A question regarding canned meat

deb4o

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I don't or should I say haven't yet canned meat. But after reading all of your post about it-Iam so on board!:clap

Why haven't I been doing this?:th

So this coming weekend my house will be busy canning beef!

I would rather find storage space and be able to cut down to 3 freezers and save electric.

ya'll are to smart!!
Thanks for another great idea,ol wise and smart ones!
 

ORChick

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Thanks for your replies.

I see that many/most of you can the meat because you have more meat than freezer space, and I get that, as I mentioned in my OP. I just wasn't sure what you did with it! I guess that soups and stews are things that I might use such meat for, although up till now I have made the soup/stew, and then canned it as a finished thing. I have canned ham before, as there was too much for just the two of us, and it adds a nice touch to bean soups. I think part of my problem here is that 1) we have no children, so I never got into the hang of doing "kid-friendly" meals, and 2) although my grandparents lived without electricity until just a couple of years before I was born, to the best of my knowledge my g'mother never canned anything. The other one probably did, but she lived too far away for me to have shared any of that. And my mother wouldn't go near any sort of pressure producing device.
I do hear from many of you (and others) about the fantastic flavor of canned meat. I admit to skepticism, but am willing to give it a try ;). The freezer needs to be defrosted one of these days soon; perhaps I will can up some of what is in there, and see how we like it :lol:.
How about canning meatballs? I was thinking that might be a good jump off item for me, but wonder whether they would fall apart?
 

SSDreamin

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Canning meat came out of necessity for me. DH fills our freezer with animals, in the form of heads waiting for 'just the right mount' and, when he brings home a deer (or 4, as happened this year when DS#2 and DH both got two!) I have to can it up. DH also LOVES ground venison. I know it may seem like a horrendous waste of good roasts and tender loins, but 90% of any deer we get is ground. I have found, years later, tender loin steaks, roasts, (beef) T-bones, ham steaks, etc. freezer burnt because he doesn't want to eat them :rolleyes: I can also buy more things, because I don't have to base what I buy on how much space I have, as was already mentioned.

Besides the ground venison and venison chunks, I can chicken (whole breasts, tenders and chunks), pork (ham slices, chunk ham, pork chops, chunk pork and bacon) and beef (mostly just steaks). I agree with everybody else: great flavor, very tender and convenient. DH is known for not wanting to eat, right up until the minute he decides he's starving and wants something NOW! I hate nuking meat to defrost and, since he's experienced canned meat, hubby thinks the defrosting 'just takes so LONG' :gig
 

dipence71

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plus the power tends to be a little more uncertain out in the sticks when the storms/winds/snows are prevalent. Who can afford to waste all that meat?

Oh, and I really love the flavor, texture and ease of cooking with canned meats....when you are a working mom, popping open that jar and dumping it into a large pan of something else makes a meal that is still a healthy choice at the end of a very long and stressful day. May not sound like Wolfgang Puck to y'all but it is my reality. ;)

So...that's why we can our meats. :)
LUV~~~~~
I have experienced the electric outage that lasts over 2 week and loosing all that hard work and not to mention money makes me cry :hit. So yes I can meat, not as much as I want to because the freezer is much quicker.( come home at 8pm after work, throw in freezer 15 min come home and can all the meat....many hours means no sleeping before going to work the next day..)
But I will and do can. It makes for easy quick meals that don't cost $ from drive thru ect.
 

Bettacreek

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Nom! The very first thing you do with a deer (after quartering it) is cook up the butterflies and devour them! Roasts are good too. They usually get frozen though. Not a fan of veni steak though, so I tend to cube anything that isn't the backstraps/fish or can't be a roast. I actually prefer cubed canned veni over roasts though. It's just so damn delicious that it's not even funny.
 

snapshot

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I especially like canned burger. A pint is about a pound and I can make spaghetti or tacos or shepherds pie. I just can it with broth. Drain it and add to sloppy joe sauce for a fast sandwich!

When one of my dogs gets the runs I pull out a half pint of burger canned with water only. Rinse, drain and add to rice. We have found it to stop the runs quickly and consistently.
 

k15n1

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snapshot said:
I especially like canned burger. A pint is about a pound and I can make spaghetti or tacos or shepherds pie. I just can it with broth. Drain it and add to sloppy joe sauce for a fast sandwich!

When one of my dogs gets the runs I pull out a half pint of burger canned with water only. Rinse, drain and add to rice. We have found it to stop the runs quickly and consistently.
I thought you were supposed to can meat in cubes or strips, not ground. What's your recipe?
 

cheepo

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i find it works great to first boil the grounds in water
get out a lot of the grease...
then can with broth
and if there still happens to be a couple drops of greese after canning
just spoons up easily...
is so fantastic just to throw it in your meal...rather than brown
and it does taste way better...
 

Beekissed

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We cold pack our deer meat but we do not add any water. We just allow it to form it's own juices and this seems to intensify the flavor....we do add a little salt to each jar. I've never canned any other red meat than deer, so I'm not sure how I would handle the amount of fat one would get from a beef, but we don't skim the fat off of our canned deer meat.

Same with chickens I have personally raised. Any excess fats are removed in the processing but any that are in evidence after the meat is canned we just leave it when we finally use it in a recipe.
 

snapshot

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For people use---I brown the burger (better flavor), rinse in the colander and can with broth. I use to add garlic and onion but the taste gets too strong.

For dogs with tummy issues---I boil in water and then rinse in colander and can with water only. Using the burger and white rice has saved us a fortune in vet bills. We used to just take them to the vet every time one got the runs. Turns out they usually just ate something they shouldn't have.
 
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