RELAX

AA's are built like tanks & are nearly bullet proof.
Also simple to operate, so long as you adhere to the instructions.

I generally "hot pack".

Also make large batches of vegetable, beef, chicken "broth" to "top off" jars.
(leaving adequate "head space" of course).

Everybody is different & what works for some, doesn't always work well for others.
Practice makes perfect.

Suggest you start of with vegetables, for your 1st few runs.
Veggies are a lot cheaper than meat.
Just to get the hang of it.

 

I have a whole crew of menfolk who take lunches to work. I do a LOT of pint jars of soups and stews. If you have a favorite chili recipe you might want to start with that. Make a bigger batch than normal, can most of it and save the last for supper that night. If you've recently had a ham for supper and have left-over make up some white bean and ham soup or split pea (or both) and can it up.

I make stuff and can it more than just doing jars of plain meat. Some like to have just the unseasoned meat to make into what strikes their fancy that day without being dedicated to just one dish, but I like to have my own home made convenience food ready to heat and eat.

In the mean time. congrats on your purchase, and relax and have fun. :thumb:

 

I was wondering about that. I make chili with ground beef, fresh peppers/onions/garlic but canned crushed tomatoes and beans. What changes would I have to make in order to can that? I heard you shouldn't re-can previously canned things and that beans especially can get mushy. But I would love to can stuff I know we already like!

 

P.S. Your question on veggies-- yes, they come out a lot like commercial canned vegetables, softer then the current fashion of "lightly steamed" fresh vegetables.

 

You are going to love it. I Liked my 15 quart so much I went and got the 21 quart so I could double stack Qt. jars. As baby blue mentioned soups and alike make great lunches. Meat is easy , cut up meat of choice , cover with broth or liquid of your choice and fire it up. Great investment!!

 

One more question-- can I do half-pints? None of us really eat a whole lot at once. What would processing time be? I've been looking but only found one instance where someone said the processing time would be the same as a pint...no across-the-board definitive answer. Thanks for replying everyone

 

Absolutely. We do lots of half pints of chicken for chicken salad sandwiches. Use the USDA canning times for pints with pints, 1/2 pints, and any smaller jar. Use quart times for quarts and for the new 1 1/2 pints.

 

MickeyCJS

I'm also thinking of starting pressure canning (do water bath currently) but can't quite do it yet.

Would be interested in reading your posts here of what went as you expected as a beginner and what was a surprise to you.

Looking forward to reading about the experiences of a tyro. Thanks!

 

I bought an AA off e(vil)bay last summer. I haven't had chance to use it yet, But I did pick up some books/booklets with what seems to be good guidance.

Occasionally, these come up as a Kindle freebie, but even if you pay the $2.99 for one or 2, I think it will be money well spent.... I started with this one, she has others.... I CAN CAN CHICKEN!! How to home can chicken to save money and time with quick, easy, tasty family recipes (Frugal Living Series Book 2) - Kindle edition by Jennifer Shambrook. Cookbooks, Food & Wine Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.


We use a lot of canned chicken in this house so I'm looking that doing some chicken in pints and half-pints. It will be much cheaper than buying the cans at the store. Yes, I will still have to purchase the chicken (We've tried, but the dogs always get to them before us), but it will be precooked and preportioned for using in sauces, casseroles, or salad.

Obviously the USDA info is the final say. YMMV.

 

No reason you can't re-can previously canned things. they just get softer each time because it's being pressure cooked twice. If you have jars that don't seal many directions tell you to get a new lid, and re-process or refrigerate to eat soon. Over cooking doesn't make much difference with tomato sauce.

Did I say above I do soups and stews in quarts? Yikes, I meant pints! Single serving for a guy's lunch is pints! (if they also have a sammich, fruit and a cookie.)

Yes, do it in half pints if you like. I do mine same amount of time as pints. I suppose it could go shorter, but there's no directions for it- so play it safe. I do a lot of fruit in half pints for single servings.

I make the chili sauce with half ground beef/half ground pork. Canned diced tomatoes (commercial or mine) and peppers. Spices and onions. Fill jars about 3/4 full, add little handful of of dry beans. (make sure chili sauce is liquid enough so beans can absorb some. If you have 1/4 cup of beans, they need about 1/4 cup of water or liquidy sauce). Add lid and ring, and process.

When making soups, do not can with rice or noodles in it. they turn mushy. Add those at eating time. But do remember to make it with enough broth to cook the noodles or rice you will add later.

 

After canning high acid things in a WB canner for a couple years now I finally bit the bullet and ordered a pressure canner with the intention of filling my shelves with home-processed meats and soups in case of ______. It's good and all, but strawberry jam will only get us so far I am officially an All-American owner.

It is good to expand your skill-set.

There are many ways to preserve food, do not rely on just one method

We have two pressure-cooker/canners and a water-bath. We can foods using both Hi-Acid and Lo-Acid recipes.

Good luck and keep trying new things.

 

Thanks. So far I've done WB canning and dehydrating (with my oven and by setting things out in the sun/fresh air.) PCing is a whole new world

 

You really will learn to love this.

Advice? Somewhere you will be absolutely certain to be reminded, write Vaseline. You absolutely hafts gotta remember to lightly grease around the edges where top and bottom seal. Don't mess up.

Also, if after it cools, and you want to open it, and the top won't budge, ever so gently tuck a large head screwdriver between them and twist. Carefully. The lid will pop, loudly and scarily, but you can't have hurt it. Be calm.

 

I've read the manual cover to cover twice today so far and I did see it mention olive oil or Vaseline thanks for the reminder!

 

I'm very skeptical about what I see on YouTube but I've noticed a couple people pressure canning soups by just adding certain amounts of uncooked veggies (like carrots etc) and meat to the jar then topping it off with hot broth. Is this an acceptable way to do it? I like the idea of making sure you have equal amounts of solids/liquids in each jar, as opposed to making a whole pot of soup then ladling it into jars hoping you get the right ratio of solids to broth. Also thinking not-pre cooking the vegetables might help them not be so soft in the end.

Maybe I'm way off base but I figured I'd ask. I plan on starting with simple stuff but that method for soups looked appealing.

 

Either way, no problem.

 

Soup can go two ways. Make a big pot of soup (under cooked, but seasoned up the way you want), ladle into jars and processs. Finish cooking the last bit for supper tonight.

Or line jars up, one at a time add in veggies, meats and whatevers, ladle in seasoned broth, then process.

The results are the same, but the second version ensures you don't get the last jars and have only broth with no goodies in it.

Some veggies, require blanching before canning or they get "squeaky" as my grandmother called it. Green beans and corn are the primary culprits. A funny not soft, but not firm. Potatoes and carrots too, to a lesser extent.

If you're not going to make the complete soup then process it, be sure to blanch your veggies.

 

Will do, thank you! Thanks to everyone for your help, I appreciate it so much.

 

I used a brand new AA a couple month's ago for Turkey. The lid leaked around the edge more than I expected(olive oil) held pressure fine and all is well, I have the pints set aside to monitor for a few month's. Getting ready to do another 20lb turkey next month after I get all the plants going under the lights.

How many put vinegar in the AA(and how much) to keep the deposits in check?

 

I can understand how people could be apprehensive about using a pressure canner because of all the myths and crazy 4th hand stories that abound. There is nothing dangerous about using a pressure canner. The safety features that are built into them will protect from any mishaps. Have been using hot water and pressure canners for over 50 years. Have never had a mishap.

 

I wasn't afraid of that, I was concerned about my family not liking the taste of canned food/wasting food. I'm pretty confident nothing is going to blow up

 

The most important thing I learned -
.... don't cook gr beef all the way for chili or spaghetti sauce. The gr beef tastes burned after canning. We ate it, but certainly didn't enjoy it. We always use canned light red kidney beans in the chili... they didn't seem to get much softer at all.

 

I saw mixed reviews on ground beef. Thanks for the suggestion :thumb:

 

I did it everyone! Threw together some chicken soup out of ingredients I had laying around. Didn't wanna go all out and make something fancy in case I screwed up. When I started I almost had an anxiety attack with every little noise it made. Had visions of the top blowing off and through the ceiling into my sleeping son's room. But after a guzzle of wine right out of the bottle I was good :thumb:

I had 100% success, all my jars sealed, and nothing broke or exploded. I had a little trouble getting the lid off after even though I oiled it...but eventually it opened. Was easy enough to maintain pressure. So doing it again, asap

 

We get into cars (internal combustion chambers with 20 gals of ignitable gasoline) and rush through speeding traffic with other 2 ton missals driven by poorly trained bozos who could be intoxicated on who know what, every day. I think a pressure caner is a pretty mild risk, all things compared.

 

FoxK-- why not pressure can dried beans? I do a dozen pints several times a year. Soak beans over night, fill jars half way with beans, fill jar with lightly salted water, process. Couldn't be easier. I do white, black, pinto and reds.

Oh, I hope no one thought anyone was prompting to dry can beans, with no fluid in the jar! THAT could be a disaster!

 

Dried beans will last for many decades. We stock a lot of dried beams. Of course we also grind a lot of our beans to flour for breads, pizza, cakes, cookies, fudge, etc.

We also can a lot of foods, using both HWB and pressure methods.

There is very little benefit to be derived from canning beans. You put a lot of work into it for small gain.

 

Beekeeper-- one would think it's a waste of time to can them when they keep so well on the shelf dry. It's really just a time saver thing. If you have an hour to dinner time and decide to do some beans, just open a jar. I'm not always the best at planning tomorrow's dinner today. At 3:30 I say "Oops, nothing is defrosted and nothing is planned. Oh well, open jars."

 

Great point!

Another I'll add (if I may) is that while now water is likely not an issue depending on what could take place, (grid down etc. ) without water other than stored it makes sense (IMO at least) to have some canned now when soaking/cooking is simple enough , carrying gallons of water later when you'll need it (IF you can even do that) or worse yet using what you have stored etc. makes things come out differently (since none of us can possibly know what things may come to pass in the future) we plan based on what we have now and what makes the most sense to us, even IF you have a nice clear/clean stream right near you home it could become contaminated in the future.....

 

I've been on a roll. Since the chicken soup, I've canned stew beef, broth, glazed carrots, and baked beans. Tonight will be split pea soup. I'm hooked!

 

Pea soup is one of my favorites to can. Tonight for me is going to be a batch of baked beans from over the weekend.
Fun stuff!