Canning for camp.

[Old_Dog]

I spend a lot of time in the summer living in mountain camps; longer that it is convenient to keep fresh food. There is a limit to how long food can be kept in ice chests without refrigeration, and I can get real tired of canned beef stew and pork and beans, at least the store bought version. I spend some time in the winter canning food to take to camp in the summer.

Between now and Christmas is the time to stock up on turkey. It’s plentiful and about as cheap as it is going to get. I’ll buy 3 - 4 turkeys over the holiday season. I thaw them out and process them one at a time over the winter. Cut off the wings and drumsticks and cook them right away for dinner. I bone out the breast and thighs and can the meat. Put the carcass and bones through a pressure cooker, strip off the remaining meat, and can it along with the broth for soup stock. Come next summer creamed turkey over mashed potatoes or cold turkey sandwiches will be a hit in camp. Now is a good time to pick up a picnic ham too. What isn’t eaten right away will be diced and canned along with lima or pinto beans. Sure, some will be eaten right here at home this winter; but some will go traveling with me to camp next summer.

[hillbilly_mom]

Great idea, old dog.

I try to do this all year long. We eat a lot of chicken legs and I cut the back bones off before I cook them. I store the back bones in the freezer until I have enough to boil. When they are all boiled I pick the meat off the bones and put that in the jars, along with the strained broth. Then you can open a jar and have the makings for chicken and dumplings, chicken noodle soup, of chicken and gravy over mashed taters or rice. Nice and easy and things we would have thrown out to the hogs anyway.

You can do that with any type of meat. I can up my own beans, from dry beans. I don't even have to cook them first. They cook up right in the jar. I add fatback or ham to give the beans flavor. The beans taste like they have been cooked on a wood stove all day long. The ham or fatback gives it just the right amount of flavor.


When we killed the deer I made veggie soup, which I posted about in another post on this part of the forum. Nice and easy meals that are heat and eat. ;)

[docjered]

Why do you need to kill a deer to make veggie soup, Hillbilly??

For some reason, chicken is cheaper than mud this summer, so a good time to revisit this thread and follow Old Dog's advice.

Something to can while waiting for the garden to come in! LOL