A prepper who relied on takeaways and shop-bought frozen meals now grows and preserves enough food to feed her family for four months - saving $2k-a-year.
Cara Jones, 27, started researching about homesteading after feeling “out of control” during the pandemic.
She slowly taught herself about methods to preserve food - such as canning - by watching YouTube videos.
Now the mum-of-two has stocked up her pantry with canned fresh vegetables, flour and pre-made meals and says her stocks could last for up to four months.
Cara estimates she saves $2k-a-year by prepping and now cooks meals from scratch for her husband Devon, 28, a truck driver, and their two children, aged two and three.
Cara, a content creator, who lives near Chicago, Illinois, US, said: “In 2020 when everything was going on, everything felt out of control.
“I’d rely on the stores.
“We used to live a normal conventional life – eating fast food and frozen food.
“I started watching YouTube videos and teaching myself about canning.
“Now I can control what goes into our body.
“I have enough food to last three to four months.”
Cara used to go to the shops at least once a week and often relied on takeaways and fast food to feed her family.
She used to think you could only become a homesteader if you owned acres of land and kept animals.
But the mum started looking up canning tutorials and realised she could create a pantry in her basement and start growing some vegetables in her small garden in summer 2022.
Cara said: “The first thing I canned was blueberry jam.
“I realised I could can and buy stuff from local farmers.”
Cara now mills her own flour, cans fresh vegetables and beans and stores it all in her basement.
She said: “I have six shelves. I rotate the food out and use the oldest first.
“I have juices, jams, flour and more.
“My goal is to have enough for a year.”
Cara grows tomatoes, green beans, strawberries, peppers and cucumbers in her small garden and gets her other fruit and vegetables from local friends.
She buys half a cow for $600 from local farmers and said it lasts the family six months to a year.
She also makes her own bread – instead of buying from the store.
Cara said: “I save so much money.
“It’s a lot cheaper.
“I save a few thousand.”
Cara “really enjoys” the process of cooking and canning and says her life is “so different” from before.
She said: “I think a lot of people are scare to make the change.
“I can show people what you can do in your situation.
“I feel like in 2020 I felt I had no control. I’ve taken control back.”
Cara now feels prepared for any situation – and knows she can always grab a pre-made meal in a can if she is ever stretched for time.
She said: “People say I’m crazy.
“But if something does happen everyone is rushing to the store.”
Cara also said the change in diet and lifestyle has improved her children’s behaviour.
She said: “It’s made a difference in my kids' behaviour.
“Their behaviour is so much better."
Cara Jones, 27, started researching about homesteading after feeling “out of control” during the pandemic.
She slowly taught herself about methods to preserve food - such as canning - by watching YouTube videos.
Now the mum-of-two has stocked up her pantry with canned fresh vegetables, flour and pre-made meals and says her stocks could last for up to four months.
Cara estimates she saves $2k-a-year by prepping and now cooks meals from scratch for her husband Devon, 28, a truck driver, and their two children, aged two and three.
Cara, a content creator, who lives near Chicago, Illinois, US, said: “In 2020 when everything was going on, everything felt out of control.
“I’d rely on the stores.
“We used to live a normal conventional life – eating fast food and frozen food.
“I started watching YouTube videos and teaching myself about canning.
“Now I can control what goes into our body.
“I have enough food to last three to four months.”
Cara used to go to the shops at least once a week and often relied on takeaways and fast food to feed her family.
She used to think you could only become a homesteader if you owned acres of land and kept animals.
But the mum started looking up canning tutorials and realised she could create a pantry in her basement and start growing some vegetables in her small garden in summer 2022.
Cara said: “The first thing I canned was blueberry jam.
“I realised I could can and buy stuff from local farmers.”
Cara now mills her own flour, cans fresh vegetables and beans and stores it all in her basement.
She said: “I have six shelves. I rotate the food out and use the oldest first.
“I have juices, jams, flour and more.
“My goal is to have enough for a year.”
Cara grows tomatoes, green beans, strawberries, peppers and cucumbers in her small garden and gets her other fruit and vegetables from local friends.
She buys half a cow for $600 from local farmers and said it lasts the family six months to a year.
She also makes her own bread – instead of buying from the store.
Cara said: “I save so much money.
“It’s a lot cheaper.
“I save a few thousand.”
Cara “really enjoys” the process of cooking and canning and says her life is “so different” from before.
She said: “I think a lot of people are scare to make the change.
“I can show people what you can do in your situation.
“I feel like in 2020 I felt I had no control. I’ve taken control back.”
Cara now feels prepared for any situation – and knows she can always grab a pre-made meal in a can if she is ever stretched for time.
She said: “People say I’m crazy.
“But if something does happen everyone is rushing to the store.”
Cara also said the change in diet and lifestyle has improved her children’s behaviour.
She said: “It’s made a difference in my kids' behaviour.
“Their behaviour is so much better."
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FunTranscript
00:00 Let's pressure can some sweet potatoes. It's really easy
00:02 Go ahead and peel your potatoes and then cut them into the desired size as you're cutting
00:08 You're gonna put them in some cool water so they can get all the starch out
00:11 You're gonna let them soak for a couple hours to get all of the starch out in a separate pot
00:16 You're gonna bring some water to a boil and then add just a little bit of sugar
00:19 This is going to make a simple syrup to help keep the sweet potatoes sweet
00:23 Fill your jars with your sweet potatoes and your simple syrup and leave one inch headspace and make sure you debubble
00:29 Wipe your rims with vinegar and add your lids and rings
00:32 Fingertip tight and add it to the canner
00:34 Add three quarts of water and a splash of vinegar to help keep the jars clear and this depends on where you live
00:39 So you want to make sure that you're looking up how much water when you add to your pressure canner
00:44 Once there's a steady stream
00:45 You're gonna go ahead and let it vent for 10 minutes and then add your weight
00:48 Let it come up to pressure
00:49 Once it comes up to pressure depending on where you live you're gonna set the timer for 65 minutes for pints
00:55 Once the timer is done, you're gonna turn off the heat and let it come down to pressure by itself
00:59 Once the pressure is down to zero you can take the lid off and you're gonna put it on a towel
01:03 And let them sit for 24 hours and you just can't sweep potatoes
01:07 We're homesteaders we save our beef fat to cook with it. We're homesteaders. We take shots at elderberry
01:17 We're homesteaders, it's not weird to have garlic hanging in your kitchen. We're homesteaders
01:24 We always have a towel over our shoulder because we're always in the kitchen. We're homesteaders
01:28 We have random cleaning products that we made. We're homesteaders. We save everything even scraps to make something out of them
01:36 Let's go grocery shopping in my basement. It's Sunday and that means restock day
01:41 We're gonna be getting a cow and a pig soon, so I'm really trying to use the last bit of meat that we have
01:48 So a lot of it is like roasts and stuff. So I don't know what I'm gonna make this week for dinner
01:54 But let's make in the freezer
01:57 Two roasts
01:59 Chicken breasts. Two things of ground beef
02:03 Apple juice, peaches, strawberry lemonade concentrate
02:12 Applesauce, diced tomatoes
02:15 green beans, corn, a squash
02:19 noodles
02:21 rice, chips
02:23 Cheez-its
02:27 Crackers, oats
02:29 Black beans, cranberry juice. I need some more like bread products
02:36 So I'm gonna grab a flower
02:38 I think that's everything from my basement. I do have to grab a case of water
02:44 That's it. But thank you for shopping with me in my basement. Pressure can some black beans first
02:50 You're gonna want to get your jars make sure they are clean and fill a big pot with water and get that boiling
02:55 Next you're gonna take your canner and you're gonna fill it up three quart sized jars of water and a splash of vinegar
03:01 Turn the heat on medium
03:03 So the water is warming because your warm jars need to go in warm water
03:06 Add your beans to a strainer and give them a good wash
03:09 Then we're gonna add it to our jars and we're gonna do a little bit over a half a cup
03:13 You don't want to overload these because they do expand. Once your jars are all full
03:17 You're gonna go ahead and take your boiling water add it to your jars
03:21 and you're gonna want to make sure you leave one inch headspace at the top and take a plastic or
03:25 Wooden stick and get any bubbles that there might be in the jar out
03:30 Then you're gonna wipe your rims with vinegar. This just ensures that you have a good seal
03:35 Then you're gonna go ahead and put your lids on and your rings and you only want to do it fingertip tight
03:40 Not too tight place your jars in your canner
03:43 And then you're going to put the lid on and make sure the little vent weight is off
03:48 And you're gonna go ahead and turn the temperature all the way up
03:52 Once you get a steady stream coming out of the pot and you can put your hand over the stream and it comes right back
03:57 You're gonna set a timer for 10 minutes
03:59 After the 10 minutes you're gonna go ahead and put your weight on and you're going to let the pot come up to temperature for
04:05 Me that is at 10 pounds. You have to check depending on where you live
04:09 You have to let them cook at 10 pounds for 75 minutes
04:12 And then you're gonna turn the heat off and you're going to let it come down in pressure by itself without
04:17 Touching the lid you don't want to take the lid off until it's completely at zero and your little gauge is all the way down
04:23 Once the gauge is down you can open up the lid and you want to make sure you open it up away from you
04:29 And then you can take your jars out
04:31 They're really hot so be careful place them on the counter with something underneath because the jars are so hot
04:36 Don't touch them for 24 hours and then take the rings off after the 24 hours to check the seals and you just can black beans