Using Home Canned Goods in Everyday Life

One of my homestead goals, is to use the items I have canned on a daily basis.  I don't spend hours and hours canning, just to have a museum of canned goods in my house.  I don't want them to just look pretty on the shelf.  No, I want to use them.  I want to fade out buying goods and introduce more and more home made items.  This week I made meatloaf and used the ketchup I made last year from my grandpa's tomatoes.  For dessert I made a strawberry shortcake.  I macerated the berries in orange juice from my Uncle Al's oranges.  Last week I made an apple pie-crisp from the canned apple pie filling where I used apples from my parents, grandparents and neighbors trees.  Living on the opposite coast from my family doesn't provide many opportunities to have people over for dinner. By using items canned from family's produce its second best to having them here.  When I take a bite of apple pie I can remember whose tree the apples came from.  Its like a tribute to those who gave me produce with every bite.  I honestly believe that food made with home canned goods tastes far better than with store bought goods. 
  I have found that you can sneak in home made substitutes easily but intentionally.  I made mashed potatoes using store bought potatoes, but home canned chicken broth.  Yum!  It puts a smile on my face knowing that more and more of what we are eating is home made.  Not only home made, but with home made ingredients.