There is a movement that is growing with speed. It’s the Put It Up movement, in which people are heading back to the fields to pick produce directly from the plant, take it home, and lovingly can it for a later date. Sure, this is old-school, but it’s becoming a chic thing to do. Why? Could it really be the end of the world? Did our grandparents, and great-grandparents know something that we’ve forgotten? Or is our food system that bad that we’ve decided to take measures back into our own hands?
The answer is obviously not that simple. Many people, especially in the 30-50-something age range are rediscovering the art of canning. For some people it is really about the economics. I recently made some blueberry jam to see how cost effective it really was. What I found was for a large box of blueberries from King Soopers (I did buy the organic), at $5.99 a box, plus a bag of sugar (I was low), and a set of 4 new canning jars $3.90 on sale right now at the same grocery store, I was able to make a batch for $11.06. I did have some spill over so my patch only yielded 3 jars, but at 4 jars it costs $3.67, compared to Smucker’s $4.79, a savings of $1.44 per jar. If you love breakfast half as much as I do, you see these savings racking up pretty fast! Undoubtedly our grandparents who lived through the Great Depression knew a bargain when they saw it, and wanted to save the same bargain for as long as possible.
What’s interesting about doing it yourself is the amount of control you have over the end product. If you are trying to cut back on sugar, there are sugar alternatives you can use in your jam. If you want to cut back on salt, you can do so with your pickles, salsas, tomato sauce, tomato juice, tomato anything really.
Here’s another fun idea, this one’s free. Around the thankful time of year (between Thanksgiving and Christmas) everyone starts going shopping crazy. Why not put together some nice baskets for neighbors, co-workers, people you want to say “Thanks for all you do for me” with some of your jams, salsas or other speciality items along with a mix for biscuits, teas or whatever else the receiver may like. Not only is that thinking way ahead, but by doing this now, you are SAVING TIME at that chaotic time of year. Go ahead, make that Thank You list today!
And just in case the world as we know it is going to end, as is a common discussion right now, it sure would be nice to have some food reserves for those “just-in-case” moments. Our great-grandparents made it through the Great Depression with these techniques, surely we can make it through the rough times too.
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