Originally Posted By: MDinana
Originally Posted By: benjammin
First, you don't need to pre-cook the chicken, you can raw pack it and process it, and the process time in the canner is the same, so the overall process time is greatly reduced.

Assuming half a chicken per quart (unboned), or 1/4 chicken per pint (unboned), 3 chickens would do a short load in a canner. My canners will each do 6 quarts at a time, roughly two hours in the canner (15 minutes to get it up to pressure, 90 minutes at pressure, 15 minutes to let it come back down to ambient pressure). Figure half an hour prep (cutting up the chickens, stuffing the jars, putting on the lids, etc). So you could do 6 quarts in an evening easily.

But it's really a matter of priorities, and it sounds like your schedule is too full to mess around with it, so probably better for you to just buy what you need at the store and forego the trouble. If all you have is an hour or two a month, that's not going to work. It won't be as healthy for you or your family, but that isn't always the most important thing.

Thanks. If I lived somewhere more remote, I'd definitely be into canning, jelly/jams, etc. Especially someplace where the supply line can be cut off relatively easily.

If it only takes 2-3 hours, it might be feasible, eventually. Once my kid is a bit more self sufficient, a weekend "mommy & me" date at the park could give me the time I need. Now to get the wife on board ...

Besides chicken, I assume all meats could be done, correct? Not that I'd like to smash a sirloin into a jar, but things like turkey, ham, etc? I'm thinking holiday leftovers.


You don't have to live remote. Start with something simpler than meat so you can use a less expensive canner rather than a pressure canner. We took a trip one fall to a farm a bit out of town and picked pumpkins and apples. Came home and canned applesauce. Don't wait for a someone take the kid to the park day, my kids liked using the apple peeler/corer/slicer and munched on the peels afterward. We picked three different kinds of apples so we made three batches of different flavored applesauce. Its real simple, you basically, peel and slice into small chunks then put in a pan and cook and blend until its a sauce then put in a little bit of lemon juice and can. You can add cinnamon to make another flavor. Some people add sugar but its not necessary.
Start with something the kids will enjoy then they will want to help and do more.