Freezer paper or vacuum seal meat?

[jarheadhunter]

I use the plastic wrap and paper and works great. We are still eating the last few packages of meat from a bull I killed 5 years ago in Oct. It still taste the same to me as it did 5 years ago.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

I'm a ziplock sandwich bag & freezer paper guy. Stumbled across a couple packages of steak that were 10+yrs old and they tasted as fresh as the day I wrapped them. They stack great and I don't find any freezer burn....zero.
Hunt'nFish

 

[fillthefreezer]

sidetrack: whats your best place to get freezer paper and maybe even the plastic bags the butchers use?

 

[Becca]

See if you have a local butcher supply store. A friend picked up the stickers that say what type of game is in each package (moose, deer, goat, etc.) and said they had a good selection at ours. I usually just buy the Reynolds brand freezer paper in big rolls at our grocery store, because they take up less space and I can keep them in the kitchen cupboards. Look on the aisle with the wax paper and aluminum foil, or sometimes the picnic aisle.

 

[bobhunts]

Becca down here the stickers would say " Organic or Non-Organic" Too sad! Most people don't even know what the best organic meat is! Of the 600 lbs of processed Moose meat we had shipped home from Alaska ( we donated a bunch) we paid extra to have it put in some kind of plastic pouch before it was wrapped in freezer paper. When I got home a vacume sealed it all so none goes to waste given the cost of obtaining it. Grilled moose burgers tonight and the garage smells like heaven. I have eaten elk in just freezer paper after two years and it was still fine but not sure it would keep much longer. Bob.

 

[Hunt'nFish]

sidetrack: whats your best place to get freezer paper and maybe even the plastic bags the butchers use?

I usually by my Reynolds plastic coated freezer paper at Bi-Mart, 150sq-ft rolls. But I think just about any grocery store carries it. For tape I just use blue painters tape.

Put meat in zip-loc bag, squeeze out air, zip shut, wrap on the diagonal. I end up with a bunch of uniform bricks that stack nicely in the freezer w/ no sharp plastic edges cutting up each other like vac bags. That's the main reason I don't use vac bags. They are just a PITA to stack and it seems I was always finding cuts/tears in the bags which led to freezer burn.
Hunt'nFish

 

[bowtech3dhunter]

I use the vacuum seal for steaks and those 1lb bags from Cabelas for burger. They are cheap and work great.

 

[T43]

I have been using a sealer but if my wife lucks out and gets a moose it will be partially wrapped. Sealing would take a week with the little machine I have

 

[elkmtngear]

I ate some elk steaks the other night that were wrapped by a butcher in 2009.

Cling type plastic wrap around the meat, and then well wrapped in butcher paper. I was amazed at how good it looked when I unwrapped it.

That being said, I usually vacuum pack if I do it myself.

 

[cwh]

We do the vacuum sealer. Did a bunch with plastic wrap/freezer paper, and it works just fine. Even pretty fast if you set up a roll of paper and can tear off squares.

We lucked into a commercial sealer, and a buddy has the identical model. Two single-bagger chamber sealers go pretty quickly if you get the rhythm down. I don't know how many foodsavers we went through before I finally saw the light. Nothing like getting home after a full day of fishing, start putting up fish and the sealer dies.... grrr.

We load the chest freezer with plastic trays (or cut down boxes when we run out) full of like items. Stacking is a non-issue, and you can actually get to all of it.

You do have to be careful with the bags once the meat/fish is frozen. Tossing them around will cut the bags when hard stuff hits other hard stuff.

 

[Lawnboi]

Vac seal with a chamber vac. Same one stid has on the last page.

Bags are dirt cheap. You can seal liquids. We vacuum seal everything. No more zip locks or expensive food saver bags.

The chamber vacs are more expensive, but they will pay for themselves on bag savings alone vs a food saver

 

[Salmo-Priest]

Plastic wrap and paper for me. I dont like to baby schit in the freezer. Vac pak's will get a leak and that aint good. IME

 

[Climber]

For yall that are running the commercial and chamber sealers, what model do you recommend? I'm tired of these cheap FoodSavers burning up and I'm always stingy with making the bags and 1/3 don't seal well.

 

[Lawnboi]

I have the vac master that is pictured on the other page of the thread. Works great.

Vp112 is the model

 

[Ray]

I have a VP112 as well. A few years ago the online seller was having a sale, and I saved about $250 after shipping added back in.

It works well, did have a seal bar actuator issue last year. Easy fix with a $10 part from the vac master parts supplier.

The chamber is large enough to do decent sized roasts or two salmon chunks side by side.

 

[lintond]

I'm a ziplock sandwich bag & freezer paper guy. Stumbled across a couple packages of steak that were 10+yrs old and they tasted as fresh as the day I wrapped them. They stack great and I don't find any freezer burn....zero.
Hunt'nFish

I do similar. Growing up we always had our beef and game meat processed at the butcher and they would wrap in plastic then paper. It seemed to work well. My buddy turned me onto using zip lock freezer bags then wrapped in paper. It works well and no issues thawing out the meat or transporting.

It also saves me the stress of dealing with plastic wrap. I swear that stuff hates me and ends up all folded over in a mess.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[KJH]

Saran wrap and freezer paper for meat works pretty well but is a PITA, if you are doing fish a vac sealer is the only way to go. Spend a grand on a chamber vac and bags are only 7 cents per. Have burned up several foodsavers and would never go back. Only thing I wrap now is large items (bone in venison hindquarter etc).

Agree with this 100%.

 

[TauPhi111]

+1 for the vacuum sealer. A cheapo one will last if you take care of it by making sure no meat juices get into the pump. I had a Foodsaver that lasted for 2 seasons before it shit the bed, which was probably my fault for not doing what I just said. I then bought a Rival brand at Walmart that has amazed me how long it has lasted. It might need a new sealer strip after this year, but other than that it is a tank. I also have never had a problem with bags leaking/loosing vacuum as long as you make sure there are no sharp edges on the meat from bones and the seal has not been corrupted from juices. Probably have done close to 15+ deer over the past 10ish years with it.

 

[justin davis]

I prefer freezer paper. I do suran wrap and then freezer paper.

My experience with vacuum sealed bags is that they can get tiny pin holes and get air in. I've had a lot of meat freezer
Burned because of the small hole.

 

[Michiganhunter]

I used my food saver to make a small survival kit. I’ll open it next year or so to see if the lighter and space blanket still work