Hi Tyco,
Why not dry your cooked ground beef and not have any worries at all about spoilage? Then you really start to enjoy lighter packs and have all the meat you want for delicious meals.
Cook the burger and spoon out with a draining spoon into another bowl. You can (1) dry it with some fat in it, and it will be fine for many days, or (2) you can de-fat and it will keep more or less forever.
(1) Place cooked drained burger on cookie sheets in an oven on low heat with the door partially open overnight, and it will be nice and dry in the morning. Or dry on fruit roll-up trays on your food dehydrator. Store in freezer, and when ready to use, thaw out and dry cold condensation, and use in whatever one pot meal or fry pan meal you want. The fat is rendered, so its more stable and will last for many days.
(2) Place cooked and drained burger hot into a tupperware type container, and pour boiling water over it, plus any marinade you may like. Place in fridge and the fat will float to the surface and solidify like ice on a lake. Peel off the solid fat a day or so later, spoon out defatted burger and dry using over or food dehydrator. The defatted burger will store forever without freezer burn in sealed mason jars in the freezer. It will last all summer in zip lock bags in the field. Its so dry and with no fat its very stable.
Once you discover how easy drying meat is for camping, you may never use fresh water logged food again!
