Meals in Jars

I have heard so much about these meals in a jar lately that I became curious if they are cost effective for food storage.  Realizing that each meal will of course have a different cost, I set out to experiment!!

One of the meals I am testing is called Cheeseburger Skillet.  Typically when I am putting these meals together I do 12 of the same meals at a time since there are 12 quart jars to a box.  Depending on the meal, I will often run out of one ingredient way before the other ingredients run out.  In this instance I ran out of Freeze Dried Hamburger after 8 meals.  So I bought another one which allowed me to double the amount of meals.  (I have already doubled all ingredients in the recipe below so you can make 16 meals.)

You will need:

• 16 – Wide Mouth Quart Sized Jars  These can often be reused or bought cheaper at Wal-mart.  My cost was $22.00 for 24 jars. (I only used 16)
• 2- #10 cans of Honeyville Ranchers Cut Ground Beef: Cost per can $38.95 x 2 = $77.90 (You could go with beef TVP beef which would be cheaper.)
• 1- Honeyville Powdered Cheese Sauce Mix: Cost per can $22.59
• 1- Honeyville Instant Milk: Cost $13.64
• 2 boxes of elbow macaroni from Sam’s Club: Cost $12.00 (There are 6 – 1 pound bags per box. I used 8 total for this recipe.)
• 50 – 300 CC Oxygen absorbers $6.80

Ingredients I had On Hand:

• Garlic Powder
• Granulated onion
• Black pepper
• Ground nutmeg
• Baggies

Directions:

You are going to start by mixing the dry cheese sauce ingredients in a large bowl.  Try to mix it up so the ingredients mix evenly and then set aside.

• 5 cups powdered cheese
• 3 tsp Garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons granulated onion
• 4 teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

In the quart jars add 2 cups of elbow macaroni each and 1/4 cup of the powdered cheese mix.   Add 4 tablespoons of the Instant Milk powder per jar.  Shake it down so the mix falls into the noodle making more room in the jar.

In a separate baggie add 2 cups of the Freeze Dried Ground Beef.  Place this on top of the noodles and add a 300CC oxygen absorber.  Vacuum seal the jar and voila! You are done.

To prepare the meal:  Rehydrate meat with 1 1/2 cups of water, drain well.  Place in hot skillet and spread evenly. When hamburger is browned, add noodles, cheese sauce mix and 2 1/2 cups of hot water, bring to a boil and cover. Simmer 8-10 minutes or until noodles are tender.  Sauce will thicken upon standing. (I print up these directions and tape it to the outside of the jar.)

Pro’s:

• They are great for people who do not have time to can, do not like to can, or do not have their own garden/produce to can.
• They are light weight and take up less space than canning food items individually such as meats in one jar and vegetables in another.
• They can be packaged in Mylar bags and stored in totes or buckets which provide a more realistic option to take them with you in a bug out scenario.
• You can control what is in the meals so you know you will eat them.
• According to my experiments they are cheaper than MREs or canning items individually… so far.
• Good for pre-made camping and/or backpacking meals so you can spend more time camping/exploring and less time cooking.
• These will last 5-10 years depending on the ingredients.  Things with powdered eggs might not last more than a few years.
• No threat of botulism.
• A great plus factor is that even when you run out of meat for the meal, you have a lot of other foods to make other meals with or to create side dishes with. (Added calories)

Con’s:

• If you don’t have water then you cannot cook these meals.  However, the room you save by doing this verses storing a bunch of number #10 cans will give you more room to store water.

Conclusion:

• The complete cost for 16 Cheeseburger Skillet meals turns out to be $6.45 a meal.
• Assuming you do not already have the ingredients in food storage the total cost of *these* ingredients/supplies was $154.93
• Each jar is about 4 – 1 – 1/2 cup servings.
• Calorie Count per jar is 2,250 which break down to approx. 375 calories per serving.  I would recommend serving freeze dried vegetables/potatoes and a dessert to add calories to the meal.
• It’s actually a bonus having left over items after making a recipe, and then you have other ingredients you can combine and make into new meals, or serve as side dishes!
• 8 jars left over for other meals or canning projects.
• We had 4 pounds of macaroni noodles left over to use for other meals.
• The meal actually does taste like real food and is delicious. I had to add a little more salt and cheese for my taste, but my family did not.

After experimenting and crunching the numbers, I feel that meals in a jar can be very cost effective depending on what you are making.  They save time, space and there is no threat of botulism.  I also feel it is a great plus factor that even when you run out of meat for the meal then you have a lot of other foods to make other meals with or to create side dishes.  If you have any meal ideas for jars please feel free to comment!

Keepin It Spicy,

Jalapeño Gal

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