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I don't have refrigerator in my apartment, this is because I want to prepare myself from traveling to many countries, doing job-related and church related activities. My most common problem is how to preserved meat without using refrigerator?

So far this are my workarounds in order to preserve a meat.

First Option:

  1. Chop the meat in small pieces.
  2. Put a very little salt on it.
  3. Deep fry it
  4. Put again a salt (this time is a little more)

And that's it. :)

Sometimes I can use it again after 4 more days.

Do you have a much better way of preservation?

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    I'll let answers deal with good methods for preserving meat, but for now: unless "a little more salt" is an awful lot, what you're doing does not sound safe at all.
    – Cascabel
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 0:51
  • 'best way' varies with the local climate ... if you're in the middle of monsoon season, smoking or drying it doesn't work nearly as well as when you're in the dry season, unless you can manage to seal it up well.
    – Joe
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 1:50
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    If it's not too warm, you might be able to confit it ... or make potted meat. I don't think they're considered acceptable techniques by modern standards, but they were used in Europe before the days of refrigeration & canning. It's also possible to pickle meat, but some people don't care for the resulting texture (eg, corned beef)
    – Joe
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 1:54
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    Does a freezer count as a refrigerator?
    – Aaronut
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 4:22
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    Learning to preserve meat isn't a good use of your time. Wherever you go either the locals will do it better than you can, or then won't do it at all - they'll eat it as soon as they get it. Many places you go the tools and ingredients you need won't be available. I recommend you spend your time learning language and customs so you know how to ask for things you need, and how to subsist wherever you are going.
    – GdD
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 8:08

1 Answer 1

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Meat spoils because it is packed with water and all the nutrients microorganisms crave.
To make meat not need refrigeration you have to make those things unavailable.

Dehydration is essential. Salt is also helpful. Salt the meat heavily and dehydrate it on a fan or in the oven. You end up with jerky which, if sealed from humidity, will stay good indefinitely. Look for proven recipes.

Salt by itself, without dehydration, isn't good enough. Corned beef, for example, is salted heavily and will still spoil if not refrigerated.

An alternative to drying is to pressure can the meat. By heating a bottle of meat in a pressure canner, the boiling point of water is increased to the point where botulism spores are destroyed. The bottle seals out further contamination. Bottled meat will stay good for years.

While I think that preserving food is a valuable skill- I totally agree with GdD that it is not important for international travel. You will enjoy yourself much more and be more productive if you learn to eat what the local people eat and don't spend your free time drying meat and carrying it with you when you travel.

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