Who’s canning ?

I've been busy canning the last couple days 9 pints chicken thighs, 9 pints turkey thighs and 9 pints lamb. It was a giant PIA deboning the chicken and turkey and the bones & gristle all went into the stockpot for soup base. I let them simmer all day and got 7 quarts of rich, flavorful stock for my efforts. Looks like we'll be having soup or stews once the weather turns colder. I'll be making some cornbread tomorrow. By a happy accident I found by using self - rising flour instead of plain, I get a much lighter, almost fluffy cornbread.
Think I'll have some for breakfast tomorrow. I love maple syrup on cornbread. [smile]
 
…went into the stockpot for soup base. I let them simmer all day and got 7 quarts of rich, flavorful stock for my efforts. Looks like we'll be having soup or stews once the weather turns colder.

How are you saving the stock? Did you can it? Freeze?
 
Anybody else notice the shortage of lids. Jars can be bought with lids, but no lids to be found. Online they have China brand lids instead of Ball. Anybody try these?
 
How are you saving the stock? Did you can it? Freeze?
Strained it through a wire mesh sieve to get some of the bigger pieces from the bones out and ladled it into quart mason jars. Processed them for 45 minutes in the pressure cooker. I love hearing that "tink" sound as they cool when taken out. Stock can be stored almost forever. We had to rearrange the pantry to accommodate my canning spree and I found a pint of stock leftover from 2015 and made a quick chicken stew for supper the other night with a pint of chicken meat from 2018 and fresh veggies. It was delicious. [smile]
 
I've been busy canning the last couple days 9 pints chicken thighs, 9 pints turkey thighs and 9 pints lamb. It was a giant PIA deboning the chicken and turkey and the bones & gristle all went into the stockpot for soup base. I let them simmer all day and got 7 quarts of rich, flavorful stock for my efforts. Looks like we'll be having soup or stews once the weather turns colder. I'll be making some cornbread tomorrow. By a happy accident I found by using self - rising flour instead of plain, I get a much lighter, almost fluffy cornbread.
Think I'll have some for breakfast tomorrow. I love maple syrup on cornbread. [smile]
I did some chicken stock in the pressure cooker myself today. Just bones from grilled chicken over the summer with carrots, celery, garlic, onion flakes (yeah, no onions on hand), salt and pepper. It probably cooked between 1.5 hrs and 2 hrs under pressure. I think next time I'll let it go a lot longer and see what it looks like after. This wasn't bad, just curious if I could get more goodness out of the bones. They still had meat on them when I was done.

If you haven't tried putting pieces of cornbread in a glass, covering with milk, and eating with a spoon I highly recommend it. The wholer the milk, the better. I seldom have milk on hand, but when I have some I need to use up I'll make cornbread and have cornbread milk.
 
Just got my pressure canner. Looking forward to canning up some soups and stews over the coming weeks!
What did you get? I got a Presto with the jiggler earlier this year and have been very happy with it. I'm still working on my technique, but it's pretty easy to work with as long as you follow the steps.
 
Anybody else notice the shortage of lids. Jars can be bought with lids, but no lids to be found. Online they have China brand lids instead of Ball. Anybody try these?

Yes, I ordered a bunch of them early this year. They work just fine.
 
I did some chicken stock in the pressure cooker myself today. Just bones from grilled chicken over the summer with carrots, celery, garlic, onion flakes (yeah, no onions on hand), salt and pepper. It probably cooked between 1.5 hrs and 2 hrs under pressure. I think next time I'll let it go a lot longer and see what it looks like after. This wasn't bad, just curious if I could get more goodness out of the bones. They still had meat on them when I was done.

If you haven't tried putting pieces of cornbread in a glass, covering with milk, and eating with a spoon I highly recommend it. The wholer the milk, the better. I seldom have milk on hand, but when I have some I need to use up I'll make cornbread and have cornbread milk.
Crack the ends of the bones with the back side of a cleaver or a mallet. Be sure to strain the stock through cheese cloth or sieve to catch any bone chips.
 
Reviews on Amazon are always hit or miss.
Nobody really knows the experience level of those making the reviews, they could be complete newbs canning for the first time or experienced people who just messed up a batch.
Proper canning methods should produce a good vacuum on any jar and lid if the jar rim is clean and the lid properly placed, tightened correctly, processed for the correct times and allowed to burp correctly.
I've canned for over a couple of decades and only had a couple of jars that didn't seal correctly.....they were Ball lids when I first started canning.

I don't put a lot of faith in most reviews, the sources are just too arbitrary.
 
They work fine.
I’m sure they are fine. But I am enough of a newbie to canning, that I don’t want to introduce extra variables to the risk equation. Particularly now that I’m going to try my hand at pressure canning. I honestly just wish that there were more…”foodie level” trustworthy recipes out there. They are all a bit…basic and boring. A guys gotta maintain standards in the apocalypse, after all. Lol.
 
Is there a particular place you guys/gals are buying jars from? Should I just hit up amazon? Not sure if there are any deals out there.
 
Is there a particular place you guys/gals are buying jars from? Should I just hit up amazon? Not sure if there are any deals out there.

Walmart, Family Dollar, Dollar General, IGA grocery store, local hardware store, Tractor Supply, Southern States feed and supply, local flea market.......basically anyone who has them or the size I need when I need them. They are all within about $2.00 a case for Ball, Golden Harvest, or Kerr.
When canning season rolls around in these parts, you take what you can get if you didn't stock up early in the year. Most people around here plant a garden and can much of their harvest. I try to stay ahead of it and keep a few new cases of each size on hand along with my used jars.

A former neighbor up the road that passed away a few years ago had a room full.......and I mean thousands of jars when she passed away. Her two sons and a daughter kept them. Probably a lot of collectables in the lot too.

Just a note.....prices of new jars with lids have about doubled in the past 7-8 years so if you plan to can a long time, buy them off season and stack them to the rafters.......just like ammo.😊
 
Wife said the wal mart and dollar stores are sold out. I can try tractor supply later.

We have enough for what we normally do, but the daughter wants to can this year. So, we need more supplies now. Wish she said something a few months ago.
 
Is there a particular place you guys/gals are buying jars from? Should I just hit up amazon? Not sure if there are any deals out there.
The jars Amazon has advertised as "Ball mason jars" are not always as described. Ball mason jars are squared off and have "Ball" or Ball mason" embossed on the sides. The jars I received last time I ordered them were round and smooth. they worked out just fine though. After we move and have more room I want to get a few dozen more jars and vacuum can the dry beans. Currently they're in plastic bags stuffed in plastic coffee cans and the cans keep getting smaller and smaller.
 
The jars Amazon has advertised as "Ball mason jars" are not always as described. Ball mason jars are squared off and have "Ball" or Ball mason" embossed on the sides. The jars I received last time I ordered them were round and smooth. they worked out just fine though. After we move and have more room I want to get a few dozen more jars and vacuum can the dry beans. Currently they're in plastic bags stuffed in plastic coffee cans and the cans keep getting smaller and smaller.
I think using Ball jars for dry goods is a waste of money.
Get some mylar bags, O2 absorbers and use a plastic bucket to keep the rodents out.

At a dollar a jar plus lids, a fifty pound bag of dry goods would cost about thirty dollars or more to put up in jars......not very cost effective compared to mylar bags.

Mylarbagsdirect.com
 
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I think using Ball jars for dry goods is a waste of money.
Get some mylar bags, O2 absorbers and use a plastic bucket to keep the rodents out.

At a dollar a jar plus lids, a fifty pound bag of dry goods would cost about thirty dollars or more to put up in jars......not very cost effective compared to mylar bags.

Mylarbagsdirect.com

Not saying you are wrong. Here are some reasons one may use jars.

individual/smaller servings
resealable without a vacuum sealer
more resistant to vermin than bags and plastic
confirmed history of maintaining seal.

has mylar proven itself as a long term container? i seriously don't know. i know that some have used it for ammo storage but they have failed. whether it was the weight or shape of the cartridges i don't know.

all the best. matt
 
I think using Ball jars for dry goods is a waste of money.
Get some mylar bags, O2 absorbers and use a plastic bucket to keep the rodents out.

At a dollar a jar plus lids, a fifty pound bag of dry goods would cost about thirty dollars or more to put up in jars......not very cost effective compared to mylar bags.

Mylarbagsdirect.com
A case of quart jars would hold enough dried beans to feed me & the wife for the better part of a year. Besides, if I started buying 50 lb bags of beans I'd have no place to put them. At this point I'd be hard pressed to find room for a 50 round box of .22's. For every year my son was in scouts, I'd buy one of those $50.00 popcorn tins (Freaking HUGE & stackable) and repurposed those empty tins for pasta storage (lined with mylar bags & desiccant packs)
 
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Scrounged up 4 boxes of lids in town yesterday. Couple boxes of jars. Going to try and jar up some green tomatoes today. Kid wants to make "cowboy candy". Wife made another pot of bone stock last night. I'm sure I'll be jarring that up with her in a couple of days.

What a crappy year for tomatoes, I usually don't have that many green tomatoes to even think about jarring them.
 
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