Sunday has been the day I take to slow down and rest. However there is always something we can do. I love to can and put up food for future meals. I don’t always have time to shop or make meals completely from scratch everyday. So over the years we have developed our favorites and comfort foods that have become a part of our routine. From that point I work to can and freeze. Today is tomato sauce, and string beans. I’m blanching the string beans and freezing them, and canning the tomato sauce. This may seem like a lot of sauce, but this is actually the second batch. I don’t add any meat. I’ll do that when we are preparing the meal.
For the tomato sauce I use a hot water bath to seal the jars, and the string beans need a pressure canner. So it was easier to freeze what I had in string beans. There wasn’t enough room on my stove for both pots.
I keep the jars covered as they cool over night. I was always told if they cool to fast the glass can crack. Since I have a fan in the kitchen, I figured it wont hurt. I pulled the dish towel off and checked the seals, and took the rings off this morning. I’ll store them with out the rings. I reuse the rings multiple times, but the lid seal is always new. If one didn’t seal properly I could always try to reseal it, I however usually just put it in the refrigerator and use it right away. These will be labeled later today with the date, and contents before they are added to the pantry.
Tomorrow may not be promised, but we can always at least prepare for it.