don't pressure me, bro 2 of 2

DON’T PRESSURE ME, BRO 2

Yesterday I explained why I needed to can and store protein.  It is better than saving the money ( to buy the food later ) that inflates.  We’ve already had two hyperinflations in this country.  When the Continental was made worthless during the Revolutionary War and when the Gott Damn Yankee Scum invaded the independent states of the South.  It is coming again, and I guaran-damn-tee each and every one of you that-a claim I shall back up with a jelly filled donut as the wager.  The only question is when.  My guess is way before the Olduvai Theory end date of 2030.

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Look up that Olduvai Theory.  I’ve talked about it before, and I find no reason to discount it.  Here, you crippled puke-let me help you:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olduvai_theory

Yes, I know, Wiki and the dreaded leftist agenda.  Hey, you can’t always believe what is on the right ( still waiting on more than six miles of wall there, Forrest Trump ) or the alt media.  You had to decipher the news through left bias before, in dead tree newspapers.  You can handle it over at Wiki.  Focus, here, would ‘ya?

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I have plenty of food storage.  It just is incomplete.  I know my aging rebelling body dislikes it when I don’t give it enough protein or calories.  But I’m also never going to have the necessary funds to match my wheat to much meat ( right now, after accumulating for years, my off grid meat stash equals at most two months ).  So, I’ll just be happy to have SOME home canned meat to extend that Spam stash.  But if I’m going to invest in that, I want it to be worth it paying back as peace of mind.  I feel a year extra is a minimum.

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I never could understand people who are content with a three or six month supply of food.  Heck, even as dumb ass as I was near thirty years ago, actually thinking in terms of disruption rather than catastrophe ( I just knew those evil Soviets were going to nuke us, but I’d either be dead from all out attack or it would be a limited exchange we could recover from ), I knew better than to think in terms of less than a year’s supply.  I mean, hello!  Plan for the worse.

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I’m not adverse to spending the thousand bucks for 350-375 jars of meat.  The whole point was to turn cash money into assets to eliminate the need for money itself.  But you know how I keep telling you to be prepared yesterday?  It might take awhile to can that meat.  If I pressure canned butter, on the other hand, I’d be done in one quarter of the time.  Yes, I consider every prepping item a race against the clock.  Now, allow me to explain about the butter.  Yes, I know it technically is not a protein, but a fat.

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In my own personal experience, living on a lacto-vegetarian diet for one period of experimentation, I have no problem living on dairy rather than animal flesh.  Granted, I ate some cheese along with the butter, so this isn’t a strict apples to apples comparison.  But I feel comfortable taking this step.  My body SHOULD be okay just with butter ( also, look at the peasants currently kicking the superpower USA’s ass over is southwest Asia-they largely eat whole wheat and butter.  Just saying, this is the second highly mechanized army of a major power they have defeated on this diet ).

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Now, VERY important-butter is FOUR times the calories of meat per pound, yet only two to three times as expensive.  Chew on THAT.  If I can a mere hundred pounds, I’ve spent half the money and gotten the same calorie count with way more fat content.  AND, that is not all.  If you order in the next five minutes, we’ll throw in a bonus.  Butter doesn’t go bad if you don’t finish it all that day, unlike the meat. I can open it and in the summer it is still good for a week-two or three weeks plus in the cooler times of year.

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I don’t even need a full one hundred jars, because I’m using quarts and one and a half pounds fits in each one.  I could stop at seventy jars.  I’m shooting for a hundred, but it’s good to have the option anyway.  I don’t really like the extra headspace in the jar.  A pound and a half gives it a two inch gap.  I’ve read that you don’t want extra space as the air might not evacuate nor create a vacuum seal, but I know you also don’t want fat getting on the rubber ring as it won’t seal. 

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That is the thing about pressure canning butter.  There are few directions.  Since the gooberment officially bans canning butter, no one wants to stick their neck too far out there with guessing.  So everything I tell you is my experimentation.  It isn’t gospel.  I’m winging it.  I’ve read use the ten pound weight on the wiggler.  And I’ve heard an hour for pint jars.  I used quarts, and I still felt an hour was sufficient.  Butter isn’t like meat that must be cooked through over a long period.  The butter is already melted.

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If you can pressure can milk in only ten minutes, I feel that an hour is probably WAY over the safety margin on butter, even if it is in a larger jar.  Now, as far as bath canning butter.  I read up on that from a trusted source.  It sounded feasible.  I tried it, wrote about it, then chickened out and removed the jars from storage and ate them immediately.  If folks have safely eaten five years in storage butter NOT pressure canned, just room temperature sealed, it stands to reason that pressure canning it is as safe as could be.

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At less than an hour, I’m sure.  So to me, JUST an hour seems quite reasonable for quart jars.  That is just me, understand.  I could be wrong and this is a WAG, but I’m comfortable with it.  Now, a word on cans.  I had a heck of a time finding them yesterday, a few hours after I wrote part one of this article.  Wally had ONE case of regular mouth.  I didn’t want to buy the wide mouth, of which they had a half dozen cases.  They cost more, and I’m not sure they would seal as well.

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Remember, you are essentially canning fat.  Which could ruin the vacuum seal.  A bigger lid might make zero difference, but I felt I shouldn’t take the chance it would take more to seal.  I’m flailing in the dark here, sorry.  And Kroger, who is always having a sale on jars, is back at original price which is $13 or so rather than $9 or $10.  Ouch!  And Krogers butter on sale at $3 always seems to “accidentally” be out of stock, forcing me to buy it at $3.29 generic brand.  ALL their prices seem to be increasing.

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You know whose prices aren’t?  Wal-Mart.  I’m not sure if that warrants its own article, but I’m already over my word count here ( some of you get testy when the already long ones go even longer ).  A tip on the butter. Once processed and cooling, don’t bother shaking the jar to mix the milk solids back into the fat.  When too hot they immediately separate again.  Wait a few hours or until you can comfortably touch the jar with bare hands.  Then shake to mix.  Don’t wait too long or it solidifies.  I think that is enough on this subject.

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( I think a separate article is also on the way as far as the shortage on jars.  Well, it might be a long note at the end of another article, if not a whole article itself.  I’ll be going to every single source in town for retail sales, and see how long it takes to replenish.  I’ve never noticed a seasonality to this item.  We aren’t a farm community.  Gardens grow poorly here.  The jars are available all year.  I just need to go to more than two stores to establish a trend ).
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( ADDENDUM: I found more jars the next day at the ranch store, whereas Wally was out even on the wide mouths.  The ranch store had a clearance sale bringing them down to a mere 10% over Wally prices, so I bought eight cases.  They had been there awhile, dusty and sun faded cardboard.  So I guess everyone charges too much or few bother canning )

( .Y. )

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