Meat preservation [POLL]

[SteveP]

How should meat preservation happen? What are the pros and cons of each approach? This is a big topic so I recommend we share our views and then cast votes later on. Here is some very basic background. Obviously there are several options and we can add more options to the poll as discussion evolves. I should point out that some folks may prefer not to deal with the preservation of meat, nor with the nasty side effects of meat left too long and gone bad (either cooked or raw) At that point, it becomes a philosophical discussion as to whether food preparation has any place in a game about survival. Maybe some folks just want to explore and have food supplies in a very simplistic context. It's a game after all.

Curing (food preservation)

Sea salt being added to raw ham to make prosciutto

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Curing is any of various food preservation and flavoring processes of foods such as meat, fish and vegetables, by the addition of combinations of salt, nitrates, nitrites,^[1] and/or sugar, with the aim of drawing moisture out of the food by the process of osmosis. Many curing processes also involve smoking, spicing, or cooking. Dehydration was the earliest form of food curing.^[1] Because curing increases the solute concentration in the food and hence decreases its water potential, the food becomes inhospitable for the microbe growth that causes food spoilage. Curing can be traced back to antiquity, and was the primary way of preserving meat and fish until the late 19th century.

Nitrates and nitrites, in conjunction with salt, are one of the most common agents in curing meat because they further inhibit the growth of Clostridium botulinum. They also contribute to the characteristic pink color of cured meats like ham.

Meat preservation in general (of livestock, game, and poultry), is the set of all treatment processes for preserving the nutritious properties, taste, texture, and color of raw, partially cooked, or cooked meats while keeping them edible and safe to consume. Curing has been the dominant method of meat preservation for thousands of years, although modern developments like refrigeration and synthetic preservatives are now beginning to complement and supplant it.

While meat preservation processes like curing were mainly developed in order to prevent disease and increase food security, the advent of modern preservation methods mean that in most developed countries today, curing is instead mainly practiced for its cultural value and desirable impact on the texture and taste of food. For lesser-developed countries, curing remains a key process in ensuring the viability of meat production, transport and access.

 

[SteveP]

Preserving Meat in Brine - Salted Pork

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"To Salt Pork.--Lay in the bottom of the barrel a layer of solar salt, one and a half inch thick; pack the p

ork edgewise as compact as possible, cover it with a layer of salt as thick as the bottom layer, then pack another layer of pork and the same quantity of salt, etc., until the whole is packed, finishing with a layer of salt. Make a brine as strong as possible of solar salt, put a weight on the pork, and pour on the brine, until it is covered several inches - (Haskell's Housekeeper's Encyclopedia, 1861, p. 362

Meat preserved that way was usually used during the cold months but there are records that salted pork was sometimes used after 1-2 years. Honestly, I would use this meat within the next 6 months. During spring and when the temperature was higher, the brine was closely watched and if suspicious (smell, particules on top), the meat was removed, a new brine made and the meat placed again in the brine per the method explained above.

The meat would later on be used in stews and soups. The boiling would kill any potential bacterias, pasteurizing it.  To remove the salt, the meat could be boiled in another container and the water removed sometimes more than once. Another option would be to place the meat in cold water and outside if the temperature is very low (like a fridge) and change the water until the meat is no longer salty. Do not place the meat in somewhat cold water and room temperature to remove the salt, you're inviting [bacteria] and spoiling...

This is definitely not a modern method and USDA approved but your ancestors went through rough winters using this method.

Dry salt or brine

[SteveP]

 

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(a) Dry Salting. This method is used more commonly for fish than for other meats, although it is used quite frequently for pork also. The meat must be fresh but should not be salted until the animal heat has disappeared. Frozen meats do not take up the salt satisfactorily. Stoneware crocks or good clean barrels are used to hold the salted meat. Pork and beef are cut in medium size pieces; fish are cut in half and heads, fins, and backbone are removed unless the fish are very small. For each 100 pounds of meat, ten to fifteen pounds of salt is weighed out. Salt is thoroughly rubbed into each piece of meat and the salted meat is packed in alternate layers with the salt in a clean barrel or crock, the last layer of meat being thoroughly covered with salt. A heavy weight is placed on the meat. Pork and beef should be removed three or four times during the first two weeks and rubbed thoroughly with salt. Dry salting is used more often as a preliminary treatment to smoking than as a means of permanent preservation.

A small amount of saltpeter and pepper is often added to hold the color of the meat and to add flavor.

Fish are left in the salt without removing to rub with more salt. Fish improve with age up to a year. A rather coarse salt should be used.

Dry salting of meat tends to dry the meat considerably by drawing out the moisture to form a brine. Its use, except for fish, requires considerable experience and skill to attain uniformly satisfactory results. The preservation in brine requires less experience and is recommended in preference to the dry-salting method.

(b) Preserving Meats in Brine. A strong brine makes a convenient preservative solution for meats. This brine may be made of salt and water alone, but it often contains other ingredients such as spices, sugar, and saltpeter. The saltpeter is used to preserve the bright, red color to meat.

The brine used must be a practically saturated solution of salt to prevent putrefaction. This is especially true of fish. Barrels, crocks, etc., must be thoroughly cleaned and scalded before use. Brines should be heated to sterilize them and allowed to cool before they are used.

Pork and beef are rubbed with ten pounds of salt per 100 pounds of meat and the dry salt and meat are allowed to stand overnight before the brine is added. A brine is then added. A typical brine consists of ten pounds of salt and two ounces of saltpeter per four gallons of water. This is about enough brine for 100 pounds of meat. The meat is kept submerged by wooden floats until used.

The meat should be stored in a cool place. If the brine should at any time become slimy or should the odor become objectionable it should be changed and fresh brine added. Beef and pork will keep indefinitely in this way, although in time the flavor and quality deteriorate.

Fish are put down in a brine of about three and one- half pounds of salt per gallon of water and stored until used. Corn beef brine contains saltpeter, sugar, and baking soda.

104. Drying Meats. Meats may be dried with or without previous salting, provided a dry hot climate is available. Venison is often sun dried after sprinkling strips of the meat with pepper to keep away insects. The venison is cut in strips about three-quarters of an inch thick and hung on a line to dry. Salt may be used drying, but makes the product tough and unpalatable. The dried venison is known as "jerkey."

Beef may be dried in the same way as venison.

Fish is often dried. It is first stored about sixteen to twenty-four hours in a strong brine of three pounds of salt per gallon of water. It is then dried.

Meats that have been salted may be dried even in a coast climate. Fish are dried in great quantities along the seashores of all maritime countries. Without fairly heavy salting to prevent the growth of putrefactive bacteria this would not be possible.

105. Preservation of Meats by Smoking. Smoke contains certain compounds of a creosote nature that act as powerful preservatives. It also imparts an agreeable flavor to meats.

(a) Salting. Meats are usually stored in salt or brine a short time before smoking. This assists in the preservation of meat, adds to the flavor, and reduces the moisture content of the meat slightly. Smoking further reduces the content of water.

The strength of the brines used with different meats, the ingredients besides salt, and the length of storage vary. Fish are stored for only about sixteen hours in a strong brine. Pork is stored about three weeks before smoking. The brines used for various nieats are given under meat preservation recipes of Part III.

(b) The Smoke House. The meat is usually rinsed in warm water after removal from the brine or salt and is allowed to drain before hanging in the smoke house.

The smoke house may be merely a large box made almost air-tight; a large barrel or dry goods box will answer for small amounts of meat. This is arranged with wire netting shelves to hold the pieces of meat or with hooks from which the meat is hung. A hole about fifteen inches deep is dug in the ground and the bark or other source of smoke is burned in this. This sort of a smoke house is very satisfactory for fish because the flavor and texture of the fish is improved by the relatively high temperatures resulting from this arrangement.

Bacon, hams, and beef should, however, be kept as cool as possible. The arrangement shown in Fig. 50 is well suited to the purpose. The smoke is generated outside the house and is conducted to the floor of the house by means of several pieces of stove pipe. The house should be tall so that there will be as little heat as possible. A little ventilation is necessary to draw the smoke from the fire box to the house. If the ventilators are placed just below the level at which the meat hangs, the upper part of the house and the meat will hang continually in a dense cloud of smoke. The openings should be arranged so that they may be regulated. Dense smoke without heat is essential except in freezing weather. If the meat becomes frozen the smoke will not penetrate and where freezing is apt to occur it will be necessary to arrange for heating the house.

(c) Smoke Producing Substances. A great variety of substances are used for smoking meats. Spent tan bark from tanneries is one of the best materials for smoking purposes. It imparts an agreeable flavor and odor and also gives a dense smoke without much need of close attention. Hickory chips and other hardwood chips, or hardwood sawdust give good results. Corn cobs may be used, but do not produce such a desirable flavor as does tan bark or hardwood. The smoke- producing material should not blaze; this can be prevented by proper regulation of the ventilation or by smothering the flame with moistened tan bark or hardwood sawdust, etc. So-called "liquid smoke" preparations may be purchased. These are chemical solutions which produce a smoked taste in bacon or ham when rubbed on the meat. Their use is not so satisfactory as smoking.

(d) Length of Smoking. Fish are smoked less than twenty-four hours, because they take up the smoke very quickly. The meat is smoked until it has reached the proper color, texture, and flavor. For pork, this will ordinarily be in one to two weeks. If the meat is to be used soon after smoking, a short period of smoking will be more satisfactory than a long one. Meat, to be kept a long time, must be thoroughly cured by smoking to prevent spoiling.

Beef is smoked thoroughly and then hung in a warm dry place to become as dry as possible. It is known as dried beef rather than smoked beef.

(e) Storing Smoked Meats. Cured bacon and ham may be kept by wrapping in heavy parchment paper and then in heavy wrapping paper and storing the wrapped meat in a cool dry place.

If the smoke house is not needed for other purposes the meat may be left hanging in this. Smoke may be started occasionally to drive away insects. Pepper rubbed on the surface of the meat will also act as insect repellant.

Ham and bacon may also be kept by placing the pieces on a layer of sifted ashes and covering with a thick layer of the same. Beef should be hung in a dry place. Fish should not contain too much moisture before storing. It will usually be necessary to dry the smoked fish several days in the sun before storing.
106. Miscellaneous Meat Products. Lard, mince- meat, head cheese, sausage, pickled pigs' feet, and other meat products may be made on the farm. They are of less importance than the methods of preservation just discussed and are to be considered more as means of preparing meat for the table than as methods of preservation, the subject with which this book aims to deal.

107. Preservation of Eggs with Water Glass. Water glass is a clear sirupy liquid that may be obtained from drug stores and often from groceries for the preservation of eggs. It is used in two ways.

It may be diluted with from nine to twelve parts of water to one part of water glass and used as a liquid in which the eggs are stored. Tin, glass, stoneware, or wooden containers may be used. The container should be well covered to prevent evaporation of the water and the eggs should be well covered with the liquid.

In the second method the eggs are dipped in a solution of one pint of water glass to three pints of water. They are drained and allowed to dry on a layer of flour or corn starch or precipitated chalk. When dry they are dipped in the water glass and dried as before. They are then packed in bran or saw dust. The water glass acts as an air tight seal.

Eggs will keep a year or more by either method. Fresh clean eggs must be used. Do not wash them. Use non-fertile eggs if they can be had. The eggs should be kept in a cool place.

Eggs stored in water glass will in time develop a slight stale taste, but will still be wholesome. They are not so suitable as fresh eggs for frying because the yolks are apt to break. They should not be used for hard boiling as a "sulphur" odor may develop if the eggs have been kept several months in the solution. For other purposes they are very satisfactory.

Home and Farm Food Preservation - Preservation of Meat

[SteveP]

How to Smoke Meat

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Smoking was traditionally a technique used to preserve meat. Although we now have better ways to keep meat fresh, the popularity of smoking it has never died. It's the best way to bring out the deep, rich flavor of brisket, ribs, and other cuts of meat that simply taste best when they're smoked until the meat melts off the bone. You can brine your meat first or dress it in a rub, use a charcoal grill or a high-tech electric smoker, and choose from a variety of woods that each impart different flavors to the meat. Regardless of the particulars, the meat is cooked on low, even heat for many hours until it's smoked to delicious perfection.

This link covers many of the choices in smoking meat or fish.

[SteveP]

Preparing and Canning Poultry, Red Meats and Seafoods

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Notes: There are no safe options for canning these foods listed below in a boiling water canner.

We cannot support the canning of cured, brined or corned meats with the procedures for fresh meats.

We can only recommend canning meats, poultry and seafood as described in the following recommendations, using the cuts and preparation steps included. These are all the recommendations we have for meats, poultry and seafood.

Poultry

• Chicken or Rabbit
• Chicken or Turkey Stock

Meat Products

• Chili Con Carne
• Meat, Ground or Chopped
• Meat, Strips, Cubes or Chunks
• Meat Stock
• Meat and Vegetable Soup
• Mincemeat Pie Filling

Seafoods

• Clams
• Crab Meat, King and Dungeness
• Fish (pint jars, USDA)
• Fish (quart jars, University of Alaska Cooperative Extension Service)
• Fish, Smoked
• Oysters
• Tuna

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Selecting, Preparing and Canning Meat

Chicken or Rabbit

Please read Using Pressure Canners before beginning. If this is your first time canning, it is recommended that you read Principles of Home Canning.

Procedure: Choose freshly killed and dressed, heathy animals. Large chickens are more flavorful than fryers. Dressed chicken should be chilled for 6 to 12 hours before canning. Dressed rabbits should be soaked 1 hour in water containing 1 tablespoon of salt per quart, and then rinsed. Remove excess fat. Cut the chicken or rabbit into suitable sizes for canning. Can with or without bones. The hot pack is preferred for best liquid cover and quality during storage. Natural poultry fat and juices are usually not enough to cover the meat in raw packs.

Hot pack – Boil, steam or bake meat until about two-thirds done. Add 1 teaspoon salt per quart to the jar, if desired. Fill jars with pieces and hot broth, leaving 1-1/4 inch headspace.

Raw pack – Add 1 teaspoon salt per quart, if desired. Fill jars loosely with raw meat pieces, leaving 1-1/4 inch headspace. Do not add liquid.

Adjust lids and process following the recommendations in Table 1 or Table 2 according to the canning method used.

 

[SteveP]

Six tips when freezing meat – including storage chart

Freezing meat and poultry

Dried fish

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Fresh fish rapidly deteriorates unless some way can be found to preserve it. Drying is a method of food preservation that works by removing water from the food, which inhibits the growth of microorganisms. Open air drying using sun and wind has been practiced since ancient times to preserve food.[1] Water is usually removed by evaporation (air drying, sun drying, smoking or wind drying) but, in the case of freeze-drying, food is first frozen and then the water is removed by sublimation. Bacteria, yeasts and molds need the water in the food to grow, and drying effectively prevents them from surviving in the food.

Fish are preserved through such traditional methods as drying, smoking and salting.[2] The oldest traditional way of preserving fish was to let the wind and sun dry it. Drying food is the world's oldest known preservation method, and dried fish has a storage life of several years. The method is cheap and effective in suitable climates; the work can be done by the fisherman and family, and the resulting product is easily transported to market.

Cutting & Drying Fish

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There is opposition to those who attempt to dry fish:

• Bacteria that cause rotting
• Blowflies that lay eggs that turn to maggots
• Ravens and seagulls

Dog feed vs. eating fish

A salmon has five sets of bones. The main difference between eating fish and dog fish is that eating fish (for people) don’t include the rib bones. It takes more time and care to separate the meat from the rib bones, but the time is well spent.

Dried fish for dogs is a good alternative to more labor intensive methods and would be suitable for feeding your sled dogs.

[SteveP]

Salted Fish

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1. Wash the fish thoroughly with clean water.

2. Open the fish, remove the gills and internal organs. Leave the skin intact. Wash fish again thoroughly.

3. Prepare the brine solution (one cup of salt for one gallon of water)

4. Soak the fish in brine solution for 30 minutes to one hour. (some recipes ask for 30 mins and others for one hour, my assumption is that a larger fish would require longer brining)

5. Drain the salted fish and rinse it to remove excess salt.

6. Arrange or lay fish in wire screen mesh and dry in the sun for 2 to 3 days (well, in my case I use the dehydrator)

7. Let the dried fish cool, seal it and store at room temperature.

I basically did the above and placed the filets in a brine for a bit more than 30 minutes.

Some traditional methods have one more step (after step five above), it consist of coating the fish with coarse salt after rinsing it. You basically press the fish in the salt (on both sides if you just use filets) and then dry it. You can also add various spices if you want. You basically create a salt rub. On my side, I used out pre-mixed wild spices blend (a blend of around 9 different aromatic plants that we find in nature such as white sage, California Bay Leaves, Peppertree, etc...)

You end up with something like this:

 

 

[SteveP]

I was interested in doing smoked fish and meat for a time. I discovered that there is a bewildering amount to learn about and master and I did not have an appetite for experimenting with preservation times. It is obvious that if the apocalypse does come, that preserving food is really a lost art that is mastered by only a few peoples. In the North, they now have the advantage of freezers for the warmer months while dried fish are best for dog food only. One must have a suitably rich environment to be able to avail of multiple food sources during times when conditions are warm and preserved food won't keep very well when the hunting and fishing won't suffice.

Gives some insight into why many early paleo tribes (Neanderthals) disappeared while the more mobile and social homo-sapiens was able to survive by colonizing the rich areas where grains were available.

[SteveP]

It occurs to me that during the early stage of the game, we could possibly expect to find enough salt by looting houses but that later on, when salt supplies are exhausted, we would have to boil dry sea water to get enough salt to get the right concentration of brine.

[SteveP]

This is really crazy but you can apparently extract nitrates from urine in order to make gun powder and presumably, saltpeter for food preservation. Yuck! Who knew?

How Urine Can Be Used to Make Gunpowder (and Other Interesting Pee Facts)

[Pillock]

The problem I have with all this is that it relies on knowledge that our character probably doesn't have, and on materials and supplies that are not in the game.

If the devs are going to include food preservation, which I think is plausible and possibly desirable (though I'm not completely convinced it's necessary in the scope of this game), then I think just one method is enough. The most obvious one, given the environment, is freezing! Just some bury some stuff in the snow, inside a suitable container so that it doesn't attract and get ransacked by wolves or bears.

However, this doesn't require much game. It's quite a boring, non-interactive process, so perhaps something that requires collection of various items, plus some crafting, would be more of a viable gameplay element? I wouldn't know which method is most suitable, really, because I don't know anything much about this stuff, but that brings me back to the first point: the character I'm playing as probably doesn't know anything much about this stuff, either.

I suppose it's logical that once you are settled enough to build up reserves of food to last longer than a few days, you would naturally start thinking about and experimenting with ways to preserve it - especially once (if!) Spring and Summer seasons are included in the game. But in gameplay terms, these options need to be balanced by negative outcomes or side effects - eg. largescale wastage due to spoilage; stores of meat attracting undesirable wildlife; large timesink with no short-term reward; etc.

I'm really not convinced that these things need to be in the game at all, but at the same time I wouldn't want to completely dismiss something that does fit into the scenario and might make for some interesting new mechanics if done well. It's a tricky one: 'the more options the better' is not necessarily the case here.

[Salty Crackers]

Do you only do polls? I've seen quite a few made by you.

[SteveP]

9 hours ago, Salty Crackers said:

Do you only do polls? I've seen quite a few made by you.

Are you asking why I have polls? A poll consolidates responses into an easy to read format; this makes it easier for Raphael et all to measure the interest for various options. It takes some analysis to prepare a proper poll that is non-trivial. I try to focus on the game evolution in terms of items, tools, foods, afflictions and crafting stuff. If there is a specific feature you like, I can probably find the poll for it or make one if it's something not covered yet. I don't have a lot of spare time so I try to focus on one specific topic which can also take a lot of time. I mostly follow along and give rep for people who ask questions or posts and add useful information on postings or I  throw in a comment. There are a few of us now who take the time to construct a poll. I definitely make the most complex polls because I enjoy systems analysis; it was part of my career before retirement. Someone told me I am a "deep thinker" personality type however others who dislike that personality type would use a less flattering word. ;-P

To find my other posts, just click on my icon and check out what I post and where. :-)

[SteveP]

14 hours ago, Pillock said:

The problem I have with all this is that it relies on knowledge that our character probably doesn't have, and on materials and supplies that are not in the game.

Very true. In order to implement smoking for long term storage you would minimally need salt. If you add sugar or maple sugar, you get a much better flavor that could play into the character's morale system as a boost. There are other items necessary such as types of wood suitable for use with smoking (or just use sticks) Maybe you want maple smoked or alder smoked since alders are more common in the North. Have you noticed that in the game, cooked meat can last for 30 days while in real life, without refrigeration, cooked food cannot be safely eaten after just one day? I learned this after eating BBQ chicken the second day while I was on holidays in the Philippines to my chagrin and discomfort.

You can eat raw salt water fish when fresh and fresh water fish raw with a slight risk of parasites. Cooked fish spoils rapidly in one day or less at room temperature. Most of the shelters have an internal temperature of 1-5 C or higher if there is a fire. Food degradation is a concern in the game and the solution is typically smoking or salting. Saltpeter has other preservative benefits esp for flavor. I can't quantify how much each ingredient benefits but since its a game, that aspect is not important. It's not clear if everyone will actually think smoking and preserving is important however we die-hard survivalists get it. Clearly two new ingredients and three or four new mechanics would be needed depending upon how many options we ask for or get. With spiral iteration model, the devs can implement a bare bones system that adds features with time. This is a smart way to manage risk in software development while maximizing player value. There is a software development paradigm called Scrum Agile s/w development. Google it if I have piqued your curiosity.

The end result is a "richer" game with more activities and choices and trade-offs. The cost of my time is free because I enjoy analysis and thinking. I want choices and trade-offs in the game. With process A we would get food that lasts a week. With process B it can last a month to 6 months. If you get a moose in real life and if you have someway to preserve it and keep it safe from birds & bears, you could have enough food to last a season.

The things I haven't covered in depth are meat caches that are bear proof and bird proof, bear poles, drying racks and smokers. In winter, insects are not a concern but in summer they are a scourge. Would you like to see a poll to cover insects for summer? Anybody can make one! How would you feel about a game with mosquitoes, midges, wood ticks and flies in it? It could be a real bummer eh?!

Or how about taking the offal from your hunting and putting it into the lake to feed and attract the fish?

[SteveP]

I want to make one additional point: there is a definite development time cost to adding these features. I guess there might already be a plan to have a very simple version of smoking meat to preserve it but not a deeply involved one. There might be time but I don't know the schedule or the internal bug or issue count. I think detailed smoking would be something for the next major iteration of the game (Spring or Summer); it wasn't on the roadmap yet. I don't think it would be prudent to delay first release to add many more features that aren't within the current scope of plans.

I'd love to see a rich version of flint knapping but the scope of that is potentially big for a truly beautiful implementation. Knapping in real life is a very complex process and requires special skills and knowledge and practice as well as several tools and suitable rocks. I don't think a poll would be very useful for that but I have gathered quite a lot of background information. There was quite a lot of enthusiasm for flint knapping in the wishlist but not overwhelming. I think the sled was the most requested item on the wishlist topics. I don't have any easy way to measure that short of dumping the forum database to text format and attacking it with perl (a text processing tool of Unix/Linux and after market tools for Windows) I guess I could do a post count for certain keywords. mumble mumble, smile.

Sled was more common than flint or flint knapping followed by smoking. Spears was the most common of all. For what it's worth. Salt or salting was mentioned more often than smoking or knapping but less than sled. Spear >> sled >> salt >> flint knapping >> smoking. Here is another relevant topic to food preservation: Food Preparation Preservation

[SteveP]

Just a quick scan of wishlist revealed several requests for food preservation and processing. Few responses on this poll however. The addition of research books makes it possible to justify learning how to preserve meat and fish. So far, there are few occasions that would require long term food storage except for very long, extended blizzards. IIRC I haven't seen discussion of long blizzards but there is a challenge for that; it just never ends!

IIRC smoking and meat preservation scored high in comparison to several other features. I think it would need to be worked into a plan for more variable weather or something. It would require justification in terms of game play. Currently you don't need it since you can always fish or trap or hunt nearly perpetually. Once there are seasons, the concept of long term food storage for winter makes a lot more sense. Of course there is also the risk of spoilage and pilferage by critters of your storage cache.

I think you would need the concept of boom and bust such as seasonal opportunities for harvesting a lot of fish or storing enough meat to last through a winter when hunting and fishing just are not feasible. Ice can get too thick to get through in the far north and fishing resources are finite. Did you know that fish will migrate at times too especially in summer, they move hourly to find food sources and to evade predators.

[Vulp]

I think it should be a fairly simple process, added in when cooking becomes real time. You salt your meat and then smoke it for long term outdoor storage.

[Ape88]

Jerky. Without a dehydrator, totally possible. Just a bit tricky to pull off.

[Jebru]

When we move into a game that transitions between seasons, we are going to need a way to preserve meat beyond leaving it in the snow. I'd love if we could salt or smoke, whichever the developers can make work best/easiest. And we do already have plastic coolers in the game. If we were allowed to move them, we could use them for storage inside our safe houses. 

[RCCross]

I've put some raw meat and cooked meat in the trunk of a car and they seemed to last longer than in my backpack. I actually filled 4 cars around Conset Garage in the storm challenge.