How to preserve your meat

In ancient times, preserving meat for future consumption was necessary for survival. In modern times, it is much easier to store and preserve your meat. There are multiple ways to do this, both modern and ancient. Below are quick and simple ways to enjoy your hunt.

Smoking:

If you find yourself in the wild where you cannot pack and store your meat, you can dry your meat by smoking it. By removing moisture from the meat, you can preserve the shelf life of it. Smoking not only makes the meat last longer, but also adds flavor. You can smoke meat by creating a tripod stand with tree branches and then adding inner levels within it to drape the meat over the smoke. To keep smoke within the area, you can use a poncho or tarp to wrap around 2 sides of the tripod. Remember, you don’t want to cook the meat, just smoke and dry it.

Vacuum Sealing:

Air is the enemy of food - it causes oxidation in the refrigerator and will make freezer burn worse. Oxygen also speeds up the spoilage of raw ingredients. You can vacuum seal meat in a bag and freeze it.  It can last up to a year. If you have a vacuum sealer, this is a simple process. Just put the meat inside a vacuum seal bag and begin the process to remove oxygen. Afterwards, place the meat in the freezer.

If you do not have a vacuum sealer, all you need is a tub of water and a Ziploc bag. By using the water displacement method, you can get most of the air out to preserve your meat. You do this by placing the meat inside the bag and then seal it almost all the way, leaving just about an inch open. Then, gently lower the bag in a tub of water, the water pressure then pushes the air out of that bag. Place the bag all the way down until that small open corner is at the top, and just before it’s underwater, seal off the bag. Now you have less oxygen inside that bag, which will help preserve your meat longer.