How to Can Meat

Canning Meat
General Instructions
Noelle Ray (May 2010)
(Read the instructions to your personal canner!!)

1. Buy meat on sale (chicken, beef, corned beef, ground beef, pork, sausage etc)
a. If I can’t fit it in the freezer, I keep it in a cooler for a day with lots of ice until I can process it.

2. Clean jars in dishwasher. Most instructions say they don’t have to be sterilized because they will be cooked at such high temperatures, but it is up to you. I personally don’t sterilize them and I haven’t had any problems. (But make sure they are very clean).

3. Put raw chicken, beef, pork in jars. The butcher will cut up your beef into chunks that are easy to put in your jars at no charge. It makes it really easy. I fill the jars to about 1 to 1.5 inches below the top of the jar. Some people fill them more and some less. Or in other words don’ t fill them above the bottom rim of the jar.
a. I like to cook my ground meats before canning
b. I break the meat up and put tons of it on a couple cookie sheets in the oven.
c. You can cook the meat for about 20-30 minutes on 350. It is okay if some of it is a little pink. It will be cooking for a long time in the pressure canner.
d. No need to add water to raw meat. I add water to my precooked ground meat.

4. You can stick a knife down into and around the raw meat to get rid of air bubbles.

5. Add 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp salt to the top of the meat in the jar or add it to the jar before you add the meat.

6. Put your flat lids into some simmering water. Simmer or boil for 1-3 minutes. Some people add boiling water to a bowl of lids. Boiling water helps to soften the seal.

7. Wipe off the rims of your jars w/clean washcloth.

8. Put the NEW not used flat lids on your jars. They will be kind of hot. I dump out the water from the pan. That makes it easier to grab them. You can use a magnet if they are too hot.

9. Screw the lid on finger tight--meaning not super tight.

10. Fill your canner pan with 1 - 4 inches of water. Everyone seems to use a different amount of water, but it works anyway! I use 1.5 - 2 inches of water before I add my jars. The water rises when the jars are in there. Add a few tablespoons of vinegar to keep the jars clear and clean.

11. Make sure to put a rack on the bottom of the pan. The jars should not touch the bottom. If you have a larger canner, you can stack the jars. I use a small towel between them and it works great, but you can just stack them without anything between them too.

12. Turn on your burner to high. You don’t want to add cold jars to boiling water, so I usually wait until the jars are in the pot to turn the burner on. But I am sure people do it the other way too!

13. Attach the lid of your canner.

14. Don’t put the weight on yet!

15. Your canner will start to get hot and eventually steam will come out of the vent. Let it steam pretty heavily for about 10 minutes.

16. NOW put your weight on.

17. Watch your pressure gauge rise. When it gets to about 7 lbs of pressure, I turn my burner down to a little above low (2 or 3). The pressure should still rise. Watch until it rests at about 10 - 11 lbs or pressure.
a. If you find it keeps going above 10 or 11 lbs, turn it down to the lowest temp. If that is still too high, I usually take the pan part way off the burner and that helps keep it stable. It totally depends on your burner!Because I have done it a lot, I know what temp to put it on using my stove. You will get to know your stove. You can process it outside on a camping stove too!

18. Start your timer when the temp gets to 10 - 11 lbs., not before. It needs to be at that pressure for 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.

19. Turn off your burner. I usually let the pan sit there until the pressure drops. Some people might move it off that burner. Either way, let it drop naturally--don’t cool it with water!!

20. When the pressure drops to zero (which takes at least 30 minutes or more), open the pan and carefully take out the jars. I put them on a towel to cool.

21. When they are cool, I take off the rings and clean the jars.

22. Make sure the button is down.
23. If some didn’t seal, put them in the fridge and use them in the next day or so.

See some different recipes I posted on the blog on May 3, 2010 (Meat Canning Recipes) www.providentlivingisfun.blogspot.com or go to www.creativeanning.blogspot.com

Sloppy Joes
Chili Con Carne
Home Canned BBQ Sandwich Filling
Road Kill Stew

BOTTLING MEATS (This is from Wendy DeWitt)

(Caution: If you have a glass-top stove, you may want to use a propane camp stove outdoors to bottle meats. I have a glass top stove and have had no problems, but I still need to caution you.)

Bottling your own meats is extremely easy and it’s what makes this food storage system so unique. It’s real chicken in your sweet and sour and real beef stew. The meat is tender, juicy, ready to eat and needs no freezing or refrigeration...just like your tuna fish from the store. The shelf life is at least 3 years, but the process is so easy, you may want to rotate your meats more often to be sure the nutritional quality is high. You can bottle any kind of meat; chicken, turkey, beef, hamburger, fish, ham…I’ve even had moose.
Pressure Canners: You must use a pressure canner to bottle meats. Pressure cookers will not safely can meats. Canners come in quart sizes, meaning they hold a certain amount of liquid quarts, but don’t purchase anything smaller than a 15 quart canner, which will usually hold 7 quart jars.

For new or used canners, check ebay.com, Amazon.com, or Craigslist.org. The All American Canner 30 quart cans 14 quarts at a time. It costs $264 on e-bay (includes shipping). This is the cadillac version. There are much less expensive canners that work great too such as the Presto brand $80 (7 quarts at a time). If you buy a used canner, be sure to have the gauge tested at your County Extension Center or buy a new gauge. This will ensure that you are cooking at the right pressure and your food will be safe. Wendy DeWitt likes the All American canners because there is not rubber gasket to replace.

Canning Meats: A pint bottle will hold 1 pound of meat, a quart will hold 2 pounds. Jars from thrift stores or yard sales are fine for vacuum sealing dry foods, but not for bottling meats. Old jars might crack under the pressure. Invest in some new jars when you first start canning and reuse them over and over.











Ideas on how to use your meat:

Canned Chicken:
Canned Chicken added to Rice a Roni
Canned chicken with evaporated milk and canned cream of chicken soup over noodles
Canned chicken in enchiladas
Canned chicken and BBQ sauce over rice or noodles
Canned chicken and salsa for tacos or over rice or noodles
Canned chicken in Chicken fried Rice
Canned chicken on BBQ chicken Pizza
Chicken Patties (add raw eggs, onions and crackers and fry)
Chicken Salad sandwiches
Canned chicken and Teriyaki sauce over rice or noodles
Canned chicken and dumplings
Chicken soup with carrots and onions and noodles

Canned Beef or Ground Beef:
Tacos
Spaghetti
Chili
Beef fried rice
Beef and BBQ sauce over rice or on sandwiches
Taco meat or chili on fry bread
Beef and cream of mushroom soup, onion soup mix over rice
Beef and potatoes (kind of like hash). Add A-1 and onions to it
Beef Stew
Beef and teriyaki sauce
Beef and beans
Beef and gravy with mushrooms
Beef enchiladas
Beef stroganoff
Beef with stuffing (make your stuffing and add hot beef)
Sloppy Joes (Manwich or make your own sauce)
Hamburger Helper
Mac and Cheese with added ground beef
Taco soup