Tracking My Canning Projects

I wanted a way to keep track of my canning projects and decided to make my own canning journal. My goals were to have a central place where I could record what I was canning, a place to write down where I found the recipe so that I didn't have to search all my cookbooks, and to know how much of each type that I made. I thought it would also be a good idea to have a place to note when I finished a batch too. This system does not replace the dates on my jars at all. I wanted to know if I was making too much of somethings and to know how quickly I was finishing a batch so that I could adjust my canning going forward. For instance, this past summer, I got a little carried away with the blueberry jam and made a little too much. Next year I know I need to look for recipes to make more than blueberry jam. I didn't know how many pints of carrots to can either, and we will run out of them pretty quickly because I love them! 

I enjoy making altered journals but I give most of them away as gifts. A couple of months ago I was teaching a card making class at my local scrap book store and as soon as I walked in I saw this awesome canning related paper line. I sat my supplies down and quickly started grabbing some of it! I have enough left over to make a cover for my canning recipe binder too. The recipes I have found online, I print off and then add to a binder in protective sleeves.

The inside is just regular notebook paper and I have recorded all the information that I wanted to track. I hope this will help me in the coming years to stay organized and not end up with a shelf full of blueberry jam and not nearly enough carrots!