Thanks you all for the timely discussion! I've been considering a pressure canner for a while now, and finally ordered up the Presto from Amazon thanks to all the reviews both here and there. I have a gas stove so there won't be any cooktop related issues. I've never owned one before, and I don't know how often I will end up using it, so the less expensive Presto seems like a great way to experiment.
What intrigues me is the possibility to can things like fish, soups, stews and chili, as well as vegetables and the like. While I do have an upright freezer in the basement, I've learned that things tend to disappear into it as we never remember to pull something out to thaw. I like the idea of being able to just grab a jar and dump it into a pot when we get home from work. I've just started searching for sites having to do with pressure canning, and already found a blog with recipes for things like beef stew, chili verde, beef and bean chile, and even corned beef and potatoes to use as the base for a quick breakfast hash! What really got me started thinking about this is the possibility to can my own tuna in oil. We switched to the Italian canned tuna a number of years ago, and can no longer stand the taste of Starkist, Bumblebee, etc., but the imported stuff costs a small fortune for such a small can.
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