Mary, you have not ever seen anyone can foods ? I have done it for over 35 years. Never poisoned anyone . Only have had a few jars come unsealed over the years. Usually that just happens if they seal, but have a little food under the lid and they come unsealed. You see it and just don't eat those jars of food, of course. If you follow tested recipes and methods, the food will be safe. It is when people try to do their own thing and not follow the guidelines they get sick. I can send you links to some sites to look at recipes and things. There is even a free online course to take. Not sure how it would work with you being in Canada, though. Go here and look :
National Center for Home Food Preservation . That is the same information I teach. Plus, I also have more information about sugar free jams and things.
Oh, you are missing out ! The beef and chicken just fall apart, they are so moist and tender. I have to heat up whatever else I am fixing and add the meat at the end or it falls apart. It makes the best beef burritos ever.
So, in my food storage, I have dried milk, canned milk, powd. butter, and things that I am able to use to make sauces with. We can eat creamed chicken over biscuits, all sorts of things from my food storage . I know how to make homemade tortillas. So, you see, you can eat really well from your stored foods.
Too bad you live so far away. I could teach you, for sure. I can still teach you online. Honest, I can.
I am getting ready to teach several hundred people again this year. I go up to another city and do seminars for about 3 hours. Usually have about 60 people per class. This is the informational/teaching classes. Then, we also offer hands on canning classes, too, where they actually can foods. We can only do a limited amount of students at those.
It costs about $100 US dollars to buy a pressure canner. Then, you buy jars and a few other things. I think you have a store up there called Canadian Tire, where people buy the supplies. I easily save that much money each year in what I can for my family.
Once you have the pressure canner, you will have it forever. The jars have a life of about 12 years, so once you make the investment, it is cheaper to do.
You are able to can potatoes, stew, chili, beans, all kinds of vegetables, pickles, jams, fruits, tomatoes, salsa, marinated mushrooms, so many things. I have hundreds of jars of my homecanned foods. I always have food to select from when cooking. No preservatives added, either. This year we hope to get fresh tuna to can again.
If you want to learn, starting with something like jam is the easiest. You can use a big, deep stock pot for canning it. No pressure canner needed for jam.
Let me know if you want to learn.
When you can smoked salmon, you just smoke it for about half an hour, to get the flavor. Then, it is pressure canned. The flavor intensifies during the processing. So good. Makes the best cheese ball mixed with cream cheese to eat on crackers. My husband also smokes sturgeon. Very, very good, too.
