We live in hurricane country, down here in South Florida. Our area is pretty rural, with a 30 minute drive to the nearest grocery store. Power outages are frequent and unexpected. We use a freezer for lots of our food, which works fine for short power outages. But, if a hurricane comes through, we are at the end of the line for power restoration. After Hurricane Irma, we were without power for 8 days. 8 long, hot, muggy late September days and nights. UGH
As you can imagine, everything in the freezer needs to be used asap, or it becomes food for the animals. I hate feeding them better than I feed myself, so I try to keep at least 30 days of food on hand, including shelf stable protein. My solution is to can meat into jars.
I prefer to can either chicken or beef. Other meats (goat, pork, turkey, etc.) can also be done with the same times and pressure settings, but we like both canned chicken and canned beef.
As always, please follow safe canning practices, and my instructions are very similar to the US Centers for Home Food Preservation. I always begin a canning session by making sure my kitchen is spotlessly clean, including washing my counters and all utensils with hot, soapy water and then rinsing the counters with a weak bleach solution, which I allow to air dry before I begin preparing any food for canning.
I also run my jars and rings through the hottest wash cycle on my dishwasher and leave both in the dishwasher until I am ready to use them. I get my pressure canner ready to go, adding the recommended amount of water (3 quarts for my Presto 23-quart), and making sure that my seal is in good shape and that I can see light through the vent hole in the cover.
My preferred method is raw packing meat into the jars. Cut your meat into fairly small pieces, no longer than the height of your jar. You can fit about a pound of turkey or beef into a pint jar. Pack your jars as tightly as you safely can, leaving an inch of head space at the top of the jar. For raw packing meat, I do not add liquid.
The USCHFP recommends adding about 1/2 a teaspoon of salt to each jar, but I don’t do that. I have been known to put 1/8 teaspoon of powdered garlic in my jars, though. Be careful adding spices because canning intensifies their flavors. My experiment with adding cayenne pepper flakes created canned chicken that was SUPER spicy!
Once your jars are all packed, you should wipe the rim of each jar with a paper towel dampened with vinegar. Make sure you get all food residue and any grease or salt off the rim of the jar. Missing this can make the jar not seal properly, leading to problems down the road.
I normally do one jar at a time, packing, wiping, then adding the lid and ring to the jar. Be sure that your lid is clean and not bent, then tighten the ring to finger tight. Do not be tempted to make the ring super tight or do like my husband did the first time he helped me can. Over-tight rings can cause lids to buckle rather than seal properly.
Once your canner is full, place the lid on the canner and start increasing your heat. I usually turn mine up to about medium (6-7) to start, then wait for the pressure canner to begin venting. DO NOT put your weight on the canner yet!
After the canner gets up to temperature, it will begin venting. You’ll see and hear a steady stream of steam coming out of the vent. This is what you want. You need to time that steam for 10 minutes. This is removing most of the air from your jars and canner and is a required part of the process.
After ten minutes of steady steam, then you can put your gauge on the canner. Set it on there gently. I use a rocker guage on mine, so I can hear the canner, even if I have my back to it. You want a steady rocking, about 3 to 4 times a minute. Once mine actually starts rocking and the petcock rises and locks, I start lowering the heat under the canner slowly. On my stove, that means I drop the heat about half a notch at a time. My stove has settings of 1 to 10. I start at about 6, then lower the heat to about 3.5 or 4 to get a steady rocking motion on the guage.
Meat times are 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts. The time starts as soon as your gauge starts rocking and must be restarted if your gauge stops rocking at any point. Don’t wander far from your kitchen while you’re canning. You do not want to have to start over! Trust me! Even worse, you don’t want your canner to boil dry and ruin all your hard work.
When the time is up, turn the heat off and, if possible, move the canner off the burner. If the canner is too heavy to move (mine is), then turn off the heat and let it sit. Do NOT remove the gauge or do anything else at this time. As it cools, the gauge will stop rocking and you’ll hear the petcock drop.
I wait 10 more minutes after the petcock drops, then remove the gauge without doing anything else. After another 10 minutes with no steam or noise from the canner, then I’ll crack open the lid and leave it on top of the canner for another 5 to 10 minutes. When I do go back to remove the lid, I’m very careful to lift the lid so that any steam is blocked from hitting me in the face. I enjoy a good facial, but the pressure canner gives off super hot steam. I think I’ll pass!
By the time I take the lid off my canner, I have already prepared a place for my jars to sit for 24 hours. I put a towel on the counter, then use the jar lifter to gently remove the jars without tilting them and set the jars on the towel with at least 1 inch of space on all sides. Another towel is laid over the jars to keep drafts off them, and I ignore them for 24 hours. You may hear the jars pinging, which means they are sealing, but don’t touch the lids until the 24 hours are up.
The next day, I check all of my jars to make sure they have sealed. I touch the lids gently to make sure that they are concave, but I don’t push on them. If a jar didn’t seal, I’ll place it in the fridge to be used up in a couple of days. If the jars have sealed, I remove the ring, then do a 3-second test. I pick up the jar by the edge of the lid. The lid should stay on the jar while you’re supporting it for at least 3 seconds. If it passes, I wash and dry the jars to make sure there is no residue on the outside and store them for future use.
Canned chicken makes great chicken salad, or tacos, or enchiladas. I often use it in chicken pot pie or chicken and dumplings. I have even used canned chicken to make chicken nuggets in the past!
Canned beef can be used for mexican dishes, pot pies, or as sandwich meat. I think it tastes like pot roast and I’ve often added canned chicken to roasted veggies to create a pot roast style casserole.
For my family, one pint of meat is enough for at least one full meal, but larger families may use more than one pint for a dish. Since you can safely can meat in quart jars, that may be a better option.
