Stew...Freezing or Canning?

[freemotion]

No, it'll be fine, mine do that all the time. So the next day when they are perfectly cool and sealed, I fill a sink with hot sudsy water and soak and wash each jar before labeling it and storing it. Of course, I usually do 20-40 jars at a time, since the way my life works it is easier to do a marathon day than can a few at a time.

I was told that this happens because of inconsistant pressure. I just got a gas stove, so I am hoping that this won't happen now that it will be possible to keep the heat consistant with a flame. We will see!

I do a lot of my meat cubes in quarts so I can cook for two days in a row, but I also do a bunch of pints.

I do like having a lot of "meals-in-a-jar" for convenience, and like pints because they are one serving. If we are in a hurry we can each choose a jar (I lean towards soups and stews and he leans towards chili and anything with beans) each and it is quick-quick-quick. It is also super convenient for those nights that one of us is working and the other is on their own and doesn't feel like cooking for one.

For this reason, I use a large proportion of veggies in most of the meals so that it truly is a meal-in-a-jar and nothing needs to be added to make it a balanced meal.

Now you need to make meatloaf in a jar. A half-pint is perfect for one meatloaf sandwich. It also makes a generous one-serving main meat dish, too.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I had terrible problems trying to keep the pressure even!!! Darn electric stove. :/

How in the world do you can so much at once?!! I have a large canner, and it will only hold 4 or 5 quarts! Plus, add in the time it takes to get up to pressure and processing for an hour and a half...it took a long time to can those 4!

And that meatloaf idea sounds awesome!

 

[freemotion]

My canner holds 20 pints or 7 quarts, and I have two canners. That is why I don't do small batches...it is too time and energy intensive. And it takes too much fiddling with the heat on an electric stove....I couldn't leave that canner alone for more than 2 minutes, not even enough time to switch the laundry, really. The small batches are a great way to learn, but eventually you will be looking to fill your canner to make it worthwhile. I often will throw jars of homemade broth in to fill up a canner load. The jars of broth are VERY handy to have.

I do all my catfood, and we go through a pint a day, so that equals 365 pints a year just for the kitties. So another canner was a must. This year I did almost the entire year's worth in November, when turkeys were 49 cents a pound. I hate making catfood in the summer, when the time spent stripping the meat, grinding it, mixing it, filling jars, etc. puts it in danger of spoiling before it is even canned. In the cool weather, I can put the meat on the porch to cool and to stay cool while waiting for me to finish up another step in the process.

I did some chunks of turkey breast at the same time and we still have most of them. When I open a jar it smells and tastes like chemicals. Ugh. I can't imagine what they did to those turkeys to make them so nasty. I will likely feed them to the cats or pigs. These were unflavored chunks canned in water to be added to other recipes (cream of mushroom soup made with real chicken broth was the main plan, turkey soup and turkey salad sandwiches was another plan) and I will never do that again unless it is with home-raised birds.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

My canner holds 20 pints or 7 quarts, and I have two canners. That is why I don't do small batches...it is too time and energy intensive. And it takes too much fiddling with the heat on an electric stove....I couldn't leave that canner alone for more than 2 minutes, not even enough time to switch the laundry, really. The small batches are a great way to learn, but eventually you will be looking to fill your canner to make it worthwhile. I often will throw jars of homemade broth in to fill up a canner load. The jars of broth are VERY handy to have.

I do all my catfood, and we go through a pint a day, so that equals 365 pints a year just for the kitties. So another canner was a must. This year I did almost the entire year's worth in November, when turkeys were 49 cents a pound. I hate making catfood in the summer, when the time spent stripping the meat, grinding it, mixing it, filling jars, etc. puts it in danger of spoiling before it is even canned. In the cool weather, I can put the meat on the porch to cool and to stay cool while waiting for me to finish up another step in the process.

I did some chunks of turkey breast at the same time and we still have most of them. When I open a jar it smells and tastes like chemicals. Ugh. I can't imagine what they did to those turkeys to make them so nasty. I will likely feed them to the cats or pigs. These were unflavored chunks canned in water to be added to other recipes (cream of mushroom soup made with real chicken broth was the main plan, turkey soup and turkey salad sandwiches was another plan) and I will never do that again unless it is with home-raised birds.

Whoa, you're a canning machine!! And yeah, I wish I had an outdoor kitchen so I could can without heating up the house.

That really is awful about all that turkey that smells bad. :/ At least you can feed it to something so it's not totally wasted.

 

[SKR8PN]

We have two of the Presto pressure canners that can hold 7 qts or 14 pints each. I use a double burner propane stove outside when we can stuff. MUCH easier to control the heat that way.

Two things will cause your jars to cook over and leave some broth in the canner.
First is over- filling the jars.
Second is messing with the pressure AFTER you have turned the heat off. Whatever you do DO NOT REMOVE the weight, or let out the pressure! Let it cool down all by itself. THAT is why we use TWO canners. While one is cooling the other is cooking. Sometimes we do cook both at once and let them cool off together. Depends on what we are canning, how late it is getting and WHO wants to set all the jars out on the counter.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Maybe my canner will actually hold 7 qts, but it seemed to me the jars would be very close.

I left 1" of headspace, and didn't mess with the pressure after the heat was removed, but I did have a hard time keeping 11 lbs of pressure the whole processing time.

 

[Farmfresh]

It sometimes takes tiny adjustments to regulate the pressure. People using electric stoves have a lot more trouble with even heat.

 

[freemotion]

Maybe my canner will actually hold 7 qts, but it seemed to me the jars would be very close.

I left 1" of headspace, and didn't mess with the pressure after the heat was removed, but I did have a hard time keeping 11 lbs of pressure the whole processing time.

The jars touch in my canner. The instructions give the numbers of jars that it will hold, and they do touch. Some brands of jars are slightly bigger and the full number won't fit in the canner. I no longer buy Golden Harvest jars. It is not worth the 50 cents less per box for the aggravation. I only use them when I know I won't have enough to full 40 pints anyways.

And I found keeping the pressure steady on my electric stove was completely impossible. That is one reason why I saved and saved for a gas stove and the cost of converting the house to gas. Can't wait to try it!

 

[aggieterpkatie]

Oh my goodness!! I opened the first can of venison last night for dinner. It was SOOOOO good!!!!! I want to can all the venison we get next year!!!

 

[me&thegals]

Canned venison is the bomb! I hope my husband gets a bunch this year.