Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise: Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, Provideth her meat in the summer and gathereth her food in the harvest. Proverbs 6:6-8

First you start with a hunk of meat and cut it in small enough pieces to fit in your grinder.

Once you have a large batch, run it through your meat grinder.

After you run all your meat through the grinder, then you need to decide if you are going to make sausage or just ground beef.

If you are going to make sausage, below we’ve included recipes for both Italian and Breakfast Sausage.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO CAN THE BREAKFAST SAUSAGE OMIT THE SAGE AS IT WILL MAKE THE SAUSAGE TURN BITTER.

Whether you are making sausage or just ground meat, you’ll need to run it through your grinder and second time. This helps blend the spices, but also helps tenderize the meat more.

At this point, you can also freeze the sausage if you don’t want to can it.

Next, you’ll want to fry your meat, and then drain off as much grease as you can. The fat can go rancid in the jar.

Now, get your clean canning jars and begin to pack them with your ground meat. You’ll want to pack it as tight as you can using the end of a wooden spoon. You can fit about 1 1/2 lbs in a quart size jar.

After your jars are packed tight, pour boiling water over meat in jar. Use a butter knife down each side to remove any air bubbles.

Wipe the rim of your jars and put on your lids and rings, tighten the rings as tight as you can.

Fill your pressure canner 1/4 of the way full with water.

Put jars in canner and latch lid.

Once the canner starts to let out steam, let steam escape for 10 minutes.

Then put your canner weight on. Let your pressure build to 15psi.

Keep your pressure at 10psi for 90 minutes. Set your timer, but DO NOT LEAVE CANNER UNATTENDED!
You may need to adjust your temperature up or down to keep your psi at 15.

Finishing Up

Once your timer goes off, shut off your heat. Let the canner sit and cool, until your pressure gauge reads 0.

DO NOT TAKE OF LID BEFORE CANNER PSI REACHES ZERO SEVERE BURNS WILL OCCUR!!!

When your gauge reads 0psi, removed your lid. MAKE SURE YOU TURN IT AWAY FROM YOU AS YOU REMOVE IT OR YOU WILL GET STEAM BURNT!

Remove jars from canner, with a jar lifter, and place on a towel on the counter. Allow jars to cool overnight.

In the morning, check each jar to make sure they sealed before storing. (Gently tap the lid and listen to the sound, if one sounds hollow and the top clicks when pushed; its not sealed) if they are sealed remove rings and store the jars.

If a jar did not seal, it is not spoiled. You can put it in the fridge and use to that day. Make sure to boil it for at least five minutes.

THIS FINISHED PRODUCT! Use sausage in biscuits and gravy, spaghetti, lasagna, on pizza, in any recipe that calls for ground meat or sausage.