New to canning:

Mickey328

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That's a neat document, Journey, thanks for sharing the link.

I totally agree April...canning is like a drug, LOL. You start with the "soft" stuff....making a small batch of jam or jelly with some excess fruit, and before you know it, you're doing everything!

r4e, I know what you mean, meat seems like a whole different ball game, and it is a bit different...certainly from making a batch of jam. However, once you start with pressure canning veggies, it's just a small step to meat. The first I ever canned was chili. We all love it but it takes so long...takes me a whole day to make a good pot of chili, and even 2 or 3 cuz it's better after it sits. So, I decided I wanted to make a big ole batch and can it in pint jars...that way if we had a hankering we could just do a heat and eat...no big mess in the kitchen, no waiting, no huge pot that has to be eaten or frozen in a short amount of time.

For the meat I did in the fall, I learned a few things I'll put into use for the next canning session. I found we prefer ground beef or stew beef. For the ground, I cook it thoroughly, pack it in the jar, top with some beef stock and process as usual. For stewing beef, I cut it into the size we like and browned it all...didn't cook it through, just gave it a good brown. Then I packed it, topped it with stock and canned it. I also did strips of roast which I'm not really all that crazy about. It tastes great, but it's just not the same as having a roast. I did a cold pack...cut it into large pieces and stuffed the jar leaving headspace. Then I sealed and processed. As it cooks in the jars, it creates its own juice, which can be used to make gravy. But it still comes out of the jar in pieces...it's so tender it falls apart so you can't really get out a "slice". It's a personal preference, but when I have a roast beef dinner, I like to slice the meat to have it with my spuds and veggies. So, the next time we have a good sale on beef, I'll just grind and can a lot of it and make stew beef out of the rest. We've found we really like that as well for making all sorts of soup and stew. Since it has the stock in it, we just dump the jar into a pot and add stuff we want. I also can beef stock so if I need more liquid, I can open a jar of that too.

We found a good deal on chicken so I canned that as well, with much the same result as the beef. I skinned the chickens and cut them into pieces...put them in jars added a bit of salt and let them cook in their own juice. It also comes out in pieces. I didn't de-bone it before processing and also discovered that pressure canned chicken bone becomes really soft. If I try to pull a leg out of the jar, it tends to just break into pieces. The next preservation session I have with chicken will be, I think, a bit different. I think I'll grind some to make sausage or patties or as a substitute for ground beef. I'll can at least a few pints of the ground stuff for soups and casseroles. I'll also cube some like I do the beef for soups or stews. I'll dehydrate some as well...it dehydrates and rehydrates quite well for crock pot meals. I won't freeze many as whole chickens because we seem to clean it up better when it's in pieces...DH likes the white and I prefer dark, so I can cook a couple pieces of each and it all gets eaten. So, I will likely just skin and cut up a number of them and freeze them. I definitely save all the bones and stuff for stock.

We just got some rabbits that we plan to raise for meat, so I'll be experimenting with that later on as well. I suspect it'll be like the others...can for soups and casseroles and such and just freeze the chunks you want to eat that way.

One reason I really started canning a lot is space. Freezer space always seems to be at a premium, so the more I'm able to put in a jar in the cupboard, the better. Of course, we're now running out of shelf space, but that's easier and cheaper to remedy than the issue with the freezer, LOL. Dehydration is also a very efficient way of storing things in less space.
 

r4eboxer

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Mikey; wow that was just awesome to read! You've bitten me with the meat canning bug. My issue is with the cook time it takes to get my roasts tender. I just don't have the time to cook meals after working all day. Then on the weekends I want to have some down time. It seems like I'm never able to just enjoy a day without worrying over this or that. I think if I had some ground beef, roast etc canned and just pop the lid and add some taco flavor or sloppy joe sauce I'd be jumping for joy. I have a lot of meat in the freezer from a side of beef purchased that does not get cooked often enough due to time and exhaustion issues.

I think I tried canning something with ground beef one time. Maybe it was my hotdog sauce I think. My problem is the grease escapes out of the lid while processing. It is then a total mess all over my jars in my canner and of course the lid did not seal with all that grease. What should I be doing as far as filling. It seems like it is just boiling over in the canner. Maybe I'm not getting the lids tight enough? I have that happen with pasta sauce and italian peppers too sometimes. I put olive oil in my peppers and sauce and it gets all over everything.

April: I agree about the drug, especially if someone raves over one of your recipes. My salsa has been getting rave reviews this year, now I know I'm going to overdo it in the garden with onion, peppers, tomatoes and basil just to fill those requests. Oh me oh my, I see a busy season coming up. :tools

Journey; are you as addicted to pinterest as I am?? I love that site and I will be pinning that link. Thanks for sharing

monty: Thanks, I'll be looking forward to the potato recipe.
 

Ridgerunner

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R4, you mentioned the convenience when you are short of time. I totally agree with that.

I don't can meat but I can dried beans. Those are real convenient to just open a pint jar and add them to things. They are already cooked.

The other thing that is really convenient on days when time is short is soup. You open up a quart of soup and warm it up. Cheese and crackers makes a complete meal for us.

I make a lot of chicken broth and can that. The way I do it is make it in the crock pot, using back, wings, and neck along with a few other body parts like gizzard, heart, and feet. You can scald the feet, then twist the toenails off and peel the skin off, so that gets the feet clean enough for me and they add a lot of gelatin. Anyway, my point to this is that I pick the meat off the back, neck, and wings and freeze that. You have cooked chicken meat that can go into that soup I mentioned or many other things like casseroles or chicken tacos. I don't can that meat because a pint would be way too much meat for the two of us.
 

r4eboxer

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Ridgerunner said:
R4, you mentioned the convenience when you are short of time. I totally agree with that.

I don't can meat but I can dried beans. Those are real convenient to just open a pint jar and add them to things. They are already cooked.

The other thing that is really convenient on days when time is short is soup. You open up a quart of soup and warm it up. Cheese and crackers makes a complete meal for us.

I make a lot of chicken broth and can that. The way I do it is make it in the crock pot, using back, wings, and neck along with a few other body parts like gizzard, heart, and feet. You can scald the feet, then twist the toenails off and peel the skin off, so that gets the feet clean enough for me and they add a lot of gelatin. Anyway, my point to this is that I pick the meat off the back, neck, and wings and freeze that. You have cooked chicken meat that can go into that soup I mentioned or many other things like casseroles or chicken tacos. I don't can that meat because a pint would be way too much meat for the two of us.
I have chickens and when the time comes I'll be canning broth too. I've heard the feet make super good stock so I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out. Do you cook the beans before you can or do you let them cook while processing?
 

journey11

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Oh mercy, the stock you make from homegrown chickens...it is sooooo good. Easy to make and to can. I save the carcasses and necks from the ones we butcher. I know a lot of people save the feet, but I can't get my head over it...thinking of all the yuckies they step in. Plus, I don't know if I have the patience to skin them. I save the hearts for the dog. The livers for us...best eaten fresh. And I need to start saving the gizzards too and put the time into cleaning them to also put in the stock. I hate to waste anything, but when you have young children to chase around, my time is limited.

Since I started canning beans, we eat a lot more of them. So convenient and I've noticed that they don't make one gassy like they do when prepared the usual way. Beans are so good for you! The baby loves them too.
 

Ridgerunner

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If you put 3/4 cup of dried beans in a pint jar and soak them overnight, you can can them the next day. Just rinse them real well before you add fresh water for canning. I'd have to look at how long I process them, using pressure canning, but if I remember right, it is a pretty long processing time. Off the top of my head I'm going to say 75 minutes, but I'd have to look that up to be sure. They are totally cooked. And I agree, they don't seem to make me as gassy this way.

The 3/4 cup of dried beans fills the pint up nicely without swelling up and causing problems with too much in there. One reason I like this, besides it being so easy, is that I can measure out exactly 18 pints, which is what my pressure canner holds. I don't have to guess how many beans to cook up to get a good canning.
 

r4eboxer

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Ridgerunner said:
If you put 3/4 cup of dried beans in a pint jar and soak them overnight, you can can them the next day. Just rinse them real well before you add fresh water for canning. I'd have to look at how long I process them, using pressure canning, but if I remember right, it is a pretty long processing time. Off the top of my head I'm going to say 75 minutes, but I'd have to look that up to be sure. They are totally cooked. And I agree, they don't seem to make me as gassy this way.

The 3/4 cup of dried beans fills the pint up nicely without swelling up and causing problems with too much in there. One reason I like this, besides it being so easy, is that I can measure out exactly 18 pints, which is what my pressure canner holds. I don't have to guess how many beans to cook up to get a good canning.
This is the best news I've heard! I love beans but they double me over in pain, so I'm gonna try it, super easy too.
 

journey11

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Ridgerunner said:
If you put 3/4 cup of dried beans in a pint jar and soak them overnight, you can can them the next day. Just rinse them real well before you add fresh water for canning. I'd have to look at how long I process them, using pressure canning, but if I remember right, it is a pretty long processing time. Off the top of my head I'm going to say 75 minutes, but I'd have to look that up to be sure. They are totally cooked. And I agree, they don't seem to make me as gassy this way.

The 3/4 cup of dried beans fills the pint up nicely without swelling up and causing problems with too much in there. One reason I like this, besides it being so easy, is that I can measure out exactly 18 pints, which is what my pressure canner holds. I don't have to guess how many beans to cook up to get a good canning.
That is a really good tip! I'm going to do that next time. I hate having a little leftover.
 

blondiebee181

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This is an interesting thread, I am nterested in canning, my grandma has done jelly/jams, salsa, tomatoes and pickles before and they were great. I would eventually love to do Tomato sauce, salsa, and pickles....don't have much time for anything else and not a big enough garden yet lol.....but...

I do have a semi-related question....does anyone here have good experience with preserving your own herbs? I'm doing a great many herbs this coming year and I would love to know how to dry preserve them for later uses.
 

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