Q and A: Canning meatballs in sauce, Feeding chicks, and Old pasta

Canning meatballs in sauce

Can you can meatballs in sauce? My sauce is a 10-quart recipe and meatballs usually come out a little under 50 per recipe. I also add some great sausage to the sauce. Right now, I use the freezer, but would prefer the safety of the jar that lasts through the “lights out” weather.

Margaret Mitchell

You can certainly can your meatballs and any other meat easily and safely! Why don’t you check out a copy of my book Growing and Canning Your Own Food, available through the magazine and on my “Ask Jackie” blog. Not only are there recipes for canning meatballs in sauces, but there are also many other easy canning recipes as well. — Jackie

Feeding chicks

I have 20 chicks in a swimming pool in my breakfast nook. I have read your book and know that I can move them outside at about 4 weeks old. When can I feed them something other than the chick feed? Like kitchen scraps. I bake bread on a layer of corn meal, there is always a ton of it left on the baking stone. Can I give that to the chicks?

Erica Kardelis
Helper, Utah

Chicks aren’t as delicate feeders as one would suppose. While feeding a commercial chick starter does prevent coccidiosis in large batches and gives them plenty of protein to get big faster, we don’t use it any more. Our last batch, which was home raised and hatched, only got an 18% ground chicken feed (like fine scratch feed). They are doing extra well and were moved outdoors three days ago. They DO stink in the house! And ours were flying out of the fiberglass stock tanks so we had to do chicken roundup every day. Yours can certainly have the leftover cornmeal and any scraps they can pick at. Remember, our ancestors never had chick starter and raised plenty of baby chicks! — Jackie

Old pasta

How can you tell when pasta has gone rancid other than cooking it? I know it can taste “old” after cooking a batch – yuck. But can you tell just by looking at it? I have 2 yr. old pasta that has “white” edges. How long given good storage conditions can you keep it? I hate to waste time and water cooking it to find out. Does it smell?

J. Eylar
Savannah, Missouri

No you can’t tell just by looking at it. Usually if you open a tightly-closed container and smell the contents soon after, you can smell the rancid aroma. Pasta has quite a long shelf life, except for the whole wheat and some vegetable/flour-based pastas. I’ve used pasta that was more than 10 years old, just stored in its original package, packed in popcorn tins or sealed five-gallon buckets and have had no off flavors. — Jackie