# Wild game and freezing meat!!!



## bheem (Jan 18, 2019)

I hunt and all of my red meat typically is harvested in the fall. I believe vacuum packing meat ASAP after it is butchered I’d te best practice. (I have a good chamber sealer) However Some of my buddies think siran wrap and butcher paper is better against freezer burn, from what I can tell vacuum packs work best any one else have any advice?https://downloader.vip/rufus/ appsync.biz/123movies/ https://ovo.fyi/gomovies/


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## ravenclan (Jan 18, 2019)

I will take vacuum packing over any thing else. freezer burn is due to air pockets in the wrapping and vacuum packing takes the air out.
I have had some meat over a year old and you could not tell the difference in taste.


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## biteme7951 (Jan 18, 2019)

Vacuum Packing for me.

Barry.


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## gmc2003 (Jan 18, 2019)

Vacuum packing for me also.

Chris


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## James Coburn (Jan 18, 2019)

Without a doubt vacuum seal it!
I just pulled some ground deer that i sealed last season and there was no freezer burn.


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## collinh (Jan 18, 2019)

Between family members we typically harvest 6-10 deer per year, and from pulling the trigger to putting supper on the table we do the entire process ourselves. It's our primary meat source. I say that to say we've got some experience with this.

Over the years we have used both vacuum sealing and plastic-lined butcher paper. There are definitely pros and cons to each, and either can be used successfully to freeze meat for up to two years.

We came to the conclusion that vacuum sealing wasn't worth the hassle and cost, so the past few years we've used plastic lined butcher wrap for all cut meats along with 1-2 lb poly bags for ground meat. Significantly cheaper and faster. It's all in your wrap technique, squeezing out as much air as you can, and using quality tape. And for us, the paper process is easier for the kids to pitch in and help.

We've had vacuum packs where the sealer didn't quite "weld" the two layers together, but didn't realize it until the meat thawed. Never used saran wrap so I can't comment on that.


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## smokinbarrles (Jan 18, 2019)

i use plastic wrap and freezer paper. i also think aging venison is the best thing for it. usually bleed out in cooler for 10ish days prior to butchering. then plastic wrap tight, wrap in freezer paper, and freeze. ive eaten deer 6 years old that has been lost in the back without a bit of freezer burn. had a 4 year old shank just yesterday made into itallian "beef" sandwiches. and the meat looked and tasted great.


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## Winterrider (Jan 18, 2019)

Vac seal for me.
Another question on freezing,( don't mean to hy-jack thread) is how many times can you re-freeze. Ex., frozen butt thawed to make sausage. Froze sausage to make fatties later. Make (ex.)  3 fatties, freeze 2 for later. Too many times if one was to do that ?


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## collinh (Jan 18, 2019)

+1 on aging the meat. After quartering and initial processing we usually keep the meat in a cooler or fridge for at least several days—sometimes a week depending on the weather and our schedule—to let the natural enzymes break things down a bit. Helps with both flavor and tenderness.

Many folks don't realize the "fresh" steaks they buy in the grocery store have been aged, typically for several weeks.


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## chilerelleno (Jan 18, 2019)

Vac seal for me too.


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## mike243 (Jan 18, 2019)

Moisture getting pulled out if the meat for any reason or having air surrounding will cause freezer burn,a self defrosting freezer wont keep food as long as 1 with no defrost cycle,I kill and process 3-5 deer a year and have eaten 3 year old steaks,I vacuum seal all and sometimes i get a leaker due to a hole getting punched in it from another package,All methods work well but keeping the temps stable means more because a thaw and refreeze will cause burn quickly ,i work on 8+ refridges and freezers every day so I do know a little about this subject lol


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## indaswamp (Jan 18, 2019)

Vacuum sealing is better, only caveat is if the meat has bones like when freezing rabbits or squirrels, then saran wrap and freezer paper is the way to go.


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## chilerelleno (Jan 18, 2019)

indaswamp said:


> Vacuum sealing is better, only caveat is if the meat has bones like when freezing rabbits or squirrels, then saran wrap and freezer paper is the way to go.


You kill enough rabbits and squirrels to have enough to freeze?
Dammit man, my son and I gotta come hunt with y'all.


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## SonnyE (Jan 18, 2019)

I've decided for me, I prefer Vacuum Sealing.
The wife is becoming a convert... slowly.
But she is always skeptical.
Yesterday she told me to get the Ziploc'd chicken out of the freezer because it would freezer burn sooner than the Vacuum sealed.
I buy bagging material online, then make my own sized bags. 11X11 and 8X8. Works well for us.
I hunt and fish at Costco and Sam's club. Then process it down from there. 
But in Wyoming, we could live off of the game meat, and did.


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## ravenclan (Jan 18, 2019)

SonnyE said:


> I hunt and fish at Costco and Sam's club.



Made me laugh out loud here at work. had the office looking at me


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## SonnyE (Jan 18, 2019)

ravenclan said:


> Made me laugh out loud here at work. had the office looking at me



Sorry. I didn't mean to embarrass you.
But it is true. Even my wife can catch a limit of Salmon there.
And the filet's are already gutted, packaged, and froze stiff.

People are my survival meat. Taste like Pork.
(Bet that didn't make you laugh. But that's my plan.)


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## HalfSmoked (Jan 18, 2019)

Leave it too SonnyE HA HA HA You must not like the cold SonnyE.

Yup Vac seal makes food last a lot longer.

Warren


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## SonnyE (Jan 18, 2019)

HalfSmoked said:


> Leave it too SonnyE HA HA HA You must not like the cold SonnyE.
> 
> Yup Vac seal makes food last a lot longer.
> 
> Warren



I always fancied myself as a lizard.
A Southern California Lizard....


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## LanceR (Jan 19, 2019)

Freezer burn is due to either moisture loss or oxidation of the meat and both of those are directly related to air getting to the product.  Brown spots on the meat=air leaks.  Ice crystals in the package=air leaks.  The plain fact is that a sealed vacuum bag will provide better protection from air infiltration than freezer paper will provide.

Some of the folks who posted here seem to have not noticed that the original poster has a chamber vacuum sealer.  That gives him more choices than a waffle bag vacuum machine or butcher paper can offer can offer.  And it will do so at far lower cost.   The current cost of an 8x10" quart 3 mil chamber sealer bag is around $0.03 while a 4 mil quart bag is about $0.05.  Waffle bag vacuum sealers and plastic coated freezer paper can't match that cost.

For either type of vacuum sealer sharp bones present a puncture risk which is easily solved by using a bone guard pad such as the ARY Vacuum Packaging Bone Guard linked here:

https://www.meatprocessingproducts....z3AtKuKZWUpKM7vFX9VRUSZcKcGOmlURoCcicQAvD_BwE

And yes, they will work with either waffle bag or chamber sealers.






Winterrider said:


> Vac seal for me.
> Another question on freezing,( don't mean to hy-jack thread) is how many times can you re-freeze. Ex., frozen butt thawed to make sausage. Froze sausage to make fatties later. Make (ex.)  3 fatties, freeze 2 for later. Too many times if one was to do that ?



Winterrider, as the thread is about frozen food quality I suspect that you are pretty close to the original intent....

As a matter of food safety there is no practical limit to how many times you can thaw and re-freezer meat provided other best practices are followed (such as keeping it below 40* and protecting it from cross contamination).  The biggest quality issue relates to moisture loss from the repeated freezing and thawing and that is easily mitigated.

Moisture loss at thawing time most often relates to cell wall damage from the ice crystals that form during the freezing process.  Just as you will see very large ice crystals on the surface of a puddle when temperatures hover right at the freezing point, anything that slows the process of food freezing will encourage the development of larger ice crystals than quickly frozen food will see.  The result of that is more damaged cell walls than if the product had be frozen quickly.  Think of ice crystals as a bunch of little knives in your product and that your goal is keep them as small as possible.

One way improve the quality of frozen food, especially when freezing a lot of it at one time, is to chill it in the coldest part of your fridge first and put only a little at a time into your freezer.  The goal is to not lower the freezer temperature any more than is necessary and to be sure that the food package is completely surrounded by cold air to speed the freezibg process.  Putting a large quantity in the freezer over a short time period and having unfrozen packages touching each other is asking for a lower quality product when it is thawed.  Remember, the faster any given package freezes the smaller the ice crystals will be and the less cellular damage will result.  You'll be rewarded with crisper vegetables and juicier meats....

Lastly, whenever possible puncture the package when you take it out to thaw.  If the vacuum is left in the package will tend to draw moisture out of the product until you break the vacuum seal......


And now to hijack the thread a bit to add something else:  The clearest proof I can offer regarding the size of ice crystals and frozen food quality comes from an ice cream and sorbet making tip.  Take 1/4 or 1/3 of your ice cream base or sorbet mixture and freeze it in a shallow pan.  Place the rest of it in the coldest part of you fridge-usually the bottom shelf in the rear of the fridge.

Now take the frozen base and stir it into the chilled base and proceed with your recipe as before.  Your reward for the extra step is a super cooled base that will freeze in far less time resulting in a much smoother ice cream or sorbet.


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