Three Month Supply- Canning Meat

Otherwise known as: Why I have been neglecting my blog. And my book. Warning: May contain gross pictures. We are talking about canning meat here, people. Yuck!

My sister gave me the head's up. There were a lot of good deals on meat, and she would teach me how to use her pressure cooker. A few weeks ago she gave me a jar of beef that she had canned and it was delicious. So I have been wanting to give it a try ever since.




Now, Jannalee is not the type to make an idle offer. You know what I mean. Some people offer to help you, but you are hesitant to take them up on it. Jannalee tells me to come over at this and such time and she will teach me. This is not the first time, either. She taught me how to make homemade wheat bread a couple of weeks ago. I will post pictures when I have the guts to actually make some by myself;) This week, I promise!

Tuesday when the Ginge came over I ran around to 4 different stores and got some major deals on pork loin, 93% fat free ground beef, beef roast, and chicken breast. Then I swung by Jannalee's house to pick up the pressure cooker. Which I would have been too intimidated to use if she hadn't actually shown me how. I started browning the ground beef, because I needed some for that night's dinner anyway. I decided to just brown it all while I was at it.



Ground beef is really the only thing you have to cook before canning. The rest of it goes into the jars raw. So then I got started with the gross stuff. My kids were appalled.


I am running the pork through Italian dressing mix. Jannalee said that it tastes great that way. You can open a jar, heat it up, throw it on rice and you've got a meal. The rest I made up myself. I used a Costco meat rub that we love on burgers in a jar of beef. Then onion soup mix and garlic in another jar of beef. taco seasoning on beef. Ranch dressing mix on chicken. Soy sauce and garlic pepper on chicken (Which is how I cook it usually) and a few other things. I got a little creative.

The first night I was up with it until 1:30 because I underestimated the time required. It takes 90 minutes for quarts to cook in the pressure cooker, so I was figuring an hour and a half. I wasn't counting on the time it took for it to get to boiling, then to pressurize, then to depressurize afterward. One of the drawbacks to canning in the middle of the night is not being able to call your sister with little questions. Oh well. You live and learn.

(my quarts in the cooker)


(my pints, after they are done cooking)

No, they don't look pretty. But they taste good. I hope. Jannalee's tasted good, we'll have to see about mine. I am trying to resist the temptation to use them for dinner next week just to see how they taste! C'mon, wouldn't you be curious?