Balcony-to-Pantry Preserving Calculator
Turn a handful of harvest into one perfect jar
Most canning recipes are written for a big harvest. This calculator starts with what you picked: a few cherry tomatoes, three jalapeños, a bunch of radishes. Weigh it, and it writes a safe, small-batch recipe scaled to your jars, from a single half-pint up.
How it works
- Pick a method: Quick Pickle (no canning gear, 15 min plus 24 hours), Lacto-Ferment (no vinegar, 15 min plus 4 to 10 days) or Water-Bath Can (shelf-stable for months, 45 to 60 min).
- Add your harvest by weight, one crop or several.
- Get your recipe: ingredients scaled to your jar, step-by-step method, and storage and safety notes.
Every recipe you make, you can
- Save to My Recipes
- Download or print, with a notes section on the printout
- Turn into printed jar labels showing what's inside and a best-by date
14 crops: jalapeños, carrots, red onions, cherry tomatoes, small cucumbers, radishes, green beans, bell peppers, garlic cloves, cauliflower, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and peaches.
Fruit jams follow the National Center for Home Food Preservation's tested no-pectin proportions and canner times, with the altitude adjustment built in.
Is this just a PDF?
No. The PDF is your access card. The calculator is a web app that runs in your phone or laptop browser, and you can use it as often as you like. You'll need a kitchen scale that reads grams.
30-day refund. If the calculator isn't useful to you, contact us within 30 days of buying at homesteadingguide.com/contact and we'll refund you in full. No questions asked.
Homesteading Guide is Dean's. He grew up on a New Zealand farm, drove trucks for a living, and started growing his own food from scratch with a few pots, a jar of kombucha and a homemade loaf.