I need experienced help, please!

[Buffie]

I'm working steadily on preparedness and food storage; I already have a great supply of vegetables (canned, frozen, dehydrated), fruit, pasta, jelly, etc. But here's my problem--what's the best kind of meat? My husband and I loathe any kind of fish, including tuna. We eat mostly beef and ham. Is freeze-dried and dehydrated meat very good? How about canned meat? I'll have some meat in the freezer, of course, but I don't want to rely completely on an electrical appliance. If anyone has had experience with meat, could you please give me some advice? Thanks!

[prairiemom]

Every year I try to can about 50-65 qts of meat. I buy 2 big (22+ lb) turkeys when they are on sale at Thanksgiving and can them in Jan after all the busy days are over. I can several pork roasts and hamburger when they go on sale (esp holidays: Memorial Day and July 4th.) We have friends who usually don't have room for all their deer meat, so I get a batch or two (7-14 jars) of meat from them. Then we rotate this during the year.

I also do 50-60 qts of soup. Again, when the meat goes on sale, esp in Jan-Mar when the carrots and potatoes are starting to get old and I know they're about to be too old. It means I'm canning something every month, usually 2-3X mo. But it means we have a good supply of meat and a steady source of convenience foods.

Then we buy 4 cases of tuna every summer when the local grocery store has a tent sale--that's 96 cans.

So depending on whether the qt goes to make one meal or two, I can have at least 4-5 meals week that have meat. That's plenty. The rest can be legumes, eggs or dairy based meals.

[Cowboy]

Costco has canned beef. It is great to make barbecue beef sandwiches or to put in anything. I have several cases.

http://www.idareyoutoeatit.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/beef-chunk-dinner-300x225.gif

[mirkwood]

I buy the canned chicken at Sam's Club and use it pretty often. I have some freeze dried meats in my storage as well. I have not tried them by themself, but have had pre made meals that included freeze dried meat and it has tasted fine. It is expensive though. I also have used meat flavored TVP with success. I have thought about doing home canned meat, but I don't currently have the space for jars so I have not looked at it seriously.

[signseeker]

prairiemom- Can we have your soup recipe that you can? I need to do some "meals" in cans I think. Oh... that means using the pressure canner. :yikes:

We use the canned chicken a ton, too. And I really like the canned ham, which is around the size of tuna cans. There was about a 2-month stint where my Wally World did not have the canned ham... I was like, "What the--!!" every time I went to the store. It's back now, though. If I have the canned ham, mayo and bread, I'm good. :thumbsup: It's good for the split pea soup, too. And potato soup or whatever else...

[Earthling]

Macey's has chicken on sale for $1.48 a lb for a 40 lb box = $59.20. I am going to get a box and pressure can it (pray for me - this is scary). I did pressure can 3 qts of beans a few weeks ago . . . so my canner is good to go - all checked by the extension service (it is old).

[Pitcher]

I have tried and like the freeze dried meats. A good source is Freezediesguy on the internet.

[prairiemom]

I just use any soup recipe--whatever I have on hand, whatever sounds good. You process it to the time of the longest food (i.e. if you have meat in it, 90 min, if it's beans, 75 min.

This is the best site I know of for canning recipes:
http://web1.msue.msu.edu/msue/imp/mod01/master01.html

One ready-made meal that we really like is "stuffed cabbage". It's not really stuffed (because the little cabbage packets would fall apart when we try to take them out of the jar, although if you did it in a wide-mouth jar and were VERY careful you might be able to do it.) I just layer cooked meatballs with kinda big chunks of cabbage. Pack it in well, then pour hot spaghetti sauce over it all and process for 90 min. Great served over rice.

Signseeker, you'll do fine. With modern pressure canners there really is nothing to worry about. They have so many safety features you'd have to really try hard to get it to explode.

[TheSwally]

How long will this canned meat last for on the shelf?

[prairiemom]

As with all canned food, color, taste and nutrition will begin to diminish after one year. We try to rotate through all of our meat in 2 yrs. But just this week we found a 6 1/2 yr old jar of pork and had it for lunch. Tasted fine. As long as the temp and humidity are OK and jars aren't banged around so that the seals break you should be OK for a very long time.

It's not a "put it in the closet and forget about it for 30's years" way of storing meat. It's a life-style thing--I do it to save money (only buying meat that is on sale), have convenience foods (1-2 hr investment for processing and I get 7 or more ready-made meals.) and have some meat on hand if our supplies should ever be cut off.

[4evermama]

I'm with prairie mom on this one. With home canned meat, you can season it to your family's taste. A little prep now saves a lot of time and energy later. Beef and Pork shred great. Chicken is super easy to work with too. Saves money this way as I can wait for the really great sales. Costco canned meats are good as the cans are super durable(for camping or 72 hour packs) and if I use up my stock, the quality is consistant.
And another thing, our stock keeps the carnivores in my home super happy.....
Instant meat with out upsetting mom with a messy kitchen:thumbup:.

[Mother55]

Do you have a favorite brand of canned ham for your sandwiches and potato soup?
I like the costco canned chicken for casseroles and sandwiches. Also, My mom likes costco canned salmon to make sandwiches with mayo--salmon is very high in protein. they come in a shrink wrapped stack of 6 cans about the size of tuna cans.