Arts &Crafts, How-To's, Upcycling & Repurposing

What would you do in an emergency? Powers out, no running water, no electricity or gas. You may not be able to get out of the house to go to the store. Some of us may not be prepared for emergencies like this.

One thing I for sure do not want to do again, is go to the grocery store and fight to get a jug of water or a package of toilet paper. Like during Covid. Nor do I want to spend money on gallons of water at the store.

FEMA recommends, in an emergency, a gallon of water per day . Half to drink and half to cook with per person. If you are preparing for a week, you will need 7 gallons of water per person.

Let’s do the math:

There’s 5 people in our home. That’s 5 gallons of water per day.

5×7=35 gallons of water for one week.

Walmart by me sells (the cheapest brand) a gallon of water for $1.43.

That’s roughly $50 in water for one week. If we start to prepare ahead of time, we can use that $50 on something else. Like staples in the kitchen.

Today’s post is canning water. In our home we have plenty of Mason/Ball jars. A 4 pack of 16 oz. Jars at Walmart is $12.98. Personally, I like to browse Marketplace on Facebook. I always see people selling them on there for dirt cheap! Mason jars do have jars that hold 3 gallons.

Supplies needed:

Ball or Mason jars with lids

1 pot to boil water

1 large pot for canning

Tongs to lift the cans out of the water

Funnel

Water

*They sell canning kits for around $18-20. They have all the tools you need. Including a rack to put the jars on and you can put the jars on then lower it in and also out of the water.

Step 1:

I like to wash the jars and lids in the dishwasher first to sterilize them. Some people sterilize them in the oven.

Set up the jars on the counter ready for you with lids off.

Step 2:

Fill a large pot with clean water and bring it to a boil. Maintain a full rolling boil for 5 minutes.

Step 3

Fill prepared canning jars with the boiling water from pot 1, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Seal with lids.

Load the jars 1 by 1 into the second pot of water for canning and bring to a full rolling boil. Once boiling, begin timing.

You boil the jars until you hear the popping of the lids. For water it is approximately 15-20 minutes.

When the processing time is complete, remove the jars to cool on a towel on the counter.

Once they are completely cool, check seals. Re-process any unsealed jars, and store properly processed sealed jars.

This is a link for Kerr Home Canning and National Center for Home Food Preservation , it shows all the processing times and for what item you are canning.

ALSO

I hope this post is useful for some of you. Happy canning! 😁

~Mel