Meat preservation is one of the most-watched preparedness topics on YouTube, and the quality varies wildly. This round-up collects the ten most-viewed videos on preserving meat without refrigeration, ranked by actual YouTube view count, so you can start with what millions of others have already found useful.
Across the list you’ll find a mix of styles: quick field demonstrations from survival instructors, polished historical deep-dives, a celebrity-chef experiment, and longer traditional cooking videos from homestead and heritage channels. Whether you want a seven-minute answer or a 25-minute immersion in old-school methods, there’s something here that fits.
1. Smoked Pork Can Be Stored for 300 Days without a Refrigerator!
龙梅梅Longmeimei · 6.5M views · 17:19 · 2025
The most-viewed video on this topic by a wide margin at 6.5 million views, this 17-minute video from Longmeimei shows traditional smoked pork preparation in Guizhou, China. It's a quiet, process-focused cooking video rather than a lecture, and suits viewers who like watching a traditional method carried out start to finish.
2. Salting, Curing and Smoking your own meat
Kentucky Afield · 3.6M views · 6:17 · 2011
At just over six minutes, this Kentucky Afield segment is the shortest watch on the list. Host Tim Farmer visits a working smokehouse in Harlan County to see how old-timers handled salt-curing, sugar-curing and cold smoking — a fast, personable introduction rather than a deep dive.
3. Salt Curing Meat at Home | Food Security Skill Everyone Needs
A Pinch of Patience · 3.3M views · 14:35 · 2023
This 14-minute video from A Pinch of Patience focuses on salt curing at home with a preparedness angle, framing it as a food-security skill. It's a good pick for viewers who want a single-method walkthrough from a home kitchen rather than a broad survey.
4. Food That Preserved A Nation
Townsends · 2.7M views · 21:37 · 2024
Townsends specializes in 18th-century American life, and this 21-minute video looks at how people preserved food roughly 250 years ago. It's a historical deep-dive in the channel's signature style, best for viewers who want context and heritage rather than a quick how-to.
5. before the war starts, preserve the meat in jars!
Moja Kuhinja Tanja · 2.7M views · 12:46 · 2025
Filmed from the creator's wartime experience, this 12-minute video from Moja Kuhinja Tanja covers storing meat in jars, including a method she says doesn't require a pressure cooker. The timestamped description suggests it covers multiple variations, making it useful for viewers specifically interested in jar-based storage.
6. How Amish Preserve Meat Without Refrigeration
Frugal Solutions · 2.5M views · 24:40 · 2024
At nearly 25 minutes, this is the longest video in the round-up, surveying the traditional preservation methods used on Amish farms — dry curing, smoking, lard sealing and cellar storage. It suits viewers who want an overview of several methods in one sitting.
This one can only be played on YouTube – the channel has embedding turned off. Open it on YouTube.
7. How to Preserve Meat with no Refrigeration – Biltong 101
Clay Hayes · 2M views · 15:38 · 2025
Survival instructor Clay Hayes devotes this 15-minute video to biltong, the South African air-dried meat. It's a focused single-method demonstration from a well-known bushcraft channel, ideal if air-drying is the specific approach you're researching.
8. I Tried Every Ancient Way to Preserve Meat
Guga Foods · 2M views · 18:44 · 2025
Guga Foods brings his trademark experiment format to preservation, trying a range of ancient methods — salting, smoking, aging in ashes, mold and fat — and tasting the results over 18 minutes. It's the most entertaining watch on the list and suits viewers who want a broad, engaging comparison rather than a tutorial.
9. Survival Instructor Teaches How to Preserve Meat in Wilderness: Survival Food Rations
Coalcracker Bushcraft · 1.7M views · 7:44 · 2021
This compact 7-minute field demonstration from Coalcracker Bushcraft features a survival instructor covering meat preservation in a wilderness context. It's the fastest option for viewers who want the outdoor-survival angle without a long runtime.
10. Survival Expert shows How to make JERKY in the Wilderness
Clay Hayes · 1.6M views · 10:03 · 2025
Clay Hayes' second entry on the list is a 10-minute wilderness jerky demonstration. It's a practical field-style video aimed squarely at outdoors and survival viewers, and pairs naturally with his biltong video at number seven.
Ranked by YouTube view count as of October 11, 2026. View counts move around, so the order here reflects the day this list was compiled. All videos belong to their respective creators – watching them here plays them directly from YouTube, so views and any ad revenue still go to the channel.
