You can cook in a canner, but not can in a cooker. Make sure you have the right one. Cookers cool down too fast. There's also other safety features as cookers don't usually reach as high of pressure. Which is why the electric canner is 3x the cost of the cooker.
Presto has been in the canner business a long time and I'd feel pretty safe with theirs.
That said, all I have is my big All American which goes on a unit. If I didn't do much at once, the Presto Electric one would be nice. I have an electric cooker.
we don't do any pressure canning here (which is a requirement for low acid foods), but otherwise we have canned for most of my life (over 50 years) and Mom's too (over 70 years). we oven can, which is not a recommended process by the govt or many people because of how oven temperatures can vary, but it has always been ok for us and we know what we're doing.
in recent years we're mostly canning tomato chunks and tomato juice - that's our largest food storage crop. everything else we pretty much process and eat or freeze depending upon what it is.
dry beans are my other big crop. onions, peppers, squash, melons and garlic get poked in places too.
I agree with comments about canning in a pressure cooker (don't do it). I have a Presto digital pressure canner and I love it. It's worry-free. Only downside is low capacity compared to All-American pressure canner. (but for me, that's a plus, I prefer small batches)
We have an All American. If I'm doing a smaller batch, I fill the empty spots with jars of clean water and process. I have a small store of water that will stay clean and fresh if something happens.
Pork n beans. I use a Mirro also. Been using it for years and it does a good job, but I keep hoping it'll break or shrink or something so I can upgrade, lol.
I told hubby about this thread and the electric pressure canners. He said "Why don't you look at getting one. That's much better than hauling out that huge thing for a few jars"
I love my electric pressure canner. Canning meals in a jar (soups and stews) is a 90 minute process time, so it is nice that I can load it up after supper and let it go on its own without having to babysit it. In the morning, I remove the jars and let them finish cooling on the counter.
I love that it tells me when it is time to do the next step and that it holds temp as I remove the hot jars, fill them up, and them put them back into the canner.