12 replies to this topic

[AMarthaByHeart]

HELP, again!!!!!!!!!!

I was wondering how to can if there is no electricity or gas (no gas on our street--cost prohibited to bring in here) or an EMP hits.

I am not borrowing problems but how would I can outside, what on, and how to keep a steady and regulated temperature. I have 2 presto canners but neither have the temp dial--just the 10,15,20 weight gauge. I figured the canner would be too heavy to use on a barbecue grill. Could you make a firepit, and put a grill on it (using wood)? I don't have a wood stove. I know that there are several good canning experts on here, and I need help desperately. Never even thought about it until I started learning to make cheese, etc.
If I can't figure it out, I guess we will have a giant cookout for neighborhood. The temperature is what concerns me.

[Ambergris]

I suspect this is why our ancestors got the idea of pickling, salting, or sugaring the crap out of food they wanted to last.

Do you have a propane cooker, like a turkey fryer or a fish fryer? You'd sure have to work at controlling the temps if you used that, though.

[arby]

The propane tanks for barbeques with a turkey fryer pot support work ok , you just want it very level, do it outside of course with ventilation and to monitor it so it stays consistent.
I trust the weighted gauges far more than the pressure guage set up.

[Amishway Homesteaders]

IF using your 'cookers' over open flames I would wrap the sides and bottom in 'tin-foil' or you will NEVER get them clean again!

also water bath canning would be easier as all the have to do is get the fire hot enought to keep the canner 'boiling' for the amount of time.
We have a big 2 burner propane gas stove/ cooker set-up that we have 'canned' on before. We also use it outside when cooking down things like tomatos to make sauce so we are not heating up the house in the summer.

[Violet]

Please, no turkey fryers. Presto has a big warning against using them for canning. I am too tired to think of the limit of BTU's you can safely use...


They are too hot, can warp the canner, can even fuse the metal to the burners, heat up to fast and thus we consider the food underprocessed.The heating up time and cool down part are factored into the safe processing time. If you do either too quickly we consider them underprocessed. Here is a document I wrote for our office :

CANNING ON PROPANE STOVES

While using a propane stoveor burner with a boiling water bath canner may not be as a challenge as using apressure canner on one, there are still things to consider.

First, is the size of the propane burner. Is it large enough in diameter tosupport a canner ? Is it sturdy enough ?

It needs to be powerful enough to bring a large pot ofwater, filled with jars, to a boil and maintain a boil for the entireprocessing time.

You will need to consider thewind and if you have a way to protect the flame from going out.

Also, the wind or cooler airtemperature may cause the jars to breakas a result of a rapid temperature change.

It is necessary to have a wayto adjust the flame in a safe manner. The recommendation is to have a hose with a regulator away from theflame.

If you desire to pressurecan, the recommendation is to not use anything with a BTU higher than 15,000BTU’s. Otherwise the canner can warpfrom the intense heat. Also, it will heat up the canner too fast , causing theprocessing time to be inaccurate. The time it takes for a pressure canner toheat up and cool down is all part of the safe processing time and is factoredinto the processing times.

There is an insert in thePresto pressure canners showing a propane turkey fryer with a big red X throughit, saying do not use a turkey fryer to pressure can on using one of theircanners.

At this time, ourrecommendation is to do so at your own risk on any outdoor type of cooker or burner.

[CrabGrassAcres]

Could you get a standard large propane tank (500 or more gallons) and a regular propane stove?

I try to keep the can-able contents of my deep freeze canned up so I won't have a problem if the power goes out.

[AMarthaByHeart]

Tank has to be buried and so many feet from our house. There has to be an inspection before final approval. We have a small back yard so we know it wouldn't pass. I think I will stop my little projects next week and start canning again. I have pork chops, hamburger meat, chicken in freezer. I would like to can some red beans and black-eyed peas. CGA, I am like you. I would love to move to the country but it seems to be cost prohibitive right now.


Thanks everyone, for the info. I was afraid of this. We live in West Texas where the wind usually blows most of the time. I would love to put a wood stove on back patio. DH thinks I have flipped. He had finally agreed to getting a generator.


I am going to print this off for further use.

[CrabGrassAcres]

That's a bummer, that you cannot have a big tank.
I have a tiny woodstove, similar to the small box stoves. It has two 'burners' on top that can be lifted off to put a pot directly over the fire. I wouldn't want to can on it. I have canned on camp stoves, 2 burner type, with a hose connected to a 5 gallon bottle. Takes a lot of bottles if you are doing much canning though.

[Leanna1017]

IF using your 'cookers' over open flames I would wrap the sides and bottom in 'tin-foil' or you will NEVER get them clean again!

also water bath canning would be easier as all the have to do is get the fire hot enought to keep the canner 'boiling' for the amount of time.
We have a big 2 burner propane gas stove/ cooker set-up that we have 'canned' on before. We also use it outside when cooking down things like tomatos to make sauce so we are not heating up the house in the summer.

When cooking over a fire you can coat the bottom and sides of the pot lightly with dish washing liquid. The burn marks wash right off.

I've been worried about how to can meat from my freezer in the event of a long power failure. All we had was a small camp stove that uses the little bottles of propane. I ended up buying the Camp Chef 2 burner range. It's sturdy and I can use the 5 gallon propane tanks from my stove. If you wait for a sale you can get it for $99.

[ScrubbieLady]

Well, when the oven went out on my gas stove, my husband took it for his outdoor kitchen. Hooks up to a "grill bottle" and so I can cook out there if it is too hot or we lose power.

[windmorn]

The little propane camp stoves can be hooked up to a bigger tank. You just have to buy a connector hose. The Boy Scouts cook that way becaus they can't use Coleman fuel and the little tanks run out quickly.

What about using the burner on the side of a gas grill? Most of them have an adjustable flame.

[Philbe]

Reading every posts...and taking it all in! You're hearing from a real fraidy-cat here about canning inside on my older electric stove (frown).

[Daylily]

We found that canning applesauce on a turkey fryer doesn't work. It gets too hot. The applesauce was very brown when finished. We only use it to get the apples ready to run through the Squeezo now and other such operations.

I have pressure canned on a wood cook stove. It actually works quite well. It's just a matter of finding the right spot to keep the pressure steady and keeping the fire going. It was much easier than I thought it would be to control the pressure.