Organizing Your Canning Pantry (+Printable!)
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Are you looking for ways to organize your canning pantry? This Free Canning Inventory Printable will help you keep track of your canned goods.
Organizing Your Canning Pantry
I love canning! It’s our way of being able to preserve the produce that we can get for free, grow for free, or buy in bulk. By canning, you can make the most of your money and enjoy fresh produce year-round without the use of cold storage or even having to use a fridge. It’s a win-win!
My yearly goal for canned foods is to put away at least 300 jars. That gives us roughly 1 1/2 jars to use per day during the most expensive food buying season of the year. Some days we use canned foods and some days we don’t but this seems to be a fairly good baseline amount for our family.
–Check out these 12 Simple Ways to Save Money on Groceries for more ideas on saving on food costs during the winter months.
Here’s a picture of one of my previous canning pantries. This pantry was so easy to see what was available since it was tall and shallow (I could only place the jars 2 deep). I loved using it but it wasn’t quite enough room for all of my canned foods.
I discovered that no matter where I put the canned goods (that weren’t in their designated spot) I wouldn’t have space in my little house to be able to see all of the canned foods like I could with the nice canning panty. I ended up packing some in Jar Boxes and some in regular boxes and stacking them in the closet and under the bed. It’s working great for storage but sometimes I’m not totally sure what’s in there because it’s out of the way.
When we moved into the little farmhouse I didn’t have a canning pantry at all, and all of my canned food storage was limited to boxes and Jar Boxes so it was even more difficult to see what I had available. I knew I needed to come up with a better way on how to organize canned goods in a pantry.
So I came up with this get little canning jar printable so that we can keep track of exactly what we have, no matter where in the house it’s been stored! Click the link below to download the printable and take control of your canned foods inventory. In the first column fill out the name of the canned food and use the little jars to keep track of how many you have left. If you have jars stored all over the place you may want to mark where each is stored as well.
Canning Inventory Printable
The nice thing about this canning inventory printable is that you can use it for future meal planning. By easily being able to see exactly what you have, you can plan your meals around them. It’s so easy, you could even plan your entire winter menu based on what you canned and put away during the summer, just by looking at your canning inventory printable!
Not into canning yet? You can find dozens of canning and preserving recipes in our recipe index, and you can find some simple and basic canning and preserving how-to videos on my YouTube page.
Don’t have a canned food pantry? You can also print off a regular pantry inventory printable to keep track of your pantry items.
—Before completing your printable, make sure you Organize The Farmhouse Pantry so you don’t miss anything.
If you need more than just a canning jar inventory printable and/or you want to keep track of more than just your canned foods you will want to grab a copy of my Gardening and Preserving Journal. The Journal contains printables to keep track of your canning, the foods that you freeze, your canning recipes, and so much more!
Looking for more posts to help you get organized? Here are a few you might enjoy:
Ways to Get Organized
How to Organize Small Spaces
Getting Organized on a Budget
How To Stay Organized; Or at Least Make it Through the Day
How to Organize and Downsize Toys, Games, and Movies
Simple Ways to Declutter and Organize the Bathroom
Organizing The Farmhouse Pantry
What are some ways that you store and keep track of your canning pantry?
This post on Organizing your Canning Pantry was originally published on Little House Living in October 2012. It has been updated as of October 2019.
Hello, May I ask you about your pickles? I try every year to can pickles but they come out limp and soggy. I have tried many different ways to try and get them to be crisp. Do you have any suggestions? Thank you so much for your time
Mine aren’t perfectly crunchy but they aren’t limp. I have this weird method that I’ve never written down but it’s only a mixture of vinegar, garlic cloves, fresh dill, and water.
I’ve had best luck with normal pickle recipes using whole pickles. The less brine gets directly inside, the crispier they’ll be. Cut pickles come out soggier. But the best results are from refrigerator pickles. They only last a couple of months, but they’re crispy and delicious!
Thank you for sharing! I NEED help in this area for sure.
Thanks for the inventory form. I love it!
Hi Marissa, I love your blog and I loved reading about your early days of marriage in an old house and the RV. We have been married over 50 years and we started out in a 2 room apt and had to share the bathroom. Then we bought an old rundown house because it was cheap. We worked on that and spent every dime we could rake & scrape. Finally 20 years later we moved to the country and were able to build a new house and have the garden we dreamed about. God is good and He does provide for our needs just as He promised. I am inspired by your story and I admire your determination and hard work. Too bad there are not more just like you and your husband. So many now a days just want free stuff and food stamps. We love gardening and canning and being able to share with older folks that can’t garden anymore. It makes us happy to share the abundance of our garden. I am looking forward to your newsletters and wish you and your family much success and happiness! Blessings, Betty
p.s. There is a recipe on Mrs. Wages Lime pkg. for the best crisp pickles and they are easy, too.
Also use one grape leaf per jar
I am looking for information on canning my date paste. I would like information on processing. Where can I find this information? Also I would like information on canning a recipe that has condensed milk in it.