Storing meat!

[Aleksfoxtrot]

This is a point I havent heard talked about except by my cousin and I. If the grid is down and there is no refrigeration of meats. What are you going to do? Raise rabbits? Livestock? Okay that's good. You need to go ahead and get started doing that if you haven't yet!
But the world around you will change with everyone killing their prey to eat game numbers are going to decrease quickly.
So I bring up salt curing. Can you salt cure? When you kill a large game animal can you store the meat without refrigeration? If you can't and you call yourself a prepper it's about time you invest in it.

[ibwaldo]

It's possible to can chicken. My neighbor does it and it tastes just like the canned stuff in the stores. You can also to this with bacon (think tactical bacon). If we are ever in a long term SHTF situation the canned meat should last for 5 years give or take and by that time the little critters should be in abundance since most people will be gone or moved.

[spoolup]

Good point alek. I have not gotten into it, but I do have a little over 150lb of salt put away in 6 gallon buckets. Storing salt is easy, just a mylar bag, in a clean bucket, then smack on a lid, no packets, sealing, etc. Just like sugar.

Odd thing was, I could not find kosher salt in large bags, so I had to buy dozens of the 3lb boxes. The iodized salt was easy to find at sams/ costco so I just bought 50lbs worth, but for curing/ preservation, you need to use pickling (or kosher just weigh it, do not go by volume) since table salt lends odd flavors for preserving. Im a alton brown fan and now use kosher for 99% of everything I cook/ serve. Only at the table will you find the other stuff. Walmart had the best prices, it took hitting every store in the valley to fill one bucket, the other bucket took a while longer. You can get 3lbs of kosher for $1.37 at walmart compared to $3-4 at the other grocery stores. I will say I get some weird looks going to check out with 13 3lb boxes of salt however.

I do dehydrate and make jerky however, another great skill, more so when using a solar dehydrator. I think I need to get a solar/ 6V battery bank setup going soon. Maybe next month.

[ArmyGuy45]

Make it jerky!

[Groo]

you can smoke it, ior get a bunch of friends together for a hoe-down

[Zombie Hunter]

Good point, the long term survival skills are something many of us need to work on. I'm definitely only at a point where I can live off my stores of freeze dried food. I plan to start my first garden when my wife and I buy a house next month so that will be my first step toward long term self-sufficency.

[iCreek]

Good timely post as I have been thinking about this for awhile and started my plan about 3 months ago. Seems like canning is becoming a lost skill around here with older people passing and younger people not wanting to pickup and learn new things. We have some older neighbors that can everything from their garden and have offered to help me along. Also with garage sales season here, you should be able to find old quality canning jars and accessories fairily cheap.

I posted an ad on CL and picked up a nicely used Pressure Cooker, important item needed to destroy the potentially harmful bacteria, the containers and meat must be heated to 240F which requires building 10 - 15 pounds of steam pressure. I also have been finding used jars for around .10 - .25 per if purchasing bulk, "I'll take all your jars if you give me a good price" The pint jars work great for 1 lb of meat, and you can save yourself some prep meal time using it in your normal daily cooking tasks. Most people I have talked to recommend no more than 2 years of storing canned meats as it will start to get a (old gamey) taste after that.

I think we currently have about 400 pint/quart jars, a few hundred lids and rings (working on getting more lids). My wife also picked up a couple great books, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving and Wilber F. Eastman Jr.'s Guide to Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking Meat, Fish, & Game. I prefer these in print instead of my normal Kindle or Digital format so we can keep our hands on them. Welcome any comments

[rcw]

Pemmican theoretically lasts a very very long time. It also from a calorie to weight, protein to weight ratio is really good.

[AngryBaptistPreacher]

Seems like canning, smoking and salting is becoming a lost skill I've been thinking about this for a few years. I remember going to KY to my great grandmaws house n she still did all these things. I went back to visit last year and all the memories of the smoke house and salt house she had came to mind. My wife said i was crazy when i said i was going to start the traditions again.

[john_bud]

Around here (WI) people can all sorts of meats. Turkey, venison, beef, pork, etc. If it's edible, you can can it. The "trick" is to trim the fat first and choose the worst cuts of meat as it will tenderize over time.