and freezing cheese.
April 17th, 2024
Meat and Cheese
Start gathering these two things for your pantry. We have been talking about preparedness for a while now, but now, is here. We are hearing about the bird flu, and chickens being culled, we are hearing about the bird flu in cattle as well as dairy cattle. As of this writing, I read that one person has been affected.
I purchase my meat from the local butcher, who gets their meat from local farmers. It is humanely raised, without hormones or antibiotics and is only slightly more expensive, and at times during sales, it can be below the major grocery stores here. In my city we only have the Canadian Superstore and Save-On and most of their meat has hormones and antibiotics in it and freezing and canning do help reduce the levels, but does not eliminate them. As with so many scientific papers, rates vary. If you are interested in learning more, you can easily access this information online.
So, you run out and buy meat in bulk, but you have a small freezer, or your freezer is already full, but you want to purchase a little more meat. You can dehydrate some of the meat as jerky, but you need to store it in a freezer because it will go bad. Home canning and dehydrating is different than industrial preserving.
Meat can only be pressured canned; and don’t let fear overtake you. It is as simple as water bath canning, just placed inside a different container. If you are processing over 10 minutes, 15 minutes in higher elevations, you don’t need to sterilize your jars. The lids don’t even need to be sterilized anymore. And to be honest, meat is so easy to can.
If you own a pressure canner, it can be used as a water bath canner, just don’t lock the lid on. Yes, there is a cost, but once you have the canner and jars, you are set for life, almost. You will always need to buy canning lids and replace rubber rings on your pressure canner, if yours uses them.
I have a vintage All-American pressure canner I found at a thrift store and love it. I also bought a vintage Mirro pressure canner, it only allows for one row of jars, and it works great, however, buy the time I bought the canner at the thrift shop, replaced the rubber ring, and the missing parts, it cost me the same as if I would have bought a new one.
Forjars, has a double stacking pressure canner, that has both the pressure gauge as well as the weighted gauge. It is made in America, and available at their US site as well as their Canadian site. They just released these canners and found that they didn’t test them over 10 pounds, and they failed at 15 pounds, but they quickly solved the problem, and they are good to go now.
- Their canning lids are amazing. I have used Bernardin lids, Amazon purchased lids, mason lids, and others, and will stay with Forjars lids from now on. They are thicker than all the others, and cheaper than most other lids. I am frustrated with Bernardin lids because they have been failing, the newer ones as well as some that are a few years old.
I have nothing bad to say about any pressure canner, so use what you can find and afford. Don’t forget to ask grandma if she still has hers. Most pressure canners use a rubber seal, and they all can be replaced, just make sure you order the right one for your canner. Weights are five pounds, ten pounds and fifteen pounds. It is the pounds of pressure that changes when processing, not the time, like it does for water bath canning.
Only purchase canning safe jars. If you are planning on purchasing jars for canning meat, normally, it is one pound of meat for a pint or 500ml jar, and two pounds of meat for a quart or 1 litre jar. When choosing recipes, use approved recipes. I suggest buying at least one book to have on hand in a paper format, just in case the internet goes down and you can also write reminders in the margins of the book.
Many of you might be saying, it costs so much to buy a pressure canner, jars, and lids, let alone the meat and vegetables to put into them. That’s true. But once you have them, you have them.
DON’T LET FEAR TAKE OVER. It’s really simple. The way you fill the jars, de-bubble and put the lids and rings on is the same as for water bath canning. Your first project or testing the canner for the first time, I suggest using jars of water. This serves two purposes, it doesn’t waste food if you need to stop the process and fix something, and you have bottled water for your pantry in case the water is shut off for a time, and you still have water for coffee.
If you have a freezer full of meat and want to add new meat, unthaw the old meat and can that.
Below, I will link some of my favourite meat canning recipes and a few how-to videos. The easiest recipes for canning meat, are just plain chicken, beef, pork, or wild meat. The only ingredient is meat. No water, no salt (if you choose not to add salt). See the Ugly Chicken video.
Meat done this way can be used in a stew, casserole, fajitas, shepherd’s pie, pork and beans, shredded chicken or pork, chili, etc.
Beef stew with vegetables: (I prefer it with broth over water; but it is still good with just water. I add a few seasonings after opening the jar.)
https://www.bernardin.ca/recipes/en/beef-stew-with-vegetables.htm
Meat Sauce: If you don’t like onions or peppers, you don’t have to add them. Also, it makes way more than the recipe says, so have at least 8 to 10 pint or 500ml jars. I use this for all those saucy things like sloppy joe, pasta sauce, and I have even used it for taco salads and wraps.
https://www.bernardin.ca/recipes/en/meat-sauce.htm
Ground Meat: I just lightly brown my hamburger and use broth. I found that five pounds of lean ground beef fills 3 quart or 1 litre jars. Use this for Shepards Pie, beef stroganoff, lazy cabbage rolls, any time you need ground meat.
CHEESE: The best way I have discovered to preserve cheese is to freeze it. Cheddar cheese, I always grate it before putting it in the freezer.
Cream cheese will unthaw and be crumbly. It is still useful for cheesecake, dips, and sauces, as well as stuffed chicken breasts.
You can also freeze milk; however, it does change the taste of the milk slightly. Yogurt can be frozen, but unthaws and separates, so I recommend eating in its frozen state.
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