If you are only canning pints or 1/2 pints, I would think a 6 to 8 quart would be fine. You could definitely use that to cook meat and/or veggies in.
Now, I could be wrong but, whenever you can something, you have to sit the jars on a rack and they have to be covered by at least an inch of water. Since you are not supposed to fill a pressure cooker more than 2/3 full, I can't imagine that size being deep enough to use for canning quarts. If you want to can quarts, you would need a big'in like Shermie has. You wouldn't want to lug that thing out for something small.
Also, if you are canning something with a high acid content, you really should have a pressure gauge to make sure the pressure is correct to avoid botulism. I don't know that the smaller cookers have those.
Also, the U.S. Deptment of Agriculture recommends that you DON'T pressure can anything in Mason jars smaller than 1 qt. Conventional water-bath method only, is used for these.
And when canning meats, fruits, veggies, soups, stews and whatever else, if the lids on the jars don't have a slight indentation, then the process didn't work. In other words, if you can rmove the lids without some difficulty, then put the canned products in the fridge to avoid botulism, spoilage and food poisoning.
It is also recommended that you don't seal the rims around the lids too tightly. Just enough to keep the water and excess moiture from getting into the jars. And when you're done canning, let the jars of food cool completely before putting them away.
But the one MOST IMPORTANT thing of all;
You MUST WASH ALL OF THE EQUIPMENT FIRST AND THEN STERILIZE EVERYTHING THAT THE FOOD IS TO BE CANNED IS TO COME IN CONTACT WITH!!! THIS IS TO HELP ASSURE THAT NO GERMS OR BACTERIA GET PAST YOU AND INTO THE JARS OR THE CANNING PROCESS!!!!!!
It might also be a good idea to wash your hands in water as hot as your hands can stand and with an antibacterial soap, then wear latex gloves during the whole porcess until you take the canned (jarred) foods out of the canner.
It won't hurt to follow all of these proceedures, and do a dry run before you get started. And whatever food it is that you're preparing for canning, THAT has to ber washed and clean also!!
Sure, this might seem like an astronomically time-consuming task, but it is much better to be safe than to be sorry.
