I'm not doing any "big-time" canning, but I want to try making pickles and some ferments. I also used to make yogurt fairly often and have a yogurt maker that I need to drag out and dust off.
When COVID first hit, the run on canning supplies was so severe that commercial places had to shut down because they could not get the supplies they needed. The regional places that make apply butter and jams & jellies wee basically out of business for that period of time.
We had a hard time finding enough stuff until we went to Indianapolis. The shelves were full there. Being forewarned, we now try to stay ahead of things, for, as many of you know, we can a lot of stuff.
Yup. Made in Fishers, IN, 20 miles northeast of Indianapolis. I wondered if demand there didn't increase because most folks were already canning.
Well, since covid was 2 years ago I'd assume they have simply recovered. People are back out in the stores and not panicked and hoarding toilet paper any longer.
I am a prepper, not a hoarder. I have been stocked since the '80's. I have a corner stacked high with tp and paper towels. I did not have to run out to buy gobs of tp--or anything, for that matter, during covid. I have always bought on sale when I could find good deals. I restock as I use stuff. Turns out it was a better investment than stocks. I imagine a hoarder goes out and buys up a lot of stuff just to have it, and never uses it. Look at those shows where stuff piles up to where one can walk into the house.
Exactly! Preppers prepare themselves for possible hard times, while hoarders accumulate stuff just to have it.
I ended up in that mode when I moved to this rural area and (a) encountered occasional product shortages at Walmart with no nearby alternative, and (b) wanted to avoid making an "emergency run" to a store that was so far away. It grew from there. My Achilles heel is water in the event of a power outage, since I'm on a well. back on topic: a hot dog is worthless without sauerkraut. And I'll simmer pork chops in beer with sauerkraut and a touch of brown sugar. It is so good.
I'm not seeing any shortage of canning supplies, but the prices that went up during the covid rush never came back down. Of course everything single thing we buy now has increased in price so there's that. I think my MasonTops kit is coming today or tomorrow, and my crock has been shipped, too.
Before I got my weights and burping tops, I had read about using an outside cabbage leaf over the top, and then you weight that down with a suitable sized rock that fits inside the jar. The plastic jar lids work fine if they are loosened every day, which is also something that people do. If you taste the sauerkraut a little bit each day, and then get it all back underneath the weight again, you can tell when the sauerkraut has reached the amount of fermentation that you like the taste of. I like mine once it has softened up from cabbage to sauerkraut, but not really, really sour. Even with the rock or the glass weight, you will want an outside cabbage leaf to put over the top to make sure all the cabbage stays under the brine.
yes...a rock...got perfect ones...it won't be hard coz...i only do a few or more...i won't forget the leaf...thanks