Canning in VERY small spaces?

[ThePunkHippie]

In a little over a year, my fiance & I are going to be moving into our campervan & living on the road.
To prepare for this, I'm trying to find ways to live comfortably without having access to refrigeration. I'm toying with the idea of getting a pressure canner & canning our own food (so I can make large batches of things like soup or stew or other stuff, & we won't have to worry about eating it all within 24 hours)

The only experience I have with canning was tomatoes, & was just the water-bath method. I've never used a pressure canner before, & I do realize in order to can soups, I'd need to get one.
I'm just wondering if it's a plausable option. Can anyone who knows how to use a pressure canner give me some advice?

FWIW, we have access to a 3-burner stovetop, a microwave, & a small sink.

 

[JanaAZ]

I do both pressure canning and water bath canning. If you want to bring pre-prepared food, that's the way to go. Just know that when you can things such as soup, stews and chili, it does change the texture.

For example, I canned chili a few weeks ago. I did it at 6500 ft altitude and had to keep it at pressure for about 1 1/2 hours. From the time it takes to get the pressure going and actually do the canning, it was over 2 hours...and that didn't take into account the time to prepare the chili. So with that much extra cooking happening (at least 1.5 hours extra), meat becomes softer and a lot of the liquid sort of disappears. Just know that when you start your canning. Some people love to can hunks of meat, chicken or fish but personally I don't love the texture. Know that you may have problems with things such as beans and split peas.

I would recommend you do a lot of reading and practicing before you do this. Not only to assure you do it safely, but also that you love the way the food is once it's been canned. If I were going on a long road trip and didn't want to eat every meal out, I'd probably can our food, too.

 

[jkath]

Wow, excellent advice!