Like I need ice cream. I had to adjust my body armor to it's max position, if I get any more muscle I will need to spend a lot of money to get a new setup. That's if I can even find one to replace it, this is actual military issue with ceramic plates and all. People say it's a good problem to have, but to me it's still a problem and a big one. I'm doing dumbbell presses with 100 pounds in each hand, dead lifting 350, squatting almost 300... I have a mental deal with ever having to buy XL clothes again so it's time to pick up some more running.
Here are some pictures from the weekend around the kitchen.
I picked a large bowl of beans, the garden is taking over the planet:
I had to drive to the North end of town to get canning supplies. I know it's prime season but I've never seen my local grocery store run out of regular lids. I have a lot of supplies, but if I know I'll use 10 lids, we replace them right away. Pectin was on sale locally, I'm going to get more of it today at lunch, it's nice to have even if you don't use it for everything. A lot of places were out or low, or just no longer stock canning supplies so it's time to triple up on stuff I hope to never use.
We ended up putting 60 jars up: strawberry jam, blueberry jam, peach jam, bread and butter pickles, dill pickles, green beans. Each time I decided to relax yesterday and read a book or watch TV, I canned instead. We also worked on the camper since we are leaving for our annual SW Colorado area camping trip. We ended up having sushi last night and then went to bed. It felt good to do something to help live a better life in case times get tough or even if they don't.
With all that canning going on, what's your lid failure rate?
ReplyDeleteBe careful with your back doing all that... being able to move that kind of weight is great, but once you blow a disk out, it'll never be the same. You'd hate to do that then be weaker going into SHTF.
BTW, didn't you read "Arsenius the Hermit's" blog way back? He's back up at
Deletehttp://harryflashmansblog.blogspot.com/
Heading over there now.
DeleteI haven't had any lid failures at all, nor jar breaks in the process. Checking the stuff from last year or further back, everything is sealed up properly still. I always keep the rings on, not sure if it helps but I think it does.
ReplyDeleteI can get hurt at anytime, but I'm the guy who starts small and builds up and am known to just walk away and say 'that's enough', or 'not today'. I learned to listen to my body while I was running, and doing so while lifting hopefully makes me a little less of a meat head.
I really tried to get off the ground with canning, but since I don't raise my own produce the economics just didn't support it. Probably, I should at least get all the equipment and do some canning, even if I lose money, just to gain the skill set.
ReplyDeleteLast year my local grocery store had the end of the season sale and all canning lids were on sale 1/2 price. I bought them all. The reason you don't want to keep rings on is that moisture stays under the ring and causes rust. Where I live it seems to be a problem so I take off the rings. I haven't had a problem with the lids coming up after the rings have been removed. BTW, the new kitchen looks great with all the canned food on the counters.
ReplyDeleteI never thought about the rust, but we are usually very low humidity and the dehumidifier is working great. I'll have to check some of the older jars to see how they look.
DeleteRight now I have enough to replace all the sealed lids twice, but that's not enough i.m.o. I'll see how local supply is or perhaps shop online if needed.
The new kitchen is awesome for canning, especially the extra deep sink. Thanks!
I usually take the rings off, but when storing empty jars I leave the rings on to protect the mouth of the jar from damage. Even though I never use more than a dozen or so lids at a time I keep several hundred on hand...same for jars. Can't have too many lids.
ReplyDeleteI picked up 4 dozen lids today across town, so now I feel a little more ready.
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