is they are not deemed safe to use.

 

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I have a glass top stove and use the Presto to pressure can. It was used just yesterday to can up 7 quarts of chili and 4 quarts of turkey broth. It has a flat bottom and is narrow enough to use on the smoooth top stoves. I also use mine as my water bath canner at this point. It heats up faster than the traditional water bath canner because of the flat bottom.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I want to can!

I've never done it, never seen it done, and I do not know a soul who does it or who has done it so you guys are my only guides.

 

I am intimidated!

Here is what is hanging me up:

How do I know what I have (will have) canned is safe to eat? Is the flat seal the only proof that the food is and will be safe later? This one thing haunts me and keeps me from taking the plunge. I'd be devastated to find that something I canned made someone sick. (heaven forbid). How do you trust what you canned?

I know in store bought cans and bottles I can see a popped lid, or bulging cans and I avoid that. Home canning is different. No machine sealed it so how will I be absolutely sure it's safe?

All those strawberries at the store are calling my name....

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First of all, sit down, prop your feet up and relax. Canning is very intimidating to most people when they first CONTEMPLATE it...what removes that concern and fear is actually doing it. We're so blessed to have a wealth of experienced canners who have done this for more years than THEY (not me, I'm too young darlene ) want to admit...lol

 

My mother showed me how to can tomatoes, and that was it. I jumped into the rest all by myself and I have NEVER (thank You Lord) opened a jar that I had canned, and had it be bad or hurt my children. We've taught tons of people here how to can, just on the internet so you're goin gto do just fine.

 

As far as what you have canned, and knowing if it is safe to eat, I'd like to know exactly what it is you canned, how you put it all together, how long you processed it, pressure you used, etc etc etc. If you're talking about things you've just water bath canned, then that would pretty much encompass jams, fruits and such. The same premise applies...how long did you water bath can it, and if the seal hasn't popped up, then you should be ok. When you open the jars, alot of times if they're bad, they'll have a bad smell to them.

 

The reason I trust what I can to not only feed my children, but to give away as gifts or just 'because', is because I follow the guidelines as put out by the National Center for Home Food Preservation. I've read the whole history of canning from the Napoleonic days, through the late 1800's and early 1900's, even up into the 80's and early 90's and saw the things they did that they thought were safe, but actually were not. As with everything in this world, technology, science, etc has all progressed and the knowledge base and understanding about foods, heat, pressure have been studied to the enth degree. If you follow the instructions as laid out by the NCHFP then you can rest assured that your products are safely home canned.

 

Here's their website. Bookmark it and refer to it often...they have all kinds of explainations as to why or why not, the 'rules' are what they are, which will give you a better understanding and foundation with which to build your home canning empire on:

 

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html

 

Strawberry jam was the first adventure I went off on my own with after my mom taught me how to can tomatoes. Now, I literally have a couple of hundred jars of strawberry jam.

 

Anyway, you're in the right place. I've done a few pictorials in the recipe section of Preserving the Harvest, because sometimes seeing something helps it to make more sense. Once to get the hang of it, you'll be flying like the rest of us. Go get your strawberries...you don't need a pressure to make strawberry jam and making jam is a piece of cake!

 

Let us know any questions or concerns you might have and we'll help walk this journey with you.

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Jules,

Like Darlene, I started with a tomato canning lesson and progressed from there. It's like any other cooking. You follow the recipes and directions-- you have success and you learn as you go.

 

You might as well ask, "How do you trust that your cooking is safe for your family?" because as you master canning and use and enjoy the foods, it becomes the same question.

 

In more than 30 years of canning, I have never had anyone become ill from anything I've canned. The only "bad" thing that has ever happened is that when I gave strawberry jam as gifts everyone wanted more and more and more!!! LOL

 

Just as when you first learned to cook it took a certain amount of faith that you would enjoy the finished product, so also does this apply to canning. Get the directions for the jam, read them through, get going!

 

You go, girl!

 

I'ts heartening to see someone new take up this most rewarding craft. It renews my enthusiasm to see your grand adventure unfolding:)

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  • 3 months later...

Is the All American 910 too small to be practical? I don't see myself pressure canning *that* much at a time. Or will things change once I use a pressure canner and get used to it?

 

I have to admit, I'm skeered to pressure can. my mom blew up a pressure cooker once when I was a kid (early 70's, I know, different kind of pressure canner...)

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Yes Tracie, once you get used to pressure canning, you will wonder how you got along without it. I have two canners and have them both going at once at times! (Usually in the winter while canning stews or meat...makes nice humidity in the house then) With a pressure canner, there is nothing you can't can--it just opens up the possiblities to you that you don't have with just water bath canning!

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