Maine Creative Momma

Over the weekend, I made a purchase I’ve been considering for a very long time: an electric pressure canner.

I know that the old school canning crowd just choked on whatever they were drinking, but hear me out. My electric stove can’t handle canning – It can barely boil water (a slight exaggeration but closer to the truth than I enjoy). I’m also a mom to two small boys who need about as much supervision as a pressure canner does, and I cannot split myself in two. Plus I’d like to see how these crazy boys turn out, so keeping them alive feels more important than monitoring a stove.

I have a beautiful stovetop pressure canner that I have spent many hours sitting and babysitting when we had a house with a gas stove (and I didn’t have babies to worry about). The pride of being able to make food and store it is something I can’t live without any longer. And since it would cost approximately $12k to install the necessary gas line, retrofit my kitchen, and buy the stove, as compared to the $360 for the electric pressure canner….well, there isn’t enough Girl Math in the world that could justify what I really wanted to do.

So I wait patiently now for an electric canner to be delivered sometime in early June.

And as I wait, I plan. Something I am perpetually the queen of. Planning, thinking, scheming, and scheduling.

My mind is filled with ideas of my own garden veggies, local farm stands harvests, and the occasional sale at Hannaford becoming part of our winter food storage solution.

Jars of green beans, peas, carrots, and corn all ready to become dinner at the drop of a hat.

Rows of soups, packed with nurturing ingredients available to keep us warm in the middle of February.

Broths, stews, meats, jams, sauces, and condiments all prepared for easy cooking. And all homemade in my wonderful kitchen.

I’ve mentally built out the perfect storage space in our basement. Shelves for the jars, baskets for the potatoes, braids of garlic and onions.

While it will take time to get there, I know that by fall our home will be filled with wonderful foods that will keep us warm and fed all winter long.

And it won’t matter that I used the electric canner – all that will matter is how comfortable we will all be.