Pressure Canning Beans

I got a pressure canner for my birthday! I've been wanting a pressure canner for years. Ever since I started waterbath canning 4 years ago, I've wanted a pressure canner. I've also been sort of terrified of pressure canners, though. I have a story much like everyone else's. A grandma of a friend's uncle's nanny had a pressure canner loaded with beans explode in her kitchen. Not only could someone have been maimed for life, but the poor woman was scraping black beans off of her ceiling for months. (I'm being  a little bit dramatic here, in case you couldn't tell).

One of the things that I was most looking forward to pressure canning was beans. We eat a lot of beans, and I try to buy them dry in bulk because it's what's most affordable. But then I always forget to soak them. I tried precooking them and freezing them, but our freezer is full with 1/4 steer and 1/2 pig. So freezer space is limited. Plus...I always forget to pull them out to thaw anyway. Having them canned is just so much more convenient. I read this post from one of my favorite homesteading blogs about canning beans, and consulted the instruction manual that came with my pressure canner (<referral link). And I did it! I might have nested nervously in front of the thing while I watched for any signs of pending explosion. But I did it. And now we have a pantry full of beans, cooked and ready to heat up and eat.

You might notice that my jars don't have the metal rings on them. After the canning process is done, I remove the rings and store the jars with just the sealed lids. I've had rings rust on me, making it difficult to remove them and even ruining some of my jars. Removing the rings also makes it easier to see if a seal has broken.

Supplies:

• 2 lbs dry beans (black, pinto, kidney)
• 7 pint size canning jars with lids and rings
• water
• a pressure canner

 (You can can beans in quart sized jars, too. For the sake of measurements, I found that my 2 lbs bag of dried black beans gave me exactly 7 pints of canned beans)

Directions:

• Pick through beans to remove any shriveled beans or non-bean objects (sometimes I find pebbles!).
• Soak overnight
• Drain and rinse with fresh water (this helps get rid of the enzymes that can cause you to feel bloated after eating beans).
• Put beans in a pot and cover with water about 1-2 inches above the beans.
• Bring to boil for 30 minutes.
• Ladle hot beans into clean, hot jars, leaving 1 inch headspace. You don't have to sterilize beans when you pressure can, but they do need to be clean and hot to prevent cracking.
• Pour in some cooking liquid, being sure to leave that 1 in headspace. 
• Put lids and jars on and place into canner.
• Can at 10 lbs pressure for 75 minutes for pints, 90 minutes for quarts. (If you live at a high altitude, you may need to can at a higher pressure. Check here for that information)
• Allow canner to cool according to manufacturer's instructions. Once completely cooled and depressurized, remove jars and let sit on a towel or board overnight. The next morning, check seals, wipe jars clean of any residue (which can mold if left on the jar!), remove the rings and store.

I still plan to keep dry beans in storage. I think it's one of those staples that everyone should have in case of an emergency. They're easy to cook, healthy, and very filling. I know we've had times of financial hardship, or times right after a baby was born or during bad winter weather when getting to the store was either impossible or just really difficult. Having some basic staples stocked up makes life a lot easier! 

Do you "do" food storage?

I've linked this post at:
The Prairie Homestead
Little House in the Suburbs

Saving with a Pellet Stove

I know that among homesteaders, a wood stove is generally the way we want to go. You can harvest your own fuel, and woodstoves don’t require electricity. The thing is that they’re also extremely expensive to have installed, especially if you don’t have the know-how to do it yourself. We had a quote done, and found out that it would cost us upwards of $7,000 to have a stove installed (including the stove, parts, and labor). I would be okay with investing that much into a house we’d be staying in forever, but we hope to move within the next five years. So, a pellet stove was much more reasonable for us at this time.

My grandparents offered us their pellet stove which they no longer use. We installed it for a little less than $250 worth of supplies and 3 hours of labor. I was also able to find a nice hearth pad on Craigslist for $80, which saved us another $300 or so. Installing a pellet stove is much less involved than installing a wood stove. Much more newbie friendly. It’s so easy that my husband and I were able to do it ourselves. That’s saying something, especially since neither of us are particularly handy. We’re learning, but it’s a process. How did we learn to install such a thing? YouTube of course! What can’t you learn on YouTube? Here’s the video that we followed:
Part 1: http://youtu.be/blZHAsDmVMc
Part 2: http://youtu.be/4IVHbXlbUDg

Cool. But do you really save money?
This year has been extremely cold. We’re in NY, so a harsh winter is a given, but the subzero wind chills are happening to a greater degree, and more frequently than typical thanks to these polar vortex thingies that keep coming down. With that in mind, we’ve been saving $60-$100 per month off of our utility bill, including figuring in the cost of pellets ($4.50/bag, and we use about 1 bag per day).  So, yeah! We’re saving! On the sub zero days, the pellet stove acts as a supplement to our furnace. It doesn’t get quite as warm. On the days when it’s in the 20’s or 30’s, our house 1,800 sq ft house gets up to 77 degrees with just the stove, no furnace. I’ve been impressed!

What if the electricity goes out?!
We actually have a converter on our van that would allow us to run the stove using our van as a power source. We also have a huge generator. This should get us through a few days if needed, though we don’t typically lose power for more than 12-16 hours a time. The last time we had a long term power outage in my area must have been 1991. Hopefully the S doesn’t HTF before we move onto a dream homestead with a wood burning stove.

I'm linked over at the Prairie Homestead Barn Hop and at Frugally Sustainable's Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways.