About 40 years ago, give or take, an English teacher in northern
Georgia (state) US got his students as an exercise to start
interviewing older people to learn how they had lived in times past.
The resulting stories and instructions on how to accomplish things
without electricity were so good he published the collection as the
Fox Fire book. It became quite popular and resulted in a whole
series. I am certain that the Fox Fire series contains many articles
on how to prepare and preserve food prior to the invention of
refrigeration.

Another, perhaps even better source of knowledge, which is even
relatively inexpensive, are the books and pamphlets that you can get
from the US Department of Agriculture. To get a list of the titles
available and the costs, go to the US Government Printing Office.
Many of the pamphlets are short and quite specific. You will be
amazed at the topics that are available and how cheap they are to
purchase. In addition to helping farmers grow and produce food, one
of the major mandates of the Dept of Agriculture is the preparation
and preservation of food.

For modern foods and containers that would work well on a boat, check
out camping, backpacking, etc. books and magazines.

Lee Huddleston
s/v Truelove