Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

Home Canning for the lunchbox

10:18, Thursday, June 26, 2008 .. Posted in Around the Cookstove .. 6 comments .. Link

One of the pleasures that I have as a wife is to make home canned lunches for my husband to take to work. It is something that started while he was truck driving. I would make enough home canned meals in pint jars to last him the full month that he was gone. Even though he no longer drives the truck and is working a local job, I still home can his meals.

I have often been inspired by the websites that teach about once-a-month cooking. The only down-side was that most of the meals they prepared were stored in a freezer. Homecanning was the option that I found that allows me to use the concepts of the once-a-month cooking without needing to buy a freezer.

Home canning his lunches is a much easier than most people imagine. Often, I will make a double sized batch of soup or some other meal with the intent to can the left overs. One night, I made a pot roast with vegetables. Once dinner was done, I split the leftover roast & vegetables into 6 jars. I then added the broth to each jar and finished filling the jars with water. Once processed, the roast & veggies were canned with a rich looking broth.

Yesterday, I made some homemade Cream of Tomato soup - one of my husband's favorites. The recipe yields 12 pints, so is a great way to stock the pantry quickly. The soup, once canned, is thick and very rich in tomato flavor. He often eats it as it is. When making it for our daughter & myself, I usually treat it the same as a condensed soup and add a little milk to it to cut down on the strong tomato flavor.

Nearly all homemade soups can be processed in jars for your pantry. The only ingredients that I don't put into the soups that I home can are pasta and cheese. I have canned jars of: vegetable soup, chili, lentil soup, tomato soup, and various soups containing beans and barley.

Other meals that I have home canned for the pantry are: beef stew, pot roast & veggies, stuffed cabbage, stuffed bell pepper, potatoes & cabbage, chicken with celery & potatoes, chicken pot pie filling, beef pot pie filling, taco meat, sloppy joe meat, and tamale pie filling.

There are many more possibilities of meals that you can prepare ahead of time and process in canning jars. You are limited only by your imagination. You can also save money by making your own meat stocks and vegetable stocks to be used later in making your dinners. A good chicken stock complete with chicken, chopped carrots and celery makes a wonderful base for making homemade chicken noodle soup. Another popular meal using a chicken stock canned with chunks of chicken, potatoes & celery. When heating it up on the stove, add dumplings for a fast chicken & dumpling meal.

A couple of days of canning meals will very quickly add to your pantry fast to prepare, wholesome, nutritious meals for your family. Using pint jars, you have meals for quick lunches for a hard working husband. I can the meals in both pint and quart sized jars so that we can use them as lunches or for family meals.

These meals are also a great way to prepare for power outages. When the power goes out and you are unable to cook on your electric stove, these meals can be easily heated up in a pan sitting on your BBQ grill. When we had the ice storms last winter, the home canned meals were a blessing. They cooked up quickly on the wood cookstove and provided us with hearty meals.

I hope that as the summer's gardening season and harvests are in full swing, you will have the time and inspiration to prepare your family's pantry for the upcoming winter. If you don't have a garden, take advantage of the farmer's markets and stores to buy vegetables in season when their prices are their lowest. Utilize your slow cooker to make the soups and stews for canning.

I pray that this has helped to give ideas and inspire you.

May the Lord's abundant blessings be with thee.

Leave a Comment

wonderful and inspiring idea

11:29, Thursday, June 26, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous
I have never canned anything, ever... but I'm getting geared up for it. Indeed your explanation on how to accomplish it, and the history of how you started, are a testament to your creative and loving industriousness- and worthy of emulating.
Thanks so much!
-Illoura

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11:41, Thursday, June 26, 2008 .. Posted by SherKeith
What a great post! I hope everyone that reads it will take your advice and can everything they can get their hands on! Hugs, Sher

home canning

02:51, Thursday, June 26, 2008 .. Posted by snowdropcottage
what a wonderful idea. You truly inspire.
I think I'll attempt to can myself although I don't have a canner but we do have a pressure cooker.

Pressure Cookers

12:49, Friday, June 27, 2008 .. Posted by oklamouse
Just a quick note: never try to can using a pressure cooker. They are not designed for it and can cause serious problems!

Paula

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12:57, Friday, June 27, 2008 .. Posted by snowdropcottage
Good point!! :-)

Invitation to The Carnival of Home Preserving

10:25, Friday, July 11, 2008 .. Posted by FoggyMountainFarm

I am stopping by to invite you to participate in the first edition of the The Carnival of Home Preserving that will be posted at Laura Williams' Musings on Monday July 14th.

http://laurawilliamsmusings.blogspot.com/2008/07/introducing-carnival-of-home-preserving.html

It is a Carnival to Share Recipes and How-To's for Canning, Freezing, Dehydrating (drying), and Root Cellaring of Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs.

Deadline to Submit: every Sunday at 2pm EST

Carnival is to be posted by that Monday on the respective Host's blog.

Link To Submit Post: Blog Carnival Submission
http://blogcarnival.com/bc/submit_4663.html

Everyone is welcome to join in.

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Homesteading: A Woman's Journey

Home Canning for the lunchbox

wonderful and inspiring idea

Untitled Comment

home canning

Pressure Cookers

Untitled Comment

Invitation to The Carnival of Home Preserving

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