Any way to keep / dry meat without a fridge?

[micelte]

For a few months I'll be living without a fridge, and in order to keep getting some animal proteins and fat I am looking for advice on how to keep meat without a fridge, knowing that I usually get up to 8 kg at a time...

This means the method should allow me to keep the meat for at least 3 to 4 weeks...

Conditions: no salt, and nothing that would be contrary to instincto principles...

This said, I am open to any idea and suggestion... best of course would be to benefit from real world advice that you guys have tried!

[Sorentus]

well you could put it in the basement or underground covered lol, doubt there is any other way.

[TylerDurden]

Using a dehydrator might be an option.

[jessica]

you can search/read here on the forum about how to dehydrated with a box fan.  dried meat is really good and when it gets super hard its fun to chaw on.

[nummi]

Out in room temperature? Lying on some grate thing, or hanging somewhere. I have a piece on a table, on a grate thing. It just sits and dries, I cut pieces from it. Have had it so for a little over a week. It's also late winter/early spring presently, so no fear of flies laying eggs on it. I actually prefer this way over the fridge, but not so sure about the summer, whenever it arrives.
Also, the air in the room is dry, from all the heating (radiator, computer, fridge, me), so it dries rather quick.

[van]

check out sabertooth's fan drying technique,  and you could try burying it...   Any drying technique in my experience is going to lend itself to fats that are not optimal. 

[Iguana]

You can just hang it in a relatively cool place such as a basement, it works fine in winter. In other seasons, maggots will grow in it when there are flies around. A pantry with fine mesh would protect it against flies. You can put a fan to blow air around, but then it will dry up and become too hard to chew rather quickly.

[micelte]

Thank you everyone. Did not see the replies until now 'cause I thought that as the creator of a new topic, I would be notified automatically of replies... well, apparently not.

OK, back to the meat drying I guess I should have mentioned I live in the southern hemisphere, so that means that in my present situation it is a must for me to avoid the bugs eating more of the meat than I would The temperature here barely goes below the twenties during the night, so the only "hanging" system that would be practical is Iguana's one I believe (thanks for the good pics Iguana).

@van: I am really interested in knowing more about the burying technique: how would that work? I understand the temperature inside the earth would be "basement like", but would you need to use a water/bug-proof container? And without air, wouldn't the meat putrefy really quick? And also what makes you say that dried fats are not optimal? The pork fat I used to keep for up to a month or more in my fridge was still tasting delicious after that much time!

@TylerDurden: the dehydrator you mentioned, is it like Iguana's system with a fan or an actual commercial one? I would really like to avoid heating the meat more than room temperature if possible...

[TylerDurden]

It is Lex Rooker's one:-

[eveheart]

It is Lex Rooker's one:-

Here's the link: http://www.rawpaleodiet.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/JerkyDrierInstructions.pdf

I have used this dryer to help dry out meat, which is sliced first. Meat gets as dry as jerky without cooking at all, and the components are cheap, but you need electricity.

Consider your humidity levels, too, which will determine how quickly your meat dries. If you can get meat periodically, you might try a screened, open-air cage with both slices and slabs of meat, and see which you like better. I get my meat in whole primal cuts, untrimmed (fat/connective tissue on the outside) to prevent quick drying.

My temperature range is 15 - 25 C in the summer, with low humidity; cooler and more humid in the winter. I did not like the results with slabs of meat stored at ambient temperatures (fuzzy mold that didn't taste good to me), so I go with pre-dried meat when I travel away from my refrigerator. Of course, necessity will make you more inventive. Good luck!

[micelte]

Thanks eveheart, very informative, I may try such a technique in the future!

Hey everyone, that's a good call about electricity: the reason why I won't have a fridge is actually that I won't have electricity for a while... So that keeps quite a few options out...

Fortunately the place where I'll be is quite ventilated, so an option would be to build a fly-proof box with a fine mesh.

@Iguana: is a fine mesh avoiding any kind of bug? I mean, there is no way any non-fly maggot or other tiny meat-eating bug could enter through the mesh?

Still awaiting some instructions about the burying technique - which is opposite in some way to the ventilated one, so I guess the results must be quite far apart...

[van]

I have never tried burying meat, only read about it for keeping meat for dogs....   I think you'd have to have some sort of cloth to keep out vermin, bugs, etc..    I seem to be the only one here who is sensitive to aged fat in the fridge.  My mouth tells me when there's a bite to it, an aftertaste that isn't pleasant, and that's my clue to fats that have oxidized.     An I am convinced for myself, that fresh fat is more energizing for me. 
  The burying of meat is one I've mentioned before, with the idea that it could be a great way to create high meat, due to the bacteria etc. already in the soil. 

  Regarding Iguana's screened container and fan,,  I love that idea for meat.  Doubt you'd have smaller flies getting in, maybe fruit type flies..  but there is some pretty fine mesh fabrics you could use even more easily than wire screen.

[micelte]

OK thanks van, what I like in the idea of burying is that the earth always has a fresher temperature, so in some way it could be considered as a natural fridge. I have already read about non-powered fridges based on an outer box containing a smaller one, the two being separated by sand or a similar material, that is kept humid / wet. Seems like "cool" stuff  

Alright, so I am a bit left to doing my own experiments regarding the burying technique... If I manage to invent a system that works, or even that doesn't, I will try to post the results on this forum.

[nummi]

Perhaps a hole in the ground, in what is a receptacle, in which is water, in which is something else, and finally in which is the meat?
Just remembered when I was a child and parents used to buy milk from a farm they there kept milk in a well, in water, cool all year round.

[eveheart]

I remember this old post - never tried it. Interesting!

http://www.rawpaleodietforum.com/general-discussion/meat-storage-the-zeer-or-pot-in-pot-refrigeration/msg78152/#msg78152

[micelte]

Yes, eveheart and nummi, that was my idea... Thanks to your link, nummi, I actually now remembered that this cooling system probably worked well because of the refrigeration effect due to evaporation. So I am not sure it would work so well in a hole in the ground...

Putting a container straight into the water would also be a possibility, but the water is about 400m from the house and  walking that much to go to the fridge is not something very "cool", even if I could accept the idea that I would start having to "hunt" for my meat everytime I need to get some

[eveheart]

... this cooling system probably worked well because of the refrigeration effect due to evaporation...

Yes, and you need quite a bit of ambient heat and dryness to do that amount of evaporation. It would be interesting to see if it would work well in the 20 C temperatures in your location.

[micelte]

Yep, this is why I'll keep you posted in case I manage to build something!