11 Halloween Movies That Aren't Too Scary to Watch With Your Kids

If you’re looking for a Halloween movie to watch with your children, but you don't want to traumatize them with Texas Chainsaw Massacre, here are the best scary-but-not-too-scary flicks you can stream right now. These aren't toothless pablum; I tried to find movies with enough real horror to be interesting, just not so much that it scars anyone for life. Like everything with children, it depends on your individual kid's taste and sensibilities.

Coraline (2009)

Based on the children’s book by Neil Gaiman, Coraline leaves kids with a timeless message: Be careful what you wish for. The titular protagonist’s discovery of a strange door in her new family’s new home leads to an eerie mirror world that at first seems better-than-real, but ultimately proves terrifying. It’s not super scary, but it might be too much for kids under 10 (especially those creepy button-eyes).

Where to stream: Roku, Tubi, Apple TV+

The Witches (1990)

There’s a newer, more over-the-top version of The Witches available on Max, but I much prefer the 1990 adaptation. You can’t do much better than the combination of Roald Dahl’s story, Jim Henson’s puppetry, Nicolas Roeg’s direction, and Anjelica Huston’s villainous performance. The Witches strikes a perfect kid-friendly horror tone: It was made for children, but it doesn’t condescend to them or try to sugarcoat horror. Might be too disturbing for children younger than 10, though.

Where to stream: Criterion Channel

Goosebumps (2015)

"Ermahgerd, Gersberms!" This meta take on the insanely popular Goosebumps series of tween horror novels sees the young hero accidentally unleashing all the villains from author R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books into the real world. Kids who read Stine’s books will love seeing representations of the books’ ghouls and monsters, although the movie relies more on slapstick humor and action than the quieter, spookier books. Either way, Goosebumps is a better movie than you'd have any reason to suspect.

Where to stream: Prime

The Corpse Bride (2015)

This tale of a marriage between a living man and a dead woman is all about atmosphere—the goth-o-meter is turned up to 11. It’s very Tim Burton, and Burton’s contagious affection for all things spooky renders even the most gruesome ghoul lovable. In spite of all the skeletons, The Corpse Bride is a story about love and family, and the scariest characters are ultimately the living.

Where to stream: Max

Ghostbusters (1984)

You can’t beat this iconic 1980s comedy/horror flick for Halloween viewing. Watching Ghostbusters is an annual October tradition at our house, and we don't want to know about any sequels or reboots. The PG-13 rating is well-deserved for some legit frightening parts—the special effects that bring the spooky librarian and hell-dogs to life are still scary—and some fairly adult situations and racy humor.

Where to stream: Starz

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)

The relevant half of this two-in-one feature is the comic re-telling of Washington Irving’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The Adventure of Ichabod and Mr. Toad follows a lanky, superstitious schoolmaster in colonial America as he’s gradually scared out of his wits by a “headless horseman” who may or may not be his romantic rival, Brom. The sequence of Ichabod being chased by the horseman is a classic of horror filmmaking, and the film’s conclusion squares things up in an “everything is fine” way that should reassure the little ones. Plus, Mr. Toad is a great non-scary palate cleanser.

Where to stream: Disney+

Hocus Pocus (1993)

Kids will love this playful take on Halloween haunting, and adults will love watching stars Bette Midler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Kathy Najimy chew the scenery playing three sister witches. Hocus Pocus provides just enough thrills to be fun, but there’s nothing overly scary, and the script’s infrequent double entendres are likely to fly over young one’s heads.

Where to stream: Disney+

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Director Tim Burton is the master of creepy-but-not-too-creepy movies, and this stop-motion ode to the joy of the dark and macabre is his best work. If you’re raising a little goth-in-training, you’re contractually obligated to show them The Nightmare Before Christmas, a delightfully spooky musical in which the holidays of Halloween and Christmas square off.

Where to stream: Disney+

Frankenstein (1931)

If you have a kid with the patience to deal with the slower pace of movies from the early days of talkies, Frankenstein will reward that patience with a deeply relatable central character and some mildly chilling moments. Even though it was made nearly 100 years ago, kids still see themselves in The Monster, because he’s like a child himself—a child who is made of corpses and murders people.

Where to stream: Peacock, Criterion Channel

Coco (2017)

There are a lot of Skeletons in Coco, but it’s not a scary movie. This Day of the Dead story takes viewers (and its main character) across the border from the world of the living to the Land of the Dead, where stylish, sugar-skull skeletons populate a parallel world to our own. Instead of horrifying and tragic, in Coco, death is portrayed as something we should accept without fear, a message adults could probably use as well. Fair warning: since this is a Pixar movie, it will make you cry.

Where to stream: Hulu, Disney+, Fubo

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The Best Ways to Keep Your Drafty House Warm in the Winter

Your old home may be beautiful and charming, but it’s also probably drafty as hell, and heating it can cost a fortune. Criticize modern homes for being charmless copy-and-paste jobs all you want, but they are airtight and warm. Your older home can be warmer, too, though, and then you’ll have the best of both worlds. Here’s how to heat it up efficiently without breaking the bank.

First, get some instant heat

Addressing the drafts and getting to the root of the problem is one thing, but let's get you warmed up first. Let's talk space heaters. For safety reasons, you need to be smart about where you place them, but these really are the gold standard when you're in a pinch. I've used them in all my drafty apartments (which, as a renter, I'm not really allowed to modify too much) and in nearly every office job I've ever had, since I'm somehow always significantly colder than my hot-blooded coworkers.

I love tiny ones, like this, for direct, personalized heat where I need it most, like when I'm working quietly by myself and don't want to be weighed down by a bunch of blankets.

Amazon Basics 500-Watt Ceramic Small Space Personal Mini Heater - Pink

$19.99 at Amazon

$19.99 at Amazon

But if you want to heat up a whole room, you need to think bigger. I've always had good luck with larger Lasko models, like this one.

Lasko 5586 Digital Ceramic Tower Heater with Remote, Dark Grey

$79.99 at Amazon

$84.99 Save $5.00

$79.99 at Amazon

$84.99 Save $5.00

Look for something portable and make sure it's powerful enough to warm up a larger space. Generally, you need 10 watts of heating power for every square foot of area in the room you're trying to heat.

I'm one of those people who goes out and spends half my night wondering, "Did I leave my curling iron on? Did I leave the coffee pot on? Did I leave the space heater on?!" One thing that has been a major godsend for me is smart outlets. If you are going to use a space heater in your home, in addition to following guidelines about making sure it's far enough from furniture and positioned safely, consider plugging it into one of these bad boys. Then, you can always be confident that even if you did leave it on (which you probably didn't), you can toggle the whole outlet off on your phone. Get four for $33.99.

Look into insulation options to warm your home

Once you've tackled the immediate problem of being cold, you can start to work on the broader problem of having a cold house. Bear in mind, changing things about your home can be pricy, so look into all your options thoroughly before you pull the trigger on anything.

You can add insulation to your home, even if it wasn’t built with the insulation space in mind—and you don't need to be that crafty to do it, either. You’ll want to put insulation in the roof, where houses can lose a lot of heat, and then move on to your walls. On the roof, things can be a little haphazard, since few people will ever see it, but you might not want to DIY the insulation in your walls. Read these tips on insulating a basement—or call a pro.

Update your drafty windows

Replace your old windows, especially if they’re single-paned. Adding in efficient, double-paned glass won’t detract from the old-timey charm of your home—but they will help you stay warm. You can fix drafty windows without replacing them, but if you’re not double-glazing, you’re really just letting warm air out and cool air in when you don’t have to be. Get a pro to your property to install the double-glazed glass, then make sure you have heavy drapes to hang in front of them for maximum heat retention. Actually, get the drapes now to start with the heat-saving even if you can’t get an immediate window replacement.

Another option if you don't currently have window-replacing money or you want a quick fix: A DIY window insulation shrink kit, which is about $17 for a pack of nine. It's basically a huge piece of clear tape that you attach to your windows with a hair dryer, sealing it in place, and it helps with warm air retention in the home.

Plug up other drafts

Finally, you need to hunt down drafty areas, which are more likely to occur wherever outdoor air is separated from indoor air. You can easily DIY door draft blockers, so the good news is we’re moving into less expensive territory here. You can also grab some foam that is designed to expand in drafty spots, blocking out cold air. It costs about $10 and, similar to the foam you might use to plug up mouse holes, it expands to keep cold air out. You'll need to feel around for drafty spots, identify the gaps, and fill them with the foam. It's not pretty, but it works.

Beyond that, always remember to keep interior doors closed to keep warm air in each room and consider updating your radiator to a “smart” thermostat.

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The FTC Is Finally Making It Easier to Cancel Subscriptions

I cannot stand when I go to end a subscription, and rather than a "cancel" button, they present me a phone number. I never had to call to subscribe. In fact, most companies make it way too easy to enroll in their services. So how is it right to make the process of ending those services so much more difficult? It doesn't seem right—and the FTC agrees.

The Federal Trade Commission is now cracking down on this shady activity, and is about ready to roll out its "Click to Cancel" rule. The FTC announced this news in a press release on Wednesday, outlining the main objective of "Click to Cancel." First and foremost, the goal is to make it as easy to cancel a service as it is to sign up for it. It's a bit overdue, but a welcome change nonetheless.

But it goes beyond this change, as it pertains to services with a "negative option" feature (a business practice where a company can decide to bill you when you haven't told them not to). The new rule also ensures that companies cannot misrepresent facts while trying to sell you on their services; must disclose its terms before you hand over your billing information (you have to know what you're actually signing up for); have to obtain your "informed consent" to this negative-option feature before charging you; are bound to provide a simple cancel option for these features, and stop charging you right away. That all sounds great to me.

The FTC decided against other requirements it had considered for these rules, such as forcing companies to send annual reminders of their negative-option subscription features, as well as blocking companies from telling you about alerted plans when you try to cancel. While it's a bit of a scummy business practice, it does mean threatening to cancel your subscriptions is often a great way to lower your costs.

It's all an update to its Negative Option Rule, first put into practice in 1973. Most of the changes will go into effect 180 days after the rule is published in the Federal Register, but the FTC doesn't say which changes those will be.

In the meantime, companies can still make it tricky for you to cancel, but these business practices are not long for this world (at least in the U.S.). If you're feeling petty, you can report these companies for employing these tactics if you come across it, and there are workarounds to trick some companies into letting you cancel online. Let's just hope that most companies get ahead of the changes and immediately start letting you easily end subscriptions.

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The Best Ways to Free Up Space on Your iCloud Drive

It's easy to run out of iCloud storage space. No matter if you’re using the 5GB that comes free with your iPhone, or if you’ve gradually upgraded to 50GB or even 200GB, running out of space still happens to many of us. But if you want to avoid upgrading to yet another iCloud tier, you might be surprised how much junk is on your iCloud account that can be cleaned up. And if you don’t have a lot of junk to clear, you can move the bigger files like photos and videos to a cheaper cloud storage system.

First, find out what’s taking up all that storage space

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Start by finding out what's taking up so much space on your iCloud account so that you can clean things out that you don't need. Go to Settings > iCloud > Manage Storage. You'll see a chart up top, and then a breakdown of what’s using up your storage space. Mostly, you’ll see photos, messages, and backups at the top, but it might be iCloud Drive too.

Delete the backups that you don’t need

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Your iPhone backs up to iCloud automatically, and while most backups are useful, you might have some old device backup files that you aren’t using and no longer need. Choose Backups from the iCloud section and then choose your device backup (you might have multiple devices here as well). Your iPhone will show you the total backup sizes and a list of apps that are backing up data to your iCloud account. Disabling apps that you don’t want to upload to iCloud will help you save some space. And if you’d rather save space by backing up your iPhone to your Mac, you can tap Turn off and Delete from iCloud to get rid of the whole iCloud backup. Only do that if you already have another backup plan, though.

Delete unwanted media and attachments from iMessage

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The Messages app tends to rank high on the storage list because all the photos, videos, and GIFs that you exchange with friends are stored on your iCloud account. You can clear them out in two ways, either by deleting entire conversations or deleting the media. On your iPhone, go to Settings > General > Messages and scroll down to the Documents section. If you want to delete entire conversations, go to Top Conversations, Tap Edit, select conversations, and hit Delete to instantly get rid of all the data. This will remove them from iCloud Storage too. You can also do the same for photos, videos, GIFs, and stickers from the same Messages screen. 

Get rid of large videos and clean up photos you don’t need

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

For most of us, the Photos app will show up at the top of the iCloud storage list, but for every good shot in your camera roll, there are probably nine unwanted photos just taking up space. Take some time to go through your Photos app to delete the photos you don't want, and try to do it at least monthly. Senior Tech Editor Jake Peterson also shared his favorite way to gradually clear up space in his camera roll. 

You can also try the Gemini app to find duplicate or similar photos that you don’t need—it'll show you a batch of photos and the best option for you to keep. You can try out the app for free for three days, which should be enough to clear out your camera roll once, but then the paid plan costs $19.99 per year.

Videos obviously take up even more space. Go to Albums > Videos and delete videos that you don’t need. After you’re done, go to Albums > Recently Deleted and delete everything again to regain that space on your iPhone and iCloud account.

Consider disabling the iCloud Photo Library

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

If deleting your photos and videos isn't enough, consider not using iCloud Photo Library as your photo backup solution. iCloud Photo Library is easy and built in, but there are also better, cheaper options out there. Both Google Photos and Microsoft OneDrive do a good job of uploading your iPhone photos to the cloud, and a Microsoft 365 Family subscription will give you six different accounts, each with 1TB of storage, for $9.99/month. You could move your entire photo library to another service and then disable iCloud Photo Library altogether. Go to Settings > Photos and switch to Download and Keep Originals. This will make sure that all the photos on iCloud are available on your iPhone (hopefully you have enough storage space to make that happen). Next, download the Microsoft OneDrive app for example, log in with your account, go to the Photos tab, and enable the photo sync feature. Wait as the upload is completed. OneDrive also has a bedtime feature where it will dim the screen, keep the app active, and continue uploading photos while you’re asleep. Once you’re confident that all your photos are safe, go to Settings > Photos and disable the iCloud Photos option to stop new photos from being uploaded to the drive. You can then open the iCloud website on your Mac, go to Photos, and select and delete files that you no longer want to keep on the iCloud. (The photos will still be there locally on your iPhone.) 

Check if you’re automatically backing up your Mac documents and desktop

Credit: Apple

While setting up your Mac, you might have enabled the Desktop and Downloads folder in iCloud Drive. Apple kind of wants you to enable it if you’re paying for an iCloud subscription, but it means that it’s storing all the data that’s in those folders also on your iCloud Drive, which obviously takes up your paid iCloud storage. Just disabling this feature might get you a lot of storage space back (in my case, this alone wiped off 20GB). On your Mac, go to System Settings > Apple ID > iCloud, and under the Apps Using iCloud option, choose iCloud Drive. Disable Desktop & Documents Folders. When you do it, your Mac will create a new folder for Desktop and Documents in your home folder, but all the original files will still be present in iCloud Drive. I suggest using a simple drag-and-drop to move the contents of the folder from iCloud Drive to the new folders in your Home directory. That will instantly free up space in your iCloud Drive. 

Remove and transfer large files out of iCloud Drive

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

Finally, check if you’re storing large files and folders in the iCloud Drive. The easiest way to check is by using your Mac: Open the Finder app and choose the iCloud Drive folder from the sidebar. Go through the folders and sort the files by size. You can move the large files to a local folder on your Mac using a drag-and-drop gesture, and just like with your photos, you can use something like Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive to back up the same files for less money.

Make sure important files are always available offline

Credit: Khamosh Pathak

The Mac does a pretty good job of removing iCloud Drive files from local storage. If you're running out of space, however, this can actually backfire.

There are times when iCloud Drive will delete small files, PDFs, and images to save space. These things might be important to have offline, especially if it's a work document, or your personal documentation.

If you're using macOS Sequoia, you can use a new feature to force iCloud Drive to keep files offline. Select a file, folder, or multiple files, right-click, and choose the Keep Downloaded option. This will download the file, if it wasn't already, and you'll see a new Cloud Download icon in gray, telling you that yes, this file is now available offline.

This works on iPhone and iPad as well: If you're using iOS 18 or higher, just press and hold on any file or folder, and choose the Keep Downloaded option from the menu.

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The SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro Is the Most Renter-Friendly Smart Lock I've Ever Used

I've been renting most of my life until very recently, and if the SwitchBot Lock Pro had been around for all those years, I probably wouldn't have locked myself out as much or dropped stuff on my doorstep while fumbling for my keys. I've been using the SwitchBot Lock Pro on my home and Airbnb for months now, and it has been the easiest smart lock I have installed. Since I got the the upgraded "WiFi Lock Pro & Touch" bundle (it was sent to me for a review), I was able to control it remotely, give access to guests, and hook it up to my existing smart home ecosystem.

SwitchBot WiFi Smart Lock Pro Bundle

With Keypad Touch, Fingerprint Keyless Entry Door Lock, Bluetooth Electronic Deadbolt, IP65 rated.

$199.99 at Amazon

$199.99 at Amazon

Pros and cons of the SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro

Pros

• Works with many door lock types

• Has auto-lock feature

• Has a status detector that notifies you of door activity

• Easy installation and no tools required

• You keep your existing lock hardware and keys

Cons

• Requires buying a hub and keypad separately to get all features (included in bundle)

• The glue might damage the door paint when taking off

Specs:

• Connectivity: Bluetooth, Wifi

• Unlock mechanism: Keypad, fingerprint, phone, or key card

• Integrations: Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, IFTTT

• Installation: Interior escutcheon

• App: Mobile

• Geofencing/Location Services: No

• Guest Access: Yes

• Tamper Alarm: Yes

• Touchpad: Yes

• Voice Activation: Yes

The SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro is easy to set up

The longest part of setting up the SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro was reading the instructions. The installation itself took me about seven minutes. As I said, I got to keep my existing lock hardware and keys. All I needed to do to start was remove the lock faceplate from inside my home.

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

Once I took the faceplate off, I screwed in the lock bracket. Then I got to choose from three different adapter bolts to match my existing lock hardware cylinders.

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

Once I finished that, I snapped the Smart Lock Pro on the bracket and attached it with some very small screws (there is an L-shaped hex wrench in the box to do this). Then I peeled the sticker off the motion sensor, glued it on the wall next to the door, popped four AA batteries in, downloaded the app, and calibrated the smart lock using the app, and I was done.

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

The keypad has a code, fingerprint, and key card option to unlock the SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro. To install it, there are two options: peel the sticker off the back to glue it to the wall or drill two holes for a more permanent and safe alternative. The glue is very strong and had no problem staying on my block wall through rain or with Airbnb guests using it. However, it is still glue. It ripped the paint off my wall when I took it off and anyone with a will to take it can steal it. The app does have a tamper alert, which works as a deterrent.

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

The piece that takes the SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro to the next level is the SwitchBot Hub Mini. This device makes it possible for me to use my SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro and keypad over wifi when I'm away from home instead of just Bluetooth. There is a catch though: the SwitchBot Hub Mini must be within Bluetooth range of the Smart Lock Pro and keypad. I have the hub about 10 feet from my smart lock, but my other SwitchBot devices in my detached garage or second floor do not reach the hub, meaning if I wanted to control those remotely, I would need to buy multiple hubs.

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

Once everything is set up, I can open and close the door over Bluetooth when I'm close to the door, remotely over wifi, by swiping my finger on the keypad, or by using a key card fob that comes with the keypad. I also get phone notifications any time the door is opened or closed because of the motion sensor.

The SwitchBot Smart Lock Pro is perfect for renters and Airbnb hosts

The easy setup, the ability to keep the existing keys and lock hardware, and being able to glue the keypad make Smart Lock Pro very convenient for renters. Once the installation is done, the setup looks like the picture below. If your landlord wants to show up unannounced with their keys, they might not even notice there's a smart lock set up. Just be ready to potentially have to paint over the wall where you removed the keypad.

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

I've had many guests stay and use the temporary code to get in and haven't had a problem yet. The process is very straightforward and user-friendly. The finger swiping is very responsive and rarely fails (so far only when it has rained and my finger was wet).

The SwitchBot App

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

The app is responsive and user-friendly. It has all the features you need like setting a temporary code, setting the auto-lock, changing the trigger actions on the smart lock, alarms if the door is left ajar or unlocked, and more. The app tells you how much battery is left on the device and sends you a notification when it's running low so you can change it before getting a sour surprise. The app is also compatible with Google, Amazon, IFTTT, and Siri.

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

One of my favorite parts is being able to send temporary codes to guests over wifi without being physically in the house. As an Airbnb host, this is super helpful, but so is being able to send it to someone in your home if there are cleaners, a maintenance person, or if the neighbor is kind enough to put an Amazon package inside for you.

Credit: Daniel Oropeza

Finishing thoughts

The SwitchBot WiFi Smart Lock Pro Bundle is a versatile and user-friendly smart lock, perfect for people who rent. Its ease of installation is second to none and can be done by even the least DIY-able person. Because the installation is not invasive, it is very easy to remove and bring to the next home with no damage or permanent changes to the door (except maybe some paint if you opt to install it with very strong glue). The smart lock is also compatible with many types of hardware, so if you're concerned the one you have at home might be tricky, give this one a shot. The door monitor lets you know when the door is open or closed and logs all of that information on the app. The auto-lock feature feature is customizable and very useful. The only downside is that you have to buy the whole wifi bundle to get all of these features, but it is worth it at its $200 price.

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What's New on Disney+ in November 2024

Disney+ has a light lineup of new content in November, and the biggest titles are likely to be appreciated most by music lovers. At the beginning of the month, the original documentary film Music By John Williams (Nov. 1) offers a behind-the-scenes look at the composer's life and prolific, decades-long career. Williams scored or composed for some of the most iconic films in movie music history—including Schindler's List, Jaws, Jurassic Park, and the Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Indiana Jones franchises—and has conducted some of the world's best orchestras.

To close the month, there's Beatles '64 (Nov. 30), a documentary from Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, which includes never-before-seen archival footage of the band alongside new interviews with Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. The film will stream exclusively on Disney+.

Between the music bookends is a new short film produced by Oscar winner Alfonso Cuarón. An Almost Christmas Story (Nov. 15), the third installment of Cuarón's holiday shorts series, was inspired by the 2020 rescue of Rocky the owl from the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.

Here's everything else coming to Disney+ in October, including new episodes of Ayla & The Mirrors (Nov. 1) and weekly live broadcasts of Dancing with the Stars (Tuesdays).

Disney Plus series with new episodes weekly in November 2024

• Dancing with the Stars (Season 33)—Tuesdays, live

Movies and complete series/seasons coming to Disney Plus in November 2024

Arriving November 1

• Prince William: We Can End Homelessness (S1, 2 episodes)

• Music By John Williams

• Ayla & The Mirrors

Arriving November 2

• Endurance

Arriving November 6

• Kindergarten: The Musical (S1, 5 episodes)

Arriving November 11

• SuperKitties: Su-Purr Adventures (Shorts) (S1, 4 episodes)

Arriving November 13

• Late to the Party: Coming Out Later in Life

Arriving November 14

• The Stanford Prison Experiment: Unlocking the Truth (3 episodes)

Arriving November 15

• An Almost Christmas Story

Arriving November 18

• Me & Mickey (Shorts) (S3, 4 episodes)

Arriving November 20

• Big City Greens (S4, 1 episode)

Arriving November 22

• Out of My Mind

Arriving November 25

• Tsunami: Race Against Time (S1, 4 episodes)

Arriving November 27

• Disney Jr.’s Ariel (S1, 4 episodes)

Arriving November 29

• Descendants: The Rise of the Red (Sing-Along Version)

• Mary Poppins Special

• Miraculous World London: At the Edge of Time

• Oz the Great and Powerful

Arriving November 30

• Broken Karaoke (Shorts) (S2, 5 episodes)

• Mickey and Minnie's Christmas Carols (Shorts) (S1, 5 episodes)

• Beatles ‘64

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You Should Start Canning (It’s Easier Than You Think)

Now that I’ve been canning for some 20 years, I love teaching it to other people. However, the USDA learns new things every year, and as such, canning rules occasionally change. Some of those changes in the last 10 years have made canning a lot more efficient and much less painful. (I've also got my own hacks, which I'll share here.)

Canning makes foods shelf-stable

At a basic level, canning is exposing cooked food to pressurized heat for a long enough time, at enough pressure, to kill any pathogens, seal the jars and make the food shelf-stable. Now, you can’t just can anything. Foods must have a certain acidity to be safe, and be prepared in a specific way to prevent dangerous bacteria from cultivating in your jars. Additionally, you have to use specific jars meant for canning. There are still a handful of botulism cases every year, and it is a wildly painful and sometimes deadly infliction. The USDA and Ball (the company that produces most canning supplies, and a canning authority) both produce safe recipes to follow if you’re starting out. There is specialized equipment like pressure canners that are necessary to safely process some foods. Tomatoes can be processed at a lower temperature and pressure, so you don’t need a pressure canner for those. But canned tuna and other acidic products require the pressure canner. 

No more pre-sterilizing jars and lids

It used to be that in addition to cooking the jam or sauce going into the jars, you had to spend a lot of time prepping the jars: sterilizing them, handling the hot jars, and then sterilizing the lids. All of this handling hot metal and glass meant extra time and danger. Newer regulations, however, give you some leeway. The USDA now says you don’t need to sterilize jars if you are going to be processing them for longer than 10 minutes. Since I’ve yet to find a single recipe that requires less than 10 minutes of processing, you can clean your jars well (a dishwasher is perfect for this) and use them straight away. 

In more good news, Ball, the maker of most jars and lids, decided in 2014 that it was no longer advised to boil lids before use. Once food is in your jars, use clean hands to place a lid on the jar, and then seal with the canning ring.

Can in the size jar you’ll use

Most recipes and pictures show everything canned in quart size jars. A quart is a lot, unless you have a family. If you’re canning for one or two, don’t be afraid to use smaller-size jars. Each year, I can my tomato sauce in smaller and smaller jars, because that’s how much I use for a meal for one. I can my pickles in half pints, because if I’m making burgers, I want just enough pickles for that, without having to store a whole jar in my fridge after. Jars come in a million sizes, so think carefully about what you’ll really use. Don’t can ketchup in a pint size, for instance—you won’t use it fast enough. Same for jam.  

You can sous vide your pickles

As I mentioned earlier, different foods have different needs for processing. Some foods need a pressure canner, but low-acid foods like pickles can simply be processed using boiling water in a large canning pot. Still, this is a lot of hot water and heat and glass. Lesley Kinzel wrote about sous vide canning for pickles a few years ago and now it is the only method I use. It is gentler on the pickles themselves, resulting in better crunch; it also means less hot water and less heat in the kitchen, all while meeting all the requirements for processing. 

Label, label, label

You think you’ll remember what’s in a jar, but I promise you, you won’t. All jam looks the same. All tomato products look the same. You also want the date on each jar, since most jars have a two-year shelf life. I just write on the lids, which are not reusable, with a Sharpie. But if you’re looking for a nicer presentation, consider dissolvable labels. Any other kind of label is miserable to get off your jars. But I do think you use should regular labels, too, for one purpose: Make small labels with your name on them and affix them to the bottom of your jars. This is your assurance you’ll get your jars back when you inevitably gift them away. 

Make sure you're storing cans the right way

Part of canning is storing those jars the right way, because you need the lids to stay sealed. So often I see people stacking jars, which is an absolute no-no. There are two things you need to remember: First, remove the canning ring before storage. This may seem counterintuitive, but the jars are fully sealed with the lid (and if they didn’t fully seal, they need to be used immediately or the contents tossed). Leaving the ring on may give you false confidence in a lid that has popped by concealing that it’s happened. So, remove the rings before storage; they’re meant to be reused over and over. Second, when stacking jars, you must put something between them, like cardboard. The boxes that jars come in are perfect for this, which is why most people hold onto them, and use them for storage.

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