PATTYCAKES

Wow, I was thinking about food storage today. I was thinking about how we should store food that we actually eat. I was thinking about how chicken and the extra lean ground beef have been on sale all summer long. And I was thinking how happy I am that I learned how to can it when it was on sale and when my stove did not decide that canning on it was much too big of a task for it. (Don't use this kind of range for canning, it doesn't like to be heated up and trips some sensor or another. I need an old electric coil range out on my back patio or something for canning.)

Then I remembered someone saying something about taking the rings off the jars after they seal. I remembered that I had not done that. I remembered that I did not feel like digging them all out of the pantry and doing that tedious job. Then I remembered all the hard work I put into canning and if leaving the rings on would in any way affect my jars, well then, I would do that tedious job!

So I dragged out the jars and took off the rings, and lined all my beautiful bottles up and guess what, I have 104 pints of meat! My original goal was one pint per day for three months. One pint equals a pound of meat and a good amount for our ever dwindling family size. I figured one meat a day (dinner) and I have three months of already cooked main ingredient for dinner!
Now I just need a month's worth of recipes to keep my family happy with chicken and ground beef. I canned a few jars of pork but I really don't like it all that much and when you see the fat that will need to be skimmed off that when opened, well, ewwww!

A few necessary pieces of equipment, like a pressure canner, some jars and some food AND a stove that won't give you grief, and voila! Canning is easy. And we tested out the food after a few days and we all lived to tell about it so I must have done it right. And it tasted good too!

Rings off!