I got a screaming deal on some chicken from a farmer just over the line in Vermont. It arrived yesterday so I spent the day processing it. I had a lot to do (about 50 pounds) so I was able to experiment a bit. I put the first three birds in my huge stock pot, made a stock with onions, parsley, chard, carrot, celery and some herbs, salt and pepper. I simmered the chicken for a couple of hours then let it cool enough to get the meat off the bone. I strained the broth, filled the jars with the pulled meat, covered it all with the broth and canned the first load. I also managed to get a bag of giblets and a second bag of backs, wings and necks that I froze for future stock making.
While all of this was going on, I put three more birds in the oven in a big, covered roaster. I used two quarts of organic chicken stock that I picked up a couple of weeks ago and just let the birds simmer at 350 degrees for a couple of hours. The chickens were so beautiful when I took them out that I saved one for dinner. I pulled off the crispy, golden skin, then pulled the meat from the bones with two forks.
This worked so much better than the stove top method. It was more a matter of lifting the bones out than pulling the meat off. I was left with chicken in broth that was really easy to ladle into the jars. I didn’t my hands and the whole process was a lot less messy. The oven method is wat I will use for the next batch of birds.
The question will be asked: Why not just throw the birds in the freezer? No muss, no fuss. That’s true and I did freeze one bird so we can have a roasted chicken one night but having canned meat on hand is a wonderful thing. Canned meat is versatile. It’s a heat and eat meal, just what you want if you are out of power or in a hurry. It sits in the basement, not relying on the freezer to remain safe. Canned meat stretches further too. There was almost no waste with this chicken. The skin and bones were the only parts tossed. I can not tell you how often I have lost a chicken carcass because I just didn’t get around to making soup out of it before it went bad.
I now have 12 quart jars of chicken, the bird we ate last night, another in the freezer, a bag of backs and wings for soup in the freezer as well as bag of giblets to make into chicken liver pate, all of it free range and humanely processed and it only cost $122.oo, well under $3.00 a pound. 12 small cans of chicken was $99.00 in the Lehman’s catalog and that was before shipping.
The price of gold is soaring today and, from time to time, I regret not buying some. Then I think about investments. My canner was probably one of the best investments I ever made. I have used it dozens of times and it will be handed down to my children. I just bought a stainless steel, water bath canner to replace my old enamel canner. It was expensive but it too will last for generations. The enamel canners kept rusting out, especially the baskets so it was no savings to spend less but do it every few years. Environmentally, it is always better to go for items with the longest life. I can use one of my old canners as a dedicated pot for making soap which means I won’t have to purchase one. I have a birthday coming up and I’m going to ask my kids to get me a cast iron dutch oven with a lid that will hold hot coals. I am still using my mother’s cast iron cookware. That too will be handed down to kids and grandkids.
I love the thrill of the hunt. I love looking for things with real value at tag sales and thrift stores. A down sleeping bag, a box of canning jars, good quality hand tools, these are the things that get my heart racing. Investing-well-not so much. I don’t have the nerves for it. My jars of chicken, lines up in the cabinet, are enough gold for me.
May 12, 2010 at 8:46 am
I currently have an extra set of cast iron in regular use. My daughter has been told that she will get it when she’s grown – seasoned cast iron for her kitchen. We’ll both have a set.
And I agree that canned meat is wonderful. And for me, with just the little freezer on the fridge, it’s the only way I can store larger amounts.
May 12, 2010 at 9:11 am
Years ago, I used to cook chicken (and rice) for my dogs. Sometimes, I got sick of all the waste of bones. After pulling all the meat off and draining the stock to go in the freezer, I’d return the bones to the pressure cooker with fresh water. I cooked them so long they turned to mush. I crushed them completely with a potato masher to make sure not a single sharp or hard piece left and would then add small amounts to the dogs’ food.
I never did the research to see if this was a good or bad idea, so I didn’t do it often. However, I know that “bone meal” is recommended as a supplement for dogs and is also used in the garden. I assume it is made from dried and powdered beef bones but perhaps chicken bones could be sterilized, dried, and ground as well. A little less waste and a bit more use outta the birds?
May 12, 2010 at 9:20 am
So that Country Living grain mill that I’ve resisted buying because it is so expensive is actually an investment. Hmmmm… you may have just tipped the scales!
May 12, 2010 at 9:38 am
That bone idea is amazing. I never thought of pressure cooking, then drying and grinding (maybe just adding to the compost). I want a Country Living too. Maybe that would be better than than the dutch oven (are any of my kids reading this?)Moms who pass on cast iron rock!
May 12, 2010 at 11:32 am
For the first time since I was a kid, we planted a garden this year. It’s only about 50 feet by 50 feet. We purchased some Heirloom seeds, as did my daughter. In fact, the garden is located at my daughters place, about 10 miles away. We’ve planted Corn, Green beans, Tomatoes, Lettuce and a whole host of other vegetables.
Since we started the garden, we purchased 96 new larger canning jars and about 50 of the smaller jars – all with new lids and rings, as well as replacement lids & rings.
Two weeks ago, the wife bought a canning pot – one of the steel pots with the Bluish porcelain protective covering. The wife also purchased a couple of books on canning, as well.
Then last week, the wife purchased a pressurized type of canning pot and a couple more books. But honestly, I’m a little apprehensive about the pressurized canner as, I’ve heard of pressurized cookers exploding.
So I guess we’ve got some reading to do. If all else fails, we have neighbor friends who garden and can food every year. They offered the help we need to get us pointed in the right direction.
I’ve been thinking about purchasing some Silver, as the price is so much more manageable then gold. But then too, investing in solar panels, gardening equipment, canning equipment and other useful tools that ensure our survival may well be the better long-term investment, in not just as expensive over the long run. But in the process of learning to do these things, we are building transferable knowledge to our children, knowledge and skills that will ensure their survival, as well.
We must begin situating ourselves for post Peak Oil, Peak Gas, and Peak everything! This planet has, only so much resources. Society has brought the use of these resources to the edge of exhaustion. When these resources become fully exhausted, we will – literally over night – find ourselves living 17th century life styles. I believe this could well take place within my lifetime and, for sure, within my children’s and Grandchildren’s lifetime! The sooner we begin the transition to a Post Peak Everything society, the softer the blow will be when everything collapses before our very eyes.
And knowing these things may well be far more valuable then owning Gold!!!
May 12, 2010 at 11:54 am
When pressure canning took off during WWII. the good metal went to the war effort and cheaper metals were used for canners. There was little info out for people to use and very little in the way of safety precautions. No more! New canners are very safe. That little rubber gasket on the top will pop out and release steam if the pressure gets too high. As long as you follow the directions for times and pressure levels and check the seals before consuming any home-canned food, it is very safe. I suspect more people are made sick each year by commercial food than from what they can at home.
May 12, 2010 at 12:26 pm
Chile Says:
“Years ago, I used to cook chicken (and rice) for my dogs. Sometimes, I got sick of all the waste of bones. After pulling all the meat off and draining the stock to go in the freezer, I’d return the bones to the pressure cooker with fresh water. ***** I cooked them so long they turned to mush. ***** I crushed them completely with a potato masher to make sure not a single sharp or hard piece left and would then add small amounts to the dogs’ food.
I never did the research to see if this was a good or bad idea, so I didn’t do it often. However, I know that “bone meal” is recommended as a supplement for dogs and is also used in the garden. I assume it is made from dried and powdered beef bones but perhaps chicken bones could be sterilized, dried, and ground as well. A little less waste and a bit more use outta the birds?”
Aside from possible health consequences of the animals, at what point does anything become cost effective to claim from waste content?
My thoughts on this are as follows:
1. How much trouble (inconvenience) is this practice to your time and/or schedule?
2. Is this practice really worth your time?
3. Is there something that you could be doing that provides a greater return for the invested time, money and/or energy expended?
4. How much energy does it take to make into mush these Chicken bones, as opposed to simply purchasing commercially processed goods?
5. How much money did you spend on energy to perform this task, and could you have purchased the product for less cost, saving valuable resources?
Maybe the Chicken bones would have been better served in the compost pile, or bate for a game snare.
For a practice to be ecologically beneficial we must look at every aspect of that practice. If we claim to be resource conscious and it cost more in energy implementing that practice then it does by simply paying for a manufactured equivalent, are we really being resource conscious?
In other words, if it cost 5 cubic feet of natural gas to save 3 cubic feet of natural gas, is that really ecologically prudent?
My thought is that, we must try to apply existing product more efficiently. And in that light, human energy expenditure is always far less expensive then man-made energy conversions required, servicing our needs or wants.
May 12, 2010 at 2:05 pm
It would take little additional energy to strip the bones clean after cooking the meat and let them thoroughly dry naturally in the sun (protected from animals and insects, of course). They could then be ground up and used as bone meal.
Back when I did this (15-20 years ago!), I was trying to get the most value out of the expensive chicken. Energy calculations were not involved. Life has, of course, changed now.
May 12, 2010 at 6:16 pm
I’m still concerned about the nutritional value of all this canning, and as a result have not really gotten into it. We cellar store our root vegetables, and freeze meat (I know, I know, it still takes energy too) but yesterday I stumbled across this clip, and I thought drying might be a really good way to go too: http://www.energybulletin.net/node/52772
Of course he is probaby a bit luckier with the weather than where we are, but over summer it should still work. And then of course there is the warming oven on our wood stove!