Read Meals in a Jar for Free Online

Sunday favorite at my house and seem like such a lovely, indulgent way to start off the day. Plus, they add some serious calories to fuel your family.
    Makes 16 (4-serving) bags/jars
    Ingredients
    42-1/4 cups flour, divided
    3-1/2 cups shortening, divided
    8-1/4 cups dry milk, divided
    1-1/2 tablespoons baking soda
    1/3 cup baking powder
    2/3 cup cream of tartar
    1/3 cup salt
    16 pounds bulk breakfast sausage, lightly browned and crumbled or 8 cups freeze-dried sausage crumbles
    For gravy:
    1 cup shortening, packaged in 16 bundles of 1 tablespoon each and wrapped in plastic wrap
    1 cup flour, packaged in 16 bundles of 1 tablespoon each and wrapped in plastic wrap
    1 cup dry milk packaged into 1 tablespoon packets wrapped securely in plastic wrap
    Instructions
    For biscuits: In a huge bowl, mix together 41-1/4 cups of the flour, 2-1/2 cups of the shortening, 8-1/4 cups of the dry milk, and then baking soda, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt. In each of 16 vacuum bags, add and then seal:
• 3 cups biscuit mix

    Label each bag:
    Preheat the oven to 400°F. Mix the package contents with 2/3 cup of water. Pat into a round shape 1/2 inch thick and cut into biscuit-size rounds (or drop by spoonfuls) on a baking sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes, until golden. Makes 12 large biscuits .
    For shortening and flour: In each of 16 pieces of plastic wrap, combine and wrap well:
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 1 tablespoon flour
    For sausage: If using breakfast sausage, lightly brown the sausage in a pan and crumble. Using a canning funnel, fill 16 sterilized pint-size jars or retort pouches with cooked sausage and cover with water leaving 1 inch of headspace. Wipe the lids or rims to be sealed, add the lids and rims, or heat-seal the pouches. Pressure-can pints for 75 minutes or as instructed by current USDA guidelines for your area. If using freeze-dried sausage, vacuum-seal 1/2 cup in each of 8 bags.

    Ready-Made Meal Assembly
    In each of 16 Mylar bags, tote bags, or vacuum bags, store:
• 1 bag biscuit mix
• 1 packet shortening and flour
• 1 packet milk
• 1 pint sausage crumbles

    Label each bag:
    Make the biscuits according to the directions. While the biscuits bake, heat the shortening and flour together in a skillet, stirring. Mix the dry milk with 1/2 cup of water. Add the milk to shortening-flour mixture, stirring. (If using freeze-dried sausage, add 1 cup of hot water to sausage crumbles and let sit 5 minutes and then drain.) Add water from sausage and stir until starting to thicken. Add sausage, stirring to break up. When thick, serve gravy spooned over biscuits. Serves 4 .
    These soups can be stored in canning jars, which look very pretty and make nice gifts, or they can be sealed into Mylar bags. Vacuum-sealing makes them last longer and works with jars or bags, or you can use oxygen absorbers, small packets that can be added to containers to absorb oxygen (available online), which work equally well. If you fill Mylar bags so they can lay flat or stand upright in your pantry, soup storage is even more convenient.
    If you choose to package these soups in a jar to give as a gift, be sure to add the ingredients in the order of the smallest ingredients first, so the largest ingredients are on top of the filled jar. For example, if a soup has large ingredients like beans, but also includes powdered ingredients like powdered soup base or spices, put the small powdered ingredients first and the larger beans on top. If the order is backward, the smaller ingredients will filter down and between the larger ingredients, and although the taste will be the same, the jars won’t look as pretty and layered while sitting on the shelf.
    An important variable in soup recipes is the powdered bouillon or soup base. Different brands of these ingredients vary in strength and saltiness, so I recommend making a single recipe of any given soup and adjusting the quantity used according to your taste before scaling up and making a large