So how did you do yesterday? I want to encourage you, if you have not read yesterday's post on how to pressure can beef of different types, or the basics on pressure canning, PLEASE head over there and check it out by clicking HERE FOR DAY ONE.
Today we are going to talk about how to go from this:
to
this.
But first, a couple reasons why you should even consider doing this in the first place.
While stopping into the grocery store yesterday to pick up the ingredients for our home made laundry detergent, I decided to browse through the meats and aisles to price things. Purely out of curiousity, but also necessary for me to keep blogging about how you can save money by doing the things we do around here at The Welcoming House. Doing research, you might say.
Two things. One, meat IS going down, even if it is temporary. If you have a freezer, or can afford to drop some cash into meat, now is definitely the time. I talked with the meat manager for a few minutes, and he was very clear that they are anticipating meat sales to increase, and then seriously decrease due to prices skyrocketing. They are already seeing it on some items.
Second thing is, if you have ever wanted to know a cost differential between doing this yourself and paying someone to do it for you here are some numbers for you that will most likely make you STOP IN YOUR TRACKS.....before you rush to the store to buy a pressure cooker and a ton of chicken to can up.
While walking through the aisles, I figured I would bop on by the canned meat section to see what the going rate was for canned chicken. Now, we have not bought canned chicken in years because we had no need of it, but I have noticed the price over time as I pick up tuna right next to it.
It was $3.77 for a SINGLE 10 OZ CAN of chicken.
I about peed my pants.
No, not really. But I sure was shocked.
Why? because that is less than 2 full servings of meat.
No wonder people dont buy the stuff.
Or if they do, they have outrageous grocery bills.
The Pint jars of canned chicken I have downstairs in my pantry is the equivalent of three of those cans.
That means that each one of the jars I am showing you in this picture, full of premium white chicken, canned at home from a chicken purchased on sale,
is worth around $11.25 at that basic market price.
The cheapest I could find on chicken, generic brand, was $2.85.
That still makes one of MY jars of chicken worth over $8.
FOR ONE JAR!!
I purchased each of my chickens on sale for .69 or .79 a lb, and paid less than $5 for each chicken.
Three chickens make about 10 full pints of chicken, and a load of fresh chicken stock.
Now THAT is a cost per time contrast that I really like.
So, here is how I do it.
(this process works exactly the same for turkey, except that you will only use one turkey at a time unless they are really small ones---and the meat ratio is greater with turkeys so you will have more meat in the end to can up.)
**Rub the outsides with garlic salt and a little pepper if you are not allergic. Place them in the roaster, put two quarts of water in the roaster with them if you are doing 3 chickens. I start mine half frozen, so if yours are thawed, your times will be shorter.
**Cook on high for 3 hours, until juices come out clear when pricked in-between thigh and side of chicken. I then remove each chicken into its own bowl or platter to cool down for 30 minutes.
** At that point in time I debone the chicken, putting the meat into a clean ice cream pail or large bowl, and returning the larger bones and carcass, as well as the gizzards, neck and other pieces in the bag back into the broth.
**I add as much water as needed to make sure the roaster is 3/4 full, add 4 good sized carrots, 8 stalks of celery, 2 onions (skins and all) that have been chopped in quarters, 3 cloves of garlic, one hot pepper, 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar, and 3 tsp of sea salt. (remember there is already salt in the broth from the rubbing on the chicken, so you may want to start with two tsp just until you know what your family likes.
** I cook this on low for 6-8 hours, then strain completely (I use a metal colander and a clean lint-free white cotton towel). The Bones will look whiteish,which means you got all the good stuff out.
** I cool broth overnight so the fat rises to the top, skim off the fat in the morning, reheat and use this broth over the jars of chicken.
**To process it, you take each pint jar and stuff with chicken to just below the lowest thread on the mouth, pour boiling broth over the top, make sure there are no bubbles hiding by running a chopstick or bamboo stick around the edges.
**Wipe the rim clean with another rag dipped in vinegar to get rid of any grease or splashes of broth. Put lids on, put rings on finger tight, then place in PC canner with warmed water that is the same temp as the broth inside it.
**Lock lid and PC for 75 minutes pints, 90 minutes quarts at 11 lbs pressure (or whatever it is where you are). The chicken, when you use it, is so incredibly flavorful and nummy, you will never go back.
** If you are just processing the broth, the pressure is still the same because it is meat based, but you only need to process the pints for 12 minutes and the Quarts for 14.
There are many other ways to process chicken, including cubing raw meat and packing jars, then putting warmed lids on and processing for the standard time of 75 minutes pints, and 90 minutes for Quarts. It does not need any liquid as it will create its own as it cooks and seals in the pressure canner.
I am including a couple videos from canners on YouTube who teach you how to do chicken and turkey a few other ways, for those of you who are interested in the different processes. This next video shows you how he loaded four to five pieces of chicken in each jar, and raw packed it, no fluid necessary, and what it looks like on the other end.
This second video is from someone who raw packed chicken breasts, and what those look like on the other end. I personally have not tried either of these, but plan on doing it, later this month with the remaining meat we have. I promise I will update you all on it!
I hope you have a wonderful day, and may I say thank you for being understanding about waiting so long for another blog post! I really DO have the best readers around!!!
Also, on Saturday I am blessed to be the guest speaker on a very popular radio show via the net, and am including the link to it---I am thrilled to be able to talk about what we do around here, and why I started this blog, as well as tell you a little bit more about my family, and my faith. If you want to click this link and bookmark it for Saturday, please do!
Saturday's Radio Show with Heather from The Welcoming House Blog
Many Blessings to you and yours,
Heather
Today we are going to talk about how to go from this:
to
this.
But first, a couple reasons why you should even consider doing this in the first place.
While stopping into the grocery store yesterday to pick up the ingredients for our home made laundry detergent, I decided to browse through the meats and aisles to price things. Purely out of curiousity, but also necessary for me to keep blogging about how you can save money by doing the things we do around here at The Welcoming House. Doing research, you might say.
Two things. One, meat IS going down, even if it is temporary. If you have a freezer, or can afford to drop some cash into meat, now is definitely the time. I talked with the meat manager for a few minutes, and he was very clear that they are anticipating meat sales to increase, and then seriously decrease due to prices skyrocketing. They are already seeing it on some items.
Second thing is, if you have ever wanted to know a cost differential between doing this yourself and paying someone to do it for you here are some numbers for you that will most likely make you STOP IN YOUR TRACKS.....before you rush to the store to buy a pressure cooker and a ton of chicken to can up.
While walking through the aisles, I figured I would bop on by the canned meat section to see what the going rate was for canned chicken. Now, we have not bought canned chicken in years because we had no need of it, but I have noticed the price over time as I pick up tuna right next to it.
It was $3.77 for a SINGLE 10 OZ CAN of chicken.
I about peed my pants.
No, not really. But I sure was shocked.
Why? because that is less than 2 full servings of meat.
No wonder people dont buy the stuff.
Or if they do, they have outrageous grocery bills.
The Pint jars of canned chicken I have downstairs in my pantry is the equivalent of three of those cans.
That means that each one of the jars I am showing you in this picture, full of premium white chicken, canned at home from a chicken purchased on sale,
is worth around $11.25 at that basic market price.
The cheapest I could find on chicken, generic brand, was $2.85.
That still makes one of MY jars of chicken worth over $8.
FOR ONE JAR!!
I purchased each of my chickens on sale for .69 or .79 a lb, and paid less than $5 for each chicken.
Three chickens make about 10 full pints of chicken, and a load of fresh chicken stock.
Now THAT is a cost per time contrast that I really like.
So, here is how I do it.
(this process works exactly the same for turkey, except that you will only use one turkey at a time unless they are really small ones---and the meat ratio is greater with turkeys so you will have more meat in the end to can up.)
How to roast and process chickens for canning:
**Clean them inside and out with running water, then pat dry with a clean
towel or washcloth.**Rub the outsides with garlic salt and a little pepper if you are not allergic. Place them in the roaster, put two quarts of water in the roaster with them if you are doing 3 chickens. I start mine half frozen, so if yours are thawed, your times will be shorter.
**Cook on high for 3 hours, until juices come out clear when pricked in-between thigh and side of chicken. I then remove each chicken into its own bowl or platter to cool down for 30 minutes.
** At that point in time I debone the chicken, putting the meat into a clean ice cream pail or large bowl, and returning the larger bones and carcass, as well as the gizzards, neck and other pieces in the bag back into the broth.
**I add as much water as needed to make sure the roaster is 3/4 full, add 4 good sized carrots, 8 stalks of celery, 2 onions (skins and all) that have been chopped in quarters, 3 cloves of garlic, one hot pepper, 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar, and 3 tsp of sea salt. (remember there is already salt in the broth from the rubbing on the chicken, so you may want to start with two tsp just until you know what your family likes.
** I cook this on low for 6-8 hours, then strain completely (I use a metal colander and a clean lint-free white cotton towel). The Bones will look whiteish,which means you got all the good stuff out.
** I cool broth overnight so the fat rises to the top, skim off the fat in the morning, reheat and use this broth over the jars of chicken.
**To process it, you take each pint jar and stuff with chicken to just below the lowest thread on the mouth, pour boiling broth over the top, make sure there are no bubbles hiding by running a chopstick or bamboo stick around the edges.
**Wipe the rim clean with another rag dipped in vinegar to get rid of any grease or splashes of broth. Put lids on, put rings on finger tight, then place in PC canner with warmed water that is the same temp as the broth inside it.
**Lock lid and PC for 75 minutes pints, 90 minutes quarts at 11 lbs pressure (or whatever it is where you are). The chicken, when you use it, is so incredibly flavorful and nummy, you will never go back.
** If you are just processing the broth, the pressure is still the same because it is meat based, but you only need to process the pints for 12 minutes and the Quarts for 14.
There are many other ways to process chicken, including cubing raw meat and packing jars, then putting warmed lids on and processing for the standard time of 75 minutes pints, and 90 minutes for Quarts. It does not need any liquid as it will create its own as it cooks and seals in the pressure canner.
I am including a couple videos from canners on YouTube who teach you how to do chicken and turkey a few other ways, for those of you who are interested in the different processes. This next video shows you how he loaded four to five pieces of chicken in each jar, and raw packed it, no fluid necessary, and what it looks like on the other end.
This second video is from someone who raw packed chicken breasts, and what those look like on the other end. I personally have not tried either of these, but plan on doing it, later this month with the remaining meat we have. I promise I will update you all on it!
I hope you have a wonderful day, and may I say thank you for being understanding about waiting so long for another blog post! I really DO have the best readers around!!!
Also, on Saturday I am blessed to be the guest speaker on a very popular radio show via the net, and am including the link to it---I am thrilled to be able to talk about what we do around here, and why I started this blog, as well as tell you a little bit more about my family, and my faith. If you want to click this link and bookmark it for Saturday, please do!
Saturday's Radio Show with Heather from The Welcoming House Blog
Many Blessings to you and yours,
Heather
 |
| she is still okay, folks. :) |
Thanks to you Heather, for my 30th wedding anniversary at the end of the month I am getting a waterbath canner, a pressure canner, canning accessories and cases of jars. So much more my style than just another bauble. Although baubles are nice, they won't feed us for long. I'm so psyched! I will definately be coming back here to refresh my memory on how to do this stuff. Thank you!
ReplyDeletewahooooo! And congratulations on 30 years!!! I hope to see you back often, and LOVE your blog (just went over there)
Delete~Heather
and I realized I didnt ask what I wanted to---where are you located because I might be able to help you with tweaking a bread recipe for elevation. I grew up in the highest incorporated town in the US--Leadville, CO.
DeleteI'm actually in Denver. Not as high as Leadville, but high enough to cause me grief. We moved here from Louisianna where gardening and bread making were a breeze. Here, not so much...lol. I'd love a good bread recipe for altitude baking...yes please!
ReplyDeletewell, it worked for my mom for ten years up there in Leadville, it should have no problems there in Denver! So glad to have someone from my home state reading and commenting! I miss CO like crazy, pray someday we can relocate back there so I can be near my mountains. It is beautiful here too, out on the prairies, but once in love with Colorado, nothing compares. :)
DeleteHere is the link, just copy/paste, and you will have our family bread recipe. :) Let me know how it turns out. :)
~Heather
http://thewelcominghouse.blogspot.com/2012/07/tasty-tuesday-farmer-bread.html
I love your posts! I love to come and read helpful information when I need it. By the way, you are in my blog roll in my blog.
ReplyDeletehttp://sara-liveitwell.blogspot.com/
Thanks Sara!!! I think I might have been to your blog a time or two, but either way, I am heading over there now to check it out. Have you been blogging long?
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
~Heather
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI am love your posts. I am just getting started in canning meat. I am told it will last longer than in the freezer.
If I can this meat, poultry how long will it last on my storage shelf??
Thanks so much,
Deborah Young
Hi Deborah. Whomever told you that, honestly, either doesnt can meat, or does not know their facts. :)
DeleteCanned meat is perfectly fine five years later on the shelf, and we have had meat that was canned almost nine years later, and it was fine. AS long as you follow the process, as long as the seals are awesome, and there is no rusting of the lids or discoloration of the meat over five years, it should be just fine.
Hope that helps.
Thanks for stopping by
~Heather
Heather, I just want to thank you for such wonderful posts! This is the first year that we have canned any meat. We canned deer meat and it turned out terrific. Now we are looking into canning pork and chicken. Your instructions are so thorough that I know next time we buy chickens I will definitely be canning them!
ReplyDeleteThanks again for such wonderful posts and I look forward to your next :)
Barb