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One Hundred Dollars a Month

I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Canning 101 – How to Make Homemade Applesauce

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Yesterday I was lucky enough to find a roadside stand offering some very inexpensive apples {Between $.25 – $.50 per pound}.  So this morning as soon as the kids were off to school I got busy, and started making applesauce.

Applesauce can be made to eat fresh, to freeze, or to can and store in the pantry for later in the year.  I have always preferred to can my applesauce. Typically I will can my applesauce in pint jars. I know there a lot of people who prefer to can theirs in quart jars, but now that my kids are older, we don’t go through as much applesauce as we once did, so pint jars work best for us.

If you have never canned anything before, applesauce is a great place to start.  The ingredient list is short, {apples, sugar, cinnamon} and it’s easy peasy to make.

Ingredients

8 pounds apples {I used several different varieties}
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
water

Directions

Bring a boiling-water canner, 3/4 full with water, to simmer. Wash jars and screw bands in hot soapy water; rinse with warm water. Pour boiling water over flat lids in saucepan off the heat. Let stand in hot water until ready to use. Drain well before filling.

Wash, dry and quarter your apples.  Toss apples, water, sugar, and cinnamon in an 8 quart pot and bring to a boil.  Once you reach a boil, stir the apples, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the apples are tender {about 20 minutes}, stirring every so often.

Once the apples are soft, carefully spoon them in to a food mill to separate the peels, stems and seeds.

Ladle the applesauce immediately into prepared jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of tops. Wipe jar rims and threads. Cover with two-piece lids. Screw bands tightly. Place jars on elevated rack in canner. Lower rack into canner. {Water must cover jars by 1 to 2 inches. Add boiling water, if necessary.} Cover; bring water to gentle boil. Process 10 min. Remove jars and place upright on towel to cool completely. After jars cool, check seals by pressing middles of lids with finger. If lids spring back, lids are not sealed and refrigeration is necessary}. Yields 6 pints.

See More Canning Recipes

If you are looking for a food mill, Amazon has the Mirro Foley 3.5-Quart Stainless Steel Food Mill in stock and ready to ship.

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Comments

    • I do most of my apple sauce in a slow cooker over night but I peel and cut the cores out and cut them into small pieces. I let them cut cook till soft than I add sugar or sweeteners to taste add cinnamon to taste plus my bonus is I add a box of hot tamales candies to them. Make sure everything is cooked and soft, you might have to mash them unless you li k e chunky sauces. Than process as usual.

      Reply

    • I do mine in the crockpot now then freeze but takes up so much room. This year so plan on canning and wondered if I could do that process and still can them. The crockpot doesn’t boil the sauce?

      Reply

  3. Running the apples through the Victorio seems quicker. We don’t add sugar or cinnamon to our sauce, but we do add some Fruit Fresh to preserve the color.
    I have lots of applesauce still from what we canned with free apples last year. It’s a good thing because the apple crops are a total loss round here 🙁 Fall just won’t be the same…

    Reply

  4. First of all, I love your site & visit often! Re: applesauce, I don’t like messing with the stems & seeds later so I just core/slice mine after washing (using an inexpensive gadget from Wal Mart). It really goes fairly fast, and I have four kids that like to help with that fun part (they’re not so thrilled with the rest). Then I put into my processor (after cooking) and then straight to the jars. For juice/cider I don’t bother coring since it all gets squeezed 🙂

    Reply

  5. I peel and bake mine first then stick them in the food processor! It’s the only kind of applesauce that my son will eat!!

    Reply

  6. I don’t have a food mill, so I do a little extra peeling and coring but also use a crock pot, so the rest of my time is freed up. I, too, use brown sugar…which I think gives it a richer flavor than just plain white sugar. You rock Mavis…I canned applesauce this weekend but could never keep up with your canning of jams! Wish I had blackberry bushes nearby…

    Reply

    • I own it! 🙂 I use it for tomato sauce. I’ve never tried it for applesauce though. Maybe if I pick up some more apples I’ll give it a try.

      Reply

    • So… yesterday I stopped into Goodwill to pick up a book for an upcoming trip and wandered into the housewares (I’m scouting for a pressure cooker/food processor). Got 4 quart jars + 13 quilted 1/2 pint jelly jars for $0.20 each! So fun, a couple had labels on them for “pear conserve ’82” 🙂 And THEN I saw the Weston food strainer/sauce maker — nearly identical to the Victorio — just $7!! After a quick looksie on Amazon I snatched it from the shelf and held it close to my heart as I drug my little tow-behind cart of jars to the checkout stand.

      I am so incredibly excited to make lots and lots of blackberry jam and applesauce!

      Reply

    • We have one of these and love it. We process tomatoes like crazy while making Granda Hazel’s ketchup and it works like a charm.

      Reply

  9. I would normally be doing this about now, and I do exactly as you do yours it appears, though yet, screw caps finger tight. That was the hardest thing to teach my daughter to understand. It’s just one of those things you just feel.

    But am canner in search of apples this year. Bad weather for everything this summer, so very slim pickings for fruit. Do have enough pears for the CARROT CAKE JAM.

    We use applesauce to replace oil in baking recipes.

    Reply

  10. You rock! Thank you for this. I made your apple pie jam the other day and my husband loves it warmed up and put on ice cream. Thank you for all you do!

    Reply

  11. Help…. I’m leaving 3/4 inch headroom in my chunky applesauce and they keep spewing sauce through the seal. However everyone has sealed. What am I doing wrong? The only ingrediant in my sauce is gravenstien apples that I peel and chop to leave chunky.

    Reply

  12. I am a novice canner and would like to ask what “screwing the lids finger tight” means. Thanks in advance for the info.!

    Reply

    • Not super tight that getting the rings are hard to get off. You want them secure, but no super tight. I hope that helps.

      Reply

  13. after the applesauce has been made..and kept in the refrigerator for a day or more..can you can it? is it safe? or is it better to can it ..right after it has been processed?

    Reply

    • Jean, yes you can can applesauce that was previously made. This year, I wanted to blend my sauce with various kinds of apples and some pears. Had to wait to get the pears, and for them to ripen. Have an enclosed and unheated back porch, was able to store my sauce there – weather also cooperated by being rather cool. A week plus later processed the sauce. Ended up with 21 pints!

      Two methods, both will work just fine. 1. Re-heat your chilled sauce and pretend you just made it! 2. Cold fill the jars, prepare for water bath as normal. This method will take a much longer time to get back to water boil, as each jar has to be brought to hot temperature. Reason most people don’t fill cold. In the past, I’ve lost a jar or two filling cold, so unless really have to, I don’t use this method.

      Good Luck!

      Reply

  15. Mavis,

    That Victorio strainer Erin mentioned is also great for prepping fruits for jelly, juice or making tomato sauce. I use a cheap Victorio corer/peeler/slicer to prep my apples for applesauce and apple butter and also if I’m going to dehydrate them for apple chips. We have tons of free apples this year both from our trees and from our neighbors (who gave them to me in exchange for all the garden produce I gave them earlier this year). So I’m trying every conceivable way to use them and I’ll still be giving some to the local food bank.

    Reply

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