Tuesday, April 5, 2016

Meat in grid down, off grid . or big hurry

    Today I tried something I have wanted to do for a long time I canned 8 jars of hamburger meat. A lot of people including myself may be scared to attempted home canned meat but I did it.

   Ok the local store is running a loss leader on Hamburger for 1.88 a pound  so I got 20 lbs. for the freezer. Now in this house no one thinks about "what's for dinner" till dinner time. At  5 it is a rush to thaw a pack of hamburger and then fix dinner plus as most prepper's have found meat protein is a costly commodity to buy and store in quantity. If it is frozen you have to thaw it cook it and you run the risk of it all spoiling if the power goes out and you can't run your freezer. Sure you can buy ham, chicken, corned beef or any number of things that have meat for dinner or food storage but it isn't the same.

    I decided I needed to at least try canning hamburger. I took 8 lbs. of meat and a whole onion and browned it in 2 skillets it took 20 minute's while that cooked I got the pressure canner and jars set out . I simply filled the jars like the Ball Blue Book said placed them in the pressure canner set the jiggler to 10 lb. and waited for it to start then 90 minute's later turned it off. Took them out and in 10 minutes it was ping ping ping they sealed .

  I did 8 but forgot  the canner holds 10 so I used 2 empty jars to fill it . These cost 2.50 per pound jar ready to eat right out of the jar. The time was less than 45 minute's of work for 8 meals .

   The real test will be when we open the first one for a meal . If it is good I think frozen hamburger will be a thing of the past . Next will be cubed chicken breast , roast , pork, and Bacon. I run the numbers for storage and it is almost even with store bought but it can be tailored to our taste . If you have been afraid to try just take the leap I did.

5 comments:

  1. got a pressure canner for Christmas. haven't used it yet but want to get the pork going for under 2$ per pound and the ham at 99 cents per pound canned. don't think these prices will last and you know that gasoline has to go back u at some point.
    some of us may be losing weight unwillingly in the near future.

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    1. Deb it was so easy to do. Doing BBQ I read the usda production report they are saying pork and beef should fall 5 to 12 % this year.

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  3. Gary, thanks for the post. Please let us know when you try the meat as a meal. I have canned for years and thought about trying to can meat but can't jump over the "its gonna be blah" hurdle.

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    1. Steve I will post when used for the 1st time. It will probable be chili .

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