For how many people

Considering the time and cost of home canning, along with the quality of commercial canned and frozen produce, not to mention the potential danger of botulism if you make a mistake in canning, why would you want to home can a year's supply of fruits and vegetables?

I think Lisa is trying to exercise some self sufficiency, and I don't think we should discourage her! But I don't know the answer to her question.

I'm guessing this is motivated by the LDS church teaching to have some food storage for emergencies and economic difficulties. (Forgive me if that assumption is wrong!) I know the LDS church has some updated info on food storage on the Provident Living website at the link below, and they have transitioned away from recommending a year's supply of food storage. Instead, they're recommending a three-month supply of things you normally eat, and a longer-term supply of things that can last a long time, like wheat and rice.

This is probably because almost none of us were actually accomplishing the year's supply goal. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Food storage

BP there are lot of things one can put up without risk, particularly if you also freeze. Using readily available vacuum machines assures the food is frozen in an airtight manner. Corn, peas, tomatoes, chard, spinach, beans, broccoli, and certain varieties of zukes and brussels sprouts all freeze well. Jars of pickles and most jams seal without a water bath. Onions & garlic will easily store for over a year. Beets, carrots, parsnips, and cabbage store fairly well too. An herb garden is available all winter. Rosemary is a gorgeous ornamental with a very practical side.

And Steve, there is also the matter of taste and quality of food put by not to mention the management of our own individual carbon footprint. Not to mention the personal satisfaction of growing ones own food.
Jim

Thanks for the info.

When I was growing up, we always had huge gardens and my mom canned, but she stopped when she had a couple of jars explode and saw that the rest of the lids were bulging. We had a big freezer and she froze vegetables after that.

I've never had a garden of my own that was big enough to end up with any excess.

Sorry it has taken so long to get back. My husband's mother passed away so we were busy getting him back to Tennessee.
Anyway, we are a family of 4, to answer Jim's question.
With the cost of food and everything else skyrocketing, I recalled photos I saw in "Country" magazine a few years ago when they ran a series on the Amish. Their fruit rooms were amazing! I would love to have that much in my storage. There are some things I stock up on during the caselot sales because it is more cost and time effective but there is nothing like pulling that bottle off your shelf that you put up yourself and enjoying the flavor of those wonderful fruits and veggies.

There is something about growing your own food that people just don't understand. Yesterday for dinner we had my layerd chicken salad, a loaf of honey whole wheat bread,(bread machine), and zuccinni chocolate cake. Still battling for zuccinni.
Many things from the salad came from my own gardening beds. And with the price of everything in the store right now, it was a really good feeling.
Check under the vegtable section there was someone asking the same question there. Someone from New England posted alot about that. The square foot gardening book I got a couple of years ago at the library also mentioned this.

I don't think food storage hurts anyone for what ever reason. I wouldn't say I am an authority on it. My biggest memories of food storage was playing hide and go seek in the LDS neighbors across the street growing up in Idaho. They always had a years supply, alot of it canned. Store was also fun it looked like a grocery store. My parents always bought things by the case on sale or froze things. We lived in a little town, and it was 40 minutes in to town for groceries. In the winter you didn't want to go with out. I still have that same feeling, I am not a big driver and I like to be stocked up for the winter. Plus I like to stock up while things are on sale.
So I say you GO GIRL!

I don't plan ahead very well, but after I finish canning things I can kind of tell how long it will last (or how slowly we would have to eat them for them to last until next year).

The Ball Blue Book of canning is really helpful- it tells about how much of a fruit or vegetable it will take to fill a quart jar. That might be a place to figure out how much you would need to fill however many quarts you need.

I should think that planning should also incorporate getting rid of the old stuff. Ideally I guess one would use the old stuff before it gets too old. However...

When I purchased my first house in SLC it had cases of 40 year old peanut butter (Well, 38 year old actually.) stacked from the bottom to top of part of the basement.