off the cheap end: Preserving Food

According to studies, the average American throw away 40% of the food they buy! Obviously this is a huge source of waste. By properly preserving your food with a pressure canner, you can not only save money and create less waste, but also create "convenience" foods out of items that would otherwise take hours to cook.

My favorite thing to can is beans. I love it because it cooks and preserves the beans in just a few easy steps. No overnight soaking is required and in just a couple hours, you can have plenty of beans for weeks to come, ready when they're needed. The directions below are for processing beans. If you want to pressure can something else, please refer to your owners manual for the pounds pressure and processing time.

1. Set 3 quarts of water to boil.

2. Take all your clean jars and lids and place them in your dishwasher for a quick, hot rinse. This will prepare the jars for canning. Usually a full rinse cycle isn't required and the jars will be plenty hot after 5 minutes.

3. Remove the jars and lids from the dishwasher then measure the dry beans into the hot jars. If you have a food scale, measuring the beans is very easy and makes for perfectly uniform jars. Simply set the jars one at a time on the scale, zero it out, then add the following grams of dried beans per pint sized jar (double the amount if you're using quart sized jars):

black beans: 114 grams
garbanzo beans/chickpeas: 135 grams
great northern beans: 105 grams
pinto beans: 108 grams

If you don't have a food scale, simply measure out 3/4th cup of dried beans per pint sized jar (1 1/2 cups per quart sized jar). Now would also be the time to add any spices if you're wanting to flavor the beans. Simply add whatever you'd like to the jars right on top of the beans. You can add chopped onion, minced garlic, cumin, chili powder, salt and/or pepper just to give you some ideas.

4. Next, you'll need to add water to eat jar, leaving about an inch of headspace. Place the lids on the jars then screw the rings on tight. Place the jars upright on the rack inside the pressure canner.

5. Carefully pour the 3 quarts of boiling water into the pressure canner

6. Place the pressure canner over a burner, turn the heat on high and securely attach the lid, leaving the pressure regulator off or open (depending on your model).

7. Once the steam releasing from the valve pipe has been steady for ten minutes, close the pressure regulator (place it over the valve pipe). Allow it to build up to 11 pounds pressure then reduce the heat to maintain the pressure.

8. Process your jars for 75 minutes for pint sized jars or 90 minutes for quart sized jars. Check on the pressure often to make sure it hasn't risen or dropped.

9. Once the processing time has passed, turn off the heat and carefully move the pressure canner off of the burner. DO NOT OPEN THE CANNER. First, allow the pressure to drop completely. Once that has happened, open/remove the release valve and allow steam to escape. Only then is it safe to remove the lid. Remove the jars from the canner and allow them to cool at room temperature.

10. Once completely cooled, check the seals by pushing on the center of each lid. If any of them give, they haven't sealed properly and you'll have to store them in your fridge and use them within the next few days. Store the sealed jars in a cool, dry place such as your pantry or cupboard.