How To Pressure Can Green Beans

Want to capture that fresh green bean taste all through the winter? Well, pressure can them. 
Pressure canning is really very easy.
So, I thought I'd share my latest canning adventure. 
I was blessed to be able to glean some green beans from friends. 
First you snap the ends off and break the beans into smaller pieces. This is a great activity for the family to share.
Then you clean the beans by swishing them in water & rinsing them.
Next you will want to wash and rinse your lids, rings and canning jars in warm water. If you are pressure canning anything longer than 10 minutes, Ball Mason Canning Jar Company no longer recommends sterilization, since that will be accomplished in the canner. 
But, I do recognize that habits are hard to break.

Next, you stuff green beans into your canning jars, add water and wipe the rim off with a clean cloth. Here you see I am using the bubble popper/magnetic wand to release to trap air bubbles.

 

Add a clean lid and ring, tighten it up and place in the pressure canner.

 

Add the recommended amount of water to your canner. I am canning pints here and I am double stacking them. So, I placed in the first canning rack, a row of jars and then added the second canning rack.

When the canner is full, then you put the lid on. Note how the All-American pressure canner has solid hooks sort of that slide into place to secure the lid. You will want to make sure that the lid is seated properly, so that there is equal spacing between the lid and the canner all the way round.

 

Next, when using the All- American canner you start with wing nuts on the opposite  and begin to tighten them down, but completely tightened at this point. 

Then you you do the same thing for the remaining wing nuts. Opposite sides. After all 6 are started, then you go back and tighten them down completely.

 

Then you pressure can according to the directions. I am doing pints, so I am using 10 lbs. of pressure for 20 minutes. Which means, you start the burner on high until the pressure builds (steam coming out the top for 7 minutes with the AA). Then you add your appropriate weight gauge.

Then after the weight begins to "jiggle", you reduce the temperature so that the gauge spits or spews 1-5 times ever minute.
Set your timers for the appropriate amount of time, mine was for 20 minutes this time.
As you get to learn your stove and canner, you will know exactly how low you are able to reduce the temperature.
Then the timer goes off, then you remove the canner from the heat and let it set until the pressure gauge reads all the way down to zero.
Then you may remove your lid. I find it helpful to drape a towel around the lid edges when I remove my lid so I am not burned by the steam as I open it away from me. Plus, have you ever tried a find a place to set your hot lid down at this point amidst all your canning? I figured out that i could place in in the microwave above my stove in between canning.

Lift the jars out, then the ring and the remaining jars.

 

Then sit the jars out on a dish towel and let them cool down completely. Listen for the magic "ping". If one of your jars doesn't seal, then put that in the fridge and use. I generally let them sit out over night. Don't these freshly pressure canned beans look yummier than the store bought cans?

Thank you for visiting and we would love it if you joined our community  at Perky Gramma Teaches on Facebook. Items I used today:

I participate in the Amazon Associate program, where I receive a small % commission for linking products that I recommend. I only recommend products I personally used and like. Your support is very appreciated, anything you choose to purchase through my link, is helping me to be able to share more things that I do with you. Perky Gramma Teaches Amazon link.

How to Use Your FoodSaver: Plus 4 Great Tips

Have you ever had to throw away frozen food because of freezer burn. Or what about leftover items or bulk items that get stale. We have had a FoodSaver for several years & it saves us a boat load of money. Mr. Perky had purchased it for freezing up meats. It does a bang up job and really does extend the freezer life of various foods.

But, make sure you get the version that has the accessory tube/port for vacuum sealing. For me, this has been an invaluable tool for various types of food storage.

Vacuum sealing with the FoodSaver is actually very simple.

1) Add the item you are storing into the jar. TIP: I have found that the funnel that comes with canning utensils it extremely helpful particularly when working with dry ingredients.

2) Place a lid (without the ring) on the jar.

TIP: You may use "used" lids after canning for this purpose. But, I highly recommend only using the best used ones, without nicks. I have found that sometimes these lids will unseal because they can't create a tight permanent seal. 

3) Add FoodSaver attachment (both regular and wide mouth are available). The lid is dated with when I vacuum seal the item in the container.

4) Then attach the nozzle from the accessory port on the Food Saver.

 

5) Turn on your machine and hit the "accessory" button.

TIP: If you are having difficulties getting a seal, sometimes you may use two lids when sealing & only one will attach. Not sure why this works, but lots of people have to do this extra little step. Then, pop off the nozzle from the accessory tube. 
TIP: Also, I have found that older canning jars have a higher failure rate for vacuum sealing.

6) Take off the lid attachment.

There you have it. Everything from dehydrated blueberries, raspberries, mushrooms, crackers & Amish noodles, I simply store in glass jars now.




It really that easy to vacuum seal & store your food.

          

Thank you for reading this article. As you see from the pictures, I simple share what I am doing as I am learning about vintage skills and homesteading. We would love it if you joined our growing community on Facebook at Perky Gramma Teaches.
I participate in the Amazon Associate program, where I receive a small % commission for linking products that I recommend. I only recommend products I personally used and like. Your support is very appreciated, anything you choose to purchase through my link, is helping me to be able to share more things that I do with you. Perky Gramma Teaches Amazon link.

“Home, Debt-Free, Home” Chapter 6 BIG HONKING, SCARY STEP #2

“Home, Debt-Free, Home” 

Chapter 6

BIG HONKING, 

SCARY STEP #2

The readers on these financial posts are dropping likes flies. I told you in the beginning, I am not a financial adviser, nor a writer. The thing is the steps were simple, but not easy. This will be a very short chapter.
Our goal was “We hope to sell our home in three years (this was written in 2013), and purchase another home with only the equity. Completely debt free. This will be more of a self sustainable homestead.”

The last step was we refinanced our home and combined the equity we pulled out and the money from our 401k's and then we had cash in hand. We were adamant that were were only going to spend that much money, no matter what. We didn't have to pre-qualify for a loan, we came to the table with a straight offer and with the absolute goal of selling our current home as soon as possible.

We looked for over a year.

Stuck to our strict budget. Made a list by establishing what was important and not important.

The pressure was on.

Told you it was going to be short chapter. Basically that is how we gathered the money to purchase our new home. We weren't rich, we were willing to do what it took to achieve our goal and we got out from under the cloud of debt.

Is that the end of the story? We will see...

Items I have actually used this month. Canners, utensils, FoodSaver, dehydrator, water bath juicer ...

                  
I participate in the Amazon Associate program, where I receive a small % commission for linking products that I recommend. I only recommend products I personally used and like. Your support is very appreciated, anything you choose to purchase through my link, is helping me to be able to share more things that I do with you. Perky Gramma Store

Chapter 1: You Must Be Rich

CHALLENGE: What is it you really want and what are you willing to do to attain it?.

LESSON: A Beanie Baby is Not A Need

Chapter 2: Soul Crushing Debt

Chapter 3: 4 Keys to Find Cash and Make Your Money Work for You.

Chapter 4: The First BIG HONKING, SCARY STEP
Chapter 5: How We Saved Saved $135,970.80

Chapter 6: BIG HONKING, SCARY STEP #2

Learning to be a Country Girl...

I anticipated that I would be learning new things, changing the way I look at things as I transition from a city gal to a country gal.
Now that I am spending a couple nights a week at the farm, I have been blown away by how funny it is that the little things that catch my attention. 
Things I haven't noticed about life in the city, until I started spending time in the country.
The other evening I had spent some quality time with a friend. Just old fashioned chatting and after we hugged and said our farewells I started to drive home, in the country. 
Now please don't roll of the floor laughing, but I was amazed at how dark it was. No street lights, no ambient city lights, just a lovely dark, tree engulfed, almost two lane winding road that was leading down the miles to my new home. Nary a car in sight.
Then it dawned on me, I need to use the high-beams for my headlights on my car! I know it sounds so simply, but seriously in the city there is so much light-too much light and I can't remember the last time I used my high-beams in the city. Living in the city is such a sensory overload for those that seek a more hushed world. Some people thrive on it I suppose, but I do not.
But the cool thing was I loved the fact that is was so dark. I am embracing these changes for it appeals to my deeper needs. I find solace in the quietness.
After I arrived safely home, I changed into my jammies and sat out on the front porch, with only a candle lantern casting it's soft glow, relishing the relative silence. Oh, sure a dog barked now and again and I could hear the gentle hum of various insects prowling about, yet I sat there enveloped by nature and felt a true peace... 
I believe I am really going to like being a country girl.

        
I hope you enjoyed this post and I encourage you to join our growing community at Perky Pepping Gramma on Facebook. I participate in the Amazon Associate program, where I receive a small referral commission for products that I recommend. But, I will tell you I only recommend items that I own and use. Above are just a few more products that I use that work well for grid-down living. Thank you for our support!

"Home, Debt-Free, Home" Chapter 5: How We Saved $135,970.80

"Home, Debt-Free, Home”

Chapter 5

How We Saved $135,970.80

Really Understanding the Credit “Shell Game”

Today I want to show you that every time you are using accumulated credit debt of any type, you are paying back much larger amounts of money. Make no mistake, I intentionally referred to credit as a “shell game”.

Often we are so grateful to get into a house, chasing the American dream; we blithely overlook the fact of how much actual money we will be paying.

The shell game consists of three shells and a pea, it is presented as a game for gambling, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is almost always a trick used to perpetrate fraud. People are blinded by what they see short term.
While the mortgage loan industry is legal therefore not fraud, but I believe that the game has gone on so long that people tend to blindly ignore the bottom line of what it actually costs to use credit or a mortgage loan. Like the shell game, we focus on the pea being so easy to find and forget to watch the fact that the shells come up empty. We are so focused on what we are able to spend each month, we don't pay attention to the long term actual cost of signing a mortgage loan.

Let me show you just how much real money you are able to save if you get yourself out from the crush of the credit game.

While I have technically known that you really pay a lot to borrow to purchase a house, I went to a mortgage calculator and discovered: I keyed in a mortgage amount that was in the ballpark of the price range we were looking at to purchase our new home of $165,000.00.

If we had taken a 30 year mortgage loan at 4.5% (the going interest rate when we purchased), the monthly payment would only have been $836.03. Doesn't that sound reasonable? Now that is all that showed up on the online mortgage calculator.

But then I pulled up MY calculator (on the left above) and multiplied the monthly payment of $836.03 by 360, which is the number of monthly payments we would have been making over the course of the 30 year mortgage loan.

The total amount paid would have been $300,970.80 (money spent)

– $165,000 (loan amount)

= $135,970.80 (our cost to borrow that money).

Does that number hit you as hard as it hit us? That is why we worked so hard to buy our new property for cold hard cash. 

This my friends, is the envelope that arrived with the Deed to our property, instead of a coupon payment book.

Now that you see how the credit game works, I present the not so smart way to pay off your credit cards...

I do not recommend this next step. At several points we refinanced the house to pay off our credit card debt. We were still on the brink of financial toxicity in our thought process. But, we wisely started using cash only from that point.

We focused on three points

1) Not using our credit cards. Basically we got rid of them, with the only exception for one card for online purchases. With this card, I immediately go to my bank account and pay the amount to the credit company. You should actually think about that too. Decide if having your information out there is worth the risk.

2) Using cash only. If we didn't have the money, we just don't buy it. Once you get the credit cars payment eliminated, you might be surprised how much more money you have to spend. Suggestion: Why not add up how much you are paying in credit card debit each month? Are you only paying minimum payments?

3) Building up an emergency cash reserve to pay for those things that you need. We are dedicated to this principle.

Honestly, I haven't read or taken the Dave Ramsey financial courses, but I know somethings we do fit into that system and it is one I would recommend highly, particularly how to pay off credit cards, budgeting with envelopes and prioritizing the establishment an emergency cash reserve.

Now I want to share some personal thoughts from some people in our community. Peter had some excellent suggestions I wanted to make sure everyone got a chance to read his thoughts.

"A couple things I would like to add. A bank is not a good place to store all of it keep an emergency fund on hand. Along these lines realize that paper and even hard currency will lose it's monetary value when the system crashes (Perky's emphasis added). One word about debt and bills which comes in 2 types IMO. Things like electricity, phone, food, etc. which are either the same or variable monthly charges can be budgeted for but hey if you don't pay and something is shut off be able to do without are not something to worry much about. Budget for them and well if you can't afford them or the system goes down be ready to do without. Other things like mortgages, car loans, credit cards, etc have a set monthly payment on a debt you owe. All of these things can be paid with 10% added to the payment (less or more is okay I make 20% on our vehicle) in order to pay them off and get out of debt quicker. This also has the advantage in some cases depending on your financial institution of being ahead in payments so that if you say had to stop paying for a time you would be covered. Now keep in mind secured loans are ones that they will take the collateral (home, vehicle) so in my mind part of prepping is making sure that does not happen thus the extra payments. Thing is if the system crashes who is to say I owe this and force payment as well so I guess I could put that same 10% into a savings but then what do I know my house is paid for and I am about a year ahead on my only vehicle loan."

LESSON from Bobbie: “Wish we would have had time to pull ours out before the crash. My husband actually called our agent telling her to get us out now (before the market even started crashing). She agreed and then left for a 2-week vacation. She did not inform us that we would need to sign a certain form to close our accounts. We were left out to hang and burn and that is exactly what happened. No money left to pull out of our accounts.

It was a sad day for us - even my husband's 401k's were lost. We had been contributing since the 1970s! Poof, gone in 15 minutes.

No more - WE control what little money we have now

Me too! I hope what happened to us doesn't happen to anyone else. It's an awful experience watching your life's savings go down the toilet right before you eyes.”

Did you take the first challenge and track your expenses as requested in Chapter 1? Any thoughts to share so far?

In conclusion, just remember every time you are using accumulated credit debt of any type, you are paying back much larger amounts of money.

So there is still another really scary step we took that enabled us to purchase our new home with cash, I will be sharing that soon.

_____________________________________________

Getting our of debt is important, so I have included links to two of David Ramsey's books on getting your debt under control.

Another way to save money is to learn how to do things yourself. That is the focus of the other two books (Foxfire is a series) below.

            

Review of "A Cabin Full of Food (Mostly Recipes)"

"A Cabin Full of Food" Cookbook Review: 5 Stars

Generally I don't buy cookbooks, because I am more of a cook with what I have on hand type of gal. What first drew me to Marie Beausoleil's cookbook was her “What to Expect” & “What Not to Expect” pages. 
Here is a picture I took of the "What Not to Expect" page, shared with Marie's express permission. 

She lives on an off-grid homestead and everything she says is simple & plain. Just reading these pages on the "Look At" feature on Amazon convinced me to order the cookbook.

 

Then the recipes. The recipes Marie shares focus “heavily on foods that can be grown, raised or made at home. Other recipes then refer to these basic ingredients.”

As she states “This is not a 'Go Shopping' cookbook.”

There are almost 1,000 recipes that are geared towards off-grid cooking scenarios that can be made without electric appliances. That cinched it for me.

The “A Cabin Full of Food” cookbook arrived on Friday and was sitting on or porch when we came home from the farm.

Just before we left Mr. Perky was cutting up some apricots we had on hand, vacuum sealed them and threw them in the freezer. His only venture into caning is jam & he was talking about making apricot jam. First thing I looked for when I opened the cookbook was an apricot jam recipe. Sure enough there it was on page 248 and the instructions were so simple.

These recipes were gleaned from many people who shared handwritten family treasures and old cookbooks with Marie's sweet comments embroidered about. There are also Old Order Mennonite recipes.

The categories are unique & simple:

• Make Your Own: things like Home Made Hot Chocolate
• Herb & Spices: such as Herb Vinegar Infusions
• Grains: two examples are Shoofly Pie & Four Types of Scones
• Vegetables: Mashed Potato Biscuits
• Dairy & Eggs: including Master Sauces.
• Dairy: I want to try the Baked Butterscotch Pudding
• Legumes: how about Canning Baked Beans
• Trees & Fruit: I know I will like the Blueberry Juice Concentrate. Blueberries are in season and I did this last year.
• Meat: I definitely want to try the Rabbit Casserole.

Do you really want to save money? Our larders should have basics spices and ingredients by now. This book caters to the type of cooking we should be practicing, from scratch, with our fresh and stored foods.

Bonus: Marie also added a seasonal calendar of things to be preparing for and doing on a homestead.

You can also take a peek through the link below, at the huge list of recipes with the “Look At” feature on Amazon. 

I am already turning down page corners of recipes I want to try. This is a book that I highly recommend and I believe it will fast become a classic must-have cookbook. 

I hope you enjoyed this post and I encourage you to join our growing community at Perky Pepping Gramma on Facebook. Also, if you would like to follow Marie on Facebook, her page is Just Plain Marie (2307). I participate in the Amazon Associate program, where I receive a small referral commission for products that I recommend. But, I will tell you I only recommend items that I own and use. Below are just a few more products that I use that work well for grid-down living. Thank you for our support!

      

I participate in the Amazon Associate program, where I receive a small % commission for linking products that I recommend. I only recommend products I personally used and like. Your support is very appreciated, anything you choose to purchase through my link, is helping me to be able to share more things that I do with you. Perky Gramma Teaches Amazon link.