Home Canned Food is Chemical Free, Safe, and helps you to maintain a sound budget - Instructions for Turkey Soup

A recent study, published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association, has shown that people who eat canned (tinned) foods are actually ingesting more of a hormone-disrupting chemical than was previously thought. It's bad enough that Big Ag is chemically manipulating the genetic structure of our foodstuffs and that they're then growing our food in chemical-laden soils devoid of nutrients. We can't stop them from overloading feed animals with hormones, antibiotics, and other substances that contribute nothing to our nutritional health. They seem content to bathe us in a killer cocktail of elements that have nowhere been studied for their cumulative effect.

Now we find out that the migration of BPA (Bisphenol A), a key ingredient in epoxy resins and used for the last 40 years to coat the interior of metal cans to prevent corrosion of the can and contamination of food and beverages with dissolved metals, may actually present in greater amounts in the human body than earlier studies have shown. BPA is used in thousands of products, from coating the metal cans food is stored in, to baby bottles, to DVD cases, and soda cans. It's quite the industrial "do-all" chemical additive. This chemical is linked to cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and abnormal liver enzymes in adults, and health and development problems in fetuses, infants, and children. This chemical is literally all around us. A Danish study found this estrogen-based hormone disrupter to be present even in the toilet paper we use (because toilet paper uses a lot of recycled paper products, and credit card receipts and point-of-sale receipts are commonly coated with a thin layer of chemical which contains BPA). The researchers concluded that "because of the distinct contamination with xenoestrogens, both paper waste and recycled paper products should not be mixed with biological waste e.g. for co-composting or co-fermentation in order to derive organic fertilizers. "So, do we resort to outhouses once again? Look, no one is advocating we hang up the toilet paper and opt for the bidets. I personally don't want to give up my Charmin. But when you look at the list of products that contain BPA, there is really a lot that we can do to avoid the exposure that we have to this product. We all know we shouldn't be drinking as much soda as we do, so cut out the amount of soda in cans and plastic bottles you consume. If we want water, let's get it from the tap and filter it. And let's use glass bottles for our babies. Take a look when you walk up and down the grocery aisles that contain canned food and see if there isn't much of anything that you can't put up in jars. Is there really an vegetable or meat that you can't purchase fresh from the grocery store (or hunt or raise yourself) and personally can it? Not really. And that's where taking responsibility for our own health comes in. It's up to us to make the choices that limits us to exposure to the chemicals that modern society seems intent on foisting upon us. Some will say that it's the advances in chemical additives in general and their application in particular that have allowed us to live longer, healthier lives, but to that I say "bull feathers." Natural News, in a March 22, 1011 article, showed that the Amish population of the United States is actually healthier than the rest of Americans. Not only do they grown their own food and work like the dickens, they avoid the chemical onslaught that we in the modern world subject ourselves to each day, whether that is through vaccinations, toilet paper... or food. Before you think that you'll have to wait until next year to get started, understand that canning is a year-round endeavor. Hunting season comes after gardening season. If you raise your own food, you can have animals ready for slaughter at any time of the year. There are many cold-weather crops that you can take advantage of and grow to put up in your pantry. I purchased a great book by Caleb Warnock this past year. "The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency Used by the Mormon Pioneers". He explains how you can be picking carrots in the dead of winter under snow. I certainly recommend the book.

You can find many YouTube videos on canning and dehydrating. Just take a look, watch a few, and find the YouTuber that fits your style. Many people are more than willing to teach you their skills from the comfort of your home, at no cost. 

A site that shows step by step pictures for canning almost everything is http://www.pickyourown.org. Print the pages, and follow along step by step. You'll be venturing out and canning everything and be on your way to better health for you and your family. Absolutely everything you need to know about canning and dehydrating can be found online. It's like having your own "private" lessons on preparedness. Just think about it, if there ever was a time to learn all you can on preparing for hard times, it's now!

When turkeys were marked down to $0.99 per pound how many did you buy? I decided to buy several 15 to 17 pound turkeys. When you don't stuff them but just plan to slice them up for sandwiches or use them in casseroles the preparation is simple. It's simply defrosting the turkey as usual, plopping it in your roasting pan, salt and pepper your bird, and roasting it for several hours until done. Go and do your laundry, catch on reading, watch some TV, or in my case ... go back to work answering the phones. When it's done have turkey sandwiches for dinner. How much easier is does it get? 

Now, cut off the breast and thigh meat, and refrigerate it for future meals. Drain the meat juices and fat into a large glass jar and put it in the refrigerator... Don't toss it. Now you've got a carcass and lots of leftover meat on it remaining, which you are just going to put into the refrigerator today. Haven't you done enough already? Go to the store and buy several pounds of carrots, potatoes, and onions, unless you already have these on hand, you are going to use these tomorrow for your turkey soup. With the leftovers from the carcass and the drippings you will be able to can about 15 quarts of turkey soup.

I put the roasting pan with my carcass in the oven, and fill the covered roasting pan with filtered Berkey water, more salt and pepper; turn the oven to about 200 degrees and let the carcass impart its goodness. Let it simmer for several hours. After several hours has past, then take it out strain all the broth into a large container, pick the meat off the bones, and then toss out the finished carcass. What do you have left? The makings of some great soup at a fraction of the cost of store bought. Also yours will not have any nasty chemicals.

When you are ready to make your soup, I put my broth back into the roasting pan along with several pounds of chopped vegetables, salt and pepper  and cover with the lid. Place in your oven and roast the vegetables for a couple of hours...it brings out the flavor of the vegetables. Get your quart jars ready for canning after the vegetables have roasted. You'll take the fat and drippings from the refrigerator and scoop out the turkey fat. Do not throw it away, it is most wonderful used in pie crust or anywhere else you would use shortening. Take the meat drippings that are now gelatin, and put into the roasted vegetables. It will melt. Now you have turkey meat, vegetables and broth. Simple combine it all into your canning jars and process it for 90 minutes in a PRESSURE canner. 

You can still take advantage of this bargain, and feed your family healthy food all on a budget.

Also did you know:

• You can process meat even with the bones?
• That meat is as safe to can as vegetables?
• You can process combinations of meat and vegetables for things like soups and stews?
• One thing you don't want to can is pasta, but you can always add it to your soups when you are warming up the chicken soup you jarred last year. 
• Canning is the ultimate in environmental-friendly practices... you reuse your jars over and over.

Talk about buying forward, that's what canning or food storage is. You buy today so you can have for tomorrow. Just think you can put up your vegetables, fruits, stews, soups, meats, jams, beans, chili, juices, and more, then when you are ready you just open up your cupboard and choose what you will be eating today. It actually simplifies your shopping, food budget, and life. 

If you are thinking about getting BPA out of your life then you may also want to think about use reusable wipes for your toileting. It too would save you money in the long run. Just a thought.