Freezing wild game meat.

ShadeTree

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Mar 6, 2017
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Everybody has their own methods. Here's what works well for me. On meat that's gonna be cut up for hamburg I spend a lot of time cutting off all the silver skin, tallow, etc prior to grinding. It makes for some top notch hamburg.

But on backstrap pieces, roasts, etc, I let all the silver skin on and I don't vacuum pack red meat but instead roll each piece up tightly in saran wrap, then wrap in freezer paper. Trim off that silver skin prior to cooking and underneath is bright red fresh meat even a yr later. With the outer layer of silver skin, saran wrap, and freezer paper, it gives excellent protection.
 
After the grind, I stuff the ground inside Lem one pound game bags, I normally stuff it and get 1.60 pounds, enough for four mouths at dinner. As for steaks, cubes and scraps, I use a vacuum sealer. Would stuffing them in Lem bags and roll them up in butcher paper preserve it longer? Sometimes after a year I see some freezer burns and some meat browning.

I like the idea of butcher paper but could not find the one with the wax lining on the inside. Is that the one you use? Is the wax lining on the inside bad to one's own health? Just concerned for health issues.
 
TackDriver 284 I do not have a vacuum sealer to use on my meat. I get 1/2 gallon size soft in plastic baggies and squeeze all the air out. I then wrap them in butcher paper that does have the wax lining. I do not feel that it in any way is a health concern. They have been making butcher paper like that for a long long time. I've had meat in the freezer for two years and it still has been fine eating.
 
Yes the kind with the lining on 1 side. It's just called Freezer paper, Reynolds is the most common but I'm sure several companies make it. You should be able to find the Reynolds pretty much anywhere including Walmart. I wouldn't know why the wax or plastic lining on the inside of that paper would matter in a freezer, they've been packing meat that way for decades including what you buy frozen at the butchers. I'm not going to claim it's better than vacuum packing, but wrapped up in that cling wrap that I call Saran wrap, and then the freezer paper, it's well protected for a long time.

For hamburg I buy those heavy plastic hamburg bags from my local butcher shop for 8 cents a piece, so I can put away 100 lb of hamburg for $8. They have a line on the back of them that shows where 1 lb is and that's where we pack them to, but you could get more than that in them.

 
I have a vac sealer and use it on meat that I plan on wet seasoning or for marinating but I use the method mentioned above of cling ,saran wrap and freezer paper if I plan on storing in freezer for a long period .If saran wrap - freezer paper then vacuum seal who knows how long it would last

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This is the method I use.No freezer burn on meat I stored this way.Had a few packs two years and no burn.







 
This is the way I do it.I'd had some meat 3yrs with no burn.
 

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