Next week a co-worker/friend is bringing me a LOT of green beans and tomatoes.  I would like to can them, but I don't have a pressure canner, and I am NOT going out to buy one.

I'm thinking I have heard of a "water bath" method of canning (after all, pressure canners have not been around forever!).  Does anyone have any info or advice?

TY in advance!

 Green beans are a low acid veggie and to be safe must be pressure canned. Tomatoes are fine for water bath canner. But we are advised to add spoon of vinegar to each can to up the acid. Old tomatoes were very high in acid but many of the newer varieties are more low acid.  Green beans can be frozen. Older people dried the green beans. They were strung on string and hung to dry. They were called leather britches.  Babs

I would second freezing the green beans . . . you have to be careful with the low acids foods; they really do need to be pressure canned.

The tomatoes you could likely can though, but as babs mentioned you will need to make sure they are acidic enough.  If you don't want to worry about that, you could make some kind of sauce with the tomatoes and freeze (like a marinara or spaghetti sauce).  Sauces freeze pretty well and thaw for quick meals!

Good luck!  How nice to be given so many nice veggies! 

I will probably just freeze the green beans.  Frozen-and-then-steamed sounds loads better than canned, anyway.

And actually I was thinking of making up a lot of marinara with most of the toms, so you're right, I could freeze that. 

Looks like I will be holding off on selling that second fridge, since now I need the freezer room. 

I'm going to try a method that a friend of mine just told me about - her mother used to freeze tomatoes.

Wash the tomatoes and freeze them whole.  When you need some for soup, chili, spaghetti sauce, etc., just take them out, dip them in water so the skin will slip off, cut or chop them us and use them.

I don't usually have enough surplus tomatoes at a time to warrant heating up the kitchen to can them.  With this method, I can preserve them a few at a time.

My older sister always pressure canned green beans, and they were the only ones her family would eat -- never tinned ones.  I grew up hearing stories about pressure canners blowing up, so I was very leery about getting one myself.  I just bought a Presto 16 qt. pressure canner from Wal-Mart for less than $60.00 for our smal group canning sessions.  Well, I found the Presto so easy to use, not scary at all, and have purchased one for myself, as well.  :-)   I had been considering an All American at around $200.00, which I understand is the Cadillac of canners. 

I don't have a freezer, just the one in the fridge.  I do have shelves in the basement, and canning keeps the fridge free for other things which can't be processed. 

You're right that pressure canning hasn't been around forever.  What we probably will never know is how many people didn't clean or prepare things right and may have died from botulism.

 SouthernSaver, I have frozen tomatoes whole and it does work. They only drawback is that it does take up a lot of space. Another way it to throw them raw in a blender or food processer. Then freeze. They take up a lot less space that way. The skins will just grind up in a strong food processer. Babs

Reading this topic reminds me of something a friend of mine did a long time ago. Actually, I did it too without any thought. She used the waterbath method for green beans, but added vinegar to them. We ate them and never had a problem...that I know of. Any of you folks ever hear of this?

I thought of pickling, but haven't yet made pickles. 

The one thing I forgot to suggest is borrowing a canner.

 There are receipes for pickled beans. Maybe that is what she did. Babs