National Center for Home Food Preservation | USDA Publications

https://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html#gsc.tab=0

Here’s a really good source for information regarding food preservation at home. You don’t need a huge factory in your home. Below will be a list of things you need:

BOOKS: Yep! You need at least two printed books minimum. Above is a link to a book you can print or go to Amazon and purchase it. Honestly, it would cheap to go to Amazon to purchase the book.

CANNERS: Are you going to go all in? Are you just going to start with a basic canner? Low acid foods like proteins HAVE GOT TO BE PRESSURE CANNED! I can’t emphasize that enough. What are low acid foods? Meat, beans, veggies. High acid foods are fruits in jams, jellies, and pickles. Pickles can be any veggie. The vinegar is what makes safe for waterbath canning.

PRESSURE CANNER: This is a heavy canner. They can be used to pressure cook. However, a pressure cooker CAN’T BE USED TO PRESSURE CAN! They are two completely different pots. The Canner can reach high temperatures that a cooker can’t. Those high temperatures is what kills botulism.

WATERBATH CANNER: This is a process of bring water to a boiling temperatures that will kill of bad bacteria in high acid food. Are you ready for this: you don’t have buy a separate canner. That’s right. You can use a pressure canner as a waterbath canner. YOU CAN’T USE WATERBATH CANNING FOR PRESSURE CANNING. I understand that the Amish do this. They have been for years. I don’t know how so you may want to talk with them about that.

JARS: My favorite part. What size to buy? Depends on your family. Rule if thumb would be four or more go to quart and three or less go to pint or pint-a-half. If you can get the second size awesome. I’ll envy you. No actually, I do have a few. Half pint is for jams. And the adorable four ounce is for jelly.

BRAND: Grab what you can get. Seriously! I have used a vareity of brands. I use to be exclusive to Ball/Kerr (Bernardin in Canada) however, they cost so much and I have their quality isn’t what it use to be.