Storing/Curing Meat

[Guitars_N_Guns]

So for the current shitshow, I seriously doubt the complete shutdown of the power grid. That being said, there's always a slight chance that some natural disaster could shut power down for long periods of time.

Normally, a decent generator back-fed into a house would provide enough power to run a freezer, but you would need a constant source of fuel for this. During long power outages, this is fairly easy to manage, as you can always drive around to find fuel from various stations.

I buy meat in serious bulk, so even if times get tough, I will always have something to eat. But what if something happens to where running generators isn't an option any more? Having months worth of food suddenly turns into a couple days worth of food.

I know some people can meat. I've eaten canned venison but have never tried canning myself, and I'm not sure how long meat keeps that way. People have been eating meat for millions of years without access to a Frigidaire, so there must be some good ways of doing it.

I have no desire to take 1/2 a beef and turn the whole thing into jerky for SHTF, although I could see having some on hand for emergency situations. I'd be more interested in how to preserve meat AFTER SHTF (no power/gas etc). If you have a freezer full of meat, what are good ways to take what you have and preserve it for as long as possible? If there's a good method, you could preserve as much as you can, then you can bag a deer or something later on and use similar practices.

This is something I'd be willing to practice with if there are some good ways to do this.

[Hodgie]

Lots of salt for starters.

I have also heard of people eating jarred beef strews and soups homemade soups 10 to 15 years later.

[lts1ow]

Build a smoker, my neighbor is building a rather nice one in the backyard can't wait to try smoking a whole deer quarter or something.

[PAMedic=F|A=]

Meat is a low acid food, so if you’re canning it has to be pressure canned.


Canned meat keeps as long as any other canned good, that is, longer then you’ll be alive. To preserve micronutrients, keep out of sunlight/heat.

I’m over in rauchtown (outside Jersey Shore) is you would like to practice pressure canning.

[PAMedic=F|A=]

Vote for canning meat ............... can even eat it cold.
Canned venison .....now that's good eatting

Technically for home (pressure) canned goods you are to heat it to at least boiling to kill any botulism that may have occurred because you f’d up and didn’t sterilize/ pressure can properly.

If you know you followed proper procedure I wouldn’t worry about it, but you want to make sure you’re crossing all the Ies and dotting your Ts when taking about proper food processing. I also can at 12 pounds instead of the required 10 at my alt. Just in case.

[Sturm&rugerfan]

/search?query=canning+meathttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UClo...y=canning+meat

[Guitars_N_Guns]

Meat is a low acid food, so if you’re canning it has to be pressure canned.

Canned meat keeps as long as any other canned good, that is, longer then you’ll be alive. To preserve micronutrients, keep out of sunlight/heat.

I’m over in rauchtown (outside Jersey Shore) is you would like to practice pressure canning.

Thanks for the offer, I’m just over the mountain from you! I’ll do a bit of research on this over the weekend and I might give you a shout. Thanks again.

[Roadking]

Another vote for pressure canning. That is the wife's domain. I do the dehydrating. Canning has a much longer shelf life.

[God's Country]

I can tell you from experience that a full chest freezer (packed full with little head room) will easily keep your meat frozen for at least a week without opening it. The stuff on top may be lost or just thawed and still cold depending. With that knowledge and a small generator (easy on gas) to run only the freezer periodically you can keep that meat a long time with careful monitoring and 20 or 30 gallons of gas.
That extra time will give you plenty of opportunity to plan your next move. My plan is to dehydrate, smoke and can everything during a week or two if I get that nervous during a prolonged SHTF scenario.
How much of whatever method used would depend on the season. Going into spring and summer like now I would can most of it. I have plenty of jars and lids to accomplish the task provided my canner holds up. Canning meat is actually very simple with a pressure canner. If you can find the supplies I recommend you do it now. What better time to practice?

[kprojects]

I finally bought a pressure canner last week and canned up 12 pints of beef stew. Was pretty easy to do and planning to can a lot of stuff from our garden this summer.