Canned Roast Beef

{RE-posted from "The Skinny On Things" August 18th, 2009}

Can you tell its the last week of summer and I'm trying to knock a few things off my summer to-do list? The boys and I took a trip to our local meat supplier (Bernard and Sons) yesterday morning and came home with 85 pounds of bottom round beef for $1.63 per pound. Needless to say we stopped off at Walmart to buy a few more jars because I thought it would be more like 50 pounds. Oh well. I figure I've already blown my budget out of the water this month might as well go out in style!

All trimmed and ready to go in the jarsPacked in nice and tight with 1" head roomFinished product cooling off on the counter...ready to be labeled

Here is the directions I followed - the came with the pressure cooker
Recipe from Presto - http://www.gopresto.com/
CANNING RECIPES: MEAT
CUT-UP MEAT (strips, cubes, or chunks) -Bear, Beef, Pork, Lamb, Veal, and Venison
Remove excess fat. Soak strong-flavored wild meats for 1 hour in brine water containing 1 tablespoon of salt per quart of water. Rinse. Remove large bones and cut into desired pieces.
Raw Pack: Fill jars with raw meat pieces, leaving 1-inch headspace. DO NOT ADD LIQUID. Adjust jar lids.
Hot Pack: Precook meat until rare by broiling, boiling or frying. Pack hot meat loosely in clean, hot Mason jars, leaving 1-inch headspace. Cover meat with boiling broth, water, or tomato juice (especially with wild game) leaving 1-inch headspace.
Adjust jar lids.
Process at 11 pounds pressure – Pints 75 minutes and Quarts 90 minutes.

{When I posted this I hadn't tried the meat because I am stingy with my canned goods. We have since had this meat lots for dinner and it is DELICIOUS! Our family favorite (feeds 2 adults and 4 big eating kids) is Beef Stroganoff. I put one jar of beef in the pan, warm it up, add one can cream of mushroom soup, and 1 cup of sour cream, season to taste, and eat over pasta or mix into pasta. Seriously pan to plate in the time it takes to boil the noodles! My kind of cooking.}

Something to think about:

I really liked this:


If I were to be starting to stock some food, it would begin with a few extra items at the grocery store. For instance when I saw lasagna noodles on sale well below the best every day price, I bought 12 boxes for $11.00 planning to eat lasagna once a month. A few years ago when a friend said she planned for the whole year, I was shocked. Then she explained that she knew how many times a year she would be making a crab cheese ball. When she sees crab on sale for half price at Walgreens, she buys her whole year's supply. She planned out one month multiplied that by 12 and she knew exactly how much tuna she needed in a year, how many cans of creamed soups, how often she neededramen noodles, etc... She wasn't concerned if she didn't stay exactly on plan because as she got better and better prepared she had more options not fewer. The first month was the tightest but after that she had to buy less and less food because it was already on her shelf. Money was saved in getting the sales and even bigger dividends came when she saved the cost of eating out because there was a delicious option at home.

It wasn't raining when Noah built the Arc

The Parable of Gomer

These are the generations of Gomer, son of Homer, son of Omer. And in the days of Gomer, Noah,

the Prophet, went unto the people saying, "Prepare ye for the flood which is to come, yea, build yourselves

a boat, that ye may not perish."

Now, Gomer was a member of the Church, and taught Sunday School and played, yea, even on the

ward softball team. And Gomer's wife said unto him, "Come, let us build unto ourselves a boat as the

Prophet commandeth, that we may not perish in the flood." But behold, Gomer saith unto his wife,

"Worry not, dear wife, for if the flood comes the government will provide boats for us."

And Gomer did not build a boat. And Gomer's wife went unto Noah and she returned saying, "Behold,

Honey, the Prophet saith unto us, "Build a boat, that we may preserve ourselves, for the government

pays men not to grow trees, wherefore the government hath not the lumber to build for you a boat."

And Gomer answered saying, "Fear not, oh wife, for am I not the star pitcher on the ward softball team?

Wherefore, the Church will provide for us a boat, that we will perish not."

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah, and she returned unto Gomer, saying, "Behold, mine husband,

the Prophet saith that the Church hath not enough lumber to build a boat for everyone, wherefore,

mine husband, build for us a boat that we might not perish in the flood." And Gomer answered her

saying, "Behold, if we build a boat, when the flood cometh, will not our neighbors overpower us and take

from us our boat; wherefore, what doth it profit a man to build a boat?"

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and she returned, saying, "Behold, the Prophet saith, build

unto yourselves a boat, and have faith, for if ye do the Lord's bidding, He will preserve your boat for

you." But Gomer answered his wife, saying, "Behold, with this inflation, the price of wood has gone sky

high, and if we wait awhile, perhaps the price will go down again. And then I will build for us a boat."

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah, and she returned saying, "Thus saith the Prophet, build for

yourselves a boat RIGHT NOW, for the price of wood will not go down, but will continue to go up.

Wherefore, oh husband, build for ourselves a boat, that we may perish not." But Gomer answered his

wife, saying, "Behold, for 120 years Noah hath told us to build a boat, to preserve us from the flood,

but hath the flood come? Yea, I say, nay. Wherefore, perhaps the flood will not come for another

hundred and twenty years.

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and returned saying, "The Prophet saith, he knows it has

been 120 years, but nevertheless, the flood will come, wherefore, build unto yourselves a boat."

And Gomer answered her saying, "Wherewith shall we get the money to build ourselves a boat, for are

we not now making monthly payments on our snazzy new four horsepower chariot? Wherefore, when our

payments end, perhaps we shall build ourselves a boat."

And Gomer's wife went again unto Noah and returned saying, "Behold, the Prophet saith that we

should cut down on our recreation, and our vacations, and even give each other lumber for Christmas,

that we might thereby get enough lumber to build a boat."

But Gomer saith unto her, "What a drag! Are we to cease enjoying life, just because we must build a

boat?"

Wherefore, Gomer built not a boat. But behold, one afternoon Gomer heard thunder in the sky, and he

feared exceedingly and he ran, yea, even to the lumber yard to buy lumber. But behold, the lumber store

was crowded with great multitudes, all seeking to buy lumber, and there was not enough lumber to be

found for the multitudes.

And on the same day were all the fountains of the deep opened, and the windows of heaven were

broken up, and the floods came -- and behold, Gomer had no boat. And as the water rose above

Gomer's waist, his wife saith unto him, "Behold, Honey, I told thee so!"

--- Author Unknown