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By dehydrating your food, you take all of the liquids out. Once fully dehydrated, it’s very difficult for bacteria to form, creating a food that can last for weeks or months without refrigeration. The content of the food, including fiber content and calories, stays the same with dehydrating (except for a loss of Vitamin C in some foods because of its solubility). With a food dehydrator, available at some grocery stores and at many places online, you can preserve fruits, vegetables, and meats.  If you don’t want to buy a dehydrator, you can also get the same effect from a low-temperature oven. Use the oven on the lowest possible setting, place your food on a non-stick pan, and use a small fan to keep the air circulating and prevent any moisture buildup. The process takes all of the liquid out of the foods, preserving it in a new, chewier form. Once dehydrated, you can store these foods without refrigeration for weeks. Dehydrating is particularly good for backpacking trips or other times when you need to carry your food with you. . Smoked meats have been a way for people to preserve food for thousands of years. The kinds of wood for the fire and the spices you put on the meat itself can create an array of delicious flavors on the meat. There are two kinds of smoking – hot and cold. The differences are as follows:  When you smoke meat using the “hot” method, you are cooking it at a low temperature (150 degrees Fahrenheit and up) for a long time. The “cold” method, on the other hand, is at less than 100 °F (37.8 °C) and is not really meant to cook the meat at all, but rather to seal the meat enough so that bacteria cannot grow in it. This method works particularly well if you’re planning to cook the meat at some other point in the future. . Like smoking, curing is a process that has been around for thousands of years. The process involves using salt to leach the water out of meat, essentially dehydrating it. There are two main ways of curing meats:  Dry curing involves rubbing the meat with salt and sodium nitrite and other spices of your choosing. The meat is then typically hung to dry. For safety, it’s best to purchase a prepared mixture of salt and nitrate -- the amount should be about 1 teaspoon per 5 pounds of meat, but follow any directions on the mix that dictate amounts.  Wet curing or brining also uses salt, but in a liquid solution. Meat is placed into a “brine” made of water, salt, sodium nitrite, and other spices to cure. The typical mixture is about 1 ¼ cups of kosher salt per gallon of water.
Try dehydrating your food. Smoke meats Cure meats