HOME CANNING POTATOES... on the cheap

     If you got here via the doomer's forum at LATOC, you already know there's a subset / sub list there on home canning.  If you just stumbled into this site, you might want to check LATOC out -- and, if you have ANY interest in a financial hedge against 'inflation' -- food prices will keep going up -- read my first post here (June 1, 2010) on 'survival' -- and stocking in a three to six month food supply.
     Here's what I did today ~!  Would you rather pay $1.69 per can (Del Monte, store brand $ .99) for a can of potatoes or twenty-two cents ($ .22). The latter is MY choice. Recently I bought 10 lbs. of Irish potatoes for $1.99 -- it takes a good 5 lbs. for 9 pints (what my canner holds) -- more if bad spots.

     IF you do this, tho, ask the produce guy if potatoes are THIS YEAR'S harvest or on sale because they want to empty out cold storage. I fear my "sale" potatoes were the latter item. Lots of rough spots. Just cut those out and go at it. Figure I could have paid $l5.40 vs. my $1.99 and still had six potatoes left over to eat NOW (I pack my pint jars TIGHTLY). Trimmings / bad spots go into compost (I use inserts out of old washing machines for this (holes good for ventilation and drainage when it rains) and make "lasagna" -- layers of kitchen compost, then spoilt hay and thin layer to dirt. Turn it every few layers w/ garden fork.
     I learned home canning at my great-granny's knees -- in an old farm house with NO running water inside -- she did quarts -- i prefer pints (smaller family). These potatoes, along with carrots which i'll buy at the store and can up later, and cabbage will go into soups this winter.
     Remember when mayo came in real glass pint jars? Those CAN be used safely. Once you have your jars and a good canner, all you'll ever need more of are the lids -- and those CAN be kept for a decade -- they'll 'glom' together but put them into warm water, the rubber seals will loosen and you can separate them without affecting the sealing part.
     Next week it's mesquite bean jelly and mid-August, prickly pear jelly -- i will NOT eat that grape jelly crud from the dollar store, even at $1.00 per jar,  with high fructose corn syrup in it -- back to making our own ~!