Bonnie

Good tips! I just usually boil the whole head of cabbage and find the outer leaves slip off quite nicely. As in the microwave method, repeat the process to soften the rest of the leaves if necessary.

Get yourself some old drawers that are 4 or 5″ deep and standard in length and width (be sure they are no longer than your pantry is deep. Leave the handles on when figuring the length.

Get some inexpensive plastic shelf holders and put a shelf in the center of the drawer from FRONT TO BACK. Turn the drawer on it’s long side and slide it onto your pantry shelf. You can put cans on the two shelves in the drawer making it a two level storage drawer that you can pull out and see your canned items. Because most drawers have a “lip” the drawer will be slightly higher in the front than the rear if inserted totally into the pantry. This aids in keeping the cans secure and resting against eachother.

Line several of these up next to each other with labels for soups, sauces etc.

I have several of these and with some experimentation have slide-ins that accomodate different height/width cans.

With the exception of buying the plastic shelf holders, you can find old drawers at yard sales and free sites. Use an extra drawer to get the shelf “board” for your slide in drawer.

This will only soften them, not make them any sweeter. Peaches do not sweeten after picking, so try to buy/pick ripe peaches, and support your local growers! YAY! for local growers!!