I'll pass on the pineapple zukes, thanks unless you want to make me a pineapple upside down cake with them. ;) But honestly I think the solution is a couple of things.

First in general I agree with you on the can the plain basics approach. They can then be used for many different things. And for the most part that is what we so.

The problem we run into is not wanting to waste anything be it extras from the garden or left overs as with the Rotel juice. DW is currently turning it into Bar-B-Q sauce which we do use alot of but I never though of.

The other approach is to expand your recipe book. We don't have to stick with what we "usually" use. Experiment.

Using the Rotel as an example: if you go to their website you'll find 50-75 recipes for using their product in everything from dips to casseroles, to breakfast and even main dish meals, etc. and over the past 4-5 years we have incorporated 8-10 of them into our routine with great results. They are now regulars when before we just used them for cheese dip, chili, and beef stew.

Now I have to admit that I can't relate to someone who didn't use up every bean in the house when there are SO many uses for them. We'd eat beans of most any kind everyday! But then we love brussel sprouts too so what do we know. ;)

So start thinking outside the same old recipe box! Buy a new cookbook or just do some online recipe exploring. New things keep us young and there is always TUMS.

Dave

Over the years I've had the same problem sometimes (thanks to the Harvest forum, I get all excited and make something we just don't eat! LOL).

Now I try to take a look, see what needs to be used up and make a point of finding a new recipe or method to try to use it. Sometimes I get lucky and find a real winner. Other times it's enough just to use up a jar of something.

Post here for ideas on specific foods too. Chances are someone has an idea you haven't thought of.

Do you store your home-canned things with your store-bought ones? That might help too. Visibility is key.

That said, sometimes there are things that just end up chicken food or compost. Sigh. Expensive lessons, but lessons nonetheless!

Deanna

Last year was my first year canning, and....I went a bit (umm ok a lot) overboard. Sadly, some items will be tossed. Expensive lesson, Deanna, yep. But also a learning experience. Try to limit the canning of "new" ideas to just a few a year. Last year I did lots. This year, we are doing the jalapeno jam and apple butter again and cinnamon pickles, but nothing else experimental from last year. This years experiments include, chocolate mint jam (no actual chocolate, just the herb) and since I liked the jalapeno jam we are going to try the mango jalapeno jam I saw posted on GW. Also some different pickles. But I digress. Ooooo... it is hard to stop canning once you get going!!! So many possibilities. With tomatoes, I only can them diced, sauced, and paste. This way, when I want to make salsa or spaghetti, I can try different recipes, because I have one basic tomato.

My main pantry is in my basement. But I keep a running tally list of what is down there. I have a white board on my refrigerator, and on that I list the things I need to be using. Right now the list includes: Dilly Beans, Zucchini Relish, Peach Jam, Mango Chutney.

We like dilly beans, but without that note on my refrigerator, I forget to serve them. But seeing the note makes me remember to throw some dilly beans on the plate whenever I make a salad.

My canned goods are in my basement as well, and sometimes it is difficult to remember to use the goodies! I use the same system for canned goods as I do for our weekly meals. I have a small recipe box with all of my regular menu items. Each item gets a recipe card. I list the name of the item, the location of the recipe, and any ingredients that I don't typically have in the pantry.

I adapted this system for my canned goods as well. Canned goods also get a recipe card. They are right in with my meals, so I can't forget them.

Also, I never grab just one jar for my main upstairs pantry. I always grab a armload. Right now, I have two quarts of peaches, two quarts of dills, and two pints of jelly ready to go when I need them.

Hope it helps!

Sharon,

I went through a similar kind of experience my first two years or so of canning. I made a bunch of jams---they all sounded so good!---but the truth is we have never eaten a lot of jams; ditto things like garlic jelly (so cheap! so easy!). And some things I thought I'd like and it turned out I just didn't (like the BBB apple pie jam, which many here LOVE)---no way to tell till you try it.

So just think of it as a learning curve.

I also needed a few years to get in the habit of thinking of home-canned goods as a NORMAL thing to USE. I kept waiting for a "special occasion" to show off those peaches in red wine or that homemade applesauce. (Sounds like you got over that one quickly!)

Now I can a LOT of what I know we'll use and like, and like Deanna, try a few new things each year to see if they "stick." I don't make a lot of something just because I have the ingredients unless I know we'll like and use it.

I extend this rule to the garden, too: I grow what we like. Often we've had WAY more greens than I could ever get DH to eat before they bolted, for example. But we never had enough pesto put up in the freezer to get through the winter. So this year, twelve basil plants took over some of the lettuce's bed.

When you do have a lot of something, though, I recommend Deanna's suggestion of asking for ideas here on how to use it. Chances are you'll find one or two things that work for you. (For example, 90 % of my summer squash now goes into zucchini bread. I have a recipe that's easy and tasty and freezes well, so when the squahs comes pouring in I make a tonne of it and we have it for breakfasts in the winter. I tried freezing it, making pickles, etc., but the frozen zuke bread was what we used, so that's what I make a lot of.) And if you don't, then you know to grow less of that thing next year!

Good luck. Happy canning.
And enjoy those pineapple zukes. ;-0

Z

I do the grab more than one item from the basement thing, too. I've also fallen prey to the cool new preserve, only to not find a use for it afterwards, LOL. I stick mostly to the basics now, and then modify them at the time I'm cooking.

I've found that by keeping some of the unusual items in my kitchen pantry, I tend to use them more. And, don't forget, they also make good gifts!

Leigh

I share some of the same situations where I get excited about a new recipe and then don't have much of an idea of how to use it.

Some things, like Chase's Italian tomato sauce are rather self-explanatory but I know I could be using it in ways other than what I'm doing.

The apple pie jam idea sounded so good, I made a bunch of it. None of it jelled very well and someone suggested using it on ice-cream which totally turned me off. The funny thing, though, was that apple pie is my favorite pie and I like apple butter but I don't want the apple pie taste on my breakfast toast. It's all still sitting on my pantry shelves.

Slightly OT but I often buy canned/jarred food items at Farmer's Markets or craft shows, bring them home and there they sit....but they looked so pretty!

All in all, there are a few things that I can, over and over and really enjoy.

jude

Our home produced foods are a major part of our diet but yeah........haven't we all put up stuff so it wouldn't go to waste? LOL. Therefore, I think ahead for my canning inventory, just like I think weeks ahead on my shopping. That way I seldom buy/grow out of impulse and with shopping aside from perishables keeping X number of units in my pantry allows me to rotate stores each week who have what is on my list on sale. I only go to one store a week, and only buy what I know is on my list when it's cheap. I figure I save about 20-30% routinely on my dollars. Likewise I know how many quarts of an item we need for a year's supply until the next garden goes in or fruit comes on and that's how many jars I make and stop.

I have a son who is a farmer and a daughter an ex farmer, so we are all into raising our own food and we 'share'. If I have a bounty of beans, they go to one of my kids, either fresh or put up. If one is butchering, they share. If I have extra eggs, I share. etc. It's a win/win for all of us. I have the cukes from lleh this year..........bearing like there is not tomorrow. I made one run of pickles and we are eating them as fast as we can. But the extra goes in bags to church to share with anyone who wants them, or the community food kitchen who is grateful for fresh produce.

I do not, however, even think about putting up more pickles. I also have started exercising self control with my garden. I grow half the variety of stuff I used to grow, because I use the space for stuff I know we'll use instead. Self control. LOL. That's the operative word.