Simple Root Cellars and Food Preservation

[Cpt.Flapjack]

Captain Flapjack reporting with a requisition form for the projects high commands, Codenamed: Devs

 

I wanted to suggest a few things:

 

1. Simple root cellars for food preservation before/after power grid failure. I think it would be neat if you could (possibly using crafting, farming, or both skills) dig a small hole a few feet deep in the ground with a crate inside. That way the cold of the ground could help preserve perishables, especially farmed foodstuffs. Albeit, they wouldn't be as effective as a refrigerator, but still of utmost importance mid/late game when the power fails and your food spoils!

 

2. I know from personal experience that potatoes last a long time in the open as long as it is cool and dark. My family and I grow vegetables during the summer, and we still have a small crate of potatoes in our basement that are still usable for cooking! I think it would be a great implementation for those hard working late game farmers, and it would make potato farming very useful.

 

3. Bottling foods, such as rabbit, beats, etc, and making jams. With some salt water, a glass jar and top, and a pot of boiling water and you can seal up foods and jams that would have a long shelf life!

 

4. Smoking or drying meats. Smoking meats could increase it's shelf life. As could drying them (We already have beef jerky in game!).

 

5. Last but not least, drying and salting caught fish (if fishing ends up in the game that is). With something to lie out the cleaned fish in the sun, and some salt, you could potentially keep fish stored away for cooking for a quit a while!

 

EDIT: 6.How about portable coolers as a container you can carry and slowly keep things cool at the same time? Small ones could be carried in a single hand. You could also get larger ones that could have extra storage capacity and/or weight reduction but require 2 hands (I have one of each in my house at the moment!) This was suggested by Jela331 initially, thanks friend!

 

EDIT 2: 6.5. Building off of Jela331's cooler idea, it would make sense if you could find a new item, ice trays, and fill them with water and place them in the fridge (Or a whole new compartment with less storage, the freezer part up top) and after some time they produce ice and and empty tray. From that point we could use the ice to keep the coolers cold (Still slightly less than a fridge, depending on the kinda of cooler). When generators are implemented, one could power their fridge to make ice for their coolers, making them possible late game storage containers! This idea was suggested by Peemore, and I think it is an excellent idea and very realistic, thank you for the suggestion bud!.

 

EDIT 3: 6.5.2. If the cooler idea were to be implemented, then have large, stationary ones found in some basements/cabins/or houses that rely on ice alone to keep their goods cold would also make said building ideal for a safe house (As long as you have a supply of ice) late game when the power grid fails! (Jela331 and Peemore pretty much gave me the idea for this one, so they get the credit here too! Thanks guys!!)

 

I apologize if this post is long, and even more if it's already been done (I did some searches but turned up with nothing, but then again I'm a dumb guy, so..). I also owe you many thanks for reading this far! I am not going to take all the credit for these suggestions, as these all came together from the help of some of the community when I asked a few questions!

 

The credit goes to all of us here:

http://theindiestone.com/forums/index.php/topic/5321-hand-built-crates/

Edited February 4, 2014 by Cpt.Flapjack

[Jela331]

Very nice suggestions. I'd love to see them in game.

[Cpt.Flapjack]

Thank you kind sir!

[Jela331]

By reading this I got a great idea.

 

You know those portable fridges or whatever they are called that people take on beaches and such? They should be added in PZ, so you could carry them and store food inside.

[ignorama]

Hello,

 

By reading this I got a great idea.

 

You know those portable fridges or whatever they are called that people take on beaches and such? They should be added in PZ, so you could carry them and store food inside.

 

I think their power usage and their weight (cooling units are heavy) would not meet post apocalyptic standards. We should stay realistic.

[Jela331]

Err... They don't use electricity. They use some kind of bottles filled with water which you freeze in the fridge and put them in the portable fridge.

 

You maybe mistaked them with something else. Here's how they look like:

 

[EnigmaGrey]

Not that there aren't 12v fridges available.

[beeawwb]

This is a fantastic set of suggestions. Anybody living off the land for an extended period of time is going to have some method of preserving their food, and it could be a natural extension of the cooking skill. Want to smoke your meats? Cooking level 2 with a fire. Making a strawberry preserve? Cooking level 4, with a jar, a full kettle, a heat source, and some sugar.

 

Some of these ideas (in theory) shouldn't be too hard to mod in to the game, at least not if I'm reading too much in to things. A lot of them could just come down to advanced recipes. 

[ignorama]

Err... They don't use electricity. They use some kind of bottles filled with water which you freeze in the fridge and put them in the portable fridge.

 

 

Where do you get those bottles in the apocalypse?

[Judeu]

Smoke meat it's not that easy. And you need some place to smoke them. i don't think a simple campfire would work very well...

[Viceroy]

Err... They don't use electricity. They use some kind of bottles filled with water which you freeze in the fridge and put them in the portable fridge.

 

You maybe mistaked them with something else. Here's how they look like:

 

Isn't that just a cooler box? Not a portable fridge? Cooler boxes to slow temp change would be nifty though.

[syfy]

http://arts-humanities.squidoo.com/how-to-build-smoker

 

The ease of building a smoke house

"Building a Smokehouse does not need to be complicated or expensive. If you are even a little handy with tools you can build a smoke house today!

Build a normal structure type building of the size you need and put good insulation on the walls. Purchase the cheapest materials that you can possibly locate. I know, concrete is not cheap so what about the floor? The truth is, your smokehouse does not need a floor, you can place if on bare ground. When you have your box building built, cut a hole about 12 inches up from the bottom big enough to accept a 3" double wall heater vent. Now on the opposite wall repeat this at the top of your structure and place a cap on the pipe.

Add some racks, hooks and shelves inside you new building and you are almost ready to go.

The next step is to build a fire box outside from your building to connect to the intake vent you cut into your smokehouse building. Remember the one you placed about 12" from the ground? You need to place this box far enough from the building to warm the building inside to about 90 degrees with the roof vent opened full. When you close the roof vent the building should be able to reach 170 to 200 degrees. This distance and the size of your fire box will be how you get within the temperature range.

There, not really very hard to build a smokehouse"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the only thing we do not have in the game so far would be metal pipes of larger diameter to route the smoke into the smokehouse, but with easy scavenging of house heating systems that could be handled very quickly.

[Cpt.Flapjack]

 

By reading this I got a great idea.

 

You know those portable fridges or whatever they are called that people take on beaches and such? They should be added in PZ, so you could carry them and store food inside.

 

 

I can't believe I forgot Coolers, or cooler boxes if you will. I mean I have 2 in the basement now! I'm going to edit that into the post

[coolzach]

I really like this, I wouldn't mind to see this in-game.

[Cpt.Flapjack]

I really like this, I wouldn't mind to see this in-game.

 

I personally would too, they're practical methods in my opinion, completely within the realm of possibility during a zombie apocalypse!

[Peemore]

By reading this I got a great idea.

 

You know those portable fridges or whatever they are called that people take on beaches and such? They should be added in PZ, so you could carry them and store food inside.

 

Haha damn it. I thought of this the other day but wanted to flesh it out more before I made a thread. Coolers would be an awesome way to essentially have a fridge that doesn't require power.

 

The only thing you DO need, is ice. I don't personally know of any ways to freeze water without a fridge, that's what I wanted to look into before I posted this idea. But everyone has seen those freezers in the game. Usually at gas stations, I saw one in the Sunstar Hotel too. Those would logically contain a finite number of bags of ice (that would obviously melt over time being outside of the freezer, or after the power has gone out).

 

Now once generators are implemented, you can power your safehouse fridge (assuming that most refrigerators have a freezer section) and fill up a new item, ice trays. Then you put them in the fridge for a renewable source of ice. Which obviously goes into your cooler, essentially becoming a fridge/duffelbag. It would make sense for it to just be equipped into your secondary slot, and accessed like any other container in your inventory.

 

 

EDIT: As for the original posts other ideas, I love them all. Would really add a whole new element to the game having so many different ways to preserve a variety of foods.

 

EDIT 2: Oh my god... we should actually have a separate section in the refrigerator that is solely the freezer section. And we can freeze ALL of our perishables, not just make ICE. Steaks, milk, fruits, vegetables, ALL of them would last months as opposed to weeks or days with lesser cooling. At first glance this might sound overpowered, but if you consider the fact you would need to keep a generator running the fridge at all times, it sounds perfectly reasonable and fair.

[Jela331]

 

Err... They don't use electricity. They use some kind of bottles filled with water which you freeze in the fridge and put them in the portable fridge.

 

 

Where do you get those bottles in the apocalypse?

 

 

They come with the cooler box.

[Cpt.Flapjack]

 

By reading this I got a great idea.

 

You know those portable fridges or whatever they are called that people take on beaches and such? They should be added in PZ, so you could carry them and store food inside.

 

Haha damn it. I thought of this the other day but wanted to flesh it out more before I made a thread. Coolers would be an awesome way to essentially have a fridge that doesn't require power.

 

The only thing you DO need, is ice. I don't personally know of any ways to freeze water without a fridge, that's what I wanted to look into before I posted this idea. But everyone has seen those freezers in the game. Usually at gas stations, I saw one in the Sunstar Hotel too. Those would logically contain a finite number of bags of ice (that would obviously melt over time being outside of the freezer, or after the power has gone out).

 

Now once generators are implemented, you can power your safehouse fridge (assuming that most refrigerators have a freezer section) and fill up a new item, ice trays. Then you put them in the fridge for a renewable source of ice. Which obviously goes into your cooler, essentially becoming a fridge/duffelbag. It would make sense for it to just be equipped into your secondary slot, and accessed like any other container in your inventory.

 

 

EDIT: As for the original posts other ideas, I love them all. Would really add a whole new element to the game having so many different ways to preserve a variety of foods.

 

EDIT 2: Oh my god... we should actually have a separate section in the refrigerator that is solely the freezer section. And we can freeze ALL of our perishables, not just make ICE. Steaks, milk, fruits, vegetables, ALL of them would last months as opposed to weeks or days with lesser cooling. At first glance this might sound overpowered, but if you consider the fact you would need to keep a generator running the fridge at all times, it sounds perfectly reasonable and fair.

 

 

Hey, could I add that to the main post of this thread? Credit is always given when credit is due

[Peemore]

Hell yea man! Please do!

[Cpt.Flapjack]

Not that there aren't 12v fridges available.

 

That would actually be really cool as well and I'm surprised no one commented on this already. Are they battery powered (I've only done a simple interwebs search yet and it's early here...)?  If so, that'd give a good reason for hording batteries (or possibly car batteries if/when/maybe vehicles get implemented).

[EnigmaGrey]

Here's one example: http://www.costco.ca/Koolatron%C2%AE-W75-Kool-Wheeler-34-L-%2836-qt%29-12V-Electric-CoolerWarmer.product.10363340.html

 

This one is marketed as a cooler, but fridges do exist, as well.

They generally work off of a cigarette lighter, so it wouldn't be difficult to attach a normal car battery to the thing, if that's what you really wanted to do.

[uberevan]

http://memegenerator.net/instance/45663447

 

 

I NEED THEM
ALL THOSE PICKLES
EVERY SINGLE ONE

[Steelshrapnel]

I've already got a few root cellars...And a smokehouse. I mean, who doesn't have a smokehouse? It's the U.S.A. folks! BBQ is a way of life.

[Judeu]

I've already got a few root cellars...And a smokehouse. I mean, who doesn't have a smokehouse? It's the U.S.A. folks! BBQ is a way of life.

but what a smokehouse has to do with BBQ?

[ignorama]

 

 

Err... They don't use electricity. They use some kind of bottles filled with water which you freeze in the fridge and put them in the portable fridge.

 

 

Where do you get those bottles in the apocalypse?

 

 

They come with the cooler box.

 

I mean how do you get them frozen? Think realictic please.

 

Coolerboxes do only work when you have a big difference in temperature in the box and outside. You cant achieve this without putting energy in the system. Like using a generator or battery. But when having a generator, its more efficient to power a fridge with it, than a tiny cooler box.

 

The idea with the battery is unefficient as well. How fast would the car battery last for that task? Not very long. If i had a car battery, i would choose to use it different than waste it for some days making stuff cool.

 

Cooler boxes are only efficient for big temperature differences and only for a short period of time, like some hours. Serioulsy no way to preserve food from getting old.

 

Filling up the boxes with ice from the ice containers would be possible only some days after the energy shutoff, as ice in a big coolerbox will go the same way than food. It will reach environmental energy level in a rather short time.

 

If you want to get this realistic, i would wipe the coolerboxes from the list. Its the only point, that disturbs me so far.