Grocery delivery guy arrived yesterday. Usually he doesn't get to my apartment until the middle of the afternoon, but yesterday he was here before noon. My order this week included 18 lbs. of chicken breast that was on sale. The early delivery gave me time to can it up the same day.
Sometimes I pack cut up chicken breast into the jars raw. When I can turkey I cook it first to make it easy to get off the bones. I decided to cook the chicken mostly to thaw it all quickly so I would have time to can it before evening.
Son helped. He put the chicken on cookie sheets and baked them in the oven until they were done through. He passed the pieces on to me and I cut them up into bite-sized pieces and filled the jars. Most of the time when cooked meat is canned, a liquid is needed, so I filled the jars with hot water, wiped off the rims, added the lids and ran them through my pressure canner for 75 minutes. 21 pint jars of canned chicken are waiting to be wiped off, labeled and put on the shelf.
I wondered if there was any difference in price between canning on-sale chicken breast at home or buying the cans of chicken breast at Sam's Club. I did the math this morning, It would have cost me nearly $20 more to buy the cans than to buy the 18 lbs. of frozen chicken breast and can it myself. I didn't figure in the cost of jars or the Tattler lids as I already had them and they had all been used at least once before this. And they can be used again as opposed to opening a can and tossing it when empty. I think it was worth the cost.
Cub Foods also had smoked sausage on sale - the kind that is like ring bologna. I bought 5 of the rings, cut one of them into about 1-inch pieces, packed the pieces into jars and canned them with the chicken. They look good in the jars and I will taste test later this week to see if I like the result. I hope so, for that could be another variety to add to my meat shelf.
So until I have more to add to my food storage, it is on to another project. My oldest granddaughter graduates from high school in June. Each graduating grandchild gets an afghan crocheted by her grandma and a photo album full of pictures of her taken over the past 18 years. The afghan was completed over the winter, but I haven't started on the album. The photos will be placed on decorative scrapbook pages and put into a nice album for that purpose. Son is off running errands and will bring me the supplies that I have run out of and need to do this.
I love scrapbooking. This is gonna be fun!
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Making the scrapbook will let you relive a lot of times past, as well as allow your granddaughter to do the same when she looks at it. That's a good thing.
ReplyDeleteGorges...I'm working on getting the pictures together on my computer today and it is a wonderful walk down memory lane. I hope she enjoys the album even half as much as I am enjoying making it.
ReplyDeleteWhat was the cost on 18 lbs of chicken and where did you get it???
ReplyDeleteIt was the Cub brand frozen chicken breast. It comes in 3 lb. bags for $1.69 a lb. They are kind of odd, uneven sizes, but I cut them up and can them and they are really good that way. Or I cut them up and make chicken nuggets out of them. They go on sale for that price every now and then.
ReplyDeleteI found chicken tenders for $1.77 at Aldis and price-matched them at WM. I really need a canner/cooker so I can buy more when I find it on sale. One of these days....
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, I will just keep reading about how to can meat.
Linda...I think one of the best things I have done is to invest in the pressure canner and supplies. Earlier today I was checking on how commercially canned meat prices compared to home canning, and I can safely say that after the initial investment, which can be a bit spendy, it is totally well worth it. I am eating meat that was canned at least two years ago - at two year old prices. Whatever I can today will cost more tomorrow. And the taste just doesn't compare. I'll keep on doing my own canning as long as I am able.
ReplyDeleteI would be tempted to eat the chicken when it came out of the oven.
ReplyDeleteHarry...The only thing that saved it was that we had just eaten lunch and my keen desire to fill my shelves.
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