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FROM THE DESK
I canned my first batch of tomatoes last fall. Twelve jars. Took about three hours. Cost me roughly $15 in produce from a farmer's market. Those same twelve jars would've cost $35 to $45 at the grocery store, and mine taste better. More importantly, they'll be on my shelf for a year without needing electricity.
Here's what I've got this week.
THE BRIEF
Canning and Preserving: Your Grandparents' Superpower
Long-term food storage doesn't have to mean freeze-dried packets and Mylar bags. For hundreds of years, people preserved harvests through canning, drying, smoking, and fermenting. These methods are still some of the most reliable ways to store food, and they're more accessible than most people think.
Water bath canning is the entry point. It works for high-acid foods: tomatoes, fruits, jams, pickles, and salsas. You pack food into sterilized glass jars, submerge them in boiling water for a specific time, and the heat creates a vacuum seal. Done properly, canned goods last 12 to 18 months on a shelf with no refrigeration.
Pressure canning handles everything else: vegetables, meats, soups, and stews. Low-acid foods require higher temperatures than boiling water can provide, which is where a pressure canner comes in. It's the only safe way to can these foods at home. The USDA and the National Center for Home Food Preservation maintain tested recipes that tell you exactly what pressure, temperature, and processing time each food requires. Follow them. Don't improvise. Botulism is real and preventable.
The startup cost is modest. A water bath canner is essentially a large pot with a rack ($25 to $40). Mason jars run about $10 to $15 per dozen. A pressure canner costs more ($80 to $150), but it's a one-time purchase that lasts decades.
Here's what makes canning a prep skill worth learning: it turns seasonal abundance into year-round supply. When tomatoes are $1 a pound in August, buy 40 pounds and can them. When a neighbor's apple tree is overloaded, make applesauce. You're converting cheap, temporary food into shelf-stable reserves using nothing but heat and glass.
Dehydrating is even simpler. Dried fruits, vegetables, herbs, and jerky store in jars or vacuum-sealed bags for months to years. A basic food dehydrator costs $40 to $60. Dried foods weigh almost nothing and take up minimal space, making them ideal for small homes and go-bags.
The skills are learnable in a weekend. Your local Extension office (find yours at Extension.org) likely offers free or cheap canning classes. YouTube has thousands of tutorials. Start with a simple recipe, water bath tomatoes or strawberry jam, and build from there.
ONE THING THIS WEEK
Look up your local Extension office and check for canning classes.
Most county Extension offices offer hands-on food preservation workshops. Many are free or under $20. Even if you're not ready to start canning, attending a class removes the intimidation factor. Search "extension office [your county]."
ON THE RADAR
15% of US Households Were Food Insecure in January 2026 — Up from 12.5% in 2024
Purdue University’s Consumer Food Insights survey found national food insecurity reached 15% in January 2026, a 1-point jump from December and well above the 12.5% rate in 2024. Sixty-two percent of consumers are “very or extremely concerned” about rising prices — including 57% of households earning over $100,000. The stat that matters here: people who can their own food sit outside this data set entirely. A pantry you built yourself doesn’t show up in food insecurity surveys.
Les Stroud spent decades living in wilderness conditions for Survivorman, often for weeks at a time with no modern tools. In Will to Live, he writes about the psychological weight of food uncertainty, not just hunger, but the constant mental drain of not knowing when or what you'll eat next.
Stroud's insight for home preparedness: a full pantry isn't just calories. It's cognitive relief. When you know you have three months of food preserved and organized, you stop thinking about it. That mental bandwidth becomes available for everything else, work, family, adapting to whatever disruption is happening. Canning and preserving aren't just about food. They're about freeing your mind from one of its oldest anxieties.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Volcano, Flooding, and 12-Foot Waves Hit Hawaii Simultaneously
Hawaii County issued its third emergency declaration of 2026 on April 8, activating after a Kona low storm system stacked on top of already-saturated ground, active volcanic eruption precursors at Kīlauea, and a high surf advisory warning of waves up to 12 feet. The NWS forecast 10 to 15 inches of rainfall for parts of the Big Island through April 10. On April 15, President Trump approved a major federal disaster declaration for Hawaii.
What makes this notable for preparedness is the layering. When three distinct hazards activate simultaneously, local emergency response gets stretched across all three at once. Mutual aid resources that would normally flow into a flood response were also needed for volcanic ash mitigation and coastal safety. That stacking is the scenario most emergency plans don’t train for.
WHAT I'M TESTING
This is the pressure canner I use for meats and vegetables. It's a 23-quart aluminum unit that handles seven quart jars or up to 26 half-pint jars per batch. I've processed chicken, beef stew, green beans, and black beans with it over the past year.
What I like: it's straightforward. Load jars, lock the lid, wait for the pressure gauge to hit the target (usually 10 to 15 PSI depending on altitude and recipe), and maintain it for the specified time. The included instruction manual walks through every step. It also doubles as a water bath canner for high-acid foods.
The learning curve is mostly about respecting the pressure. Follow the instructions, use tested recipes, and don't rush the depressurization. It's not dangerous if you follow the rules. About $100.
Budget alternative: Granite Ware water bath canner ($25). Handles all high-acid foods (tomatoes, fruits, pickles). A great starting point before investing in pressure canning.
OVERRATED / UNDERRATED
Overrated: Pinterest canning recipes. Many aren't tested for safety and can result in improperly processed food. Always use recipes from the USDA, Ball Blue Book, or the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Underrated: Dehydrated herbs from your garden. A $40 dehydrator and a few herb plants give you a year-round supply of dried basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme. They taste better than store-bought and cost almost nothing after the initial investment.
THE LINK DUMP
NCHFP.uga.edu — National Center for Home Food Preservation. The gold standard for tested canning recipes.
Ball Blue Book of Preserving — The classic canning reference. Get a current edition.
Extension.org — Find your county Extension office for classes and resources.
HealthyCanning.com — Well-organized site with tested recipes and clear instructions.
USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning — Free PDF download. Comprehensive and authoritative.
NEXT ISSUE
Physical fitness for preparedness. Not bodybuilding or marathon training. The specific physical capabilities that matter when you need to carry gear, walk long distances, or handle physical demands under stress.
PS: My first batch of canned tomatoes wasn't pretty. The jars looked cloudy and the lids were a little uneven. But every single one sealed properly. Function over aesthetics. That's a theme around here.
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