meals in a jar

[civeswyatt]

I am trying to find recipes for main dish jar meals that can have canned meat added when making them. Freeze dried meats are so expensive I was trying to find ways of working around them. does anyone have any suggestions?

[cdowis]

You can find recipes for Salmon Cakes, also Mac and Cheese with tuna fish.

[Guest]

Soups, sauces, & casseroles.  What else do you "add meat" to?  All these things can be canned.

 

I've heard that wtih spaghetti sauce one should not mix the meat in with the sauce prior to canning because there is a distasteful reaction.  But I've seen spaghetti sauce with meat in a can at the store.  And what's the difference if we have beef stew in a can?  We certainly have that at the store.

[Iggy]

Here is a link that looks helpful:  http://www.offthegridnews.com/off-grid-foods/how-to-stockpile-full-meals-for-emergency-situations/

 

Also, this link: http://www.thekitchn.com/simple-nonalcoholic-substitutes-for-red-and-white-wine-tips-from-the-kitchn-184394 

gives non-alcoholic substitutes for wine in cooking. 

 

I get the 8oz -11.5 oz bottles/cans of each of the juices to use just for cooking when possible. 

 

My girlfriend cans her own spaghetti sauce and grinds her own beef to go in it. She prefers it coarser and leaner than what you get in the stores. She cooks it in the trimmed off fat to add the flavor, then when she drains it, she removes the cooked fat chunks. She leaves one bay leaf in each quart jar - whoever gets the leaf, has to do the dishes. 

 

One more thing to do before cooking and pressure canning: Soak your beans, lentils, etc. in cold plain water overnight or a minimum of 8 hours, drain in morning, rinse well, then let sit in the colander until the next day. In Other Words - let them sprout. The beans will lose 75% of their flatulence power and all of the beans will gain 75% more nutritional value. With the beans (kidney, navy, etc.) toss the soaking water. That is where the *flatulence* went into. I water my outside plants with it. 

Edited October 20, 2015 by Iggy