Friday, August 28, 2020

Stocking up on Essentials: Canning Supplies Mason Jars

Stocking up on essentials like canning supplies can be a chore, but it feels good to know you have plenty of essential items in case of any emergency. Luckily, we can share the best tips on how to stock up on what's really needed the most...

It's me, Simply Cherie, helping you stop living in chaos one organizing project at a time. I want to extend a warm welcome to all of you new subscribers to my channel and to this community. It has been great again, to see all your comments, your answers, advice, tips, and observations. Keep it coming. I think it's really helping me and other people. In this video, I'm going to show you my new stock up haul. They are mainly canning supplies and beans. I'll start over here. So in another haul, I showed these mason jars and some stuff for canning. I also will do a separate video for this, but it's The Complete Guide to Home Canning.

It was recommended by an awesome YouTube channel. And I can't remember it right now, so I'm just going to put it in the description box below. So I've basically printed this out from the web and filed it the way I usually organize a binder. A few weeks ago, I had mentioned that I couldn't find any mason jars and someone in Northern Arizona said that they had a whole stock in their Walmart. So I ran to Walmart and sure enough, there were eight of these 32 ounces or quart jars from Walmart. So I got four. I really wanted to get all eight, but I left four, got four.

And I've been back twice, and they're still wiped out. So I was lucky to get those. So, if you see mason jars, grab them. Also, I was very lucky that there were two of these Presto 16-quart pressure canners. And I have no idea how to pressure can, but I found that channel and she said to get this Complete Guide to Home Canning. I'm going to be following her. So maybe I'll be doing some canning videos in the future.

This was $78. And I was about to buy it two days prior on Tractor Supply Company, because someone had mentioned it there, it was $99 there plus shipping. So I was very lucky to see this at Walmart. I also thank you guys for all your advice about the Food Saver jars. This was actually sent from Amazon. So I went ahead and I bought it. And it took a couple of weeks for them to send this out, but it arrived. I still have one from the Food Saver website to arrive. This doesn't have the the hose so that one's supposed to have the hose. So I'm just going to keep waiting for that. So it says pending. So who knows. And I got this pectin. This was also from Walmart. It's the collapsible funnel from this brand, which I've seen there. And then I have this silicone canning rack. So see that. And then some citric acid. Okay. And of course in the other haul I showed you, I have this. What's it called? The bubble remover and then this jar lifter and some more mason jars, but that was in another haul.

Okay. Since I have expanded my prepper pantry, and I've now expanded it to more than a month. So I had to move the blankets that were in that closet cause it's in a bedroom closet. So I got these, you know, these large vacuum bags to put the blankets and pillows that are there. And you suction it out, out the air with a vacuum. And I stuck it under our bed because I'd rather have my prepper pantry in the closet and blankets under the bed versus food under the beds. But it's up to you if that's the space that you have, make good use of under the bed storage.

And then again more mason jars. And I finally got a Water Bob. This has been in my wishlist, honestly, I'll let you know for about three years, and I never got it, but now I finally got it. And it was out of stock for a while. So once it was in-stock, I grabbed it and through Amazon. And what you do is you just put it on your wishlist. And then I go through my wishlist every couple of days to see what's in stock.

I also got these small personal water filters. They're like the Life Straw. They are sold as a set of four. This was a better price than other ones that I've seen. And I'll show that whenever I show my bug out bag. But my bug out bag was incomplete. I needed these. I finally got them. And then let's move over here. Someone had asked why do you get both meat and beans? Obviously beans are probably more nutritious. Not, probably they are, but I guess it's for variety. If that answers your question. We do eat meat, and we do eat beans. So why not get both? So I got a bunch of corned beef.

The Great Value brand, which is Walmart, because that's much cheaper. Then I got this one that I don't even know how to say that Hereford brand. So I'm good with the corned beef for a three-months supply. And then I'm good with the deviled ham for probably a two-month supply. So I do plan to get more of those ketchup. We probably go through one of these ketchup every three weeks. So I need more of those. And then someone, I don't, I can't remember which channel, but one of those fabulous channels said to get the pasta sauce, not in the cans, but in these jars because they can be used as mason jars. And I just thought genius. So I started getting these, I only got two because I stocked up on a bunch of tomato sauce already.

So just getting two, and we'll use that for more mason jars. See it's like that one. Okay. And then over here, I got some beans, beans and more beans. As you can tell from the brand, it's a Great Value. That's Walmart. I got here. These are two, four-pound bags of pinto beans. And since now I have mason jars and the sealer. Once I get the hose, I will be selling these for long-term food storage. So right now my prepper pantry is zero to one year. And then one year to five years, mid-term storage, and then five years plus, long-term storage. So I've also been doing some long-term storage.

I'll show that in another video. Here, I have black beans. So, four two-pound bags, so eight pounds. Eight pounds, black beans. We love black beans. We always eat black beans. So that's good. We always eat red kidney beans. They didn't have many of these. So what I've been trying to do is I count how many are on the shelf. And I try to leave some. I would have liked to get more of these or bigger bags, but this is what they had. And then split peas and green split peas. Good for soups. And also four one-pound bags. Lentils, four one-pound bags. I had gotten lentils in my other stock-up haul, but I wanted to add more because in the comments you've been giving lots of me say a handful of recipes or things to do with lentils. And I got inspired to do more cooking with lentils.

And then here, chickpeas. So there were not too many bags of these. So I only got two. I do want to go back and get more of these. By the way, I'm particular with the mason jars. But I guess when it gets to the point where there are no mason jars, I'd probably get whatever. I prefer the quart-size jars and then the pint and half-pint jars and wide mouth. And I like Kerr because of the fact that they don't have a lot of etching on the side of the bottles. You know, Ball has that, all that fancy stuff everywhere, and then the lines. So I just like Kerr because it has just the name here. And then all the other three sides are just blank. [Music]. I hope you enjoyed this stock up haul of canning supplies and more beans. Let me know in the comments below what you've added to your stock uphaul, whether it's more long-term food storage or even tools to help you start your long-term food storage, like a canner or mason jars, vacuum sealer, dehydrator.

I'd love to know. And I'll see you in the next one. Is the clutter in your home leaving you exhausted? I can help you stop living in chaos. Go to my website and schedule a free 20-minute virtual home organizing assessment. simplycherie.com.

The absolute best place for food presentation is the website: National Center For Home Food Preservation. There you will find the latest information on food preservation.

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Canning Jars and Lids Shortage - Are You Paying Too Much?

 Heads up! Canning jars and lids shortage and reports of price gouging. Is it getting harder to find jars, lids, and other canning supplies where you live? If so, you may not be alone. Reports of shortages and even price gouging are coming in from all over...


Reports of canning jars selling for $15 a case. Shortages being reported at brick and mortar stores like Tractor Supply and Wal-Mart as well as online outlets. 

It's possible that the factories that supply raw materials like aluminum are closed/closing or having difficulty finding workers...

I’m in Alabama and there are no jars or lids to be found. When things get “normal” again, I will be buying up a few years supply of canning lids. God Bless Everyone!!

 First toilet paper then Lysol now canning jars along with freezers and refrigerators. It’s only just begun ...

 Ball is still making jars and lids, but they had an estimate of how many they need every year, and this year, suddenly, everyone is canning. People who have never canned before are canning. This very same thing happened in the 1970's during the recession, and Ball's corporate leaders failed to predict the amount they would need. It actually went to congress, you can Google it . So, it won't be forever, just stock up when you CAN. (no pun intended) wink.

 Some areas of the country seem to be having shortages while other areas have canning supplies in normal quantities. What's going on?