The Prepper Broadcasting Network - Eat Healthy with Home Canning and The Canning DIVA

Episode Date: September 3, 2025

Diane Devereaux, The Canning Diva®, has safely home canned food since 1989 and for over 10 years has made it her mission to teach the inner-workings of food preservation so everyone is empowered through knowledge to have a well-rounded food supply year-after-year.https://canningdiva.com/Video Link https://rumble.com/v6yfzd6-eat-healthy-with-home-canning-introducing-the-canning-diva.htmlGet Prepared with Our Incredible Sponsors! Survival Bags, kits, gear www.limatangosurvival.comEMP Proof Shipping Containers www.fardaycontainers.comThe Prepper's Medical Handbook Build Your Medical Cache – Welcome PBN FamilyPack Fresh USA www.packfreshusa.comSupport PBN with a Donation https://bit.ly/3SICxEq

longest time, I don't think a lot of people didn't look at canning as necessarily the healthiest way to eat because they were thinking like fresh produce. But now with now we know like what's on the fresh produce. And it definitely seems like a better idea to eat your own grown food that you've canned because you know it's free of, you know, all the nasty stuff. Right. And that's, I mean, I tell people and they, and we all agree, it's like, you know where your food comes from you you either grew it uh yourself you procured it from a farmer you know um or you're part of a csa and you know that farm right um yeah knowing where your food comes from what what you're putting into every jar you can pronounce the ingredients like that's you know um

yeah it's it's eating healthier it's being prepared it's sustainability it's all it's all packaged in a you a little jar. It's weird because all these things that are happening seem like the safest route is taking a couple steps back, you know? And that's, I think, where you've got to be delighted because canning is one of those skills that just seems to be like creeping further and further into the spotlight, you know? Yeah. I mean, when I first started the canning diva, it was to fill that generational gap, right?

Because this used to be a way of life. Sure. Sure. You know, 60s, 70s, 80s, you know, it kind of faded out, right? So bringing that back. But you're right now, it's not just perfect timing. I think people are just sick and tired of what they're seeing on the grocery store shelves, what they're learning about. You know, now that we have a lot more technology at our fingertips, like with AI, understanding what those ingredients are. and going, I don't want that in my body. Yeah, it's, it's so many of these things that are just affecting us. And then look at the healthy side of it, right? Our health has declined. It hasn't gotten better.

We've advanced in so many areas, yet our health is declining. What's going on? And the next book that I'll be, it's finished. It'll be launching in March of 2026. It's called from, yeah, from C. to table. And what I'm educating people on, because canning is one big part of it, right, knowing where your food comes from, preserving it. But it starts with our soil, right? So from growing it to harvesting, seed collecting, and then utilizing all forms of food preservation. So whether

that's dehydrating, canning, freezing is even, you know, that's food preservation. It's shorter term, but it's important to know the ins and outs. Yeah, we have become an educated society, and we're saying no more. I'm tired of what's being marketed to us by major corporations, and yeah, I'm going to start doing it myself. Heritage Food Crafts. Like, look how many people online are making their own dinner.

Because, you know, the brand we love, Braggs, you know, got bought out, and they're saying that the mother isn't in the new, the new oh really yeah or the new formula i guess i don't know i've got a bottle on the counter right now it looks pretty mothery i still have mine with the mother in it too but um it's just it's just i think we've lost trust in the companies we've lost trust in the marketing we've lost trust in the government we've lost trust and it's like well i'm just going to go back to basics because i trust myself right making my own butter doing my, you know, my own vinegars, tinketures.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Canning. It definitely feels like that's one of the best outlooks for the sort of automation AI world that we could be inheriting or we will be inheriting for sure, which is people are going to have a little more free time, whether that's good or bad from an income standpoint. I don't know, but it will lend itself to skills like what you're talking about, right? Not just canning, but food preservation on a whole food.

production on a whole. I love the idea of the book. I think the book idea is phenomenal to go from from really big start to finish. Because people get pieces of it. You know, people definitely get pieces of it along the way. But when you see the full cycle, then you can really start to employ that in your life. Right. And you'll be surprised. It's called from seed to table. I submitted the completed manuscript in December of 2024. It just went to print. It's very exciting. That is exciting.

Yes, and then it'll be out March of 26. So this is the first place I'm talking about it. Wow. I know. Only here, guys. I'm just kidding. But I think people, they loved my meals in a jar cookbook. And I gave people what they wanted.

This is something that they had been asking for. So meals in a jar jumped that off because now it's cuisines from around the world. And then from there, people were asking me about more of the garbage food type items, you know, ways in which to preserve foods or spices or just any, you know, all of it. And then they see me gardening. So I get a lot of gardening questions. And so from seed to table, it's like bringing us back to that seasonal rhythm. You know, we used to eat based on the seasons. We used to grow based on the seasons, preserve, right?

And we eat local. So, I mean, don't get me wrong. I love the fact that we can import things from around the world. I'm happy that we can try new things that we otherwise wouldn't have access to. but ancestrally we really ate local and we ate seasonal and so my book from seat to table is kind of bringing that back and explaining how that seasonal rhythm and um you know incorporating that growing cycle that eating cycle and then the sense of community with it all oh yeah yeah i i just it's a wholesome book it's i'm pretty proud of it um

I put a lot of work into it. I did. I, you know, it's, I don't think people understand when we write, so like going back to from Meals in a Jar, you know, when I'm asked to create over, you know, 100 recipes or 80 recipes, it doesn't just happen overnight and the writing part of it, you know. It takes a good two years to get a book, you know, from concept to the store shelves. they are like babies right in some ways oh yes and then you always go i caught near you know because you can look at it a million times and you just ah you're missed one you know so far i don't think

i have any um in meals in a jar yeah hiring an editor is a game changer right it goes through three rounds of proofing and yes i work very tight and close with my editor um oh yeah we stare at this thing multiple times from multiple angles to try and you know make sure we've got it as buttoned up as possible and then there's a typo it's like seriously my metric on writing books is always when I am completely sick of looking at it is when it's ready you know what I mean when it's like I don't even want to see it publish I don't want to see it again I'm thankful that there's some time between, you know, submitting the manuscript and the first few rounds of proofing and then design because it gives my eyes a break. And I feel like I get to look at it with a fresh set of eyes after a few months because you, it's just healthy to do that.

But you're right. When you're sick of looking at it, you're like, okay, get it done. Get it away from me. Get it off to the editor. I feel like it's a good way to know. You've given it everything. You know, you've looked it over so many times. because in the early stage, and that could take, you know, 20, 30, 40 times because you can add, you start to add and, you know, yeah, it's a price, you know, you've written. Sometimes that's also when I step away from things because I'm like, okay, nope, nope, I'm, I'm mulling over this paragraph repeatedly. Oh, yeah, yeah, I got to stop. I got to, mm-mm, no, no, so change my focus on something else. And then the recipe creation side of the canning cookbooks that I've published. It's never ending.

So when people are like, hey, I haven't, you haven't responded to my email on a few, it's because I'm in the kitchen, right? Or I'm, right? Or I'm doing R&D. Kitchen, yes. So I'm not, I'm not a traditional, you know, sit in front of the desk office person.

I just can't be. That's good. You can't create recipes from the computer desk, right? You've got to be. A lot you can't do from the computer desk. Yeah, you're forgetting that, right? Yeah, you got to be in the computer. kitchen and you're living it. I mean, I get laughed at. I have notebooks all over. I have one in the car,

one on my nightstand, one right here in the kitchen, because my brain, I'm constantly thinking of ideas or I might go out to a restaurant and have an amazing meal. And then I'm like, ooh, how can I get that into a jar? Oh, man. Yeah. I mean, that's, yeah. So I mean, like, For meals in a jar, I had a lot of fun collecting ideas, concepts, and recipes over the course of, well, about, well, for forever, but specifically for this, about five years. And, you know, some of the things that I liked the most myself, whether I'm at a friend's house, a restaurant, or I'm trying something new at home, it's like, okay, now how do I get this in a jar? So I'm constantly on my note. And then when I lay in bed at night, right? I'm like, oh, I thought it's up.

So I grabbed the notepad. The biggest issue I have is I have too many. Oh, of course. Bring them all together and find a way to, oh, my goodness. What is that? That is a thing, man. There are people who are constantly generating ideas. And then there are like people who can do a nine to five and turn everything off and relax.

I don't know what that's like, but that's probably pretty nice and relaxing. I'm in your camp with notebooks and to-do lists and that kind of stuff. Is it just an energy thing, you think? I think it's because I don't want to forget. Oh, no, I get that's hard. And if I've got a good idea, or sometimes I'll do those voice memos too on the phone. That's a good way to do it, yeah. So it's energy, it's creativity.

My brain is going. It doesn't really shut off. This is just how it is. I mean, I didn't even woke up in the middle of the night with an idea. I was scribbling it down in my notepad. They're valuable, you know. They're literally valuable. That's the problem, right?

You know it inherently that it's a valuable thing. Yeah, thank you. It is. And then I think from those types of notes and collection of ideas comes some really good recipes, right? I mean, I'm thankful. like some of my my customers that you know they reach we have a private i have a private facebook group but they'll reach out and they'll be like i tried your korean bogogi oh my gosh you know and they're just

the you know the bogagi was like a winner some of some people were like i bought the book just because you had that in there um sure yeah some of the recipes were just family favorites that you know my mom or my aunts, you know, would make like the rouladen, you know, and getting creative on how to put that in a jar because that's something you typically would just bake and serve. Are you talking about like a roulette, like a meat with the stuff? Yeah, where you found out the meat, yep, and you stuff out with the onions and the pickle and mustard and you, yep, and then you, yeah. so it's just it's been fun taking a lot of these favorites of mine and and others and you know like with my vegetarian chapter that was all birthed from carry underwood you know getting a opportunity to meet and get to know her and teach her how to pressure yeah she doesn't eat

meat so she was asking specifically for more meatless you know recipes and then later some meat alternatives i had a lot of fun with that one um because i'm a meat eater right so i had to like shift my brain like all right flex a little yeah yeah i don't eat meat how am i going to enjoy this what am i going to what am i going to create how do i do this and then how do i make it safe for home canning right so maybe the best people to develop meatless recipes or people who love meat huh i never thought about that i still want it to taste good right right you know it's lacking whereas someone who doesn't eat meat might not remember what's lacking yeah the the the canned meal thing i think is so timely right now diane because like it's almost impossible to afford eating out

and we know that it's not that good for you you know the the meals in the frozen aisle are crazy and uh and crazy expensive now too right like it seems like frozen meals are even expensive and beyond all that we we've never been more pressed for time like i don't know if you feel that and see that in your life but in our life you know and people that we know it's like how did we get so busy how did we have wind up with 30 minutes to make dinner for the whole family and you know you want it to be good you want it to be nutritious yeah and you know everybody's busy on top of it after dinner you know kids are going to practices now and that kind of stuff and it's like yeah it's seems like the best solution right now would be because I think people think canned meals and

then they think like high sodium soup you know and they just have no idea what's possible it just seems like the perfect time for for the canned meal to make like a triumphant return and people to be like wow I save money I got rid of my blue apron I got rid of my factor mail-in food right right right yeah and you're making your own stuff You know, do you feel like, is it feasible to prep this kind of stuff, like on a Sunday so that you have it for the week? I mean, like yesterday I was just talking to my girlfriend, Vicki, you know, she asked me, is it okay if I get the prepping done today, but I can it tomorrow? And the answer is yes. It's kind of like the crux of this, right?

We need to save time, but we need to invest time. So how do we make this work? so that I have ready-made meals. And you're correct. We can do a lot of the prepping in advance. We can refrigerate things. We can even pre-cook and get the majority of that meal made on the one day, right? Keep it in the refrigerator a day or two and then get it, you know, into the jars and into the pressure canter.

We have to do whatever works for our schedules. So yes, absolutely. I even hear from people, and I've done this myself, where I'll get excited to get a double batch of, let's say, for instance, you know, chili with meat, right? I want to have chili on the ready. So I'll make a huge double batch to, you know, can up. And then I'm exhausted and I only got through processing one batch. It's okay to put those jars in the refrigerator and get them canned up, you know, within a day or two. so yes you have to do what works for your schedule like you're saying everyone's schedule seems to be

we all just seem to be busier and crazier um but boy does that come in handy when you can just you know head to the pantry grab a jar of this is pork fajitas with beans and you just heat it up you know now you can make your sides or trap your lettuce and whatever that might be and you have dinner on the table in 20 minutes, whereas cooking the fajitas from scratch is going to take more time. So, you know, it's a blessing. Truly is a blessing. I think it's a change that like everybody has to give it a go. You know, I love your concept of batch cooking. That's what I do when I do a tomato sauce or a meatball or a chili. It's like a big batch. And then we eat some and can some. and then you have that backup for that purpose.

If you could, do you think you could lay out maybe like a five-day meal that you would put together, five-day canning meals just to give people watching sort of an example of like five meals that they could can and have a week where they're just dumping dinner into a pot because it's alluring, you know. And like I said, you go out and eat, it's too expensive. You don't know what's in the food. You don't know what's in the food when you're buying it frozen. And nothing's going to feel better, I feel. like to people nowadays with everything that we know, then home cooking.

I mean, it's clearly going to be a return. And canned meals seem to be the way to maximize efficiency with home cooking, you know. My best advice is, again, focus on those seasons. So, for instance, right now, tomatoes seem to be in season throughout, you know, most of the United States. So I would then go into the book, and I would find at least, least three to five recipes that have chicken, chicken, that have tomatoes. I read the word chicken, that have tomatoes either as its main base or are utilizing

tomatoes with, you know, a ratio of, you know, 25 to 50% of the recipe. For instance, like taco soup, I have got some really good recipes in here. but I would take then that as my focus because I'm either growing those tomatoes or I'm going to the farmer's market and I'm buying, you know, a bushel or two. And then I would just block time on a weekend or a weeknight. And now you can divvy up those tomatoes. We're just using that as an example into those, let's say, three meals. And then get those pressure canned and preserved so that when October hits, right?

or November, December, right? And things are busy. You have a variety of meals in your pantry. If you just focus on one recipe, that's great. But then you're eating that repeatedly. Another option is, and I tell people to do this with a canning calendar, when the food comes into harvest, or for instance, when meat happens to go on, sale because again they're usually slaughtering around you know November we seem to have a lot of

specials in the store deals in the stores or at the book that is your time to purchase and then in your canning calendar you go through the recipes that you're interested in and kind of map that out over the course of a month or three months whatever time frame you have to do your canning and that's how you make your focus now if you are just cooking for yourself, right? You don't have a big family to feed. You can half batch. So if you see a recipe you like in meals in a jar, for instance, margarita chicken, okay, it's delicious, it's yummy, it's got a little bit of tequila in it. It's very yummy. But you don't want to have seven quarts or 14 pints. Sure, yeah. That's too much, right? You're never going to eat

at all. You'd be surprised how much we eat. But you can cut that in half. Right? You just cut all the ingredients down in half. And sometimes the half batch canning makes it easier for individuals to have a variety on their pantry shelf quicker versus it always being full batch. It really comes down to, you know, who you're canning for or how many, right? And then what types of foods you enjoy consuming and then comparing that with either how you shop or how you grow. And before you know it, you start, you know, after a season, you stand back and you're staring at your pantry and you're like, I've got, I did good. I've got meals because you hit the nail on the head. And I say this often.

It's wonderful to have pickles and jellies and sals and jasas and jams, but that's not going to provide you sustenance. Those are supplemental, right? How we eat and live. Without actual meals in a jar on the ready, your pantry's imbalanced, right? Cooking from scratch all the time, I love it, I do it, but sometimes I don't have time. And so it's just nicer to know I have a jar that I can just heat and eat. You don't get to do that if you just have pickles in your pantry, right? It's a tremendous benefit right now.

I don't think everyone is quite grasped, but I do feel like in five. years we'll be looking back going how did we do life without these densely nutritious canned meals in our pantry that we could just dump and go yeah yeah because it does seem like canned food has reached like opulescence right it's like kind of obsolete in some ways you look at kids not a lot of canned food i'm talking traditional aluminum tin from a corporation that you look at and go like that's something i definitely want to eat today You know, there's very few canned items that I eat. And I think once you start home canning and you're tasting the wholesomeness of the food

because you're getting real ingredients and not a bunch of things you can't pronounce. Oh, for sure. It's like you don't go back to eating that. That is interesting, right? I make my own tomato soup. No, don't get me wrong, growing up. We loved grilled cheese sandwiches and then Campbell's, you know, tomato soup. Right, yeah.

And you know what I mean? We did that, just like everybody. Until you start realizing how much sodium is in there. Tremendous, yeah. Tremendous. And then you realize, I don't know where those tomatoes came from, right? We're going to hope it was an American farmer. We're going to hope, you know, that they weren't over sprayed with pesticides.

We're going to hope, right, that they were good quality. So you start getting to this point as a home canner and as someone who, enjoys knowing where their food comes from, you start looking at all those aluminum cans very differently. And I can't even tell you the last time I purchased soup in a store, jams or jellies in a store, condiments. I do buy mustard because I don't make my own. I know everyone's like, why don't you make your own? It's just one of those things. I appreciate the craft and there are certain brands that I just love. And I'm so proud of what they've created that I just I buy that, but you're right, meals in a jar, once you've got it down pat and you've got

a pantry, I mean, eating out is a treat. It is, it is from time to time. And sometimes it's also a nightmare that you're paying a lot of money for. You go out and get bad service or bad food and it's like, oh, God, spending a lot of money on this bad experience. Yeah, since COVID, it's, I feel bad for our restaurant industry. like what happened? Sure.

What happened? You know, now the portions are smaller. You can tell that they're struggling to get staff. Definitely. The price went out. Yeah. The price went up or they're including the credit card processing fees. Some places are even including the tip without me even.

Auto include the tip. That's always good, right? Yeah. I just, what used to be a good $25 night out is now 50. But we didn't get $50 worth of. $50 worth of, you know. Cracking a can open when you get home. Right.

I'm still hungry. Yeah, exactly. You mentioned only briefly when you were talking about seasonality and canning the canning calendar, and I don't know what the canning calendar is, but it sounds cool. Yeah, I'm going to be working on one with my publisher to create and sell because for the last, you know, 15 years. I've just been telling people to get a calendar, use it for gardening, using it for canning, and put it together kind of in your own style and format. However, yeah, I wanted to create one that is a lot more in tune with what we're trying to

accomplish, you know, with gardening and home canning versus just get, you know, getting a calendar off the store shelves. So that'll be, I can't say win yet, but that'll be something that we can all start taking advantage of. I've looked into printing these myself and I wanted to bring them to Prepper Camp. I just, we won't have them printed and done in time, so I'm really bummed. I know. I'm still working on it.

I actually just got an email this morning from the sales lady. We're going to see what we can do, but the calendar helps because what will happen over time naturally once you get into the rhythm of using the calendar, you start to see the synergy between the growing or the harvesting and the recipes. Oh, I bet. It comes this really nice flow. It also helps you decide what to grow in your garden because we've all been there where we just, we get excited, we get a bunch of seeds, we grow everything, and then we're like,

And then I now have two bushels of something I can't even, right? Oh, for sure. It kind of helps you and it helps your family too with meal planning because how many of us are like, what do we make for dinner tonight? If you can use that calendar to your advantage from both standpoints, even shopping if you're not a gardener, just how you shop. Yeah, that's a good call. Shopping lists for creating those canned meals.

That would be a huge help. yes and then before you know what your pantry's full and i think the calendar just makes us more efficient yeah i like it i like it it makes me think even bigger than the calendar maybe the canning diva phone at that would be pretty cool right your notification bling it's this month make sure you store your own recipes yeah your favorite recipes yeah and then oh i like that because then based on where you are in the hemisphere, it'll let you know what's coming. Yeah. Oh, right.

Location specific. Okay. See? See? I need the notepad. I got to write this down. There it is. Do you want to pause for a moment and run and grab the notepad?

Because that's a good one. It's right there. I can keep the crowd busy. I could keep them going. It's okay. Oh, man. Now, that would be cool, though. I can definitely see the Canning Diva phone app.

I'd put it on mine for sure. Sure. Yeah. All right. Next project. You know you love it. It's one of those things that people like us, we die for a new idea and a new. Oh, I do. You know, it's been such a blessing. Before I moved to Florida, my agent got a hold of me and said,

hey, I got another book project for you. Woo! I mean, and that's exciting. I mean, now these, again, it takes two years. So I'll be focusing as the canning diva, not just on canning. I'm broadening things out because I am more than just a canner. I know I kind of pigeonholed myself with my brand name, but I am a food preservation expert, right? This is what I do, a day in and day out. And I want to talk more about heritage food crafts.

I want to dive into more things that, you know, utilizing all of these preserved goods. Right? Sure. Yeah. Or breadmaking or, you know what I'm saying? So, I mean, this next book is going to be really branching out and combining all of these things I've been talking about and teaching about and writing about so that we have a really good tool in our arsenal so that we can continue to utilize the things that we grow, create, preserve. And that one, I'll have more information. That won't be out until, is it 2027 or 2028? Oh. Yeah, bear with me. I know, I know.

It's a full schedule, right? I'm very blessed. You know, I'm very blessed. Could be worse. Could always be worse, right? Nothing to do. Right? That's a terrible.

thing about so what's the name of the book coming in spring okay so that is from seed to table from seed to table okay that's the one to look for if you're not going to prepper camp right yeah i won't have it at prepper camp that'll come out march of 2026 but i will have at pepper camp meals in a jar which uh we just celebrated it's one year anniversary and then i'm also going to bring um the beginner's guide to canning because it's a really you know if you're new to home canning or Or if you're a veteran canner, there's some really good recipes in here. Sure. But this is what a lot of individuals, the Beginners Guide, are using to learn how to preserve both pressure canning and water bathing.

I have some individuals that use it as their textbook when they teach. So that's also been a blessing. So we have both of those books with me at Prepper Camp, and then I'm hanging there. If I can get that calendar to arrive on time, I will definitely be bringing that to sell at Prepper Camp. I imagine you do really well with the Canning Calendar at Preper Camp. I know. I'm trying. It comes down to the LTD carriers. Like how quickly can we get it here?

Or, you know, maybe I have to ship it there, but that's going to, we'll see. Yeah. No, I get it. I get it. Diane, it's always a pleasure. Tons of stuff on the front burner and back burner. not just the canner, not just the pressure canner. But I want to thank you for coming on and joining us again.

It's been a great time. Thank you. As always, it's been a pleasure and thank you for having me. Can't wait to see you live at Preber Camp. I know. I'm excited. I'm so excited. I miss being around the people.

I miss engaging and hugging and talking and answering questions. I cannot wait. I'm really looking forward to it next. Oh, yeah. They're going to fly. to you for sure especially after class lists of questions in the whole nine yards then we'll talk soon all right sounds good see it see you see you