Can Do Attitude!

With no garden this year, I didn't plan on doing any canning. But then I got a great deal on some ground beef at the supermarket and decided to add it to the pantry.

Meat needs to be pressure canned. No problem. I knew exactly where the canner was as it has been nestled in a corner of the kitchen since we moved in.

I figured I needed about a dozen jelly jars; I like to do small jars of meat as we use just enough for a bit of flavor in spaghetti sauce or soups. There were some empty jars in the bedroom, but only 3 jelly jars. I knew there were canning jars in a box upstairs, behind the box with the unpacked pictures and under the broken computer monitor. That netted two more.

Think! I have dozens of small jars and I vaguely remembered finding a great place for them. Of course, in the bathroom closet under the yogurt maker.

I now had enough jars and rings, the canner, the jar lifter and tongs, funnel. What else?... Lids!

Easily found my stash of Tattler reusable lids but  I haven't used them much for pressure canning so we went looking for the metal lids. This search took both of us. Not in any kitchen drawer or cupboard, not in the canner or with the jars. Not in the atrium (our fancy name for the utility room) or in the bedroom drawers or in either of the card catalogs (every retired librarian should have a few card catalogs lying around).

A-ha! The lids were in the drawer of my treadle sewing machine.

Got the meat heated, jars washed, lids boiled. Ladeled the hamburger and some broth into the jars, sealed them, and lowered them into the hot water in the canner. Secured the lid...and realized I had no idea where the lid weight jiggler was. No jiggler = no pressure. No pressure = botulism and a painful death.

Now we're on the clock because once the canner starts to release steam, you have ten minutes to vent it before you add the weight. However, we were now getting so good at locating canning supplies that this search only took one or two minutes before we found it in the cabinet where I keep linens and cheesemaking stuff.

We now know where most of the canning items are.
And as an additional reward for all of that scramble, every jar sealed.