I asked on the Facebook no buy club in our area if anyone had a pressure canner they weren’t using anymore. I specifically said a Presto or All American. I had a nice lady respond with this:

It’s not the one I wanted but all the parts are there and it hadn’t been used. There is one chip in the handle but that’s all. I gave her a strawberry jam and the blackberry. I said I’d drop off some pickles and salsa too.

So yesterday after swimming, I did the first recommended thing which is to add a quart of water and some vinegar and get it up to 5lbs of pressure. I didn’t really know what to expect and didn’t realize the clicking( when the lb gauge is working) was the sound I supposed to hear and that is supposed to go 1-4 times a minute. So I learned something from that. Today I will try the 10lb gauge( this is what they recommend doing) and let it come up to pressure. Because this one doesn’t have the pressure gauge dial (that’s when you can see the pressure amount)you have to wait at least 1/2 hour for it to come off pressure. So today I’m making the chicken stock, and tomorrow or even later will try pressure canning it. The value in doing this is that it is then shelf stable. I’m still undecided if this is really something I want to do but with this free one I can experiment some and then if I want to buy the Presto on with the gauge dial I will next year.

Someone asked about my freezer containers. So here’s the one I do enchiladas, lasagna, casserole type things in.

Here’s the one for soups, stews etc. that’s minestrone from the other night.

This is the Ball recipe I’m going to use.

I also knitted 2 more dish cloths.

The small one is just a coaster size for a glass or wine glass. I find knitting very relaxing although I’ll never be the knitter my sister was. She did all kinds of things,sweaters, hats, although I don’t think she ever gave me one 😦

Well, I’m off to check on my chicken stock and batch cook some lasagnas.