I need experienced help, please!

[Buffie]

I'm working steadily on preparedness and food storage; I already have a great supply of vegetables (canned, frozen, dehydrated), fruit, pasta, jelly, etc. But here's my problem--what's the best kind of meat? My husband and I loathe any kind of fish, including tuna. We eat mostly beef and ham. Is freeze-dried and dehydrated meat very good? How about canned meat? I'll have some meat in the freezer, of course, but I don't want to rely completely on an electrical appliance. If anyone has had experience with meat, could you please give me some advice? Thanks!

[prairiemom]

Every year I try to can about 50-65 qts of meat. I buy 2 big (22+ lb) turkeys when they are on sale at Thanksgiving and can them in Jan after all the busy days are over. I can several pork roasts and hamburger when they go on sale (esp holidays: Memorial Day and July 4th.) We have friends who usually don't have room for all their deer meat, so I get a batch or two (7-14 jars) of meat from them. Then we rotate this during the year.

I also do 50-60 qts of soup. Again, when the meat goes on sale, esp in Jan-Mar when the carrots and potatoes are starting to get old and I know they're about to be too old. It means I'm canning something every month, usually 2-3X mo. But it means we have a good supply of meat and a steady source of convenience foods.

Then we buy 4 cases of tuna every summer when the local grocery store has a tent sale--that's 96 cans.

So depending on whether the qt goes to make one meal or two, I can have at least 4-5 meals week that have meat. That's plenty. The rest can be legumes, eggs or dairy based meals.

[Cowboy]

Costco has canned beef. It is great to make barbecue beef sandwiches or to put in anything. I have several cases.

[mirkwood]

I buy the canned chicken at Sam's Club and use it pretty often. I have some freeze dried meats in my storage as well. I have not tried them by themself, but have had pre made meals that included freeze dried meat and it has tasted fine. It is expensive though. I also have used meat flavored TVP with success. I have thought about doing home canned meat, but I don't currently have the space for jars so I have not looked at it seriously.

[signseeker]

prairiemom- Can we have your soup recipe that you can? I need to do some "meals" in cans I think. Oh... that means using the pressure canner.

We use the canned chicken a ton, too. And I really like the canned ham, which is around the size of tuna cans. There was about a 2-month stint where my Wally World did not have the canned ham... I was like, "What the--!!" every time I went to the store. It's back now, though. If I have the canned ham, mayo and bread, I'm good. It's good for the split pea soup, too. And potato soup or whatever else...

[Earthling]

Macey's has chicken on sale for $1.48 a lb for a 40 lb box = $59.20. I am going to get a box and pressure can it (pray for me - this is scary). I did pressure can 3 qts of beans a few weeks ago . . . so my canner is good to go - all checked by the extension service (it is old).