Ponder your goals for the 2017 canning season and enter to win new storage and canning jars from Ball Canning!
Already today, we’ve talked a little bit about some of the canning and preserving we’re going to be doing together in the coming year (have you signed up for the Food in Jars Mastery Challenge yet?). Now, let’s talk in more detail about how we’re going to do it.
It takes thought and preparation to expand skill set and I find that there’s no better time to do a little planning for learning and growth than at the very start of fresh new year. Whether you’re a goal setter or a resolution maker, now is the time to start lining up our intentions.
Here are a few questions to start with as you dream up what you want to get out of your food preservation practice this year and how you want to shape the Mastery Challenge to work for you.
How does my family currently eat? Try starting with some small changes that will allow you to incorporate more homemade foods into your current habits and patterns.
What’s something I buy regularly from the store? If you find yourself picking up barbecue sauce or strawberry jam, consider setting a goal of making enough to get you through the year!
Is there something that scares me about food preservation? What can you do to release those fears?
What brings me joy in the kitchen? Not every goal has to be about pushing forward. Sometimes it’s enough to make time and space simply to do the things you already love.
How can I make my food preservation habit flow better? Sometimes all you need to do it put your gear in a more accessible part of your kitchen. Or perhaps you need to keep an eye out for a different canning pot. Knowing what you need is so much of the battle!
What do I want my kitchen life to look like this time next year? Sometimes the best way to set a goal is to look at where you want to end up and then plot a course that gets you there (or at least, that gets you closer).
Now, most food preservation goals will, at some point, arrive at the topic of jars. And it just happens that our friends at Ball Canning have recently added some new jars to their product line. In the spirit of helping a few Food in Jars readers further their food preservation goals, I’m giving away some of these new, lovely jars.
Three winners will each get a set of the new Ball Mini Storage Jars (these sweet little jars hold 4 ounces and sport 1-piece lids), a case of the new Ball Smooth-Sided Regular Mouth Pints, and a case of the Ball Smooth-Sided Regular Mouth Quarts.
Use the widget to enter!
I didn’t make an canning goals for 2017. But that being said, I didn’t get even one canning item on my Xmas list…so maybe that will be my goal. As making Blueberry BBQ sauce with a strainer was a huge pain in the arse and a food mill would have been so much more helpful!
I have 2 main goals for canning & preserving this year:
1) Give fermentation a try!
2) Find creative ways to use what I’ve preserved.
My last batch of jam failed, and I haven’t tried again since, but I am resolving to start again in the new year!
My goal is to make enough jelly/jam/preserves to share with my neighbors at the holidays and to can at least 12 pints of tomato sauce.
I have never canned anything on my own, so my goal is just to get something canned. I like to start simple and have success before setting lofty goals. 🙂
I made way too much jam last year. But I can’t help myself! I love to make homemade jam. It makes me happy!
I want to can soup and stew.
I want to learn about pressure canning. I don’t know if I have the time to do it myself, or the storage space for yet another kitchen item, but I do want to learn!
More canning in 2017!
I want to can more of our food this year.
I hope to can more, and can a greater variety than I have in the past.
I’m eager to be bolder combining flavors in canning projects in 2017, like blended berry jams. Also, I’m trying my hand at canning bigleaf maple syrup for the first time this winter. Exciting!
To can more during the winter months, not just in the summer.
I absolutely love the idea of the mastery challenge. I hope to participate each month. Specifically I would like to make/preserve barbecue sauce, one type of jam and salsa.
I love the new jars and can’t wait to see the new one piece lids. I’m looking forward to learning how to can I’ve been nervous about trying it out alone but I enjoyed making jam freezer that I just have to dive in.
Two goals come to mind right away. Amending the garden for better yields and canning more meat and soups. Oh, and diving into your newest book I received for Christmas!
My goal is to try something new for me – maybe fermenting?
My goal is to can more things that we actually use, since I sort of stoped eating jam. Pickles are on my list!
I plan to double up on my apricot jam production and try using it in savory dishes. My sister told me she uses hers in a vinegrette.
This year I would like to try making more different kinds of jelly or jam.
Love those mini jars! I plan to work toward incorporating more fermented foods into my family’s routine.
More jam! And something cute in those mini jars.
My goal is to can more low sugar jams and jellies
I cannot resist the mini jars!
I’m going to try more lacto-fermenting. Maybe sauerkraut, maybe something else.
I’m going to try and expand my canning into pressure canning. It scares me, but I know I can do it!
We just bought a house with a meyer lemon tree, so I want to make so much marmalade that I become an expert (I use your recipe with honey – so good!) and learn how to make curd too
I use Ball Canning Jars to make tea-infused gins! Great gifts for the holidays – especially in earl grey.
I also recently did some research in refrigerator pickling and may consider that next time cucumbers are on sale!
I’d like to get more confident with my canning. It takes me longer than it should because I haven’t yet found my groove which I believe is in part because of the confidence issues.
I want to learn how to make grapefruit marmalade. Yum.
I want to can more tomatoes and more salsa this year. Both are things we use regularly and I’d like to be able to rely on my own pantry for them!
Lovely! And I must get some of the purple before they are gone!!!
My goal this year is to get back in the habit of canning since I took a year off. I would also like to try to figure out why my sour/dill pickles always taste way too salty, even though I am following the recipes in the ball blue book.
I have no idea why my post isn’t posting like it always does. The name is wrong, maybe?
Here it is again:
Pizza sauce. I’m buying a lot of pizza sauce. Mostly because it comes in big jars and I can’t use it fast enough before it goes bad. I have to transfer it to little plastic Gladware containers and put it in the freezer. Then thaw one out before I can use it. It’s irritating.
If I made my own sauce, I could can it in smaller jars.
Can I “recan” the sauce I buy in the store into smaller jars?
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BTW I just went to the site and bought a dozen. They’ll be better than the Gladware because I can at least wash them in the dishwasher and reuse them. Too bad you can’t can with them.
To improve upon my jam making – it came out too congealed?? thank you!
My goal is to use up all those blackberries !
Pizza sauce. I’m buying a lot of pizza sauce. Mostly because it comes in big jars and I can’t use it fast enough before it goes bad. I have to transfer it to little plastic Gladware containers and put it in the freezer. Then thaw one out before I can use it. It’s irritating.
If I made my own sauce, I could can it in smaller jars.
Can I “recan” the sauce I buy in the store into smaller jars?
I really like your idea of making your kitchen more favorable for canning. I need to rearrange my canning supplies and get rid of the things that I have that I don’t use because they just don’t work for me.
I want to be more informed about recipes using my preserved food.
This year I would love to get at least 10 jars of blueberry jam made and stored. Thanks!
My goal this year is to grow enough of the things I like to can so that I don’t have to buy any (tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, beets)!
A sale on organic oranges had me thinking I need to try marmalade, but with your new challenge it makes even more sense! I’ve canned a lot, but this will be a first run for me. My other goal is to keep filling 500-600 jars each year to feel this growing family!
Learn to pressure can this year!
I would Love to try to can so apple pie filling!
Successful sourkrout.
My goal is to finally, finally make sauerkraut. And kimchi. I make too many sweet things and not enough savory stuff….
Goal: Can enough tomatoes to last me a whole year! I have not canned enough the past 2 seasons – I need to up my game!
I did very little (if any?) canning last year, so my goal is pretty basic – get back in the game!
I cannot wait to try some more curds this year!
I love those mini jars!