Storing Food in T2K

[Mohoender]

I got that idea from the thread on Cuisine. We are all concerned about what to eat but what about storing it. With electrical power gone, you can forget about fridge.

Here are some methods I can think of:

- Salting or smoking would be the first one but that is working only for fish and meat.

- For the fruits you can make Jam, plunge them in alcohol or dry them.

- You can use canned food but finding the right container might quickly be a problem.

- For some fruits such as apple, you can store them in specific type of buildings (that's fairly simple) under proper conditions (that's also true for potatoes).

- Another interesting thing (providing that the weather gets colder) would be to build an ice well. A well (15-20 meters deep) that you slowly fill with water during winter. Then, you'll have ice during the warm period.

Of course, you also have to protect your storage from all type of scavangers (small animals, insects, humans...)

Do you have any more ideas or do you know any other method

[Rupert Willies]

Depending on where you live, the water could still be cold during summer. If you live by a mountain a river coming from it could be cold enough to chill your brew, even during august.
A deep lake can be very cold at the bottom. If you really need to keep something cold, you could lower it to the bottom, and keep it there for long periods of time. It would just take some extra time to retrieve it.

"Hey, surprise guests! Just give me an hour, and I'll get you folks some chilled pate from my lake-storage"

If you have sun, you can also utilize evaporation to cool a container.

[Earthpig]

before refrigeration they cut ice off lakes moved them to Ice sheds storing them buried in sawdust which kept them available most of the year.....I have found ice, in July, under gravel that had been dug out the winter before.

[pmulcahy11b]

Even in the Paleolithic Middle East and East Africa, lots of food was stored and kept fresh by simply digging pits and lining them with clay. (Granted, the climate in the Middle East and Africa was much more mild back then, but in East Africa back then you still had a semidesert.)

[pmulcahy11b]

Depending on where you live, the water could still be cold during summer. If you live by a mountain a river coming from it could be cold enough to chill your brew, even during august.

In the winter, it's even easier -- we had a lot of snow days in Kansas, and one week when we had a blizzard and the power was out, we just stored the cold drinks and frozen foods outside the back door against the wall and piled snow on top of it. In no time it was six feet under snow, and it kept quite well until the power came back. It probably could have lasted months had the blizzard gone on.

[Earthpig]

In the winter, it's even easier -- we had a lot of snow days in Kansas, and one week when we had a blizzard and the power was out, we just stored the cold drinks and frozen foods outside the back door against the wall and piled snow on top of it. In no time it was six feet under snow, and it kept quite well until the power came back. It probably could have lasted months had the blizzard gone on.

Be careful if it get's too cold...I stored some diet coke(probably why it happened) out on the porch...one day, while sitting at home watching TV, I heard some loud popping noises, by the time I figured it out ....my 2 cases of pop were mostly exploded on the door

[Rupert Willies]

Same thing happened to me a month back; two six packs of beer exploded on my veranda. Observed a bottle cap on the roof later.

Be careful if it get's too cold...I stored some diet coke(probably why it happened) out on the porch...one day, while sitting at home watching TV, I heard some loud popping noises, by the time I figured it out ....my 2 cases of pop were mostly exploded on the door

[Targan]

Here in Australia before there was electricity in all houses there were three methods that were popular for keeping food cool in the absence of a fridge - ice boxes (the ice man would come around with a cart and deliver blocks of ice daily), Coolgardie safes (a primative fridge that used evaporation via water trickling over pieces of cloth) and kerosene-powered friges.

[firewalker]

we had a lot of snow days in Kansas, and one week when we had a blizzard and the power was out, we just stored the cold drinks and frozen foods outside the back door against the wall and piled snow on top of it. \.

we trid that to last big snow/outeg we had worked real good......the dog proved problmatic though.

[jester]

I am shocked shocked and amazed!

You guys haven't mentioned Freeze Drying or Sun Drying. Or regular deydrated methods. I mean they are considered top of the line camping foods today, and one of the oldest methods there is.

Also, JERKING ala Beef Jerky and Pemican

I mean look at what we use today

Instant potatoes
Rasins
Craisons
Fruit rolls
Dried Fruit
Trail Mix

Those are just a few examples. And one sundried is good for sunny climes, freeze drying for cold climes. And the only thing needed is to prepare the items for drying, and then protect them from insects and vermin so they can dry in the sun and wind.

[TiggerCCW UK]

What would you need to do to prepare food for drying Its an area I'm completely ignorant of, but it could provide an easyish means of preserving large amounts of food without having to use additional resources, I think. What about smoking meats and fish as well There's a museum near here that has and old smoke house at it and again I think its a fairly easy way of preserving food.

[jester]

For say fruit and vegetables, simpy cut in small pieces you can remove seeds and large portions that are liquid <like the insides of a tomato> you can also peel them or skin them, then lay flat to dry.

You can also place them on screens so air flows and they dry quicker, or you can make mesh flats or racks from loosely woven flat pieces of wood or sticks or twigs or even leaves. Let air or sundry and flip them over and repeat until they are dry which they should usualy be brittle.

You can make a past of tomato, or fruit puree ansd let it dry into a leather or skin like a fruit roll up, these you can then tear off the desired portion and soak in water for use later. I have freinds who do this with tomato sauce.

Soups and stews this can be done too.

The key things is cutting them into uniform size, air circulation, and protecting them from insects and windblown debris. Its that simple.

As for smoking,

Soak the meat in a brine for a period of time, 24 hours, cut into uniform pieces, thin is good, then hang in a smoke chamber, this can be a cardboard box, or a metal trashcan or an old refrigerator.

Have your smoke going, this can be a candle burning under a pan of woodchips that have been soaked in water, I usualy use a 50/50 mix of half wet half dry, fruit wood and nut woods are the best, never use pine type trees or citrus or eucalytus. And hang your meat about 12 to 16 inches from the base of the small smoldering fire as you want the smoke not the heat to cook and preserve what you want. Racks or hanging from hooks are the best since it gives better coverage of the surface area.

And salting, the meat can be placed in a layer of salt in a box or barrel, covered in salt and then another layer and on and on until done. Of course the item should be hung for a bit to let moisture drain away.

And brining, a salt and water and spice solution, usualy used for pork like salt pork, uniform pieces of pork or the meat of choice <beef is corned beef> and let it soak for several days, or weeks.

The thing with salting is, you will need to presoak and cook out the salt that was used to preserve the meat.

And pickling:

Vinegar, spices and your medium fish, pork, vegetables. Brew up your vinegar and spices like tea, then pour it over the items you want to pickle, seal in a crock or jar and leave alone for 2 weeks or longer so the item gets pickled. And these should remain preserved for several weeks or months once cured.

[TiggerCCW UK]

Thanks for that - lots of good info there.

[Littlearmies]

I've just been reading a book called "Salt: A World History" by Mark Kaplansky which, despite it's rather anorak subject title is fascinating - it has recipes for salting and using salt and making salt. I rather think that salt producing areas would become rather valuable locations for trade and settlement. I'd recommend it to anyone.

You can also pick up lovely tidbits like where the word "salacious" comes from!

[pmulcahy11b]

You can also pick up lovely tidbits like where the word "salacious" comes from!

Oh, that's easy! It's from Star Wars Episode 6...