Food preservation

[HauptmannVonKartoffelLand]

I`ve had various problems with food like,for example freshly harvested meat.After harvesting 36kgs of bear meat i had so much food that i could survive an entire year,but slowly,with time the cooked bear meat started to decay,and from the 36kgs of meat that were at the begining almost 15% rotted away.

Around a year ago I`ve seen an episode of Mountain Man on History Channel,if you rememer the show you know what i`m talking about,There was Marty,you know the guy from Alaska,after shooting down a deer he took a part of the meat and the rest was left to freeze,then he returned after a couple of days and took the rest of the meat...

I think it would be a good thing if they make a mechanic which slows down the decaying of the freshly harvested meat if its left to freeze inside the carcass after you thake out the guts...

well i`ve tested this thing and it seems to be the opposite of what i said,the meat left in the carcass rotted much more quicker than left in a locker indoors...same with the canned food... 

[HauptmannVonKartoffelLand]

Maybe they could implement craftable deer skin bags in which the meat is put and it can be hung somewhere up high where it will freeze and the bears or the wolves cant reach it.  

[swissheart]

it's true.. the carcass decays so quickly even if the temperature outside is freezing. just one of the many things that need adjustment. would be cool if we could dry the meat and make some sort of bear jerky or wolf jerky. would also be cool if we could carry around a container or an extra backpack that we could fill and come back later for.   

[HauptmannVonKartoffelLand]

yeah,very good idea,beef jreky would be awesome,but it will need to have a price,to let you choose "should i make beef jerky from the meat,knowing that there will be much less calories,or i cook the meat even though it soon will be rotten",changing the caloric value is a crucial mechanic,else if they dont change it everybody will make beef jerky and will break the porpouse of the game.

[swissheart]

yeah time consuming and like half the calories.. and maybe having to building something where you can hang it to cure at a low temperature. 

[HauptmannVonKartoffelLand]

i see what you're saying,normally the meat is dryed in some king of makeshift wooden tripod with a thick layer of leafs covering the top part,then a stick is attached underneath the leaf roof and there you put thin  stripes of meat to dry,and on the ground under the whole thing you make a hot smoky fire.

Check this out...

Ray_Mears_Demonstrations_-_Making_a_Jerky_Forum.mp4

[swissheart]

not bad just not sure how this will work in a a winter scenario

[ZlatanHazard]

Dropping cooked meat outdoors makes it decay much much slower , something like 1-2% a day , hope that helps  

[Thurman Merman]

23 hours ago, swissheart said:

it's true.. the carcass decays so quickly even if the temperature outside is freezing. just one of the many things that need adjustment. would be cool if we could dry the meat and make some sort of bear jerky or wolf jerky. would also be cool if we could carry around a container or an extra backpack that we could fill and come back later for.   

I don't really have a problem with the degradation post harvest (if you store it outside, it loses about 2% per day until you cook it, then about half that - meaning, if you harvest meat at 75%, store it outside for 2 weeks, then cook it, then store it outside again for 3 weeks, it will still be above 50%  - 5 weeks is an eternity in this game).  But, as you point out, the carcass decay is crazy; I shot a bear recently on CH, but it was foggy and he ran into a weird spot to die - I found him less than 48 hours later and the meat was already in the low 50s. Of course, that still means I can be eating it several weeks from now - but annoying for some reason.  

[Dirmagnos]

The fact that animal is dead doesnt mean that natural processes stop. Meat starts decay instantly and the fact that animal internal temperature hold above freezing point for a long time(while animal internal processes stop after his death, decay process generate significant amount of heat on its own) only speeds up the process and bacteria runs rampant in extremely favorable conditions with nothing to stop it.

[HauptmannVonKartoffelLand]

1 hour ago, Dirmagnos said:

The fact that animal is dead doesnt mean that natural processes stop. Meat starts decay instantly and the fact that animal internal temperature hold above freezing point for a long time(while animal internal processes stop after his death, decay process generate significant amount of heat on its own) only speeds up the process and bacteria runs rampant in extremely favorable conditions with nothing to stop it.

well normally if you gut it thre should be a very slow decaying process,because when creatures die the dacaying process starts from the colon

[HauptmannVonKartoffelLand]

4 hours ago, Thurman Merman said:

I don't really have a problem with the degradation post harvest (if you store it outside, it loses about 2% per day until you cook it, then about half that - meaning, if you harvest meat at 75%, store it outside for 2 weeks, then cook it, then store it outside again for 3 weeks, it will still be above 50%  - 5 weeks is an eternity in this game).  But, as you point out, the carcass decay is crazy; I shot a bear recently on CH, but it was foggy and he ran into a weird spot to die - I found him less than 48 hours later and the meat was already in the low 50s. Of course, that still means I can be eating it several weeks from now - but annoying for some reason.  

 

6 hours ago, ZlatanHazard said:

Dropping cooked meat outdoors makes it decay much much slower , something like 1-2% a day , hope that helps  

nice strategy i haven't really tried that yet,i hope it works cuz the rotting meat is pissing me off

[HauptmannVonKartoffelLand]

8 hours ago, swissheart said:

not bad just not sure how this will work in a a winter scenario

well they said there will be other seasons too,you know...

[Thurman Merman]

2 minutes ago, HauptmannVonKartoffelLand said:

 

nice strategy i haven't really tried that yet,i hope it works cuz the rotting meat is pissing me off

I've been living off of bear for quite a while now doing this on my current stalker run.  Kill the bear, harvest asap, throw in the snow - it loses not much more than 2% per day (I haven't actually tested that number, it might be a bit less).  When the meat is low 50s, fry it all up.  It will be back near perfect.  Throw it back in the snow - it loses a bit less than 1% (showing closer to 0.8 in my current test) per day. That means even if you're not level 5 cooking (and I assume you are if you're eating bear - but the number seem to be the same on venison), you can still safely eat that meat 45 or so days later (frankly haven't ever had any last that long yet - I hate the starve glitch, so I try to get full at least once per day).

[HauptmannVonKartoffelLand]

3 minutes ago, Thurman Merman said:

I've been living off of bear for quite a while now doing this on my current stalker run.  Kill the bear, harvest asap, throw in the snow - it loses not much more than 2% per day (I haven't actually tested that number, it might be a bit less).  When the meat is low 50s, fry it all up.  It will be back near perfect.  Throw it back in the snow - it loses a bit less than 1% (showing closer to 0.8 in my current test) per day. That means even if you're not level 5 cooking (and I assume you are if you're eating bear - but the number seem to be the same on venison), you can still safely eat that meat 45 or so days later (frankly haven't ever had any last that long yet - I hate the starve glitch, so I try to get full at least once per day).

Hehe lol i get full every day,i can barely survive the night without eating anything (partial exageration).I'll try the strategy,seems to be pretty clever