It seems like for years and years I’ve been hearing about Zaycon Foods but, living in a small town, they never come to where I am. They deliver to Abilene and to a place near Killeen. According to mapquest, it’s 1 hour, 40 minutes to the location in Abilene and 1 hour, 46 minutes to the place near Killeen. The problem is that often the pickup times just don’t work for us. The events scheduled near Killeen, the pickup time is between 3:30 and 4:00 p.m. That puts us on the road at or near dusk and this time of year, with all the deer on the road, it isn’t worth it. Sometimes the pickup times are between 8 and 8:30 a.m. and that puts me leaving before daylight so when I saw that they were having an event in Abilene with pickup time 12:30 – 1:00 p.m., I jumped on it. At the time, they also had a 10% off discount code if you bought a certain amount .. which happened to be at least 80 pounds of chicken. Yes, I ordered 80 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. You can bet I won’t do that again! If I had gotten bacon, or sausage or ham or anything I could just stick in the freezer, that wouldn’t have been bad but I wanted to can the chicken. That’s a heck of a lot of chicken . . 53 quarts to be exact!
That’s 14 quarts in my big canner, 7 quarts in the smaller canner x 2 and for the final batch, 11 quarts in the big canner.
I started out canning it outside . . like I always do.
Canning
Just as I got the second batch going in the big canner, the wind picked up, it began to drizzle rain and . . I had a problem. I stacked the coolers up and put a chair near the canner trying to block the wind from messing with the flame. Then I put a tarp over the chair to block the wind from going through, then I scrounged up some boxes . . I’m going to get through the second batch with the big canner outside but the third batch will have to be done inside.
Small Canner
I gave up and brought the small canner in for the second batch in that one.
It’s going to be a long night! Not only because of the canning but Rita has decided to wake us up at 4:30 every morning this week. I set the clock for 7 this morning, knowing I wouldn’t sleep much past 6, but just in case . . we wanted to leave the house at 8 to get a little shopping done in Abilene before picking up the chicken. But right on schedule, Rita was up at 4:30. I got up with her hoping she wouldn’t wake Vince up but the minute she got in from our walk (in the dark!), she ran and jumped in the bed and woke him up.
It’s a heck of a lot of work but it will be so nice to be able to open a jar of chicken when I need it. I’ll be thanking me then! 🙂
sharon says
What stove do you use outside that gives you enough heat to can. We are in the market.
thanks
JudyL says
This one: http://amzn.to/1MeHKL7
I’ve been using it since March, 2014 and love it. I can use my two large All American canners on it. We fill the 5 gallon propane bottles from our big tank so that makes the cost of propane much less than refilling the small cylinders.
Sherrill says
WOW!! What a DAY! Made me tired just thinking about it!!! LOL
Cathy Stoddard says
You are correct – it is quite the marathon – but so worth it!
Linda in NE says
Long day!! You could have packaged some up for the freezer, then thawed them out later and canned them. Most of the chicken I buy is already frozen so I thaw it out, then can it. Works fine.
Susan says
LOL, this is why when Stacey and I buy 80 pounds, we can half and freeze half. It is a LOT of work – easy enough, but time consuming and just goes on forever! I’m buying pork tenderloin and sausage in January – lots easier, and I still have plenty of chicken!
JudyL says
Freezing is always my last resort. I’d 100 times rather have chicken canned than frozen. The burner on my stove takes FOREVER compared to the Camp Chef stove. Still waiting on that last pot to finish venting so I can put the weight on it (at 10:57 p.m.). I’m so ready for bed.