Canning Yield Calculator
Convert pounds of tomatoes, beans, peaches, apples, cucumbers, corn, or berries into jars, or jars wanted into pounds to buy, with canner loads and cost per jar.
Free · no account · works on mobile · embeddable
Best for farms selling canned goods, market gardeners quoting bulk produce, and customers buying by the box. Updated .
What you are canning
What those pounds become
Jars = pounds ÷ NCHFP pounds per jar (canner-load pounds ÷ 7 quarts or 9 pints), rounded down. Loads = jars ÷ jars per load, rounded up. Yields vary with ripeness, size, and pack; this tool does not replace the tested NCHFP recipe and processing time for the product.
About the canning yield calculator
"How many pounds do I need for a dozen quarts?" comes up on both sides of the farm stand: the customer buying a box of tomatoes to can, and the farm planning a batch of salsa or pickles from its own field. This calculator uses the National Center for Home Food Preservation's pounds-per-canner-load figures to convert pounds of produce into jars, or jars wanted into pounds to buy, and adds canner loads, jars and lids to have ready, and an approximate cost per jar from your produce price.
It covers the common products: crushed and whole tomatoes, green beans, peaches, applesauce, quick dill pickles, whole kernel corn, whole berries, and strawberry jam.
Where the pounds-per-jar figures come from
NCHFP states, for each product, the pounds needed per canner load of 7 quarts and per canner load of 9 pints. Crushed tomatoes take an average of 22 lb per 7 quarts and 14 lb per 9 pints; snap beans 14 lb and 9 lb; peaches 17.5 lb and 11 lb; applesauce 21 lb and 13.5 lb; whole kernel corn 31.5 lb in the husk and 20 lb; whole berries 12 lb and 8 lb. The calculator divides those by 7 and 9 to get pounds per jar. For quick fresh-pack dill pickles NCHFP's recipe uses 8 lb of cucumbers for 7 to 9 pints, about 1 lb per pint, and for strawberry jam about 3 quart boxes (about 4 lb) of berries yields 9 or 10 half-pints.
Jar counts in pounds mode are rounded down: a partial jar is shown as leftover produce for the fridge, not a jar you can sell.
Canner loads, jars, and cost
A standard boiling water or pressure canner load is 7 quarts or 9 pints, so loads are jars divided by jars per load, rounded up. Half-pint racks vary, so that figure is editable. Jars and lids to have ready equals the jar count; buy a spare or two. Cost per jar is pounds per jar × produce price + jar, lid, and band; enter a produce price of 0 for home-grown produce to see packaging cost alone, and only the lid cost if you reuse jars.
Worked example: 50 lb of tomatoes into crushed quarts
Crushed tomatoes take 22 lb per 7 quarts, or 3.14 lb per quart. 50 lb of tomatoes makes 15 quarts (15.9 before rounding down), leaving about 2.9 lb over, and needs 3 canner loads at 7 quarts per load. Have 15 jars and 15 lids ready. At $1.50 per lb and $1.20 per jar, lid, and band, each quart costs about $5.91 ($4.71 of tomatoes plus $1.20 of jar), and the batch costs about $93.00. Working the other way, 14 quarts would need 44 lb of tomatoes, 2 canner loads, and about $82.80.
Sources
- USDA National Center for Home Food Preservation (University of Georgia), Crushed tomatoes (with no added liquid). An average of 22 lb per canner load of 7 quarts and 14 lb per canner load of 9 pints; the other product presets come from the matching NCHFP product pages, listed in the preset table's source comment. Accessed Sep 4, 2026.
- USDA National Center for Home Food Preservation (University of Georgia), Strawberry jam (powdered pectin). 5.5 cups crushed strawberries (about 3 quart boxes) yields about 9 or 10 half-pint jars; NCHFP's freezing page weighs a quart of strawberries at 1 1/3 lb. Accessed Sep 4, 2026.
This calculator gives planning estimates from the numbers you enter. It is not accounting, tax, veterinary, or legal advice. Replace the defaults with your own farm records whenever you have them.
Frequently asked questions
How many pounds of tomatoes do I need for 7 quarts?
About 22 lb for crushed tomatoes or 21 lb for whole or halved tomatoes packed in water, per NCHFP. A 53 lb bushel yields roughly 17 to 20 quarts crushed. Plan on about 3 lb per quart when quoting a customer.
How many quarts of green beans from a bushel?
NCHFP puts a 30 lb bushel of snap beans at 12 to 20 quarts, and 14 lb per canner load of 7 quarts, so about 2 lb per quart. Pints take about 1 lb each.
How many pounds of peaches per quart?
About 2.5 lb per quart for halved or sliced peaches: NCHFP lists 17.5 lb per 7 quarts and 11 lb per 9 pints. A 48 lb bushel gives 16 to 24 quarts depending on size and ripeness.
Does this tell me processing times?
No. It only converts quantities. Follow the tested NCHFP recipe for the product, jar size, and canner type, including acidification for tomatoes and pressure canning for low-acid vegetables like beans and corn. Selling canned goods also falls under your state's cottage food or licensed processing rules.
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