I had to throw out a bunch of whitetail and what I am doing about it

[StuartHunts]

Hey Everyone!

After throwing out a bunch of whitetail due to freezer burn a little while back I decided enough was enough. I was tired of throwing out my spoils, and felt a little bit guilty to boot. There has to be a way to keep food fresh, and to keep it from being freezer burned. I started reading around and found my solution. A vacuum sealer.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I set out to buy something I tend to obsess over it. I have to know all of the nuances to make sure I am getting the right one for me, and at a fair price. I wound up spending more than a month reading through everything I could on vacuum sealers before making a purchase. Instead of letting all of that go to waste I decided to share it with everyone in the form of a buyer's guide. Check it out if you are thinking of picking up a vacuum sealer.

You can read the guide at The Best Food Vacuum Sealer - A buyer's guide plus tips and tricks. It's got some nifty tips and tricks, too.

I've also started a vacuum sealer bag and roll discount buyer's club. I find the best prices on vacuum sealer bags and rolls and email you where and when to get them. Sign up here The Best Food Vacuum Sealer - Vacuum Sealer Bags & Roll Discount Club

I decided to post this after reading through the "carrying oil in backpack" thread

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I vacuum seal all my game meat and store it in manual defrosting freezer, I've never needed to throw anything away and have had stuff 2yrs old before. I usually by rolls off amazon for $18-22 for a pair of 50' rolls 8" and/or 11" depending on what I want. I just use a basic foodsaver V2222 that has help up for quite some time.

Some anti-foodsaver folks I know that butcher their own stuff wrap in syranwrap and then foil with good results too I guess.

 

[go4thegusto]

I vacuum seal all my game meat and store it in manual defrosting freezer, I've never needed to throw anything away and have had stuff 2yrs old before. I usually by rolls off amazon for $18-22 for a pair of 50' rolls 8" and/or 11" depending on what I want. I just use a basic foodsaver V2222 that has help up for quite some time.

Some anti-foodsaver folks I know that butcher their own stuff wrap in syranwrap and then foil with good results too I guess.

Ditto that. I vacuum pack all meat It will keep many years in a non-frost free deep freeze.

 

[StuartHunts]

I vacuum seal all my game meat and store it in manual defrosting freezer, I've never needed to throw anything away and have had stuff 2yrs old before. I usually by rolls off amazon for $18-22 for a pair of 50' rolls 8" and/or 11" depending on what I want. I just use a basic foodsaver V2222 that has help up for quite some time.

Some anti-foodsaver folks I know that butcher their own stuff wrap in syranwrap and then foil with good results too I guess.

It must take you forever to vacuum seal all of your meat though, since you can only seal so many times consecutively before having to take a break. If your FoodSaver dies you should check out the Weston one that I wrote about on the page.

Sometimes I find roll material cheaper than that. Sign up for the discount club list and I'll tell you about it when I find it.

 

[StuartHunts]

@go4thegusto
I wish I had known that before

 

[colonel00]

Chamber sealers are great but pricey. We use a VacMaster VP215 and it's awesome

 

[Becca]

I am a huge fan of vacuum sealers, and use my foodsaver on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. That being said, almost all of our game meat gets double wrapped in freezer paper. Cheaper, and faster than vacuum sealing it all. I have eaten moose, sheep and deer steaks that were 4+ years old, and never encountered any issues with freezer burn. Our ground meat and ground sausage we usually wrap in plastic wrap and then freezer paper, but again no issues at all even after several years of freezer storage. We do wrap salmon fillets in plastic wrap and then vacuum seal, and our game processor vacuum seals all cured salamis, hotdogs and polish.

Not sure what we might be doing differently than anyone else, we currently have one chest freezer and two stand up freezers for our game meat. Depending on the time of year, freezers range from 1/2 to totally full.

 

[StuartHunts]

Chamber sealers are great but pricey. We use a VacMaster VP215 and it's awesome

and heavy and BIG! I will be adding a bit about Chamber sealers on my buyer's guide soon. I just didn't think many people would want them due to size, weight, and price! :O

 

[StuartHunts]

I am a huge fan of vacuum sealers, and use my foodsaver on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. That being said, almost all of our game meat gets double wrapped in freezer paper. Cheaper, and faster than vacuum sealing it all. I have eaten moose, sheep and deer steaks that were 4+ years old, and never encountered any issues with freezer burn. Our ground meat and ground sausage we usually wrap in plastic wrap and then freezer paper, but again no issues at all even after several years of freezer storage. We do wrap salmon fillets in plastic wrap and then vacuum seal, and our game processor vacuum seals all cured salamis, hotdogs and polish.

Not sure what we might be doing differently than anyone else, we currently have one chest freezer and two stand up freezers for our game meat. Depending on the time of year, freezers range from 1/2 to totally full.

I am really surprised that freezer paper did so well for you. Wow, that is pretty awesome. Maybe I need a tutorial on wrapping with freezer paper properly?

Be sure to join the discount club then Becca, I am sure you use a lot of roll and bag material if you use the vacuum sealer that often. Let me help you save some money Here's the link again for you!

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

It must take you forever to vacuum seal all of your meat though, since you can only seal so many times consecutively before having to take a break. If your FoodSaver dies you should check out the Weston one that I wrote about on the page.

I can only butcher so fast solo so it tends to self regulate. I'll butcher a quarter or two and then seal up those cuts (setting the trim aside to grind all that at once), repeat. When it comes around to the trim meat I plan ahead and make up a bunch of bags while I'm sitting in front of the TV one day. Weight & pack a batch with ground meat and then seal, when it gets hot after a dozen or so, then I'll weigh and pack the next wave. With a bit of foresight to make bags ahead and also know how much to try to seal at once it balances our fine for my solo butchering, esp. considering I believe I paid $30 for it years ago (maybe 2008?) and hundreds of pounds. I actually purchased a spare one during a sale last year (along with a bunch of included premade bags) for a similarly low cost since I figure it'll give out at some point, that also means I have a second unit to work with now as well. Hard to complain about the value for the cost.

Its not an industrial unit, if one is going production line style a chamber sealer is the way to go but that is $$$.

 

[beetlespin]

I am going to have to disagree with everybody here. I prefer to saran wrap and then freezer paper. Vacuum sealed bags get sharp edges and then puncture in the freezer if you are digging around in it. Ive never had to toss a freezer paper one but have had a few go bad in vacuum sealed bags. I usually just make stew out of those. Ive eaten meat that got away from me that was 6 years old and still good. I only use the vacuum sealer for vegetables now. Steve Rinella has lots of information about it on his podcast and youtube as well.

 

[StuartHunts]

I can only butcher so fast solo so it tends to self regulate. I'll butcher a quarter or two and then seal up those cuts (setting the trim aside to grind all that at once), repeat. When it comes around to the trim meat I plan ahead and make up a bunch of bags while I'm sitting in front of the TV one day. Weight & pack a batch with ground meat and then seal, when it gets hot after a dozen or so, then I'll weigh and pack the next wave. With a bit of foresight to make bags ahead and also know how much to try to seal at once it balances our fine for my solo butchering, esp. considering I believe I paid $30 for it years ago (maybe 2008?) and hundreds of pounds. I actually purchased a spare one during a sale last year (along with a bunch of included premade bags) for a similarly low cost since I figure it'll give out at some point, that also means I have a second unit to work with now as well. Hard to complain about the value for the cost.

Its not an industrial unit, if one is going production line style a chamber sealer is the way to go but that is $$$.

Wow you have quite the system worked out. You also got a killer deal on that sealer! nice! I am kinda jealous.

 

[StuartHunts]

I am going to have to disagree with everybody here. I prefer to saran wrap and then freezer paper. Vacuum sealed bags get sharp edges and then puncture in the freezer if you are digging around in it. Ive never had to toss a freezer paper one but have had a few go bad in vacuum sealed bags. I usually just make stew out of those. Ive eaten meat that got away from me that was 6 years old and still good. I only use the vacuum sealer for vegetables now. Steve Rinella has lots of information about it on his podcast and youtube as well.

I am going to check out Steve Rinella, thanks for the suggestion. I haven't had any issues with sharp edges and puncturing. Weird. I suppose you could always round the corners with scissors though?

 

[beetlespin]

I think its more the crinkled up edges that cause it with frozen ice underneath. If you don't root around all over in your freezer you probably won't run into it but I am always loosing stuff and that when it happens for me. If it gets punctured it doesn't take long and the meat gets burnt. it all depends on your organization style maybe. I think an upright freezer might run into this less, i love the capacity of my big chest though.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

I am going to have to disagree with everybody here. I prefer to saran wrap and then freezer paper. Vacuum sealed bags get sharp edges and then puncture in the freezer if you are digging around in it. Ive never had to toss a freezer paper one but have had a few go bad in vacuum sealed bags. I usually just make stew out of those. Ive eaten meat that got away from me that was 6 years old and still good. I only use the vacuum sealer for vegetables now. Steve Rinella has lots of information about it on his podcast and youtube as well.

Yeah I mentioned above some folks I know get good results with syran wrap and foil as well.

I've not really run into issues with bags regularly loosing a seal but I try to organize my cuts going in so I'm inherently not rooting around a ton. I have some boxes fit to the shelves in my freezer I stack the meat into.

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

Wow you have quite the system worked out. You also got a killer deal on that sealer! nice! I am kinda jealous.

I posted a link back in May for a blue or yellow unit (I don't care about the color) with 70bags for $40 during a memorial weekend sale. That's the extra unit I picked up.

 

[Bulldawg]

I won't use a vacuum sealer for game meat, fish absolutely that's the best way, but for venison it is all wrapped in saran wrap and freezer paper. Just get all the air our and wrap up tight and get it taped up good. Vacuum seal bags always tend to break a seal or get a leak somewhere that allows air to get in there and create freezer burn. I've had game meat that was 2-3 years old in the bottom of the freezer I've found that taste just fine. The ground meat we stuff into burger bags and seal those off and freeze, burger meat doesn't tend to last very long around here though and we don't usually get much of it compared to our roasts and steaks.

Also, neat stacked white packages look better in the freezer than a bunch of freezer bags stacked in there.

Speaking of all this I might check and make sure that there isn't anything old in my freezer tonight.

 

[Deerjunky]

Plus one for saran wrap and freezer paper way cheaper, faster and far less delicate in my opinion

 

[pods8 (Rugged Stitching)]

To each their own for sure. I'd just note in my personal experience I don't have regular bag failures. I just inventoried my freezer (getting low) last week and there are a couple packages in there 2yrs old that are still sealed fine along with all the stuff from last fall also still sealed. But yes the syran wrap and then freezer paper or foil certainly works too.

One of the reasons I like vacuum bags too is we pull a package out and drop it in a pot of water in the fridge to expedite thawing regularly.

 

[StuartHunts]

I keep my freezer very organized now. I haven't had any bags fail so far. I also double seal, though. Takes very little time for the extra assurance. I guess time will tell for me.

Bulldawg, let us know what you find in your freezer How many layers of saran wrap do you use?

I don't have many friends that hunt, and honestly I don't know anyone that uses freezer paper so this is somewhat of a surprise for me.