Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Meat or other food that is just stockpiled but never eaten, then thrown out a year or so later seems like a big waste. I was thinking about various ways to preserve meat so that you could have 2-3 months supply on hand. Well, one easy way to do that is - tuna! Just watch for it on sale, buy extra quantities and rotate in with your normal groceries and cooking. Tuna salad, etc. Have enough on hand to last you and your family several weeks. Supplement with jerked beef or chicken, stored in a cool dry place and that should do it.

For longer term, sustainable sources of meat, Im seriously considering raising rabbits, as was discussed in a recent thread.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Why would you throw it out a year later? Seems like a waste, it'll last MUCH longer than that.

You should always rotate as best you can anyways, though. But there is no need, short of spoiled food from broken seals/jars to throw most canned food out after a year.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Man - I put up so much tuna a couple years back...

Hundreds of cans....

Now we are trying to work through it.

Pro -
My tuna salad is kik ass
Con-
Gotta Go slow- dont want to get brain damage.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Why not buy some quality chicken breast and can it. I recently bought 20 lbs of chicken breast. It cost me 41.00 for the chicken. I got 25 pints canned plus enough for 3 more meals (later in the week). Each pint holds about 4 times the amount that a tuna can holds. Almost all tuna at the regular grocery store has SOY in it. Soy prevents your body from absorbing minerals. You can find soy free tuna at the health food store for 3.89 per small can. Most small cans of Tuna cost at least 1.89 per can, the larger cans are almost 3.00 per can at the grocery store.. The canned chicken will last for at least 3 years. I think it ended up costing me about 1.50 per jar of canned chicken!

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

We canned up a bunch of chicken soup but found out later that you are not supposed to put any noodles or rice in before canning.http://www.arboristsite.com/images/smilies/redface.gif
Now I don't know if it's safe to eat:puke:,

guess I should have read more or asked http://www.arboristsite.com/images/smilies/Eye_anim.gifImaCannin first!:ok:

It takes a long time to can soup, the process time is something like 75 min for soups or meat........... still learninghttp://www.arboristsite.com/images/smilies/dizzy.gif

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

No doubt it will be "safe" to eat; but the noodles and rice may be a bit mushy (after all, they don't take 75 minutes at 240 degrees F to cook.) I think you're advised to add the noddles and rice later because they store well as dried foods and the quality will be better if you add them to your soups and stews when you're ready to serve.

I had this conversation with Tn...Andy a year or so ago, when he mentioned that he added his pasta to his soups before he canned them. I objected because I had tried solar cooking some stew with yolk-free egg noddles and the results was perfectly OK, except the noddles were falling apart. The noodles I used had suggested cooking times of 8-12 minutes. Obviously, Tn...Andy used a different product.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Just canned a bunch of ground beef (taco flavored) and beef tips (just salt and water).
Cooked the taco meat for 30 minutes in a pressure cooker. Added the spices and canned in pressure cooker for another 30 minutes.
Tried some tonight and it was very good.
Also canned 4 pints beef polish sausage to see how it turns out.
Looks ok.
Gonna try canning butter soon in the oven.
Anybody try that yet?

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

I buy chicken quarters in 10lb bags for 39c/lb on sale. When I finally buy a home I plan to get a good chest freezer and store more (maybe 200lbs when they get down to 29c/lb) but I've yet to do the math.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Actually, I have tried that (the butter canning effort.) And I did not personally have any bad result from it. But I have to tell you that the process does not meet the standards for home canning. Think about it: you boil the butter at 180 degrees F, which is nowhere near 240 degrees. Then you put the product into heated jars from the oven, along with whatever air may be circulating in your kitchen. And, at last, you put a lid on it, sealing in... who knows what?

I see their point really. The legitimate canning process involves sealing foods in jars and then treating (canning) them at 240 degrees F for a period of time to destroy any and all nasties. The butter home-canning people aren't really doing that. And, while I didn't get sick from my butter, I do understand their objections:

Should I use directions for canning butter at home that I see on the Internet?

"Indeed, there are some directions for 'canning' butter in circulation on the Internet. Most of what we have seen are not really canning, as they do not have Boiling Water or Pressure Canning processes applied to the filled jar. Jars are preheated, the butter is melted down and poured into the jars, and the lids are put on the jars. Some directions say to put the jars in the refrigerator as they re-harden, but to keep shaking them at regular intervals to keep the separating butter better mixed as it hardens. This is merely storing butter in canning jars, not ‘canning’. True home canning is when the food is heated enough to destroy or sufficiently acid enough to prevent growth of all spores of Clostridium botulinum (that causes botulism) and other pathogens during room temperature storage on the shelf.

"Additionally, when you consider the economics of the process (energy costs involved with heating, cost of jars and lids, etc.), even if the butter is bought on sale, it may not be economically viable to prepare butter to store for years in this manner. Good quality butter is readily available at all times, if butter is needed for fresh use. If the concern is about emergency food supplies, there are dry forms of butter that can be purchased and stored, oils that can be used in an emergency, or commercially canned butter in tins (although we have only seen this for sale from other countries). Melted and re-hardened butter may not function the same as original butter in many types of baking anyway.

"There are a few issues with the common directions circulating on the Internet at this time (Spring 2006):

"Physical safety and food quality: In the provided directions, the jars are preheated in an oven (dry-heat), which is not recommended for canning jars. Manufacturers of canning jars do not recommend baking or oven canning in the jars. It is very risky with regard to causing jar breakage. There is no guarantee that the jars heated in this dry manner are sufficiently heated to sterilize them, as we do not have data on sterilizing jar surfaces by this dry-heating method.

"The butter is not really being 'canned'; it is simply being melted and put in canning jars, and covered with lids. Due to some heat present from the hot melted butters and preheated jars, some degree of vacuum is pulled on the lids to develop a seal. It rarely is as strong a vacuum as you obtain in jars sealed through heat processing. The practice in these 'canned' butter directions is referred to as 'open-kettle' canning in our terminology, which is really no canning at all, since the jar (with product in it) is not being heat processed before storage.

"Although mostly fat, butter is a low-acid food. Meat, vegetables, butter, cream, etc. are low-acid products that will support the outgrowth of C. botulinum and toxin formation in a sealed jar at room temperature. Low-acid products have to be pressure-canned by tested processes to be kept in a sealed jar at room temperature. It is not clear what the botulism risk is from such a high-fat product, but to store a low-acid moist food in a sealed jar at room temperature requires processing to destroy spores. A normal salted butter has about 16-17% water, some salt, protein, vitamins and minerals. Some butter-like spreads have varying amounts of water in them. We have no kind of database in the home canning/food processing arena to know what the microbiological concerns would be in a butter stored at room temperature in a sealed jar. In the absence of that, given that it is low-acid and that fats can protect spores from heat if they are in the product during a canning process, we cannot recommend storing butter produced by these methods under vacuum sealed conditions at room temperature.

"Some other directions do call for 'canning' the filled jars of butter in a dry oven. This also is not 'canning'. There is not sufficient, research-based documentation to support that 'canning' any food in a dry oven as described on this web page or any page that proposes oven canning is even sufficient heating to destroy bacteria of concern, let alone enough to produce a proper seal with today's home canning lids.

"In conclusion, with no testing having been conducted to validate these methods, we would NOT recommend or endorse them as a safe home-canning process, let alone for storing butter at room temperature for an extended period. We do know that the methods given for preheating empty jars, or even filled jars, in a dry oven are not recommended by the jar manufacturers or by us for any food. Aside from the physical safety and quality issues, and the fact that it is not canning at all, if there happened to be spores of certain bacteria in there, these procedures will not destroy those spores for safe room temperature storage."

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Buy a Nubian Goat and make fresh butter and cheese!

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Buy commerically canned butter and cheese if you wish, but after ImaCannin's post, I see there are alternatives.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

There is just something about fresh squeezed milk!

http://suttonfarmalpines.com/Images/...r-06-Perry.jpg

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Question about the goats, if you don't mind. How often do you have to milk them? And if you don't get around to it, do they dry up permanently? I've heard that about dairy cows, so I was curious.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

You are suppose to milk them twice a day about the same time every day.
By not milking them, and letting their udders get really full, can cause mastitis. Some people keep the mamma goat locked up at night alone,then milk her in the morning and turn the babies loose with her during the day. This gives you one good milking a day. But yes, if she is not kept on a regular schedule, her milk supply could start dwindling.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

Ive done the home canned butter. It didnt turn out bad, but its time consuming and can be messy. I'd stick with commercial butter next time. It also doesnt store very long.

@7th-How did you flavor your taco meat? With a commercial taco seasoning packet, or did you use your own spcies, etc? Also, it seems like you cooked your meat a REALLY long time...any particular reason? Ive never canned ground beef, but Im wanting to here soon.

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I've got eight cases of canned mackerel I'm in the process of dehydrating. I'll post some pics later tonight.

Here's what I've been doing with chicken:
http://goldismoney.info/forums/showp...8&postcount=24

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

I use just Taco Bell taco seasoning in the packet. The only thing the kids like.
I cooked it to get to the temp of 240 degree's to kill any bacteria. Keep it on the safe side.
It turned out real good. The kids (ultimate taste testers) gave the thumbs up, so I'll be canning more this week.
I'm goinmg to try the ground chicken and season it taco as well.
My sister had the ground chicken I tried a week ago and was better than ground beef for taco's.
I put the seasoning in the meat after it cooked in the fry pan which then pressure cooked it.
I browned it in the fry pan so I could drain as much of the fat as I could before going into the pressure cooker.
Drained the water from the meat and seasoned to taste which I then packed into pint jars added water to about an inch from the top and tightly screwed the lids on and pressure cooked another 30 minutes to attain the 240 degree's again.
After taking them out they were still hot enough to see the meat boil in the jar for at least another 20 to 30 minutes.
A rule of thub for raw meat is to cook at 10lbs pressure for 75 minutes and 55 minutes for 15 lbs pressure which varies with altitude.

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Nick,
Once you dehydrate the meat - how do you store it? I have been reading different web sites that say not to use it after two weeks because bacteria will grow on it. On the cans of dehydrated meat like at Honeyville, it says to refrigerate it after opened and has to be eaten with in 30 days.

Have you eaten any of your dehydrated meat a year later?

I think the dehydrated meat is a good idea, just don't have enough long term info on it.

Re: Canning meat that you can you can rotate through without just stockpiling
 

According to this site, dehydrated foods can be stored indefinitely if kept sealed and in a cool, dark place:

http://www.sugarmountainhome.com/gar...20Document.doc

I've only been dehydrating chicken and fish for about four months. I keep it sealed up airtight in quart-sized mason jars. I'll do a little more research, but everything I've read so far from authoritative sources says that as long as all water is removed and the meat is kept sealed in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, bacteria growth isn't an issue. Canned mackerel and salmon have a shelf life of at least three years, according to the dates stamped on the cans, so I can't see how dehydrated fish from a can wouldn't also have a comparable shelf life if sealed in an airtight container after all water has been removed.

Anyone else have experience in dehydrating meats?