This is all of my food preservation stuff that I can think of.
The first picture is of my two pressure canners. The one on the left is a Presto and the other is a Mirro. They both have pros and cons. The Presto is faster to reach pressure. It is more precise. You have to watch it to make sure it doesn't build up more pressure than you want. It can't blow up but it can make what you are canning turn to mush. The Mirro is a much heavier unit. It is very simple and fool proof. It comes with a weight that is set for 5,10 and 15 lbs. Say you want to can a bunch of dried pinto beans. Just put your jars of beans into the unit, lock down the lid and wait until a steady stream of steam comes out of the hole where the weight is to be placed. When the unit is ready place the weight on the lid and wait for the weight to start jiggiling. When it does start to jiggle that means it has reached 15 lbs of pressure. Look at your clock and set it for 80 minutes later. Come back in 80 minutes and turn off the heat. No muss, no fuss with the Mirro. For canning only I prefer the Mirro but many folks like to cook things in their pressure cooker and the Presto wins hands down on that
The second picture is of my food mills. For small amounts, say under 10 lbs, I will use, depending on what it is, one of the two on the left. For a lot, say 75 lbs of tomatoes the mill on the far right. One bad thing about it is that you should reprocess the skins of the tomatoes two more times to get all of the meat from the skins. It only takes a couple of minutes.. The only time I ever use the small holed plate is when my grand daughter comes and wants fresh baby food for her brood.
Picture three is of my blancher, hot water bath canner and the old trusty food processor. I only use the blancher for stuff I am going to freeze such as brocolli, cauliflower and all types of greens. I only use the water bath canner for small amounts. Most of the time I use the Mirro pressure canner but with only boiling water and no pressure. And the food processor. When preparing something like saurkraut, chow chow or anything finely chopped or shredded its a big time saver.
The fourth picture is of my dehydrator and puree/meat grinder. I like to dehydrate my peaches and pears and sometimes even tomatoes. The meat grinder/puree maker is also a huge time saver. I kill numerous deer and hogs during the year and that machine makes short work out of making sausage or making hamburger meat. Throw in 20 lbs of peeled pitted peaches and almost instant puree which is terrific in homemade icecream.
The last picture is just a few things I grabbed from the pantry. There is some mayacabo beans, some tomato sauce, some hot salsa, some homemade cranberry sauce, a jar of green beans, some carrots and a jar of dill pickles.
All in all canning is very easy and safe. Folks have heard of canning nightmares where the canner blew up and of getting botulism poisoning. I suppose it is possible if one were canning and suddenly went brain dead. There is an easily found book named Putting Food By. It details everything you need to know about canning and a host of other things as well.
