Canned vs Vaccum-packed vs Jerky food

[Siferous]

Which method of preserving food is the best choice. I noticed that Canned food doesn’t require salt but will it eventually go bad even though it’s canned? Does any method produce food that recovers more hunger / provide more of a moral boost?

[Iosyn]

To be honest we really do need more ways to preserve food. Jerky just annoys me.

Found a vacuum sealer awhile back, but I never got the chance to use it.

[Siferous]

I have the means to turn meat into jerky, canned meat, and vaccum-packed meat right now. If no one knows the answer to my question I will do some experimentation. I’m unsure how to tell which recovers the most hunger other then just guessing (getting to hungry then eating one and seeing if I change to full the repeating). The main benefit I see is that canned meat doesn’t require salt so if it makes it never spoil then even if it doesn’t restore as much hunger as the other 2 then I think that is superior.

[Narc]

Okay, I’m peeking through comestibles.json of a recent git, here’s what I see:

[ul][li]jerky has nutrition 12, quench -3, morale +4; it never goes bad, and gives you 3 servings per recipe.[/li]
[li]canned meat has nutrition 50, quench 0, morale +2; it goes bad 40 hours after you open it, but the recipe makes a “sealed jar of canned meat”, which isn’t actually a comestible at all, thus never goes bad.[/li]
[li]meat slices have nutrition 25, quench -5, morale +2; they go bad in 48 hours after you open them, but again, the recipe makes a “vacuum-packed meat slices”, which again isn’t a comestible and never goes bad.[/li][/ul]

The meat slices recipe also gives you two servings, so is nutritionally equivalent to the canned meat, however the canned meat doesn’t make you thirsty; this may not matter very much, as it’s a fairly low amount of thirst (by comparison, a serving of clean water has quench 50; easily enough to cover for a mere -10 from the meat slices).

[ballfairy]

realistically canned meat will hold /forever/ as long as the can isn’t damaged and isn’t left in the open, a couple weeks ago I cracked open a can of spam I left in a backpack since the early 90’s and it was perfectly fine. I ate it and enjoyed it. (which reminds me get on a perk that makes it so the main character isn’t /a goddamn pussy/ who cant stomach spam)

[Siferous]

Thanks a lot for the information. The only problem I’m going to have is finding glass jars. I have plenty of glass flasks and glass bottles but no glass jars. I’m not sure if I have even seen a glass jar before to be honest.

[i2amroy]

realistically canned meat will hold /forever/ as long as the can isn’t damaged and isn’t left in the open, a couple weeks ago I cracked open a can of spam I left in a backpack since the early 90’s and it was perfectly fine. I ate it and enjoyed it. (which reminds me get on a perk that makes it so the main character isn’t /a goddamn pussy/ who cant stomach spam)

As pointed out by Narc, sealed cans or vacuum sealed food does last forever; it only starts to go bad once you open it up.

[Narc]

Glass jars do show up in the occasional kitchen or random “empty container” clutter, but they are very rare.

[halberdsturgeon]

They drop often enough as random loot from zombies, and I’ve found several in ‘junk’ stashes.

I haven’t bothered using them much though - the fact that sealed jars of food require water and take six times longer to make than cooked meat doesn’t really make them all that appealing for general use.

[Siferous]

I’m currently sitting on over 300 units of cleaned water so water really isn’t an issue for me. I want to get a fair number of glass jars so I can make food in bulk once and have it last for as long as possible then just repeat. I am at a LOME shelter so water isn’t an issue at all

[halberdsturgeon]

Suppose it depends on how you play - I tend to be on the move most of the time, so being able to kill the nearest animal and turn it directly into food is much more convenient.

[Siferous]

Normally I would agree but I found a LMOE shelter about 1 hour away from a megatown. By the time I’m done looting the town I will have a mobile base created and can just store the canned food on my vehicle as well. Normally I wouldn’t probably spend as much time working on a good food source but I have a perfect start essentially.

[vache]

Also of note is that canned food is 3 volume, 2 weight (or vice versa), while vacuum packed is 2 volume, 1 weight (or vice versa). I think the vacuum packed wins out in the end as long as you’ve got the means.

[JimQuaid]

[quote=“halberdsturgeon, post:9, topic:1371”]They drop often enough as random loot from zombies, and I’ve found several in ‘junk’ stashes.

I haven’t bothered using them much though - the fact that sealed jars of food require water and take six times longer to make than cooked meat doesn’t really make them all that appealing for general use.[/quote]

Right now cooking them is the more sensible approach since you can turn rotten chunks of meat into yummy food by boiling it. Once that gets removed and the age of the ingredients matters it will make preserving food a lot more attractive (and necessary). Especially bears drop more meat than I need during the time they’re still good for consumption; I can see myself spending two days canning bear meat and storing it in my van so that I won’t need to look for food for the next week or so.

[halberdsturgeon]

Right now cooking them is the more sensible approach since you can turn rotten chunks of meat into yummy food by boiling it. Once that gets removed and the age of the ingredients matters it will make preserving food a lot more attractive (and necessary).

I never cook rotten meat. At the moment I don’t even carry any meat around at all, just a couple bags of beef jerky or whatnot for emergencies - most of my meals I get from the hacked up carcass of whatever animal/triffid was nearest when I got hungry, cooked straight off the ground.

[vultures]

I never cook rotten meat. At the moment I don't even carry any meat around at all, just a couple bags of beef jerky or whatnot for emergencies - most of my meals I get from the hacked up carcass of whatever animal/triffid was nearest when I got hungry, cooked straight off the ground.

Yes, but whatcha gonna do once you hit influenza? Or - you’ve just decided to hit the road, and explore a dungeon/town/area?
This actually has a point - after the initial frenzied behavior, you just STOP. There you are, honing some skills, there is no real plot to follow - you don’t realize the amount of effort that has to be put into simple things just to achieve the aim.
So I get the drill plain and simple - get the food & water for three days, and have it in your vicinity once the sh*t hits the fan. Isn’t much, two canteens and six MREs, right? Be it, one set on you, rest of them in your vehicle and stationary?
Haven’t really gotten through year ten or so, but I guess it really does matter once the gang is on every existing path there is for you.

I guess we can live like the common people, but can we do like the common people do?

[halberdsturgeon]

Yes, but whatcha gonna do once you hit influenza?

Eat royal jelly.

Or - you’ve just decided to hit the road, and explore a dungeon/town/area?

Towns have more than enough food to live on. Labs are stocked with potato chips and royal jelly, if you’re actually down in one long enough for hunger to matter. Mines are never long enough for food to become problematic.

[vultures]

…and the roads are packed with merry triffids along an angry queen, and young fungaloids are repainting your house.
Eat your last royal jelly (Y/N)?

There is no throughout-guide for this game, you oughta know.

[halberdsturgeon]

Hm? I don’t understand your point. You said keeping preserved food is useful around if you get influenza. I said it’s vastly more useful to keep royal jelly around.

My point was that it’s too easy to live hand to mouth in the game at the moment for food preservation to be of much use. That isn’t to say that it’s not a good feature, but I think it will take some fine tuning before it becomes a genuinely attractive option rather than mainly a flavour/role play thing.

[vultures]

Hm? I don't understand your point. You said keeping preserved food is useful around if you get influenza. I said it's vastly more useful to keep royal jelly around.

Also, I made another point gamewise. The conclusion was that food preservation, also the main aim of this topic, has its merits and disfavors. You typed that it's fine to plan your existence in CataDDA with meat chops. I point out that soldiers encountered your world's hazards and are now your chops. I think you can understand any point, it's that you never ran from a swarm for six straight hours.