I would like to hear what you do with your deer when you bring it home. Canning or smoking or what have you.
The only option hereabouts is the freezer. Us pennsyltuckians don't have time to meddle with the fancy stuff, other than sausage. (It's another way to use the rest of the pig.)
Have it ground and mixed 50/50 with pork + seasoned, This is for spaghetti or chili, Vacuum packed,Then frozen Or, Smoked sausage mixed 50/50 with pork and seasoned,Vacuum packed Then frozen Back strap, Vacuum packed, Then frozen
I have been building an inventory of pint and quart mason jars to reach the equilivant of 400 pints. At 1 pound per pint that should give me the ability to can 400 pounds of pork and deer post SHTF. I have two large pressure canners for the task. The pork should be no problem as we are covered in wild hog. I feed corn year round to keep them around, fat and fresh on the hoof till they are needed.
I ran up on a deal on a pallet of wide mouth quart jars about 15 years....I recall it was 40 cases of 12 jars with lids/rings. Additionally, we've bought probably another 30 or so cases of narrow quarts and 15 or so of pints. I wanted enough inventory to provide a minimum of a quart or more per day for two of us for a year.....so 800-1000 jars. Pretty sure I've got that. Wanted enough so if we have to can out the freezers, we'd have the jars to do so. (This was pre-solar power setup days) Jar storage alone is something to consider when you start getting that many jars. This is my 'empty' jar cabinet for quarts. 4' wide, 24" deep, 8' tall. Holds about 400 quarts. This one is for pints: Of course, we try to keep several hundred filled at an given time: THEN you need lots and lots of lids. Got a few hundred of the Tattler re-use lids/rings, and thousands upon thousands of the normal one piece lids. Best place I've found to buy them in bulk is: Canning/Mason Jars & Lids - Kitchen > Canning/Mason Jars & Lids at Goodman's Small Appliances Housewares and Parts 36 pack of dozen wide mouth (432 lids) is $114.......26 cents each. Narrow mouth lids $80.
Just a quick question? How do the Tattler reusables work out? Heard about them but never tried them. How often can you reuse the rings?
Haven't used them a lot....for the price, you can buy quite a few single use lids, and that is what we use.