Instant freezer burn? Ideas?

[ThrowawayPNW]

Put a nice chocolate boar down Monday morning. Got it skinned and dressed out in some increasing morning heat. Got in the cooler fairly quickly. This is where things get interesting due to time and travel restraints I had to butcher at a relatives, put in large ziploc freezer bags and into a fridge top freezer. Went to pick it up today and ice crystals have formed in most the bags. Probably due to so much meat dropping the temp of the small freezer. My question is if I took a nail brush to it and repackaged in my standard cling wrap and butcher paper would it be worth it or is the damage done? Thanks for the feedback Rokslide... you’re my only hope.

 

[rlmmarine]

Just repackage it and vacume seal it you should be fine

 

[idelkslayer]

Ice crystals forming in the bags is different than freezer burn. Ice crystals usually form anywhere in the packaging that air pockets remain between the plastic and the meat and is due to the moisture that is trapped there becoming frozen. The presence of these air pockets can contribute to future freezer burn because it is long term exposure of meat to the dry cold air that dries out the meat. Based on your description I would say there has been no damage done and you should have no problem repackaging the meat.

 

[coffeefirst]

To prevent the ice crystals when using bags and later freezer burn, put the meat into the freezer bag, put that into a bucket of water all the way until just before the water goes over the lips of the bag and then seal it. This gets most of the air out of the bag. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, this is the next best way that I know of!

 

[Mattt]

The water bucket is a good idea.

 

[ThrowawayPNW]

Thanks for the advice. Everything turned out fine. Thanks for letting me bump an old thread as well.