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19 Comments | Jill Winger |    Last Updated: August 13, 2020

How to Can Food with No Special Equipment

empty mason jars for canning

The pantry shelf in my basement is noticeably more empty.

Which only means one thing…

It’s time to fill it back up!

I’m ready, y’all.

Like so many of you, I’m feeling the pull to stock up and squirrel away food, even more than I usually do. There’s so much I can’t control about this crazy world right now, but I CAN control how I’m feeding my family.

And oddly enough, that does indeed makes me feel better.

I’m seeing a surge of interest in food preservation right now (jars are sold out everywhere!), which I think is fabulous.

 

If you are a canning newbie, I just revamped my Canning Made Easy course and it’s ready for YOU! I’ll walk you through each step of the process (safety is my #1 priority!), so you can finally learn to can confidently, without the stress. CLICK HERE to have a look at the course and ALL the bonuses that come with it.

 

For those of you who are ready to dip your toe into the water of home-canned food, but are feeling a wee bit apprehensive about investing a bunch of cash in canning equipment, I have some good news for you:

You already have almost everything you need to start canning in your kitchen right now.

There is a preconceived notion that in order to start canning, you have to have an entire closet full of special canning equipment.

And while that is certainly the case if you are planning to pressure can, if you’re planning on water bath canning, you can absolutely get away without having special equipment or tools for water-bath canning.

With these tips, you can start your journey into the world of preservation and canning without buying tons of equipment.

How to Start Canning with ZERO Special Equipment

canning cherries with honey

1. The Canning Pot

Odds are, you likely remember those old graniteware or enamel canning pots from your grandma’s kitchen. While they are designed to be big enough for a bunch of jars and tall enough to hold enough water for water-bath canning, you do NOT have to have a special canning pot in order to water-bath can.

A normal large stock pot and lid from your kitchen can totally work for canning purposes. The only kicker is that it must be deep enough to cover the canning jars with at least two inches of water.

Simply fill your mason jars as directed by whatever repine you’re using, put the lids and rings on, and place the jars into the stock pot. Fill the pot with enough water to cover your jars by at least 2 inches. As long as your stock pot is deep enough for that, you are ready to can.

improvised canning pot

A word of warning: I am a stickler for canning safety (read more about canning safety here) because botulism ain’t no joke, friends. Please follow a safe recipe for water-bath canning. You can find high-quality, safe water-bath canning recipes here on my website, in my Canning Made Easy System, the National Center for Home Food Preservation, and other FDA-approved websites and books.

REMEMBER: If you are canning low-acid foods such as vegetables, broth, and meats, you WILL need a pressure canner.

However, if you are canning high acid foods like jams and jellies, fruits (like canning peaches), applesauce, pickles, etc., you can use safely and confidently water-bath canning.

In fact, if you are a beginner to the canning world, high-acid foods (especially jams and jellies) are some of the best introductory canning foods anyway, so they are a perfect place to start.

rack for canning pot

2. The Canning Rack

Because you are putting glass jars on the bottom of a pot with a strong heat source underneath, a rack is a crucial piece of equipment in your canning toolkit. Otherwise, you’ll be dealing with broken jars and a major mess. A rack will elevate the jars off the bottom of the pot just enough to prevent breakage and to allow the water to circulate properly.

DIY canning rack

If you get a waterbath canning equipment set, it usually comes with a rack. However, if you’re using my stock pot tip, you can make an alternative rack by taking extra canning jar rings and wiring them together so they fit like a rack under the jars in the pot. You can use any type of wire or string to hold them together as long as it won’t melt in the heat or dissolve in the water. Easy peasy, right?

canning jar lifter

3. Canning Tongs

You’ll learn quickly that canning tongs (aka jar lifters) are one tool that you don’t want to be without, as it’s not exactly easy to lift a boiling-hot, wet, slippery jar from a pot of water with your bare hands. However, if you don’t have a jar lifter yet, you can improvise with a regular pair of tongs from your kitchen.

DIY canning tongs

By themselves, kitchen tongs are too slippery to grip the canning jars in the water, so we’ll make a quick modification. Simply grab 6-8 rubber bands and wrap them around each of the grabbing ends of the tongs. This will provide just enough grip for the tongs to grab the slippery jars, and you won’t have to worry about burnt fingers.

canning funnel

4. Canning Funnel

Canning funnels are designed to fit snugly into the mouth of both wide and regular jars to prevent spills. They come in plastic or stainless steel and aren’t expensive– however, what if you are ready to tackle your first canning project and don’t have one?

No prob- you can use a red solo cup instead.

Grab a standard-sized red solo cup (if you use a cheaper knock-off version, make sure it can handle hot food without melting).

DIY canning funnel with cup

Hold the red solo cup up to a mason jar and see where the tapering of the cup hits the mouth of the jar. Use a sharp knife to cut off the bottom of the red solo cup and it will fit right into the jar and act like a funnel.

Not all canning recipes need a funnel, but sloppy foods like salsas, jams, and applesauce often make a huge mess without the help of a funnel. (Ask me how I know.)

One Thing You Should NEVER Improvise:

Once you have these four items, you are set up to start canning high-acid foods at home. The only other items you need are canning jars and lids.

And this is one time where it’s wise to NOT improvise: You can NOT safely can with old spaghetti sauce jars or random glass jars from your cupboard.

canning jars

They aren’t rated for heat like a mason jar is, nor do their lids fit in a way that will allow for a strong, safe seal on the finished food.

Fortunately, it’s pretty darn easy to find mason jars at almost every store these days (although they might be in short supply during these current times).

Hunt for on mason jars at garage sales, thrift stores, and online local selling websites. (I recently snagged an incredible deal on MANY jars on my local Facebook listings.)

If you can’t find good prices for mason jars locally, you can purchase them online.

Also keep in mind that while you can definitely refuse mason jars and their rings over and over again, you will need to purchase new lids each time you are canning. If you really become a canning extraordinaire, you can purchase lids in bulk.

You cannot use the lids repeatedly because there is a sealing compound on the lid that helps create a strong seal. After one use, that sealing compound loses its integrity and will no longer be dependable for future canning recipes. Therefore, use a lid one time only and then purchase extra lids for future canning adventures.

(You can absolutely reuse your spent canning lids for other purposes though– I draw an X on them with a sharpie so I know they are used, and then use them for pantry storage, etc. And speaking of pantry storage, if you want to make your mason jars even more functional, I’m using reCAP lids like crazy right now for ALL THE THINGS and I love ’em.)

And of course, once you catch the canning bug, you’ll very likely want to upgrade your improvised canning equipment with some official canning supplies. However, in the mean time, don’t let a lack of “proper” equipment stop you. Dive in, my friend. You’ll be glad you did.

how to start canning with no special equipment

More Canning Tips:

  • My Learn How to Can ebook and videos will make canning quick and easy.
  • Ultimate Guide to Canning Safety
  • Canning Apple Slices
  • How to Safely Can Tomatoes At Home
  • Canning Cherries with Honey

Check out my homestead mercantile for a full list of my favorite homesteading supplies.

Prefer to listen in? Listen to episode #134 of the Old Fashioned On Purpose Podcast:

19 Comments | Preserving the Harvest

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Reader Interactions

19 Comments

  1. Grammyprepper says

    July 8, 2020 at 6:29 pm

    EXCELLENT information! I did my first batch of violet jelly this year using what I had at home, of course with new jars/lids/rings. And THEN I went and bought a ‘real’ water bath canner cuz I have definitely got the ‘bug’! Pressure canning is in the horizon, but not quite ready for that yet!

    reply to comment
  2. Shelly says

    July 9, 2020 at 6:00 am

    I canned for the first time a few days before this post. I think the substitutes are great! But I was wondering how do you make sure the headspace is right without that gadget? I mean I guess maybe a plastic ruler. How important is the headspace ?

    reply to comment
    • Pam krebes says

      July 9, 2020 at 9:37 am

      Use the rings on your jars as a guide. The bottom ring 1 inch 2nd ring up 1/2 inch top ring is 1/4 inch head space.

      reply to comment
      • Arlene says

        February 3, 2021 at 3:25 pm

        Can I can raw meats in a water bath for 90 mins of boil time.
        A friend, calls this cold packing. Should I worry about the meats?? Chicken, beef or pork??

        reply to comment
        • Vickie Clark says

          February 6, 2021 at 3:38 pm

          NO – meats and low-acid vegetables MUST be canned in a pressure canner in order to get the water temperature to 240 degrees F needed to kill botulism spores.

          reply to comment
  3. Holly says

    July 9, 2020 at 6:36 am

    I’ve been canning for a few years now, so I already have the equipment, but these are great ideas and I might try them so I can cut my time in the kitchen with TWO pots going!

    reply to comment
    • Jasmin c says

      July 9, 2020 at 8:15 am

      I got lucky and got a huge pressure canner from a family friend…free!! It works awesome, i used it for pressure cooking for about a year before i had the need arise to pressure can the other day. I had a boatload of zucchini and squash land in my lap and couldn’t let it go to waste. I had ordered a canning kit and jars etc from Amazon a few months back so it was very serendipitous! I grabbed a good recipe chopped up the veggies and filled with water leaving headspace, and jumped in! And holy cow it worked!!! I’ve got 12 wonderfully sealed jars ready and waiting. I’m so excited to do more. Jill i was curious what do you think of tattlers and the like? I’m going to look into them as they are endlessly reusable.

      reply to comment
    • Christina Pfaff says

      August 22, 2020 at 5:25 am

      I’ve also been canning for years and never thought to use a big pot with rings on the bottom as a second canning pot! Great ideas in this article!

      reply to comment
    • Sarah says

      September 6, 2020 at 8:40 pm

      I just canned peach butter from the peaches on my very own peach tree. This was my first time canning ever and this article was a lifesaver!!!!! I had jerry-rigged everything except the jar lifting tongs. Thank you so much!!!

      reply to comment
  4. MemaZmom says

    July 12, 2020 at 11:40 pm

    Can all pressure cookers also pressure can? Or does it have to say that it is a “pressure canner” in addition to being a pressure cooker to be safe to pressure can foods?

    reply to comment
    • Emily Willard says

      December 12, 2020 at 5:50 pm

      I’ve been using a regular pressure cooker for years. The point is being able to get the jars up to the required pressure and the ability to keep it there for the required amount of time.

      reply to comment
  5. Kathy says

    July 14, 2020 at 11:32 am

    Hi Jill, I was interested in your canning ebook. Not sure you can help me out. This question is not in your field of expertise. But, I do not know where to go to read it on my iPad. Everyone I asked can’t help me. Hope you can. Thank you. Love all you do….Kathy

    reply to comment
  6. Sam Morgan says

    July 15, 2020 at 11:28 am

    Great – thank you, I have been stalling at the cost of buying equipment!!

    reply to comment
  7. Deb Burger says

    August 4, 2020 at 5:49 pm

    Thanks. I just placed order for lids by using your link. Thanks again.

    reply to comment
  8. Holly says

    September 16, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    Can I can in the instapot without using sugar, a sugar substitute or flour? I want to can applesauce, blueberries and peaches.

    reply to comment
  9. Stephanie says

    October 2, 2020 at 11:01 am

    I’m new to canning and I just made my second batch of pear preserves. I had to reheat them after 24 hours because it was still a bit liquid. After reboiling, temp to 200, it gelled. I put pears back in clean, hot jars, up to the first ring of the jar, then put the jars in pots of boiling hot water for 10 minutes, turned off heat and left another 10, and still only 2 lids popped and seam to be sealed. I took rings off and checked all jars and the other 3 lids came off. Does this mean they are bad, just didn’t seal for some reason? Or? They were all new jars, rings and lids. I put all of them in the fridge this morning to be safe. Suggestions?

    reply to comment
  10. Lexi says

    October 23, 2020 at 11:32 am

    You have an instinct to can more this year because there will be a huge food shortage. Caused by the same artificial “these times” you speak of

    reply to comment
  11. Lars says

    December 6, 2020 at 10:45 am

    My jars would not stay upright using those rings. They were all leaning over on each other in the water bath. Does that mean the final product isn’t safe? They seemed to seal and I don’t see any water in there…

    reply to comment
  12. Angelica says

    December 24, 2020 at 5:16 pm

    Thank you SO much! You gave me the confidence to go ahead and use what i have instead of going out and buying all new, expensive, stuff-the-pioneers-never-had equipment. I just used what i had on hand which included at tamale pot, a dutch oven and a keurig thermos which up to this day had not seen one day of use!
    (rest assured, I did buy new jars and lids, tho’ 😉

    reply to comment

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