Canning Meat by Sheila

Post and Pictures by Sheila

I first cleaned my work area and laid out all the tools I would need during the canning process.

I then washed and trimmed the fat off my meat before cooking it.

I browned the stew meat before placing the meat in the jars. I added beef broth to the stew meat.

I opened a jar of stew meat and added some bbq sauce to have bbq beef sandwiches. The beef melted in my mouth.

I hope you are all enjoying being a Master Food Preserver as I am. If any of you have any questions do not hesitate in contacting me at svansonpfs(at)yahoo(dot)com.

I have also canned 120 jars of fresh meat. chicken, stew meat and hamburger.

Related Fact Sheets from the National Center for Home Food Storage Preservation 

• General Canning Information
• Using Presser Canners
• Canning Meat

Canning Ground Beef by Sheila

Post and Pictures by Sheila

I first cleaned my work area and laid out all the tools I would need during the canning process.

I  fried the hamburger...

and washed the fat off before placing the meat in the jars.

I added chicken broth to the chicken and beef broth to the stew meat and hamburger.

I hope you are all enjoying being a Master Food Preserver as I am. If any of you have any questions do not hesitate in contacting me at svansonpfs(at)yahoo(dot)com.

I have also canned 120 jars of fresh meat. chicken, stew meat and hamburger.

See you in the KITCHEN!!!!

Related Fact Sheets from the National Center for Home Food Storage Preservation

• General Canning Information
• Using Presser Canners
• Canning Ground Beef

Canning Chicken by Sheila

Post and Pictures by Sheila

I first cleaned my work area and laid out all the tools I would need during the canning process.

I then washed and trimmed the fat off my chicken before cooking it.

I boiled the chicken before placing it in the jars. I also added chicken broth to the chicken.

I opened a jar of chicken and used it to make orange chicken and served it over fried rice which I added my dehydrated peas, carrots, green and red peppers, onions, garlic and broccoli. It took me 5 minutes to prepare dinner and 25 minutes to cook the rice with the dehydrated veggies. And if I don't say so myself it was delicious...

I hope you are all enjoying being a Master Food Preserver as I am. If any of you have any questions do not hesitate in contacting me at svansonpfs(at)yahoo(dot)com.

I have also canned 120 jars of fresh meat. chicken, stew meat and hamburger.

Related Fact Sheets from the National Center for Home Food Storage Preservation 

• General Canning Information
• Using Presser Canners
• Canning Chicken

Tip for Dehydrating Foods by Sheila

Post by Sheila

When dehydrating your food it is very important to wear gloves when you touch the food. Even during the preparation of the food to avoid transferring the oil from your hands, lotion or any other things that may be on your hands. You do not want to transfer anything to your food that could spoil it later.

It is even more important to wear gloves after it has been dehydrated because the food is free of moisture and you do not want to transfer any moisture to your dehydrated food that may cause it to spoil later. Also when removing food from your daily storage containers you also want to wear gloves to keep your food free of anything that may cause it spoil.

Dehydrating Spaghetti Sauce by Sheila

Post and Pictures by Sheila 

The other day I made a large batch of homemade spaghetti sauce so I could have some to dehydrate. First I let the sauce cool them I taped some large (gallon) plastic storage bags with the label side down to the tray. I then ladled the sauce onto the bag with the rim of the sauce a little thicker than the center. I dehydrated the sauce until brittle. To re-hydrate I just added some boiling water. However, I did have to use my hand held blender to make sure all the sauce was dissolved. You can see the dehydrated sauce is dark and looks deep purple almost a brownish black but after it was re-hydrated it looks just as red as it did before I dehydrated the sauce. And it tasted just like the sauce before it was dehydrated.

Dehydrating Potatoes by Sheila

 Post and Pictures by Sheila

To keep your potatoes from turning black you need to cook them first all the way through. After boiling both batches of potatoes I processed them two different ways.

The first batch I peeled and boiled just like if I were making mash potatoes. I then pureed them through my food mill and spread them on the tray and dehydrated until brittle. I then took the brittle potatoes and placed them in the food processor until ground. To rehydrate I added boiling milk/water and placed in the microwaved for 6 minutes or so. I added salt, pepper and sour cream. They turned out creamy and tasted just like regular mash potatoes.

The second batch I let cool to room temperature then peeled them, then sliced the potatoes not to thick but not to thin and placed them on the tray until they were brittle and translucent. It took longer than I thought it would to rehydrate. I had to re-boil them in water for about 20-30 minutes. but they tasted and looked just like regular potatoes.

I also dehydrated frozen hash-browns. I just placed them on the tray until they were brittle. I re-hydrated them with boiling water for about 5 minutes, drained off the remaining water and fried them up just like regular hash-browns. They tasted great...

It's Sweet Potato Time! by Sheila

 Post and Pictures by Sheila

It's sweet potato time!!! Just boil sweet potatoes, let cool just enough to handle, peel, puree (do not add anything to the potatoes including salt), 

Spread on tray and dehydrate until brittle.

To eat just add boiling water and let stand for 5 minutes then place in microwave for 3-4 more minutes stir add butter, salt or brown sugar and eat. They are amazing. My favorite so far :)

Tips for Dehydrating Fruit by Sheila

Post and Pictures by Sheila

Tips for dehydrating the following fruit:

• Papaya
• Bananas
• Peaches
• Apples
• Mangos

To keep the above fruit from turning brown or black I purchased a large bottle of lemon juice and a large spray bottle. I removed the sprayer from the bottle and placed it on the lemon juice bottle and used the lemon juice to stop the discoloration of the fruit.

I poured some of the lemon juice on the bottom of a plate with a rim then I placed the sliced fruit on the plate then sprayed the top side of the fruit to insure both sides of the fruit was covered with lemon juice then placed the fruit on the tray. It worked great none of my fruit turned dark.

I used green granny apples and red gala apples...

...that I sprinkled with cinnamon

Dehydrating Vegetables by Sheila

Post and Pictures by Sheila

I hope all you Master Food Preservers are having as much fun as I have been having. Above you can see what I have been preserving since our class ended.

After deciding what foods I wanted to start to preserve I made a trip to Sams Club to buy some vegetables. I started with frozen vegetables and some frozen fruit.

The first vegetables I dehydrated was frozen corn, It was very easy, all I had to do was just open the bag and spread the corn on the tray place in the dehydrator set the temperature and timer and wait. I started with 3, 5 pound bags. 

You can see after the 15 pounds of corn has dehydrated it all fit into one bowl. I stored some of the corn (and all other food dehydrated) in a quart mason jar with a 100cc oxygen packet to remove the air and seal the jar for freshness. The remaining food I dehydrated have been vacuumed packed and sealed in Mylar bags for long term storage.

I also dehydrated frozen broccoli and cauliflower. I just placed them on the tray and placed the tray over the sink and ran cold water over the vegetables to defrost a bit so I could cut the pieces that were to big so they would fit in the dehydrator.

Also you can see the frozen whole green beans and mixed vegetables.

 

Dehydrate2Store

Sheila here from the class, I have been doing a lot of research on dehydration of food, as this is the process I think I am going to lean to as my primary preservation of food. Because of the time it takes to can and the space needed to store and the shelf life of can food dehydration works best for me and my family.

Tammy from Dehydrate2store has over 30 videos on how to dehydrate different fruits and vegetables, bread mixes and much more along with 30+ recipes on how to cook with dehydrated food. I found her videos to be the most informational. I also found her videos on how to package and store the dehydrated food the most helpful. I was not sure on how to dehydrated store food for long periods of time and she provides the information and videos on exactly how to package in the different types of containers from small bags to large bags to buckets and mason jars, and to have the confidence that your food would remain safe to eat in the future.

I hope you enjoy watching them as much as I have.

Excalibur Food Dehydrator

Sheila here from the class, I have been doing a lot of research on dehydration of food, as this is the process I think I am going to lean to as my primary preservation of food. Because of the time it takes to can and the space needed to store and the shelf life of can food dehydration works best for me and my family.

I am going with a square style Excalibur 3900 from Excalibur. The reason I selected this dehydrator is; 9 drying trays, the trays are 15" x 15" providing 15' square feet of drying surface, the motor is attached to the back and not on the bottom so food can not drip into the motor area like the round dehydrators, I can leave a tray out above a tray if I have larger pieces with the round style you can not do that you have to stack the next tray, I also like the larger motor and automatic timer, and the 5-10 year warranty depending on the style. I have purchased two and can't wait to get started.

They also have a 5 and 4 tray style the price range is $120.00 to $250.00.

On the Excalibur website there are videos you can watch. (I recommend watching them) these videos are what helped me decide on the main method of food preservation. I have also purchased the food sealer, and Mylar bags for long term food storage.