Dealing with the high cost of food - canning meats

[porcupine kate]

Mine is a pressure canner.  I called it a cooker by mistake.

[dalebert]

I'm interested also. I didn't realize canning required a special device. My impression was just that you get it hot enough to kill everything including the lids, close it, and when it cools, that creates a vacuum that seals it against any intrusion. So much more for me to learn. I've had some really good canned food and I love a good soup. This seems like a great way to save money and be prepared at the same time.

[doobie]

I'm interested also. I didn't realize canning required a special device. My impression was just that you get it hot enough to kill everything including the lids, close it, and when it cools, that creates a vacuum that seals it against any intrusion. So much more for me to learn. I've had some really good canned food and I love a good soup. This seems like a great way to save money and be prepared at the same time.

Dale,

Your impression *almost* correct, only one flaw in the logic.  Low acidic foods cannot get hot enough for proper storage at 1 atm.  At 1 atm water boils at 212F.  You need 240F to kill the nasties.  Usually using 10 atm and cooking for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours at said pressure/temperature.  More time if you are cooking something containing bones or is very dense.

You can however can high-acidic objects.  One thing you need to be careful about (especially with tomatoes), is that depending on how ripe it is when picked the acidity can vary.

[dalebert]

Ah, that makes sense then.

[NJLiberty]

I used to dry more foods than I do now. The six year won't keep her hands off the goodies drying on the racks

My daughter is odd in that if you offer her candy/ice cream or fruits/vegetables she is more likely to pick the fruits and veggies, not that that is a bad thing of course. Yesterday we were in the produce store and she was in front of a the display of organic chocolates, dried fruits, and nuts, and out of all that she decided she wanted the roasted peanuts in the shell...go figure. I chose the chocolate 

The price of food here in NJ seems to have stabilized somewhat. Meat hasn't really changed any in a month. The price of milk has gone down about 70 cents a gallon over the last few weeks, back to $3-$3.25 per gallon depending on what you buy. Staples are about the same as they have always been. Potatoes were 29 cents a pound yesterday. Onions were 39 to 69 cents a pound. What is expensive right now are the "summer" veggies, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, etc. I finally bought butter again. We had been without for several weeks because I wouldn't pay what they were asking for it. They finally put it up for sale at $1.67 per pound so I stocked up again. Corn oil is through the roof, over $4 per half gallon, but I don't use that so I don't really care. If I use oil at all it is either olive oil, or canola oil, neither price has gone up there.

George