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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 Can Green Beans

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Well, I did it. I successfully canned green beans in a pressure canner, and I didn’t blow up the house either. I totally feel like Olivia Walton right now.  In fact I might even go cut up some fabric and sew me a quilt this afternoon too. Ha Ha Ha!

So because I am a visual learner, I decided to take a boatload of pictures for you just in case you want to give this a try too.

Step 1 – Fill a pressure canner with 4 inches of water, place the rack in the bottom of the canner, and then place the canner on the stove and bring the water to a boil over low heat.

While the water in the canner is heating up, wash and cut your beans.  I used just under 8 pounds of beans and I ended up with 12 pint jars of green beans.

Fill clean, dry, sterilized jars 1 inch from the top with cut green beans.

Cover the beans with boiling water within 1 inch of the top of the jar and remove any air bubbles. Cover with two-piece lids and screw bands tightly.

Carefully place the jars in boiling water, on the bottom of the canner rack. The water level in the canner should be at 3 inches by now.  If not, add more boiling water until you are at 3 inches.

Raise the temp to med- high and place the lid on the canner.  Set a timer for 10 minutes to allow the steam to escape. DO NOT put the weight on the canner yet.

After 10 minutes of venting, tighten the side clamps.

Put the 10 pound weight in place and make sure any openings are now closed and allow the pressure to build to 11 pounds.

Once the pressure canner reaches 10 pounds, set your timer for 20 minutes {see chart below}.  You may need to adjust the heat {I did} to maintain 10 pounds of pressure.

Once the 20 minutes are up, turn off the heat.  Walk away, go find something to do until the pressure in your canner drops to zero {my canner made a “ping” noise when it hit zero.  Do not attempt to open your canner until it is at zero.  Big No No!

Once the pressure in the canner has dropped to zero, remove the clamps, and remove the lid. Carefully place the jars in a draft free area {I always place my hot jars on a towel}.

photo credit

 Check seals {they will be indented if you canned the beans properly} and after the jars have fully cooled down, wipe clean and store in a cool dark pantry {or cupboard} away from heat.

Viola!  That is how you can green beans. See, I told you it was easy.

Christmas of 2008 my Mother in Law gave me an All American 21-1/2-Quart Pressure Cooker/Canner.  Now, I’m all about saving money, but a pressure canner is not something I would buy used.  But that’s just me.  So you do what you like.  But if you are interested in getting a new one,  Amazon has a ton of different sizes to choose from and the All American company has the highest ratings.

 * I am not a pressure canning expert, this is simply how I canned my own green beans. Can at your own risk.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Canning 101 – How to Can Peaches

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Canning peaches is one of my favorite things to do each summer so I thought I would go ahead and repost this handy dandy tutorial on how to can peaches for those of you who have never done it before, or just need a quick refresher course.

For this batch I used about 10 pounds of peaches and it netted me 12 pint jars.

All you really need are peaches, sugar, water and a little Fruit Fresh to prevent your peaches from browning.

The following is a recipe excerpt from the Complete Guide to Home Canning by the United States Department of Agriculture.  I have added pictures and side notes for you.  Please feel free to ask any questions you may have in the comment section below.

PEACHES — HALVED OR SLICED

Quantity: An average of 17 1/2 pounds is needed per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 11 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints. A bushel weighs 48 pounds and yields 16 to 24 quarts, which is an average of 2 1/2 pounds per quart.

Quality: Choose ripe, mature fruit of ideal quality for eating fresh or cooking.

Procedure: Dip fruit in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds until skins loosen. Dip quickly in cold water and slip off skins. Cut in half, remove pits and slice if desired. To prevent darkening, keep peeled fruit in ascorbic acid solution. Prepare and boil a very light, light, or medium syrup or pack peaches in water, apple juice, or white grape juice. Raw packs make poor quality peaches.

how to can peaches

Sugar Syrup – 10 cups of water and 5 cups sugar.  I bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes before packing my jars with fruit, and then pouring the syrup over the peaches.

Hot pack — In a large saucepan place drained fruit in syrup  and bring to boil. Fill jars with hot fruit and cooking liquid, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Place halves in layers, cut side down.

Raw pack — Fill hot jars with raw fruit, cut side down, and add syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.

Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel. Adjust lids and process.

Find more of my Canning Recipes HERE


If you are new to canning {or just looking for more recipes} I highly recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. It’s filled with 400 recipes and it pretty much rocks in my opinion.

And if you are looking for a canner, I used the Granite Ware 11-1/2 Quart Covered Preserving Canner with Rack to can my peaches. If you need a tool kit, I use one similar to this one.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Should I Remove the Rings From My Canning Jars?

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Should I Remove the Rings From My Canning Jars

Now that canning is in full swing, I thought I would address whether or not you should remove the rings from canning jars after the jars have been processed.  I know that a lot of people don’t remove them–and they have been totally fine after years and years of canning.  BUT, the short answer to the question is still yes, you really should remove the rings.

The rings are really only designed to keep the lid on during the processing and cooling part of canning.  After that, they only provide a false sense of food safety, by giving the illusion of a good seal.  Once jars are cooled, take the rings off and store the jars {don’t stack them–that can also affect the seal}.   When a canned good does not have a good seal, eventually the lid will start to lift off of the jar.  When the band is on, it can prevent the lifting–making you think the food is still sealed.

canning{photo credit MamasMinutia}

In addition to giving the illusion of a good seal, the rings can rust.  Rust leads to a nightmare of a time getting the rings off when it is actually time to eat whatever is in the jar.  It also really shortens the life of the rings, and why spend money replacing something if you don’t have to?

I know the jars won’t look as pretty on the shelf without the traditional canning ring band, but seriously, in the end, it is a safety issue for you and your family.  And, the good news is that in the end, it will save you time and money.  No more trying to pry off stuck on rings–and no more purchasing excess rings, just new lids.

Happy canning,

~Mavis

Need help getting started on the canning process?  Go HERE to find out how to can with a water bath or go HERE to find out how to can with a pressure canner.

Know how to can but need some new recipes?  Check out my canning recipes HERE.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Preventing Food Waste – How to Use Your Summer Harvest

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This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own. For more information, see my disclosure policy.

#SAVEITSUNDAY

I recently teamed up with Glad Food Protection to take the #SAVEITSUNDAY pledge to not only help eliminate food waste in my own kitchen, but to show you some cool and creative ways you can reduce food waste in yours.

What is the #SAVEITSUNDAY pledge?

Well basically it’s about loving food more and wasting it less, one day at a time.

fresh homegrown fruits and vegetables

It feels like it’s been awhile since I’ve talked about food waste on the blog. I suppose that has something to do with the fact that Mr. Produce Guy and I broke up. We’re still friends, of course, but not having that weekly haul of reclaimed foods means I don’t have food waste constantly on my mind.

Since gardens are in full force and many harvests are at their peek, I though it might be a good time to revisit some great ways to use and preserve your summer’s bounty. Here are the top 5 ways I use my produce:

Canning Corn - How to Can Fresh Corn

Can It: Canning  is my very favorite way to preserve food and prevent food waste. You can pretty much can just about anything! Don’t be afraid of canning either. I  know a lot of people shy away from it because they think it’s much more complicated than it is.  Check out all the canning recipes you can choose from!

how to freeze soup

Freeze It: In addition to using Glad Food Protection bags to freeze some of your excess harvest {check out some of the things I like freezing HERE}, you can also use them to store freezer meals utilizing ingredients growing like crazy in your garden {check out my Freezer Meal 101}. I also love to make my Fast and Easy Strawberry Freezer Jam and store it in Glad FreezerWare.

Pickle It: I mean obviously dill pickles are a must! But I love pickling all sorts of things: pickled corn relish and pickled beets to name a few. So many veggies can be pickled and canned or even stored in GladWare Containers in the fridge.

Donate It: This is my very favorite thing to do with my big summer harvests. I talk a little about how to donate your excess in this post about Excess Harvest.

diy compost tumbler

Compost It: If you still find yourself with excess produce, don’t throw it away! Compost it instead. Check out why composting is so essential and find out how to make compost and compost bins HERE.

#SaveItSunday

For more information about the #SAVEITSUNDAY Pledge and how you can reduce food waste in your own home, head on over to SAVEITSUNDAY.com.

Looking for more Glad Food Protection Pointers? Head on over HERE where you’ll learn lots of cool tips and tricks to keep the food you love fresher, longer.

You can also follow Glad on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Mavis Butterfield Etsy