>>>Can nonbelievers use their facility?<<<
Some facilities allow non members to use them and “canning” at those facilities means tin cans. They have all the equipment for it. For the rest of us, there’s mason jars. Water bath canners are cheap but all you can do are high acid foods. Pickles and tomatoes and even the tomatoes need a little vinegar or citric acid added. A pressure canner is needed for non acidic foods like all your other veggies and meat. I bought a pressure canner from wally world several years ago for $70
Regular store bought canned goods last indefinitely. In 15 years, they’ll still be edible. The texture, color and taste won’t be quite the same but still edible as long as the can doesn’t rust through. For home canning to be cost effective, you really need a garden. However, pressure canning allows you to can stuff that’s not available in stores. All your game meat for one. In fact, meat in general since it’s not all that cheap in the store bought cans.(beef-chicken-pork) I’ve got some brandied apple rings I did a few years back. Blackberry jam I made with wild blackberries me and the kids picked around here.
If your friend is already into cooking, he/she might enjoy canning. Other than that, for preparedness, just buy a little extra from the store each shopping trip, store what you eat and eat what you store aka rotate stock.
Canning can be dangerous - botulism. Don’t use old recipes or recipes from just any old website. There’s plenty of recipes that have been developed in cooking laboratories that are safe so it doesn’t make sense to take a chance.
START HERE - free and tested - general info - techniques and recipes
USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning
http://nchfp.uga.edu/publications/publications_usda.html
Center for Food Preservation - canning, drying, fermenting etc
http://nchfp.uga.edu/
Ball - Ker website - has recipes and Ball has a recipe book they put out regularly called the Blue Book of Canning
http://freshpreserving.com
Jars, lids and bands and the lids are one time use. The best way to buy the lids is in bulk on ebay. Way cheaper. Jars come with one lid and one ring/band and here in the States, figure a buck a piece. Golden Harvest is a cheap brand and they work fine. Ball lids fit the GH jars just fine. Water bath canner are usually available as a kit that gives you the jar lifter, special jar funnel and head space measuring tool. Presto is the cheap, yet well known brand of pressure canner. Looks like Mirro is another and the Cadillac is All American brand which is all stainless steel and machined so well, they don’t need a gasket.
http://everythingunderthesunblog.blogspot.com/
By one Wendy DeWitt - doesn’t look very active any more but hey, there’s a Spanish translation now. It’s sort of a complete canning, prepping meal system including a menu planner. PDF downloads are right up top.
“Jars, lids and bands and the lids are one time use. “
Wrong. Jars and bands can be reused. The lids can’t be.
L