Processing techniques for preserving and packaging foods with an extended shelf life that helps overcome the shortcomings of conventional processes. The invention includes four basic innovations: (i) performing the steam cooking and subsequent cooling steps in the same vessel, (2) evacuating the vessel before steam is introduced for cooking, (3) introducing steam into the vessel while the vessel is still under vacuum, and (4) vacuum cooling the cooked food. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the invention, the process includes the steps of placing a food product in a vessel, cooking the food product in the vessel with steam and then cooling the cooked food product in the same vessel without exposing the food product to cooling water or other potential sources of external contamination. In a second embodiment, the process includes the steps of placing the food product in the vessel, removing substantially all of the air from the vessel, cooking the food product, and then cooling the cooked food product. In a third embodiment of the invention, the process includes the steps of placing the food product in the vessel, creating a vacuum in the vessel, introducing steam into the vessel while the vessel is still under vacuum, cooking the food product and then cooling the food product. In a fourth embodiment, the process includes the steps of placing the food product in the vessel, cooking the food product, and then cooling the cooked food product by vaporizing residual moisture left in the vessel after cooking, including any moisture on or in the food product.