Whereas contemplating your individual prepping and preparedness as regards to meals storage of meat, think about the next methods of preserving meat:
Freezing Meat
The most well-liked solution to retailer meat is freezing it. Because the mid 1940’s, freezing has change into the preferred solution to retailer meat. It’s fast, straightforward, and preserves the dietary worth and taste.
Ready for Energy Outages or Damaged Freezer
Clearly although, a freezer relies upon upon a electrical energy. Have you ever ever misplaced a freezer stuffed with meat as a result of the ability went out for too lengthy? Or the freezer broke? From the angle of prepping and preparedness, it’s greatest to have a plan for each of these eventualities. Particularly should you actually do have a freezer stuffed with meat. A loss may very well be costly!
[ Read: How To Keep Chest Freezer or Fridge Running During Power Outage ]
I’ve a number of gasoline mills. Nonetheless I even have an alternate vitality supply, solar energy and battery storage. I’ve not too long ago written an article about newer expertise that may very well be an ideal answer to powering a chest freezer throughout an outage:
[ Read: Jackery versus Gas Powered Generator ]
I additionally preserve an unused chest freezer. Ought to the meat freezer go useless, I can switch into the opposite one. Anyway, I simply thought I’d point out the potential issues, since freezing meat is the preferred methods of preserving meat.
Freezer Temperature
The perfect temperature for freezing meat is at the least 0 degrees-F for longest shelf life meat preservation. What about colder than that? Sure, colder is healthier. Subzero within the vary of -10 degrees-F.
Nonetheless for my part, the extra value of vitality isn’t actually price it. You need to be rotating out and in anyway. So in my opinion, should you’re consuming the meat inside 1 yr, it’s superb. I rotate by mine inside a yr. My freezers sometimes cycle between -5 and +5 levels. Ok…
Right here’s how I manage my freezer so I can rotate by it simpler…
[ Read: How I Organize My Chest Freezers ]
Vacuum Seal the Meat – It’s Necessary
Wrap all meat in moisture-proof packages to forestall freezer burn. I vacuum seal all of my meat. It makes a HUGE distinction. Zero burn. Tastes nice after thawing and cooking, as if it was by no means frozen. I extremely suggest this technique.
[ Read: Frozen Vacuum Sealed Meat – How Long Is Storage Life In The Freezer ]
I label each vacuum sealed package deal of meat. The descriptive lower of meat, and Month/12 months of when it was sealed.
Residence Canning
Among the many methods of preserving meat is dwelling canning. I exploit this technique too.
Canning meat is handy and economical. And better of all, it’s not dependent upon electrical energy for storage! From the angle of prepping, that is large!
Residence canned meals preserve nicely for a really very long time (years).
We largely use this meat preservation technique for hen. It’s straightforward. As soon as in awhile, hen goes on sale actual low cost. When it does, and if we’re within the temper, we’ll purchase a bunch of it and may it. Right here’s an article on dwelling canned hen:
[ Read: Pressure Canning Chicken | How To Do It Yourself ]
The Ball Book of Canning and Preserving
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Curing
Salt is the one important ingredient for curing. It slows spoilage by drawing water out of the meat whereas additionally killing decay-causing microorganisms.
Meat cured with salt alone will retailer nicely (however shall be powerful and dry). An early salt treatment was so simple as storing slabs of meat in a barrel of salt.
Kosher salt. It’s a rough salt. Normally made with out components. It may be used for one of many methods for curing meat.
Curing salt. It’s a particular mix of salt and different components, together with sodium nitrite (which has change into considerably controversial relating to potential well being points with massive doses).
An MSB Reader mentioned, “42 kilos of Morten’s Tender Fast matches in a 5 gallon bucket. Every ounce of Tender Fast cures about 2 kilos (small cuts) of meat, or about 1,300 kilos of meat for a 5 gallon pail price!”
Morton Tender Fast is a fast-cure combine so you possibly can treatment meat, poultry or sport proper in your individual kitchen. It provides meats a tasty cured taste and attribute pink shade. Works notably nicely with small cuts of meat, akin to pork chops, spareribs and poultry.
Morton Tender Fast combine incorporates salt, the primary preserving agent; sugar, each sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, curing brokers that additionally contribute to improvement of shade and taste; and propylene glycol to maintain the combination uniform. Morton Tender Fast is NOT a meat tenderizer.
Morton Curing Salt, Tender Quick Home Meat Cure
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The Craft of Salting, Smoking & Curing
Smoking
Curing is step one within the smoking course of, important for good taste.
‘Chilly smoking’ is greatest for preservation (and for including taste) with temperatures between 70 and 90 levels F, and is extra simply achieved throughout cooler months.
The chilly smoking course of might vary from 1 to 14 days. The preservative advantage of smoking is that the smoke incorporates tar-like substances which are deposited on the meals. To a higher or lesser extent, they seal the floor, conserving air from coming in touch with the meals. Subsequently in idea, fat within the meals is not going to flip rancid as a result of there’s no publicity to air. So smoking is especially helpful for preserving fatty meals. The smoke additionally kills micro organism.
Smoked meats should still spoil pretty rapidly although, relying, so seek advice from analysis of your specific meat, recipes, and shelf-life storage.
How to decide on the appropriate smoker (or flip the grill you could have into an efficient smoking machine). Perceive the completely different instruments, fuels, and smoking woods. Grasp all of the important strategies together with, hot-smoking, cold-smoking…
Project Smoke
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Jerky / Dehydrate
Dried dehydrated meat (jerky). Made by drying meat at a comparatively low temperature (140°F – 170°F) for an prolonged time frame.
[ Read: Safe Jerky In A Home Dehydrator ]
Biltong
Particularly among the many outdated conventional methods of preserving meat… Biltong.
Biltong is a type of dried, cured meat. Varied sorts of meat are used to provide it, starting from beef to sport meats. It’s associated to beef jerky in that they’re each spiced, dried meats; nevertheless, the standard components, style and manufacturing processes might differ.
The meat was ready with vinegar and spices then hung to be air-dried for a fortnight throughout the winter, when the colder temperatures additional inhibited bacterial and fungal progress. As soon as suitably dried the biltong was prepared for packing in material luggage which allowed air circulation to assist stop mildew.
First, ideally the meat is marinated in a vinegar answer for a couple of yours. Grape vinegar is conventional, however balsamic and cider additionally works nicely. The answer is then poured off previous to flavoring the meat.
The spice combine historically consists equal quantities of: rock salt, barbecue spice, entire coriander barely roasted and roughly floor, black pepper and brown sugar.
This combine is then floor roughly collectively. Sprinkle liberally over the meat. Rubbed in.
Set for a couple of hours. Or refrigerate in a single day. Pour off any extra liquid earlier than the meat is hung within the dryer. Historically a fortnight, or, two weeks.
Lard Lined Pork
An MSB Reader mentioned, “My grandmother, born 1896 and raised on a Midwest farm informed me that once they butchered a hog, they’d lay slices of pork in a crock and pour lard over every layer then retailer in chilly darkish place.”
Apparently the lard technique was utilized by pioneers a few years in the past, and by troopers throughout the Civil Warfare as a solution to protect their meat.
Pemmican
Pemmican is a nutritious, preserved meals created by Native American Indians. It consists of a mix of cooked, dried and shredded buffalo meat, or fish, which is mixed with melted fats.
Make Pemmican – The Pemmican Recipe
The buffalo meat was first dried.
The dried meat was heated by over a low fireplace, after which overwhelmed with sticks or stones into shreds.
Buffalo tallow was melted and the shredded meat stirred into the recent fats to create pemmican.
The pemmican was 50 p.c meat and 50 p.c fats.
Berries and dried fruit was generally added to the pemmican.
The pemmican would then cool and harden.
Pemmican would final for over a yr and was eaten dry or boiled in water.
“Whether or not you might be confronted with an excessive survival state of affairs, otherwise you’re merely wanting to acquire animals with out searching or trapping, this e-book will present you easy methods to discover, course of, and protect meat with out something however a knife. You’ll learn to safely assess an animal carcass to find out whether or not it’s fit for human consumption – a significant ability that would save your life.”
“There are additionally particular sections on roadkill and making pemmican – essentially the most nourishing and long-lasting survival meals.”
A Guide for Safe Scavenging, Pemmican Making, and Roadkill
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Share your individual concepts, opinions and experiences about preserving meat: