Fill your pantry with these now! | The Easy Way to Can Ground Beef

Canned ground beef may not be very Pretty to look at but it is like a super Tool in the kitchen when you can just Pop these things open and have tacos or Spaghetti ready in just a few minutes You'll forgive it for being kind of ugly It does not need defrosting it's shelf Stable it's just ready for you whenever You want it and a veggies be surprised At how simple the process really is Let's check it out Oh The first step to canning ground beef is To get it cooked so we're going to get That going and then we'll talk about the Supplies and the ingredients that you Need cooking ground beef for canning is A really important step you cannot can Raw ground beef the reason for that is Because you don't want the meat to cook All together into one Clump during the Canning process and that will absolutely Happen if you're working with a raw Ground meat of any sort so you need to Cook it first you can either do that in A skillet you can do it in a pan in the Oven or you can do it the way I like to Do it because I do big batches and That's by boiling it on the stove top They all work great they all get it Really well cooked so I'm just going to Take this beef I'm going to put it into A large stock pot cover it with water Bring it to a boil and I'll just mash it

Up with a spoon every so often give it a Stir and until it's well cooked it Doesn't take very long it just needs to Get cooked all the way through that's it That's all you're looking for however You choose to cook your meat try to do It all at once all together because we Want to work with hot ground beef on the Other side when we're putting them into The jar so you want it all to be done at The same time or at the very least keep Batches that you've already cooked while You're working on the next batch nice And hot while you're moving forward You'll also want to make sure you have a Way to drain the fat off of them because We don't really want that we'll talk About that in a minute but I'm just Going to get these right on into this Stock pot cover them with water And we're good to go [Music] Let's talk about the ingredients that You need in order to can ground beef Obviously we have the beef but this set Of directions and canning and ground Meat also works for Bare venison lamb Pork sausage it's going to work for all Of those so that makes it really Flexible which I absolutely love you Just do the exact same thing the meat That you use can be previously frozen it Can be fresh like this is this is right Off of a home raised beef that we raised

And butchered and it's been in the Freezer waiting for me to have a moment To can it but you can also Buy it from the store and it'll be just Fine I'm using about 14 pounds here Today the amount that you want to use is Going to be based on how much you're Going to use at a single serving so About two pounds of ground meat will fit Into a quart size jar about one pound Will sit fit into a pint-sized jar and About half a pound will fit into a half Pint jar so you need to think about how Much your family will eat at any one Serving and aim for that size jar then You'll want to figure out how many jars Can fit inside your canner now my canner Can hold seven quart jars at a time And since the court jars they fit two Pounds of meat two pounds of meat times Seven jars means that I need to start With about 14 pounds so you'll have to Do the math to figure out exactly how Much you need to start with aside from The meat you're going to want some salt That is optional and you can add dry Seasonings you can add up to two Teaspoons of dry herbs or seasonings to Each quart size jar or about one Teaspoon to each pint-sized jar you get To pick the seasonings you can play with Them personally though I really like to Just use salt so that my jars of ground Beef are just ready to stick into

Anything that I want but if you want you Could put taco seasonings in there you Could put Italian seasoning in so it's Ready to go for spaghetti sauce it is Amazing how many different directions You can come up with to season your Ground beef so you get to play with it Just keep it to dry herbs and spices the Other thing that you're going to need is A liquid to fill the jars after you've Filled them with your cooked ground beef And again you get to choose what kind of Liquid you want you can use water which Is what I'm going to use today I Actually have my kettles filled and back Here ready to heat you can use broth Either chicken or beef any type of broth You just want to make sure it's been De-fatted before you use it if it's a Store-bought broth that's probably Already been done if it's a homemade Broth you're going to want to stick your Broth in the a refrigerator overnight so You can remove all the fat before it's Ready to go for canning you can also use Tomato juice which makes an incredible Meat Saucy delicious type of ground beef But it does start to limit the final Uses the one last thing that you're Going to want is a little bit of Distilled vinegar for wiping the rims of Your jars okay now that you have all of Your ingredients ready to go let's look At the supplies if you've ever canned

Before you probably have all the Supplies that you need on hand they Consist of clean freshly washed jars you Can use quart size jars pint-sized jars Half pint size jars the Wide Mouth Jars Are the easiest to work with for Something like ground beef but they're Not necessary you can definitely use a Regular mouth jar make sure you have Brand new Lids in the size needed for Your jar and rings that are not Rusty You'll also want a good wide mouth Funnel to work with that'll help get Your ground beef and the liquid into Your jar without making a huge mess you Will absolutely need jar lifters do not Try to can without these believe me I've Tried and some sort of a tool for bubble Popping yes that is a technical term in Canning bubble popping it does not have To be an actual bubble popper tool it Can be a chopstick or a plastic knife Anything wooden that will fit all the Way down into your jar wooden or plastic So that it doesn't scratch your jar no Metal you'll want a couple of clean Towels and some clean dish cloths very Very clean everything needs to be very Clean and you'll also want a couple of Measuring spoons just normal stuff you Have around your kitchen the other thing That you're going to need and yes you Absolutely need this is a pressure Canner you can not use an instant pot or

Another electric multi-cooker you can't Use a pressure cooker you need an actual Pressure canner yes that is important And they're really good safety reasons For it today I'm using my All-American Canner which looks like this you can Also use a presto or Miro type canner or The new Denali caners work really well Too if you're using a dial gauge make Sure it's been tested within the last Year at the local County extension Office and make sure it's well Calibrated or skip that all together if You don't want to go into your County Extension office or you don't have one Available and use the weighted gauge That is specifically for your canner Make sure when you're starting out that You have a rack inside your canner Go ahead and set it right on in there And then fill your canner with about two Inches of water to be ready for the next Step [Music] I'll be the first to tell you that this Is not pretty but when you can pull a Can of Ground beef off your shelf and it's Ready to go in a meal in just a minute You'll forgive it for being so ugly but Right now It doesn't look very nice when you think You're about 10 minutes out from your Meat being all the way cooked it's time

To start warming up your canner now a Great trick is to go ahead and put your Very clean freshly washed jars into your Canner while it's heating up so that it Can keep your jars warm too which is Really important you want to be working With warm jars when you go to fill them I'm just going to turn the canner onto Low all I'm trying to do is bring the Water in the canner up to a very light Steam I don't want to bring the water to A boil I don't want to even bring it to A full simmer just a really nice steam To warm it all up I'm also going to turn The liquid on to fill my jars with so Whether you've chosen to use broth or Tomato juice or water you'll want to Have that at a boil before it's time to Work with it so the trick here is to Make all the these three things come Together at the same time finish cooking The meat bring your canner up to that Gentle Steam and warm your jars and Bring your liquid to a boil without Evaporating too much of it off before we Start Once your meat is all the way cooked and You've broken up any large clumps in it Anything that's bigger than about the Size of a small meatball you want to Have broken up then you need to pour off Any extra fat or grease this is really Important because the thing that can go Wrong with canning ground beef is that

If you have too much fat in there it has A tendency to go rancid and shorten your Shelf life now it's not really a safety Issue you just want to get as much of it Out as you can so that you have a nice Long shelf life for your ground beef so If you've boiled your ground beef like I've done here you can just take it over To the sink pour it through a strainer Or a colander and just give it a quick Rinse with hot water to make sure that You've gotten most of that fat off if You cooked your meat in a skillet or you Put it in a pan in the oven just go Ahead and pour off any extra grease That's in the pan or that's accumulated That'll be just fine all right now that The meat is all the way cooked we're Ready to start assembling our jars I'm Just going to pull them out one at a Time from the pressure canner it's come To a nice really light stain Hot jar hot meat we're ready to go I Just want to fill my jar with meat right Up until the lower end of the neck right Here I want about a one inch headspace This is important in Canning because you Want to get the suction just right on Your jar so you get a really strong seal I'm going to use my bubble popping tool To just go ahead and Tamp it down pretty Well I want this nice and full of meat Again this is well cooked so it's not Going to Clump back together you

Shouldn't have any problems with that Because I'm using a quart size jar I'm Going to put a teaspoon of salt in here If you're filling a pint-sized jar you Would be going for half a teaspoon and If you're filling a half pint you'd be Aiming for just a quarter teaspoon this Is a quarter teaspoon measure so I had To put four in there again the salt is Totally optional I'm not going to add Any other spices today because like I Said I like to keep this really Versatile so I can use it for all sorts Of things but feel free to put up to two Teaspoons of salt and dry spices into Your jar all right that water has just Come up to a boil so perfect timing And I'm going to take it and top it off Right to that one inch headspace Now if you are working with broth or Tomato juice you know it's kind of hard To determine exactly how much liquid you Need but it's better to have too much on Hand rather than too little but let's Say you were using broth and you started To fill it up and you found that you Just didn't quite have enough broth you Can always either water that down or Switch to a boiling water Okay we ran our bubble popper tool down There made sure we checked to see if There were any bubbles cleared those Bubbles and then adjusted the headspace To make sure that we have that liquid

All the way up to the top now I want to Take my clean dishcloth and my vinegar And I'm going to Wipe the rim of my jar down we always Use vinegar when we're using something Like beef or meat or anything that has Any grease or fat in it and the reason For that is to make sure there's no Grease left on your rim Lid on Ring on and then immediately back into The canner and we're going to keep doing This process draw after jar now we get a Lot of questions from people asking why Can't I water bath canned meat well Since meat is a low acid food it means It doesn't have enough acid to make Inhospitable home for bacteria including The botulism bacteria so instead of Treating the bacteria with acid for Something that's low acid like meat you Treat it with heat you have to get up to 240 to 250 degrees Fahrenheit in order To reliably kill off all the bacteria Inside a low acid jar the only way to do That in a home setting is to use a Pressure canner so you really do have to Use a pressure canner in order for this To be safe now you've probably seen Videos where people tell you you can Water bath can anything if you do it for Long enough and there is some science Behind that there is some allowance that If your water bath canned for a long

Enough period of time you could kill off All the bacteria But it's not tested it's kind of a Dangerous way to go so I wouldn't Recommend it I wouldn't do it in my own Home make sure you go ahead and use a Pressure canner because that is a Extremely Safe Way Toucan now if you can see I got this one Just slightly overfilled with my water And that's okay I'm just gonna pull a Little bit of it off and it's good to go [Music] If you're looking at this process and You just think oh my goodness I am so Not ready for pressure canning that's Okay don't worry about it you may want To join me in a special training that I Have that teaches you all of the basics Of canning It's a free four-part video series where I take you through all the basic steps Of water bath canning all of the safety All of the science so that you totally Understand canning and we even work Together to can a meal that you can put On yourself it's absolutely delicious But using just a water bath canner to Get you comfortable with that part so I'll put the link to that in the Description Okay I'm just gonna finish up the rest Of these jars and get them all into the Canner

[Music] Last jar getting it all filled up the Next steps we have after we get our Canner filled is to get the lid locked Into place now different types of Canners have different ways that their Lids lock but for this All-American Canner you need to try to keep your lid Level and tighten down the screws Tightening opposite each other At the same time so it tries to keep That lid level Then we're going to want to start Heating our canner we want to do that Gently we don't want to heat the canner Too quickly at any one time because that Can make it go really high and then get A little unstable and it's a little hard To stabilize the temperature after that So it's best to heat it on about a Medium heat on your stove And you want to bring that up until your Canner starts to steam strongly once it Steams strongly you will want to set a 10 minute timer this is important it's Called a venting process and you'll want To let that canner Steam And vent get all the air out of there so That you have a vacuum inside there and The pressure gauge can read properly Once you have your canner fully vented For that full 10 minutes then you'll be Ready to put your weighted gauge or your Weight on top of your vent to allow that

Can or start building up pressure Canning recipes are written to be canned At 10 pounds of pressure but you do need To adjust that amount if you live above A thousand feet in elevation check out This chart right here and you'll see That you want to match up the elevation Of your kitchen with the type of gauge That you're using if you're using a dial Gauge you'll use this column but if You're like me and you're using a Weighted gauge then you'll use this Column over here I am canning at about 25 100 foot elevation and I'm using that Weighted gauge so I'm going to be Setting my weight at 15 pounds of Pressure then slowly build your pressure By keeping that heat at a medium and Getting it all the way up until it Starts to jiggle all right the canner Has come up to pressure and you can hear It jiggling here the goal amount of Jiggles for this type of a canner with a Weighted gauge is between one and four Jiggles per minute now this is jiggling Almost constantly so right now it's a Little over pressure and I want to turn My heat down Just a little bit make sure you actually Watch The Flame and not just your handle On your stove so you don't over adjust Your flame down too low and as soon as We get that dialed into that one to four

Jiggles per minute we're going to start Our processing time the processing time For quart jars of ground beef is 90 Minutes if you're using pint-sized jars Or half pint jars it's 75 minutes but Make sure you get your pressure just Right before you start a timer And then watch your canner to make sure It stays at the right pressure if you Have to make adjustments again just make Them really small wait for a minute and Make another small adjustment don't make Them too big because then you can make It go up real high and then down real Low and up real high it gets really hard To stabilize it after that fact if You're using a presto type canner Instead of a one to four times per Minute jiggle you'll actually be looking For your weight to be doing what's Called a hula a gentle hula it'll just Go around gently in a nice calm manner If your hula starts getting too fast Getting a little crazy if you start Seeing any salsa dancing instead of a Hula dance then you'll know you're over Pressured by just a little bit If at any point during the canning Process you lose pressure and you drop Below your target pressure you do need To stop your timer get your canner back Up to pressure and start the timer all Over again We'll see you in about 90 minutes our 90

Minute timer just went off so I'm ready To turn the heat off on the canner The canner has to come down to zero Pounds of pressure inside the canner Naturally don't do anything with that Weighted gauge don't remove it don't Press it with your hand to release steam Don't do anything like that and Certainly do not take this canner and Put it in cold water nothing like that Just let it sit here and come all the Way down naturally in pressure Once you have the canner all the way Down to zero you can go ahead and remove The weighted gauge after you do that you Want to let the canner sit there with The gauge off for 10 minutes this allows It to equalize in pressure before you Actually take the lid off Then you can take the canner lid off Once that Lids off you're ready to Remove your jars set them out on a Counter that's lined with a towel you Want it to be somewhere where it's draft Free Space your jars out a little bit so There's some room between them and let Them cool all the way down at least 12 To 16 hours before you touch them again If you notice that your jars are boiling On the inside when you bring them out Don't worry that is completely normal So is having a little bit of greasiness On the outside of your jar or even

Inside the canner that's not anything to Worry about and if your jars look like They've lost a little bit of liquid That's okay too we'll talk about that in Just a minute the jars of ground beef Have been sitting and cooling overnight And they are completely cool to the Touch from top to bottom so let's take a Look at them like I said these things Aren't the most beautiful things in the Jar they're a little bit ugly but they Are going to taste great now don't be Too thrown off if you have a little bit Of grease on the outside of the jar We're just going to clean that up but First thing we want to do is make sure That our lid has sealed so you just Press down make sure there's no movement And then we're ready to remove the bands And yes you do want to store them Without the bands on them if you don't Know why you really want to go check out That training that link that I have for You there's a little bit of fat at the Top that is completely normal until Totally fine but I want you to notice That some of the meat is sticking up Above liquid level this is totally Normal and it happens during canning and It is just fine it doesn't mean that There's anything wrong with your jars You also may be wondering where did all That liquid go it's just absorbed into The food so there's nothing wrong with

It in fact now it is a absolutely great Broth so when you go to use your meat And you have a little bit of extra Liquid on there make sure you pour it Off and use it for something that's Really flavorful it is possible in Storage that this little bit of meat That's along the top will discolor just A little bit that is still completely Safe it is not going to change the taste It's not going to change anything about It and when you mix it all back in You're not even going to see it anymore So don't worry about that now we want to Make sure if it's at all greasy we just Take it over to the sink and use some Slightly warm water don't use hot clean It all all up you can see there's a Little bit of like watermarks on here Just get it all nice and clean you don't Want to put away anything sticky or Greasy into your pantry ever and then Using a permanent marker just label it On the top what it is yeah we're gonna Know it's ground beef probably but at The very least put a date on here let's Open this one up and see what it looks Like if you guys can find one of these Prilids they're the best tools ever they Just pop up your lids and they keep them Non-dented so if you want to reuse them For a different purpose they're great Now take a look at that that is great it Smells like phenomenally good ground

Beef lots of flavor in there and again You could flavor that up if you wanted And look at this you could literally Dump this into a spaghetti sauce right Into the pan You could throw this into a skillet with With some onions and make up an amazing Taco meat really quickly you could use This for a quick lasagna the Possibilities really are quite endless Here and you can see we have ground beef That is cooked and ready to go yeah it's Got this beautiful broth completely Gelled in there look at that gelled Broth very filled with collagen gelatin All sorts of great stuff you definitely Want to heat it up so that it's ready to Go just fry it up in a skillet and you Are ready to go did you know that you Can can raw meat in its whole form like A chunk of steak or a chunk of roast Check out this video right here