I love canning meals. I mean, how convenient is it to simply open a can and warm it up and eat. Your kids can’t say that there isn’t any food in the house. There will be no need to grab some fast food on those crazy busy days because honey, you have a meal on your shelf.
There are a few things that the USDA says you cannot can. You cannot add fats, dairy, grains, thickeners, nuts, and a few vegetables when canning a meal. I follow the safety guidelines. Please do your own research before you can anything but remember it is your kitchen, your rules.
I raw packed my jars. This means you don’t cook anything beforehand. You place all the raw ingredients into the jars and all the cooking happens inside the jar in the canner. Slice up the meat first. Make sure the meat is not frozen. Chop onions and mushrooms.
In a bowl combine salt, thyme, and pepper. Add garlic, Worcestershire sauce (1/2 cup), minced garlic, and tomato paste (1/2 cup) and mix everything together.
I like to layer my jars and I kind of eyeball and simply fill the jars. I place meat on the bottom, then mushroom, then add onions. Place the combined bowl of flavor on top and fill the jars with water leaving a 1-inch headspace. Remove the bubbles and make sure the head space hasn’t changed. Wipe the rims clean and put lids and bands on the jars.
My canner is cold and isn’t turned on before I place the cans inside, so I pour bottled water that is room temperature. If you want to speed up the process, you can have your canner warming up. If the water in the canner is hot, then the broth or water that you add inside your jars needs to be hot.
Once the steam starts coming out of your vent, set timer for 10 minutes.
Half-liters require 75 minutes and 1 liter require 90 minutes once the pressure has been reached to 10 weighted gauge or 15 depending on your elevation.
Never lift the lid of the canner until the pressure has reached zero. Open lid facing away from you. Take out jars carefully and place on a towel on your kitchen counter for 12 hours. Let the jars cool.
Wash jars and lid. Take rings of. Label and date jars.
When you’re ready to eat, simply dump the jar in a pot. once it is hot, add sour cream and a little bit of flour to thicken it up. Serve with pasta.
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