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(I am going to attempt to start a trend here, though for the schedully-challenged like me, don’t hold your breath 😉 I would never be able to stick to a *theme* for each day of the week, but I would like to try to start one for Thursdays and Fridays: “Thrifty Thursday” (speaks for itself) and “Feature Friday: How to Make Money Blogging”. If you ever have suggestions/requests for topics, I’d love to hear them! Or if you get tired of hearing about a certain topic, let me know that too!)
Without further ado…the first “Thrifty Thursday” post…
You may remember this post from my friend, Jane, who has gotten really creative in her efforts to save money on the power bill. I just had to show you what she’s up to now…she’s my hero.
5 comments
In my rush to get a new fangled oven when our last one died, I foolishly bought a glass top model. I was “sold” on its proposed ease of being cleaned. Then came canning season. It was hard to take that I could not can on that baby. The cleaning claim was a bit over the top. (Maybe they meant for the families who only boil water on their appliance?) Anyway, we have had to use our Coleman cookstove for canning. We are also going to use our cookstove as our means of cooking this summer too. In the open, right out on the deck. Baking bread may be a little trickier, but I am having our son make a solar oven for bread baking. AND it is a “green” science project to boot!
7 – You CAN can on your glass cooktop.
I do.
We’ve had two canners going at once on that baby, even though they’ve said not to. We did scratch the glass a bit, by moving the canner by sliding instead of lifting, but if you’re careful you can avoid that.
Our county extension agency said to be very careful doing so. In lab tests the temperature is not kept consistent in order to kill off bacteria. My Mom also cans on hers. But she does worry about cracking the top. I have done a lot of canning research and kept getting the message it was risky to can on my glass top. (For just those reasons temperature fluctuations and glass top cracking) Do you have any articles to the contrary? I would love to see them. If I could use my cooktop, I would. What kinds of things are you canning? My Mom will only do tomatoes since they are high acid.
No, no articles. I’d actually never heard of the temperature fluctuation issue – I didn’t think that would even pertain to canning. Or perhaps since I mostly do pressure canning, vs. hot water bath? With pressure canning, you just have to keep the pressure gauge reading whatever pressure the recipe calls for for however long it says, and for that I wouldn’t think small temperature fluctuations in the cooksurface would affect temperature in the canner itself.
I’ve had success with canning:
green beans
salsa
strawberry jam
peaches
tomatoes
spaghetti sauce (no meat)
My MIL has done pickles on her glass top. But that’s all I’ve tried so far. I want to try a greater variety of things this summer.
I’m no expert, but we haven’t had any trouble with jars going bad, or with the cooktop itself, other than scratching, and that has happened just in regular cooking, too. Sorry I can’t provide sources, just my experience.
That is awesome! There is some website out there called “campfire cooking”. I typed that in my search engine once and found it. I’d love to try it sometime (we live in town for now, but when we can get out I’d love it).