Cabbage

Living on a disability income is not an easy thing to do. Especially when you are now bringing in less than half of what you brought home when you were working yet the bills remain the same. You have to cut costs where you can. Buying fresh produce and meat in bulk when I find a good sale is one of the easiest and best ways for me to trim our budget. Plus since I do not use all the chemicals that are in processed foods and convenience foods that you get from the store our health is doing better.

An added bonus for me is that canning is a hobby that I have always enjoyed. It relaxes me and takes my mind off all the little things that worry me from time to time. And I get the added benefit of knowing when I look at all my jars of food that I am able to feed my family good wholesome meals and not have to worry about running out of food before the next once a month check comes.


The week of St. Patrick's Day cabbage was on sale at one store for 19 cents a pound. For my area that is dirt cheap as cabbage is usually 69 cents a pound around here. I got 6 nice size heads. Below is just two of them.

After cleaning off the outer leaves I cut the heads in quarters and cut out the core.

Then I cut each quarter into pieces.

I blanched the cabbage for 3 minutes in boiling water then using a slotted spoon I filled the jars with the cabbage and packed it down a little. Then I added 1 teaspoon of canning salt and enough of the hot blanching water to come up 1 inch head space. I wiped the rims of the jars to make sure there was nothing on them then applied the 2 piece caps. Placed the jars in a pressure canner and processed for 55 minutes at 10 pounds pressure which is required for my area's sea level.


Canned cabbage does not look at green and pretty as fresh boiled cabbage looks but it tastes just the same and its yummy!

Though you can not see them all I got 15 quarts of cabbage put a couple of fresh meals out of those 6 heads of cabbage. Not a bad deal for about $3 worth of cabbage. I will be using some of this cabbage to make corn beef and cabbage. some for cabbage soup and some just heated up and served.