Canning

It continues to amaze me that jars are still so cheap up here at the Sam's club. They continue to sell 1 dozen wide mouth pint jars for $7.48. I just can't lay off of them.

I processed another 36 pints of chicken breasts last week. When the sockeye come in this year, I will be dipnetting my limit and canning that. If I somehow manage to get a moose or at least a caribou, I will be putting a good amount of that up in jars.

If TSHTF it would take us a while to go through this much meat. Of greater concern will be how we replace what we use up. If things get really nuts, anything within a tankful of gas of Anchorage will be harvested quickly. Of course, with the loss of commercial fishing there's a good chance the anadromous species would explode, but competition for those fish will become lethal. You can bet every river mouth around will be completely netted; enforcement will be nil, so only those controlling the river mouths will have fish to trade with. I well imagine 500 or more armed guards defending that real estate access in exchange for a piece of the harvest.

Meanwhile, lake trout and pike will cease to exist.

Unless the rule of law gets well established after an event, it will be a free for all around here. Best I can figure is get as far away from Anchorage as possible, and not trapped out on the Kenai peninsula, and hope that it is far enough away that your area is unreachable by the rest without great effort.

do you dry pack your chicken, or add broth?.... I've got an All American, but haven't used it yet...

I admit, the scenario you are describing is not something I personally prepare for, but if such a TEOTWAIKI event did occur, would it not most likely greatly reduce the human population? If so, while resources are limited, competition for those resources theoretically may not be as grave as you fear.

In any case, I would speculate the key is community. Whether you are talking a short term disaster or something longer term, I figure those that are going to thrive are those who are part of a community who can work together to get through the storm. This community building is something that is best done now, before TSHTF.

Ben,

I agree. We continue to can up stuff, although mainly meals like stew, gumbo, chili, etc. We use them fairly often as quick meals when we don't have time to make something, and also have the benefit of being preps for bad times. When meat goes on sale we usually buy a bunch and can it. Most of the stuff from the garden ends up in a jar as well.

A good friend of my wife's says she has hardly any food in her house, and goes to the grocery for dinner items EVERY day. I just can't fathom living like that. Even if you weren't a prepper type, the sheer convenience of having readily available food on-hand would seem to be a good reason to do it.

I raw pack the meat. I cut it into cubes while it is partially frozen, then load the cubes into sterilized jars, cap, and put into a hot canner (I have an All American and a Presto). I don't add anything, no salt, no broth, no liquid. Store bought meat is full of water and enough salt. In the canning process it will release the liquid and fill all the voids. Chicken breast is particularly good for this. The chicken is better than the stuff in cans at Costco, looks better, and smells better.

Raw pack this way is really the easiest way to go. It doesn't work with ground meat; you have to cook that first to break it up if you want it to process loose. Otherwise it will turn into meatloaf if ground meat is raw packed.

Yes, in addition to just meat, we have canned up beef stew, corned beef hash, chili, posole, Turkey and Chicken soups, and pork chile verde. I am out of most of those now, but we have plans.