I was searching about the web the other day, and ran across instructions on how to "pressure can" beef/pork/venison in mason type jars for storage without refrigeration. Some even included onions, rootcrops and seasoning for a fully cooked stew!

Do any of you have experience with this? Was thinking that this could be a good family staple to build a supply up on that could be rotated out. Not meant for rucking, or even transport, but would be good to stock at the bug out location, or at home for bugging in.

We did, for a while, years ago. We canned rabbit and squirrel stew. We quit, because it just seemed simpler to just can the vegetables. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I think the taste of meats lose a little in the canning process. And really, canned beef stew from the supermarket isn't that expensive.

I should add that we are still in the habit of keeping enough empty mason jars on hand to can any meat we have in the freezer, in the event of a power outage. The generator will keep it frozen until we can can it, at our convenience.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Yeah, when there were different people bringing resources in to the Diaxaris project there was a lady who brought some of that in. Wonderful stuff too, I would say on par with Strats wife's cooking if not slightly better in some respects on the stuff she made.

The best option she explained, was cooking the meat into sauces then going with bulk rice and noodles which are stored dry. I was buying the rice, noodles and beans in bulk at Walmart, the Mormon cannery and a large discount grocery store. I had also added 6 gallons of olive oil.

Then Strat paid for freezers, we pitched in on the solar power station, Strat bought batteries, I brought solar panels. We pitched in on the work to make sure that there was not going to be any power outages, but there was storage space limits in the freezers. Also remember, that in cold winters, yes you get less electricity out of solar in the northern climate, but then you don't really need to power up the freezers in a non temperature controlled storage area either.

So our problem was the glass jar "canned" goods in 100+ degree heat. Something about storage conditions high up on a shelf caused a few jars to burst. When a few more were opened for sampling, the rate at which they had gone bad seemed to run in tune with certain ingredients and from what we could tell, they had gotten into a fermentation process somehow. What was worse is the a out of time the situation went either unnoticed or disregarded and rats congregated to the boxes with the burst jars and the food rotted and stank up the area in the high temperatures.

So the decision was made that the meat would be frozen and canned stuff stored canned in metal cans. Glass jar "canning" working for shorter term storage in the kitchen pantry, but not long term stocks. The best option for meat then, really, is live on the hoof. Cattle management, predator reduction and salt licks for the deer along with no recreational deer hunting on site. That made the area a defacto sanctuary during hunting seasons, which attracted more game. That, and revitalizing the faltering fruit trees on the property since the animals (cattle and deer) have a strong preference for half rotten fermented fruit on the ground.

So the short answer to long term grid down wet meat storage is simply no. Has to be dry, frozen, or cooked down into something else. You don't want your people playing botulism Russian roulette as an alternative to starvation.

If you were having a problem with jars bursting, I suspect you were using a water bath canner. You need a pressure cooker to can meats. Either that, or your lids were not sealing properly. If you were canning fatty meats, the fat may have gotten between the lid and the jar while you were processing it.

Be sure to trim as much fat as possible off the meat before canning. For ground meat, and in fact most meats, lightly brown the meats in little or no oil before canning. Yes, you can also can meatballs, just make them about golf ball size or smaller, just lightly brown on all sides in very little oil.

Onward and upward,
airforce

We used to can sausage in mason jars. Never had any problems.

LOL, I thought back to the vienna sausage my mom used to can. It wasn't any worse than the vienna sausage you buy in stores, and probably better, but I never cares for it. My folks liked it well enough - it was food, after all - but I thought it tasted quite a bit like congealed lard.

If I ever have a choice between eating vienna sausage or opossum, I'd choose the opossum. And that's saying something.

Onward and upward,
airforce

I wasn't doing the canning, that was all done off site by the lady who brought the stuff already in jars. I had brought a large pressure cooker as part of the brewing kit and that was to serve double duty for canning, but I think there was also another large pot, like you say water bath canning.

The mason jars I brought up empty left with a clear liquid fuel additive which came from a process involving sugar, corn flour, yeast...

Seems a jar of that stuff on a value by weight and barter ratio is pretty good in comparison to premium cuts at the butcher shop in Safeway. Yep, premium fuel additive....

Yeah, I never thought about canning with a still, but I suppose it would work.

Onward and upward,
airforce

Odd glitch... with my "smart"phone...