I Don’t Freeze Meat Anymore. Mexican Mothers Put Whole Meals in Jars (They Last for Years)

#MealsInJars #PressureCanning #FrugalLiving The night the power went out in February, the house across the street lost $300 of meat in a chest freezer. We lost nothing, because supper was on a shelf in the hall, in glass, since October. Seven Mexican suppers that live in a jar with no plug, with this week's Walmart prices per jar, how many suppers one Sunday puts on the shelf, and the one rule that is not negotiable: the pressure canner, at the tested times, never a pot of boiling water. 📖 My mother's whole way of running a house is written down in one book, The Old Mexican Way: https://oldmexicanway.com None of this is your fault. Nobody taught you to put supper in a jar, because for fifty years the store had a freezer to sell you. The 7 jars: 7. Sopa de lentejas con chorizo, about $1.30 a quart 6. Caldo de pollo, about $1.60 (no rice in the jar, ever) 5. Frijoles charros, about $1.30 (beans cooked first, the longest time of anything inside) 4. Picadillo, about $4.50 (brown it, drain the fat, watch the fat line) 3. Carne con papas, about $6.50 (the dearest, and the most tender) 2. Chile colorado, about $6 (strained, thin, no flour until the night you open it) 1. Tinga de pollo, under $2, nine minutes from shelf to tacos Said plainly: pressure canner only, at the USDA times for the jar size (quarts 90 minutes for meat and beans, 75 for soup; pints 75 and 60), 10 lb weighted near sea level, 15 above 1,000 feet, 11 lb on a dial. Never a water bath, never the oven, never "seal it hot". Nothing thick in the jar: no flour, masa, rice, pasta or dairy. One inch headspace, 1¼ for chicken. Any jar with a lid that is up, bubbles, cloudy liquid, spurting or a bad smell goes in the trash untasted. Ten minutes at a boil before it is supper. Best quality within 1 year, 2 at most. The lard crock and carne seca are history, not instructions. Not medical advice. CHAPTERS 0:00 The night the power went out 0:18 Why I stopped filling the freezer 2:06 The one rule: pressure canner, never a pot 3:03 7 · sopa de lentejas con chorizo 4:29 One book for the whole house 4:43 6 · caldo de pollo 6:21 5 · frijoles charros 7:45 4 · picadillo 9:05 Halfway: why boiling water is not enough 10:28 What the canner and the jars cost 11:10 How to open a jar 11:41 3 · carne con papas 13:12 2 · chile colorado 14:29 1 · tinga de pollo 16:03 Seven jars, one Sunday 16:43 The rules, said once 17:51 Más vale que sobre y no que falte 18:05 Who profits 18:48 One list on the freezer door Tell me which of the seven you would put on your shelf first, and whether your mother or grandmother kept food with no plug at all. Tell me your county too. I read every one. 📖 The Old Mexican Way: https://oldmexicanway.com #CanningMeat #NoFreezer #MexicanMom