Dry Pack Canning

As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we are told constantly by our leaders to have a years supply of food in our home so that we can be prepared in case of some unforeseen emergency. Jeff and I have been obedient to the best of our abilities-some years it has been better than others, but we are constantly working at it. One of the things that the church has to better enable us to fulfill our commitment to this is they have a facility that we can go to and can our own food (for us canning challenged people). We can do wet canning and also dry pack canning. The other night I went (with one of my good friends) and participated in an evening full of FUN Dry pack canning and wanted to share with all of you the process and what we do.

1. First, we get there and decided what we want to can. There is a number of things that we can can. Flour, beans, rice, macaroni, spaghetti, hot cocoa, dried onions, carrots, etc.

2. We enter the production room, put on gloves and beautiful hairnets, and begin canning. The product comes in large 20-30 lb bags or boxes and then we grab the cans, put the product in them, and weigh them to make sure that they are the correct weight to seal them up. Before we seal them, we put an oxygen pack in each can on top of the product.

3. After the product and oxygen packets are in the can, we put the lids to the cans on with this really fun machine. It seals it and then it will keep on your shelf for various years pending on what is inside. For example, once dry milk is sealed, it will stay good on your shelf for up to 20 years! Amazing, and very helpful to those of us that take years to get a years supply!!!

4. After it is sealed, we get a sticker label from the wall that is marked with the name of the product and also the nutritional value of the product. We also mark the date that we canned it so that we can get it used up as it expires.

5. After the cans are all sealed and labeled, we box them up, take them out to pay for them, and then take them home. The fun part is taking them home and putting them in the storage room on your shelf and see the rewards of your labors.