Cold Storage?

[Piers Arkan]

Hello! First time poster, 27-hour player of this game, having finally taken off from a voyager playthrough starting in the Coastal Highway! I have a question that I wonder if anyone else can answer.

 

I recently found a hunting rifle, after having a stockpile of about 20 rounds of ammo. After having exhausted my resources in canned food, fish and rabbits, I decided to shoot a deer. I killed the deer after having trailed it across the coastal ice, and after dragging the quarters of it to my base in the fishing shack, I had a lot of meat that was starting to lose condition. I wondered if this meat could freeze outside, perhaps reducing the decay rate? I had once seen a youtuber place meat up on the upper level of the lighthouse out in Desolation Point, but is this really a thing? 

 

I can understand if there are issues with wildlife snatching it up, the Coastal Highway bear was outside my door when I went to cook the rest of the venison. 

[selfless]

Meat does keep best in outdoor spaces.  Just throw it on the ground.  Unless a wolf can actually see you, it won't become interested in any meat left out.  Or find a nearby outdoor container if it makes you feel better.  But it doesn't really matter. But it will never freeze. Freezing is not a "thing" for food.  Only clothes...

[Piers Arkan]

I figured that was the case, and was going to approach the rest of the thread as a suggestion/wish list kind of thing, but I am curious by how much it slows down the decay. perhaps I will be placing all my venison on the pallets around the fishing camp! Thanks for helping me confirm that. It'll definitely help me stretch out those pieces of venison. 

[Thrasador]

28 minutes ago, Piers Arkan said:

I figured that was the case, and was going to approach the rest of the thread as a suggestion/wish list kind of thing, but I am curious by how much it slows down the decay. perhaps I will be placing all my venison on the pallets around the fishing camp! Thanks for helping me confirm that. It'll definitely help me stretch out those pieces of venison. 

Google "The Long Dark decay." In the wiki they have the decay rates of everything.

http://thelongdark.wikia.com/wiki/Decay

I feel some of the numbers are a little off. I don't think cooked meat decays at quite the rate it says it does indoors, but it does decay faster indoors than outdoors. The outdoor rates are about right....it seems to lose about one condition a day or maybe every other day or so....depending on the type of meat.

[Piers Arkan]

Perhaps the numbers have changed based on balance updates over time? Either way. Holy heck. The decay rates are sliced by that much, I see no reason to keep meat inside or any of the others that keep best outside. I wonder if this is also affected for the buildings that have no loading screens, like the Forestry Lookout in Mystery Lake. 

 

Addendum: these are considered outside. OK. nice. 

[Thrasador]

8 minutes ago, Piers Arkan said:

Perhaps the numbers have changed based on balance updates over time? Either way. Holy heck. The decay rates are sliced by that much, I see no reason to keep meat inside or any of the others that keep best outside. I wonder if this is also affected for the buildings that have no loading screens, like the Forestry Lookout in Mystery Lake. 

 

Addendum: these are considered outside. OK. nice. 

I just recently learned it was safe to just throw meat on the ground as long as you are not being actively pursued by a predator. Before I was leaving it in the closest cold storage....typically a nearby fishing shack. Then I would run out everyday and grab a couple pieces for dinner. 

I didn't understand people's concerns over meat spoilage. I'm guessing they must not know about keeping cooked meat outdoors. I mean even a whole bear with like 36 kilos of meat, will still be safe to eat if you keep it outside somewhere. Even if you do the starvation eating method, where you only eat a big meal at night before bed to regain condition....you would eat at least 1 kilo a day. You would eat a majority of the bear before the condition drops below 75, if not all of it. Meat spoilage only becomes an issue if you kill two bears at once, lol. 

Once you get cooking to level 5, then you don't have to worry about low condition meat and food poisoning from things you cook.

Another good section to read in the wiki is the afflictions section where they describe all the different afflictions. If you scroll down to the food poisoning section they detail the rules of what foods are safe to eat at what conditions. It's a good clarification, because there seems to be a lot of confusion over what foods are safe at what conditions.

[JAFO]

If you're really looking to stretch the "lifespan" of your meat supply as much as possible, leave it outside raw until its condition is close to 50%. Then cook it, which will bring the condition back to 100%, and leave it outside again until needed. Once raw meat goes below 50%, cooking will not be able to bring it all the way back up again, as it only adds (up to) 50% condition bonus.

[ChapnCrunch]

Wow, I feel like a total n00b for not figuring this out myself. 

[JAFO]

2 minutes ago, ChapnCrunch said:

Wow, I feel like a total n00b for not figuring this out myself. 

Don't worry about it.. I have over 450 hours in TLD, and I only figured out the easy way to fill struggle bars a couple of days ago!

There is always more to learn about this game.