About Us

The high cost of living shouldn’t cost you your food security. Grocery prices climb. Supply chains wobble. And somewhere between shrinkflation and sell-by dates, families are quietly losing ground on one of the most basic things in life: eating well.

At Canned Experience, we believe food preservation is the most practical answer to that problem.

Not as a trend. Not as a hobby. But as a system – one that helps your household spend less time and money, waste less food, and eat well at home, every day of the week.

We also believe that traditional preservation techniques – the methods your grandmother used, the recipes passed down through generations – deserve more than dismissal. While other sites ignore or condemn heritage methods like open kettle canning, we provide a scientifically sound technical bridge. We take traditional techniques seriously, apply modern food science to understand the risks, and give you the knowledge to practice them as safely as possible.

Whether you follow USDA guidelines to the letter or preserve the way your family has for generations, you belong here.

Our goal is simple and measurable: help every household that uses this site stretch their food budget by at least $1,000 per year. Whether you’re working with a $15 stockpot or a fully equipped canning kitchen, we provide the recipes, the safety knowledge, and the tools to help you get there.

How We Think

Every technique we teach or recipe we publish – whether that be canning your own pickles, rendering cooking fats or fermenting vegetables – gets evaluated through three questions before we publish it:

1️⃣Is it worth making at home?

Store-bought is sometimes cheaper. But often, cheaper doesn’t mean better. That $3 jar of jam is mostly corn syrup and artificial colour. That cranberry sauce is a gelatinous blob of mystery ingredients. That “tomato sauce” is water, paste, and sugar. When you make it at home, you control exactly what goes in. The cost comparison isn’t always jar vs. jar – it’s real food vs. what the grocery industry passes off as food.

2️⃣Is it safe, and do you understand why it’s safe?

We don’t just give you processing times. We explain the science so you can make confident decisions, not just follow instructions on faith.

3️⃣Can a real family actually do this?

A technique that requires six hours and specialized equipment on a Tuesday night isn’t a solution. It’s a fantasy. We design our recipe steps for busy kitchens.

How We Are Different

What makes us different from other cooking and preserving sites? One of our founders is a retired physician. Food safety isn’t a section of this site – it’s the lens through which everything here is built.

And when it comes to traditional methods like open kettle canning, methods that the USDA no longer endorses but that millions of families still practice, we don’t pretend they don’t exist. And we certainly don’t shame you for using them.

Instead, we provide a technical bridge between traditional and modern preservation. We start with the techniques and recipes that have worked for generations, the ones your grandmother trusted. Then, we apply modern food science to understand why they worked, where the risks are, and how to make them as safe as current knowledge allows. We explain the risks clearly, and respect your right to make informed choices for your own kitchen.

This isn’t about replacing traditional methods with approved ones. It’s about giving you the scientific understanding to practice any method with confidence – whether that’s USDA-approved water bath canning or a family pickle recipe that’s older than the USDA itself.

You won’t find fear-mongering here. You’ll find the same facts-based thinking our founder brought to patient care, but this time applied to your pantry shelf.

Heritage

This isn’t theoretical for us. We grew up in Ukraine, where preserving food wasn’t a lifestyle choice. It was how families survived the winter. Every August, our mothers’ kitchens became a canning operation. No fancy gadgets. No USDA pamphlets. Just generations of knowledge, and jars that lasted for years.

When the pandemic hit and store shelves went bare, those old skills suddenly felt urgent again.

Our first batch of pickled tomatoes reminded us why our mother always said they wanted to know exactly what went into their jars.

We’ve been building on that foundation ever since.

Beautiful, Wholesome Food That Doesn’t Cost You Arm and Leg

We also believe preserved food should be beautiful – and that it should taste genuinely good. Not just “good for homemade,” but something you’d reach for even if you had other options. We create recipes you won’t find on any other site.

Pink Grapefruit Jam with Brandy and Juniper
Raspberry Wild Rose Petal Jam made specifically for cheese boards
Belgian Pear Syrup from a centuries-old tradition
Hungarian Pickles, a European classic of the 20th century

Our small-batch preserves have a loyal following, and we think that’s because we care as much about how things taste as what goes into the jar – and how it looks on your shelf.

How We Can Help

If you’re new, we’ll help you understand how to start your first canning or preserving project. If you’re ready to cook, our Recipes are searchable by ingredient. And if you are unsure about that much-hyped kitchen and canning tool, check our kitchen tools teardown. It will help you decide if that fancy gadget has a place in your kitchen.

Welcome to your own canned experience. Let’s start making good food.

With Love, Olga and Oksana