This morning, I was engaging in some highly addictive Pinterest activity and came across a few websites that had to do with gardening and canning, which made me realize that I needed to get a better pressure cooker than the one I’m currently borrowing from my mother–when I tried to use it last season, I discovered the seal needed to be replaced, which I never got around to doing, and besides, it’s rather small and limits the number of jars I can do at one time.
I’ve been thinking about the garden that’s coming up, and how it’s going to be even bigger than last years and how much more produce it’s going to be producing, and I’ve been a bit concerned with how I’m going to preserve it all. So far, I’ve already gotten four different types of green beans that I can’t wait to plant–and that’s going to be a lot of greenbeans! Plus, this year I want to pickle some okra (planning on planting that again) and carrots and beets. Plus, if this year’s harvest of tomatoes is even half of what last year’s harvest was, I’m really going to need to rethink how I’m going to preserve it. I didn’t even go pick any fruit last year because I didn’t have a way to preserve it!
So, I did some digging and came across a pressure canner that I really liked (Presto 1755 16-Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker/Canner) and was big enough to do what I want to do and it got high ratings on Amazon.com. However, it was $72, plus shipping. Ouch. Something told me not to order it, so instead, I added it to my Wish List on Amazon.
Later today, I was engaging in yet another one of my addictive websites (Craigslist) when I happened to have stumbled upon a posting for, yes, a Presto 1755 16-Quart Aluminum Pressure Cooker/Canner for (wait for it) $25. It was still in the box, barely used, and was about 10 minutes from my house. It had just been posted, and as soon as the guy replied to my email, Hallboy and I jumped in the car to go get it. Once there, the guy threw in a couple of canning jars, four huge pots for cold bath canning (think that’s what it’s called), a few of the things needed for canning (like the thing to lift the jars out of the cooker) and a ton of lids and rings–still in the unopened boxes. The lids and rings themselves are worth $25! (They are expensive, especially since you can use the lids only once.)
I am so absolutely excited that I can barely stand it. The fact that I found EXACTLY the same thing that I’d put on the wish list earlier today, and that I got such an amazing deal makes me nearly want to cry.
This is not the only thing I’ve ever found on Craigslist–I have a beautiful vanity that I scored last week for $30 that is now in my bedroom, waiting to be repainted. A few months ago, I found about 300 bricks on Craigslist for FREE that I’ll be using this summer to do a patio area. Not only were the bricks free, but the lady who was getting rid of them loaded about half of them in her SUV and brought them to my house! (I could only put so many in the trunk of my car–those things were heavy!)
I also have tons of other stuff as well. I’ll admit that I’m a Craigslist junkie–I have the app on my phone that I use all the time (several times a day). I LOVE Craigslist.
So, fess up, what’s your best score on Craigslist?
