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Vacuum sealing frozen meat

Beartooth83

Beartooth83

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I just got my meat back from a processor that I haven't used before. The link sausages and jerky are just wrapped in butcher paper. I want to vacuum seal all this meat to prolong its freezer life. Do you see any issues with vacuum sealing it frozen, or does it need to be thawed and THEN vacuum sealed? Any experience with this?
 
I usually vacuum seal meat before it is frozen, but I do vacuum seal jalapeño poppers wrapped in bacon that I freeze before I seal them and that works good, so I think it should work.
 
Butcher paper will eventually allow air in causing freezer burn. Vacuum sealing is the only way to go, I've had meat sealed for up to 2 years with no freezer burn.
 
If it's wrapped first with plastic wrap and then butcher paper over that, it should be fine in the freezer for quite some time. I've had meat wrapped like that get lost in my freezer and three to four years later when it was found, we cooked it up and it was perfectly good. If your sausage and jerky is double wrapped I wouldn't worry about it.
 
I've done it before, only issue is water crystals getting sucked up. Gotta watch the seal. Doing the double seal helps that. It didn't happen very often.
 
I don't have any experience with vacuum sealing already wrapped items, but I would definitely not recommend you thawing it to freeze it again. I agree with the others in that meat that is wrapped correctly lasts just as long or longer than some vacuum sealed items. The first set of bags I used did not seem to be thick enough and I ended up with bags in the freezer that were no longer vacuum sealed - there was air and ice crystals in there. I think it was from getting moved around and eventually punctured. I fixed that problem by being really careful with the frozen items for that year. Now I just use better quality, thicker bags and have not had an issue.
 
I agree, plastic wrap and butcher paper is best IMO. I've yet to see a vac bag that held a seal unless you handle them like fragile eggs.
 
Ditto the plastic wrap & freezer paper.

Have found 3 yr old meat that is fine.
Have found vac sealed fail in a year.The plastic chub bags for grind is total junk ,holes as you put it in freezer and even then it gets freezer burn bad after a year.
 
I went bag to using gallon freezer ziplock bags inside of lined butcher paper after seeing way too many vacuum sealed bags failing in the freezer. I've also used PVC package sealing wrap on odd sized and shaped cuts with good success. But, I won't ever go back to vacuum sealing game meat that will last for possibly years in the freezer.
 
We have always double wrapped with plastic wrap first, and then freezer paper. We experimented with vacuum seal this year. I am already seeing discolored meat and freezer burn where the bags touched the sides of the freezer. We bought bags of medium thickness. The bags seem to tear very easily. We will go back to double wrapping.
 
I agree with what most people have said. If properly wrapped freezer paper is the best. How long do you plan on keeping it frozen? a few years? Most vacuum sealers will do an ok job depending on the bags you use. But working in the food industry for several years I have found plastic wrapped meat along with freezer paper will out last most vacuum sealers. If you have a professional vacuum sealer do it then that is a different story. I would not waste the time and money to redo it all.

There was a semi local meat market 50 miles away that closed shop this fall. I bought 3 giant rolls of pretty thick plastic to wrap meat in not sure what the retail on them is but if I had a choice id go the freezer paper and plastic way.
 
I just cant wrap with butcher paper for crap and it is so time consuming. I really don't go more than a year on most of my game meat. if I have a little bit of freezer burn I just cut it away.

To the OP yes you can repackage with vacuum bags frozen. When I have done brats I would flash freeze them first on a cookie sheet and then vacuum seal them. I felt it worked better than squashing them.
 
i've got some deer in the freezer that i've been eating on that was wrapped in plastic then paper from 2013. Still perfectly good. I wrap all my meat this way and never have any freezer burn.
 
maxx said:
I just cant wrap with butcher paper for crap and it is so time consuming. I really don't go more than a year on most of my game meat. if I have a little bit of freezer burn I just cut it away.

To the OP yes you can repackage with vacuum bags frozen. When I have done brats I would flash freeze them first on a cookie sheet and then vacuum seal them. I felt it worked better than squashing them.
Click to expand...

That's what I do Maxx. Partially freeze whatever I want to vacuum seal. Works better without all the moisture of the meat being sucked into the sealer trench. Just make sure you have no sharp edges/points on the meat, or they may puncture the bag. Been doing it like that for years, no more butcher paper wrapping for me, it takes too long.
 
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