Every year we buy a quarter of a cow from a farmer friend of ours, which comes up to about 100 lbs of meat. It usually keeps our family of 6 stocked for around 10 months. Initially we store all of that beef in a large deep freezer, but as the seasons progress I need that freezer space to begin storing strawberries, blueberries, peaches, tomatoes, corn, and other crops I like to freeze throughout the year. So, during the winter months I work my way through the freezer, canning most of that beef to preserve it long term.
We prefer to get more ground beef than anything because it’s so versatile. It’s also really easy to can. I love using canned ground beef for tacos, spaghetti and other pasta dishes, sloppy joes, casseroles– basically any meal that requires browned ground beef is perfect. Canning it beforehand really saves on cooking time. Plus, it requires no electricity to keep it preserved until I’m ready to use it.
Here’s how to can ground beef, according to the directions in Jackie Clay’s book, Growing and Canning Your Own Food:
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A city girl learning to homestead on an acre of land in the country. Wife and homeschooling mother of four. Enjoying life, and everything that has to do with self sufficient living.
I have not checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I will add you back to my everyday bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
Wow that looks delicious. I love spaghetti squash. I know what you mean about exploding spaghetti squashes — I cooked one in my microwave and it exploded, blew the door open, and just missed my baby in the high chair! I had poked the skin, but don’t think I stabbed it deep enough. I had to get a new microwave – it was totally destroyed. So I always cut them in half now…
What an awesome idea. I buy ground beef and chicken in 5lb bulk bags and have always divided it up ready to cook and stored in the freezer, but pre-cooking would save so much more time. Have you found that the cooked/reheated meat does or doesn’t absorb your spices as well? That would be my only concern, although I think you could avoid the bland meat scenario by putting some garlic, salt, pepper and some other “general” seasonings (parsley, minced onion) in there when you cook in the crock pot. I would think these are common enough to most things you do with the finished meat that you wouldn’t endanger the final dinner product.
I made this last night, and it was wonderful! I added sauteed onions and mushrooms. My boyfriend loved it.
This is truly an exotic sauce and recipe, for us Greeks:) It sounds very appetizing and interesting! How do you use this in enchilladas Michelle? Do you spread this on top before baking them? Sorry for the silly question, we don’t know much about Mexican cuisine:)
I notice this article is 2 years old so I hope someone is still reading the comments. I’d like to know what the texture of the ground meat is after it is canned. I did some rawpack chicken pressure canned and it was pretty mushy. I’d like to can meat but I’m not sure how well it turns out.
how long is it good for and what needs to be done to the meat before canning it
Cynthia,
The complete instructions are in the article. It’s best to consume the meat within a year for best nutrition and flavor, though it will last for several years if canned and stored properly. I usually give my home canned goods 5 years.