Canning beef stew

One of the things that we like to eat while camping is beef stew.  Unfortunately this often means canned beef stew.  So I looked around to find out if I could can my own beef stew to take on these trips.  That’s today’s post, canning beef stew.

I didn’t grab a shot of the ingredients, but I’m sure that everyone has seen everything in this dish.

Chopping the ingredients

• 4-5 lbs. stew meat, cut into 1″ cubes
• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 12 cups potatoes, peeled & cubed (about 12 medium)
• 8 cups carrots, sliced (about 8 large)
• 3 cups celery, sliced (5 stalks)
• 3 cups onion, chopped (4 small)
• 1 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• water

Heat the lids and jars.  I use the oven set to 250F to heat the jars, place them on a cookie sheet and bake them for at least 30 minutes.  Heat the lids in a pan of simmering water.

Cooking the stew

Brown the beef cubes in a large pot.  This takes about a half hour or so.  There’s a lot of meat.  Add the vegetables and seasonings to the browned meat.  Cover with boiling water.  Bring the stew to a boil and then remove from heat.

Filling the jars

Ladle the hot stew into the hot jars.  Leave about 1″ of head space in each jar.  Remove any air bubbles.  Wipe the rim of the jar, center a lid on the jar.  Apply a band and adjust until it is finger tight.

Canned beef stew

Process filled jars in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure.  Process for 75 minutes for pints and 90 minutes for quarts.

After canner cools, remove jars from canner and check that the lids popped after 24 hours.