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!
Last year I made a lot of our trusted favorites (mostly jams and pickles). This year I want to try new recipes that challenge our taste buds! Thanks for getting me excited so early in the year!
I want to use my pressure canner this year…broths, meats, etc. I have one, but it scares me a little. I just need to do it once to get over the fear!
I have that same fear Grace! Lol.
It is canning/preserving season downunder now and I am working on making things we will use (type and volume)
I have been having lots of request on the canned Candied Jalapenos (cowboy candy) so will be planting more pepper plants and canning more of the candied jalapenos.
Of course can’t go without not canning more jellies and jam.
I am excited about the challenge – I want to try something I have not done before, and I want to make things we will actually use, not neccessarily just for gifting. Need more condiment learning
I’m excited for your monthly canning challenge! I’ve been wanting to improve my canning technique so this is perfect.
These would sure come in handy for the mastery challenge
To make salsas, pickles, tomato sauces and other no sugar (or low sugar) preserves
Mine is to make enough jelly and jam to last for the whole year!
I hope to learn to can new things this year. I’m thinking about learning to pickle.
I want to try pressure canning. I bought an all American canner TWO YEARS AGO and I’ve never used it because I’m afraid/ intimidated.
I definately want to do more than last year. A hand burn stopped me early this last year. I want to get enough zucchini pickles done to last for me and my extended family and some friends. Everyone seems to love them. Many pepper jellys also and hot sauces. I also want to try making more syrups, as I love making special drinks and it would be so fun to have a selection of syrups.
The mastery challenge sounds fun!
My goal is to connect more with my grandmother and my aunts through canning. How I loved to hear the “ping.”
My goal for this year is to grow more in my own garden for putting up this fall- tomatoes for sauce & salsa, cucumbers for pickles, peppers, and hopefully my raspberry patch will provide a bumper crop this year. Thanks for the great giveaway chance!
Id love to learn how to can.
I want to try canning sauces this year and get over the fear of the pressure cooker method. 🙂
I need to finish my kitchen rearranging so I have room to can. Putting up metal shelving and hooks and stuff.
Love these jars! Perfect for over night oats, and much more! <3
I want to try more fermentation. I made kimchi and next is sauerkraut. I always make tons of jam, jellies and pickles so I’m looking for more to try there also.
Just canned some elderberry syrup,wanna do fire cider next
I want to can tomatoes this year and make jellies and preserves.
2017 I want to try more new small batch recipes 😉
More tomato jam! I’m going through it too fast! Yum!
My goal is to can something this year, which means I need to have more time. But I would like to make some salsa.
I Love To Can! Would love to fill these jars!!
My goal is smaller batches! Sometimes it is possible to have too much of a good thing….
Ready for canning in the new year
After not having a garden the past 2 years, because of my husbands surgery and health issues, I would like to plant a garden this year, and hopefully be able to can the harvest from it to provide for my family of 5 through the winter. Thank you for the chance!
My goal is to eat all the 2015 season goods to make room!
I would like to get more control over WHAT I can instead of just making every recipe I come across. I would also really like to improve on my dill pickle recipe.
I have only waterbathed thus far but hope to use the PC my aunt gave me soon!
I want to learn how to make marmalade and try more pickled vegetables.
2017 Goal : Restock our basics such as green beans, corn salsa, vegetable soup base and tomatoes. And find a creative way to use up our surplus of jams and jellies.
2017 is the year that I want to learn more about canning and making pickled everything !!
I’d like to focus on canning stuff that we pick/gather/harvest ourselves. Happy New Year!
Of course I want to can everything possible! Planning to sow seeds for things that I love and a few newbies to try for fun. My canning adventures will totally depend on my harvest but I am hoping to have a fully stocked pantry in 2017.
2017 canning goals are lots more pickles canned than in 2016!
It will be difficult, if not impossible, to accept your challenge this year. But it’s such a terrific idea! My plan for this year is to get organized. Not just canning equipment and gear, but everything else. Will be grieving the loss of a spouse for a while, so getting by is good enough for now. If I can get the canning stuff organized, sorted, and a better home found for it all, will do as much of your challenge as possible.
Fun new jars!
Jam, jam and more jam!!
My goal is to make more dilly beans and pickles. My family inhaled the garlic dill refrigerator pickles too fast. Oh, my daughter wants to make sure I leave at least one jar of each recipe in the “keep” stash. We gave away jars for Christmas.
I made kimchi and fermented dill pickles for the first time last year, but just one batch of each. My goal for 2017 is to become more comfortable fermenting food and making many more batches!
I’m excited to try making & canning sauerkraut for the first time this year!
I’m excited to make some marmalade and citrus curd this winter’
I’m going to grow plum tomatoes in order to make and can sauce.
I want to expand into fermentation and more experimentation with dehydration!
A friend sent me your site, because I got 2 canning books for Christmas and spend my fall canning salsa, marinara, and jellies (mostly from my garden).
Now, with your challenge, I’m going to need more jars!! 😉
I want to make dilly beans again and being a novice forager, I’d like to try preserving some wild foods. I’m looking forward to the mastery challenge. It sounds like a lot of canning fun.
Making more peach jam.
I did very little canning last year – only one batch of strawberry vanilla jam – and I’ve been kicking myself all year! My hopes for this year are:
-more jams & preserves! (strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, peach, ???)
-tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes! (crushed, diced, sauce, and paste)
-applesauce
-fruit syrups?
-pickles!