Planning it Forward - Creating a Stash of Preserving jars

Because it is too hot today 32 degrees I have literally done nothing today but take it easy.  That does not stop me from plotting and planning in other areas though.

I suppose in my own way I have always been a planner, not probably in a conventional sense, but I have always managed to build up items for a project a bit at a time until I am in a position to actually start a project.  It is the only way to do it when pennies are tight, but it also means that you still get to achieve something that you have been wanting to do in the longer term.

Today I am talking about preserving jars.  I am a preserver and always have been.  This year I have not done as much, but that does not mean that I am not going to do any. I have a lot of jars already, but that does not mean that you cannot get more and have them ready to go when the traditional period for preserving hits i.e. the early autumn months when the last of the crops are coming in.

I have this morning been on the Hobbycraft site and ordered 12 x one litre jars which are currently on a buy two, get one free offer at £10 per pack of four. You have to order the 3 packs of jars on the order to actually get the third set. So basically you are getting £30 worth of goods for £20.  These jars work out at about £1.67 per jar on this offer. These jars are going to be used for stockpiling various soups for the Pantry shelf.  I have already had a load of these jars for sorting out my Condiments cupboard.  They are ideal for storing stock pots, stock cubes that sort of thing in bulk; this is something I tend to do in any event.  For me soup is a quick meal in itself when you are in a hurry, and a ready first course for a meal and a real bonus when time is of the essence.  It can also be  used in stews and other dishes as well. I am particularly looking to make quite a lot of soup.  G is not a fan of soup to eat generally whereas I find a lot of comfort in soup.  This way if I make a load of different flavours for the Pantry shelf I can have my soup when I want it. The link is here in case you are interested:

Hobbycraft 1 Litre jars

These jars are solid lids and not two part lids. A lot of people do not like using these, but I have found these to be very good and the seals have taken. I have found in common practice though that most standard preserving jars you can interchange the seals and the lids.  The only thing  you have to remember is that some jars are standard and others are wide-mouthed.  Wide mouthed jars are obviously bigger than the standard seals. The only thing is that I have not so far been able to source these actual lids themselves.  I do not know whether anyone else knows where they can be bought.  This is not a problem in itself though. This should not preclude you from using them as you can use Ball Mason rings and seals (or any other appropriate two part lids) or equally Kilner.  I have not used the Forejar seals but I understand that a lot of people rate them as being far superior than the Ball or Kilner seals.

I have also placed an order for 2 packs of 12 x 500ml jars which is on the same offer.  A single pack of 12 jars works out at £12 which broken down works out to £1 a jar.  As these jars are discounted, there is no buy 2 get 3 offer on this at present.  That is very cheap for a proper preserving jar.

Here is a link to the current Hobbycraft page for preserving jars:

Hobbycraft Preserving jars

Hobbycraft have a minimum order for free postage which is £25. 

In the past I have also bought the very small jars which are ideal for small quantities such as Tomato paste, or a small jar of blueberries to go on cereal of a morning etc. and found these to also be very good.  I have also bought the smaller size of the 500ml jars as well.  Ideal for jam or yet again small quantities of something.

Please note this is not an advert, I have paid for these items myself, and am speaking from my personal truth and experience regarding these items and am just sharing what I believe to be a good deal.

I therefore am basically waiting for 36 jars to join my stash for £44 in total i.e. 24 of the 500ml jars for £24 and 12 of the 1 litre jars (4 jars per pack) for £20 instead of £30.

I will probably place a similar order next month if I can to make sure that I have a plentiful supply of jars in readiness for storing all sorts of preserves for the Pantry shelf. The order may well be altered to buy in some of the smaller jars and the paste jars as well. 

This year I am going in a totally different direction on my preserving and trying to ensure that there are ready to go meals available from the Pantry as well.

The status of my Preserving:

In all honesty I have not done much preserving thus far this year, even though I have also been stockpiling some fruit in the freezer in readiness for making a load of useful preserves for the Pantry shelf.  Some of it I have flash frozen myself and some of it has been bought on offers from supermarket providers.  Sometimes the only way to afford some preserves for the Pantry shelf is to actually buy frozen fruit.  Do not be too proud to make use of this resource as it is a way of providing for you Pantry shelf and feeding  your family.  Equally though I also look in the reduced section counter on fruit and if it is reduced enough I will buy the fruit and then bung it into the freezer.  I have made Raspberry vodka like this and also have plans to make Raspberry Gin, all for the Christmas celebrations.

I still have the following to process out of the freezer in readiness for re-stocking new items for everyday eating.

I have the following in the freezer at the moment:

6 bags of cherries to be turned into pie filling and jam.

Over 1kg of Raspberries to be turned into Raspberry jam and Peach Melba jam.

6 bags of Mixed fruit berries for turning into Jumbleberry jam.

Cranberries which were bought last Christmas with the intention of turning them into Cranberry and apple jelly.

I also have dried Apricots which are going to be turned into a wine and some chutney.

I also have plans in the next couple of weeks to buy in Strawberries for pie filling and jam.

I have also bought some lovely Lemons and intend to turn them into a Chutney a jam and some Lemon curd.  I will probably have to buy in a few more to achieve all of these, and I also want to make some Lemon Sugar for my pancakes and baking.

I have also dried a load of Blackberries to use in Muesli and Granola and intend to bottle a load for use for breakfast to add to yogurt.

I have lots of plans, will just have to see if they will materialise.  I am also hoping that I will get a little produce from the garden to preserve as well.  Whatever I get will be a blessing this year, as my set up has not been quite how I would have liked it to be, but that can be worked on in readiness for next year.

In the background/well partially in the background I have been preserving lots of fresh herbs as well.  This week I have harvested some Lavender stems (the last of this year's Lavender) although I plan to grow an awful lot more next year and expand my repertoire on the Lavender preserves and crafting front.

I have also harvested Black Peppermint and it is currently drying on the Dresser to be rubbed and put up for the winter months. Its predominant use will be for use in mint tea, which helps me an awful lot.

Purple Sage is also drying.  This will be used in home made stuffings.

Lemon Verbena has also been harvested and is drying.  This will be used in teas, a cordial, a liqueur type drink and potpourri.

Parsley is also drying after I harvested it from my plant. I have another crop coming as we speak.  This will be used in gravies as part of the herb mixture I add, with garlic, with cream and garlic to make garlic butter, to make white sauce to go with fish etc. etc.

There are a lot more herbs to be dried in due course, and a lot more dried than I have mentioned here, although I will be adding a few more varieties of herb to the stash for next year. Most notably, lots of different Thymes, Bergamot, Borage both white and blue, variegated Sage, Santolina lots of this for drying and use in dried flower arrangements, Wild Strawberries I think these would be ideal to grow in the old herb border, which is a relatively shady area for the best part.

There are therefore lots of little bits and bobs on the go. The three chillies I dried yesterday I think I am going to use them in a chilli jam.  Will see how things go.

Hopefully it will be a bit cooler tomorrow so that I can get on a bit.

Off to water up with my jug.

Have a lovely evening everyone.

Catch you soon.

Pattypan

x