I took a good portion of these tomatoes and made

these jars of goodness.

These were not quite ripe enough to use today

I spent much of today canning 8 quarts and 2 pints of tomatoes.

It was rewarding in that I grew, harvested and canned the tomatoes but the economy of this is subjective. I spent ½ to 1 hour harvesting the tomatoes, 2 hours cutting and pealing them, another ½ hour putting them through a hand cranked food mill and then hours of tending the pot as they cooked down into a thick-ish sauce. Add to that cleaning the jars and lids and then watching the pressure cooker cook, it turns out I spent all day putting up what on a bad day might have cost me $20 at the store. Now don’t get me wrong I’m glad I did it and this will save me on my food cost but preserving food is not as easy or as “cost” saving as the books make it out to be.

Oh and by the way…. I know that I can use a water bath to can the tomatoes but I have found that at my altitude it is quicker to use the pressure cooker.