The existence of a ready-to-eat meal with a long shelf life is essential, particularly for emergency food and military diet, as well as for alternative food for modern society. Rendang is a well-known Indonesian traditional food which may be packaged in a retort bag by employing a sterilization process. The sterilization value of Rendang is presently still limited. This study aimed to estimate sterilization value or heat sufficiency (F 0) using the General Method and the Ball Formula Method. The estimated value was then compared with the value obtained from the experiment. It was further used to predict process time (P t) to minimize the need for trial optimization on the product. The thermal sterilization process was carried out using a horizontal retort with a pressure of 1.3 bar for 40 minutes. The results showed that the F 0 values predicted were in a close agreement with the observed (experimental) values. F 0 values were 5.88, 5.17, and 5.91 minutes for the General Method, Formula Method, and the observation, respectively. The P t values of Beef Rendang in a retort bag with F 0 values of 4, 5, 8, 10, and 12 minutes were 25, 27, 31, 34, and 36 minutes for retort temperature of 123°C, respectively. Whereas for a retort temperature of 121°C, the P t values were 28, 30, 36, 39, and 42 minutes, respectively. In conclusion, both the General Method and Ball Formula are accurate to estimate the sterilization value of Beef Rendang packaged in Retort Pouch.