Meat storage.

[Sus-wolf]

Where does meat last the longest?

i usually store it in some sort of cupboard inside but I recently found a piece of meat  I dropped in the snow at bait. It was at 80% which was much higher than the 50% that the indoor meat was at.

so is it temperature linked or location?

[UTC-10]

There is inside and there is outside and where the meat/fish is placed matters.  So it is location that matters.  

Using a house as an example,  anywhere inside the house is inside and meat/fish degrade faster (for me in Pilgrim typically 3 or 6% a day for cooked or raw meat).  Outside, in the snow for instance, meat/fish degrade slower (for Pilgrim, typically 1% a day) YMMV.  Refrigerators don't count (no power). Freezing temperatures inside a house don't count. 

There is no explicit food preservation in the game which probably is a result of story mode being the focus - story mode as a game would represent a couple weeks time  at most for most players - rather than survival mode which can last for years.  Once story mode is concluded that situation may change.

[piddy3825]

I get the greatest storage longevity when storing meat in the trunk of a car if one is nearby.  
If not, just about any outside container will suffice to keep things from spoilage longer.
In lieu of no convenient storage, build a rock cairn.  That's 30 kilos of exterior storage and you can build multiple cairns nearby.  I usually do this when making a long term base on TWM at the Mountaineer's Hut.  Severe lack of storage there if you know what I mean.

 

[MrWolf]

I've done a lot of testing of meat decay in different places.  The rate of decay is the same outside whether the meat is left on the ground or in any container (car trunk, corpse, box, rock cache, etc.).  Containers are handy for organization and faster transfer of a lot of items, but the meat won't last any longer in a container than it will on the ground.  The only difference is if the meat is raw or cooked (raw decays faster).  Same indoors, meat will decay at the same faster rate on the floor or in a fridge, cabinet, etc.  

Some seemingly "inside" or warmer places also act as outside for meat decay - anywhere in the non-loading screen caves (including warmer back area), and the enclosed porch in Pleasant Valley Farmhouse.  Meat decays the same in those locations as it does outside on the ground or in an outdoor container.

Edited July 28, 2021 by MrWolf