Get salt, you can dry the beef. I just use soy sauce, or smoke sauce, some just with salt and pepper and some with red or green chile powder. I rarely do beef just elk and deer. I even have a thingamajig that my son bought that squirts out ground meat for jerky.
You can also plant some of those dry beans. You can eat them green if you string them or raise them to maturity.
You can make jerky from ground meat? I have the grinder, sausage maker, but never figured out how to make jerky out of it. What kind of salt, and how much is recommended? It is also a good barter item, along with quality bar soap.