Message Boards

Hi vbellville: Canning is a sticky situation…. Because of the potential food safety issues with canning. (Especially because meat is considered a low acid food and a higher risk canned ingredient)  
Kristen from the Betty Crocker Kitchen's suggests going  to Ball’s website…
http://www.freshpreserving.com/

Good Luck! Please let us know if you end up trying it!

Sincerely, Cate

You absolutely must have a pressure canner to safely can any low acid food. The small pressure cookers that most kitchens have I would never use. I have a large canner with a gauge that I use. It's a Presto and cost about $50 many years ago. Every year I take my canner to the Farm Extension office and have them check my gauge to make sure it is accurate. Invest in a Ball Blue Book. That's my canning bible. Unless you butcher your own meat and can lots of green beans and other low acid foods, the investment may not save you very much.

My mother used to cold-pack meats and it was simple the main trick was the salt she would use it had to be canning salt now the difference between that and regular I dont know. She would just cube the meet, add salt, pack it in steral jars, and boil till the meat was cooked and the jars sealed.

When I was younger, I did can all kinds of things including meats, when we butchered our own. You must follow directions, I used the Ball Blue Book, to the exact letter and you must use a pressure canner. I don't mean the pressure cooker that one uses for regular kitchen use. To can low acid foods, the temperature must go to at least 242 degrees for the designed number of minutes for the particular food to be canned,  to avoid botulism, which is a danger in ALL low acid foods. The pressure canner must have, on a regular basis, the control checked for accuracy. This can be done at your nearest University Extension Service. Personally, if you don't butcher your own meat, I feel the expense involved far exceeds the savings. I don't know how much canning experience you have, but I get the impression, from your post, that it is not a whole lot. Please be careful. Botulism is tasteless, odorless and DEADLY. The mason jars, bands and lids are the very least of your expenses.

This is probably a little late, but unless you want to get into canning big time, forget canning meat.  Why not just make extra meat from your suppers and pack that in his lunch.  You can freeze it and then it will be thawed when lunch comes and it can just be heated up in a microwave.  Unless your going to can a lot it isn't worth the expense of getting a designated canning canner.  Yes you can use a salt method but who needs all that salt in their diet in this day and age? And besides the salt method is still riskier than I would care to chance.