Todd’s been eyeing this shelf with a bit of trepidation for the past few months, and it looks like this particular pantry will be getting a makeover over the Christmas holiday. It definitely needs it! It would surely be a sad state of affairs for even one of these shelves to give out–so much work would be lost!
But while we are looking into my sagging shelves, I’m thinking of all the lovely food I am blessed to put on my table that come from my canned and dehydrated goods….canned fruit, bean burritos, chili, soups, gravies, toast with jam, jalapeno peppers on the side, as well as herbal teas, homemade chili, taco and salad dressing mixes, granola (using dried fruit)…the list just goes on.
Tell me, do you preserve items for your pantry through canning or dehydrating? What are your favorite items to preserve for your pantry? How do you serve them?
Are your pantry shelves as saggy as mine??
Hello Kristi! Those shelves need immediate attention! It would be terrible if something happened and they all came crashing down! I just started canning a couple of years ago, and love it! I can more than we can eat! I think it’s an addiction! I also dehydrate some things, and hope to do a lot more this coming summer.The hubs built me some sturdy shelves just in time for me to fill them up with home-canned goods!
My favorite thing to can is dried beans! They are so easy to prepare, (or at least I think so!) and ready to eat right out of the jar, if need be! I can pintos, black beans, great northern beans, kidney beans, green beans, and chili beans. The beans are used in soups, chili, burritos, whatever. I make too many jams and jellies! I can tomatoes to use in soups, chili, marinara sauce, etc. I dehydrated some mint but haven’t used it in anything yet. I also use my freezer a lot as well. I buy chicken on sale, divide into bags and freeze. I also put leftover soups, etc, in jars in the freezer for a meal later on. I too am very blessed to have this food. I don’t think it’s enough to live on for a year, (except for the beans and jams) but enough to get us by for awhile. I want to focus more on dehydrating this year since it takes up less space and is less expensive, since you don’t have to buy jars and lids. You can use what you have to store dried stuff in. I like that idea! Thanks for the comment on the Bogs! They fit snug on the calves but not tight! Blessings from Bama!
Hey there Bama Girl! You are RIGHT! I’m thinking sometime in the next couple of weeks my jars will once again be safe!
I love canning too–it is definitely addicting! Your pantry sounds wonderful! I love freezing, canning and dehydrating, it’s so nice to be able to preserve our bounty! Do you have a Foodsaver? I have one, and I have an attachment that allows me to vacuum seal my jars of dehydrated items using previously used canning lids–it’s great!
Have a great day!
This could be my house! We are living in a townhome until the county allows us to build on the farm. Obviously the builders of our house did not consider canning when they put in the shelves
He he, yeah. They don’t make homes for us “throwbacks” do they? Thanks for your comment and visit, Emily! I’m following you now!
Our hall closet is my main pantry and the previous owners outfitted it with sturdy shelving supported by simple 2X4′s. They work great for supporting heavy loads! I am new to canning/dehydrating, but not new to believing that a well-stocked pantry is essential. The only difference is now I am trying to do less canned good buying and more of my own canning. I hope that you can get your shelves shored-up quickly! Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas!
Hi Teresa! (love your handle, by the way!) You lucky girl—2x4s would make such a difference in my shelves! I think I heard Todd mention that, but I’m not quite sure what he’ll do. You can bet there will be pictures, though!
I understand what you mean about less canned-food buying. We stock preps here and so I’ve been purchasing much of my canned goods, which means we eat them as well. I’d love to do more of my own, most preferably out of my garden, but even just processed at home is better because we know all of the ingredients (I’m talking more of ready-made meals).
Merry Christmas to you as well! Please stop by again!
We used to can quite a bit, and we still have shelves and shelves of cans. We try to dehydrate as much as possible. Then my husband demo’d a grocery store and they didn’t want their shelves. We now have them in our basement holding the canned goods. They are really strong. The sad thing is that the original price tags are still on the shelves so you can see how much things have increased!
Oh–awesome, Kathy! Do you mean those metal ones? Those would be wonderful! LOL @the price tags!
Thanks for visiting and for your comment! Hope to see you “around” again!
Wow, your canned goods look wonderful and I hope the shelves get a little new support before there’s a horrible accident!
I learned how to pressure can this year and love it, most of the goodness left is in tomato products. I need to get busy again we are out of pork ‘n beans, the salsa is almost gone and I want to put up some pinto beans.
Thanks for visiting my blog too, you were right Maxine and Buster are Boxers. Merry Christmas!
Thanks Jan! I’m hoping for some support for my canned goods very soon! For now, we’re keeping the doors shut!
I do love canning as well, and pressure canning can be very addicting! I find when I do it, I’m looking around at everything wondering how I can “get that into a jar for the shelf”. God forbid the cat walks through the kitchen–ha ha! j/k
Merry Christmas to you, as well, Jan!
I just started pressure canning 2 years ago and I love it. My new thing to can is chicken & ground beef. Living in Miss., I don’t want to lose all my meat to a power outage from a storm, so I wanted to have some meat canned. Its great for a quick fix dinner on a busy day to add the cooked canned meat to chili or chicken pot pie or whatever. And I love the look of the full canning jars. Its lots of work, but very rewarding! Looking forward to seeing pictures of your new shelves!
Wise choice canning your own meat, Greg and Donna! I am just getting into canning meat as well, as I really like the way it comes out, and the ease of use is just heavenly! I also love the look of all the jars as well—so wonderful!
Thanks for your visit and your comment!
Oh…I hope those shelves don’t come crashing down. I’m canning more in recent years. I can a lot of salsa for my family but my favorite is canned meat and soup. I do hamburger, beef chunks and chicken. So easy to make a quick meal when you have canned meat on hand. I have tomato soup, vegetable soup, and chicken corn chowder canned.
Me too, Pearl! May God protect them for us until something can be done!
Yes, I love how easy it is to use canned meat. I haven’t ventured into full meals yet, but would love to do chicken/chicken noodle soup, chili, tomato soup, and many other “ready made” meals. That would be so great!
Thanks for your visit and your comment, Pearl!
Hi Kristi,
I do can food for the winter. Mine goes in the basement on metal or plastic shelving units from the hardware store. I don’t have much room for storing them in my kitchen. Your shelves are probably made from MDF boards…a type of particle board. They are not designed to hold the kind of weight necessary for your canned goods. Wood shelves would be better, but might bend a bit over time. Metal would work too. I hope you find a solution!
My favorite is home canned peaches…yum!
Thanks for sharing on The HomeAcre Hop!!!
Thanks Lisa Lynn! I’m sure you’re right about the MDF. Unfortunately, we just bought metal shelves for another room in the house (for food storage) and they are doing the SAME thing already. Ugh! I’m going to suggest real wood to Todd (though he probably already knows that’s what is best). Thanks for your suggestions!
Thanks for hosting the hop and letting me join in! It’s so fun!