Greetings! The other night in the Homestead Honey Hour chat room, one of my regular subscribers as well as a regular chat room guest, shaunalovestocook, was chatting about how she wanted to start canning, but did not have a canning rack and unless there was some "redneck" way to solve that she didn't know what to do.
Well here is the answer to that question. I know that I have come across this dilemma every now and then and have been posed similar questions. The answer is as simple as using a plate that is a bit smaller than your pot or what I have done here.
Construct yourself a canner rack by using mason jar rings. If you have extras, put them to use. I would suggest only using the 'regular" sized jar rings as opposed to the "wide mouth" rings because I think you will have more success keeping your jars off the bottom of the pot.
You can also use this with a larger stock pot. You don't have to have a canner to start canning, you only need to have a pot large enough to accommodate the jars you are using. The pot I have used in this video is an 8 quart stock pot. I would only be able to use pints and jelly jars, but not quarts because I would not have the proper amount of space at the top to have 1 inch of water on top of the jars for the water bath processing.
I have lashed the rings together with some small zip ties or cable ties. You can find these at the hardware store or in the hardware section of any big box or even the dollar store.
This will give you a canner rack that you will be able to use for at least this season. The rings are not rust resistant so you may see rust forming. Make sure to dry the "rack" after each use to prolong it's life.
I hope that this information is helpful to shauna as well as others who may have been faced with the same problem.
Remember, there is always a way to make it work with what you have. The old adage holds true. "Use it up, wear it out, make it due or do without". We can do what we can do with what we have and we don't have to spend a lot of money to do those things.
Happy Canning!
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