Buy yourself a vacuum sealer and it will last over a year. They way it is now you will probably start seeing freezer burn and other issues after 6 months, maybe even before that. A Food Saver Vacuum Sealer will be money well spent.

 

agree, well worth it!!!

 

I agree on the food saver. Easily get a year if you use a good one.

 

Wrapped in butcher paper you will start to see freezer burn in 4-6 months on the packages place towards the bottom of the freezer. The higher place packages will last longer due to the slightly warmer air in the freezer. I know this from a hard lesson.

A Food Saver vaccum sealer is ideal for all long term freezer storage.

 

Still have 2 year old moose steaks and burger in the freezer that taste as good as the day I shot it. It is double wrapped in butcher paper, no freezer burn.

 

I have to agree with this. We have had moose, deer, caribou, sheep, etc in the freezer for at least 2 years with no problem during the past 44 years. We wrap it tightly in a baggie, doing our best to squeeze out air, then wrap it in butcher paper. We have had no freezer burn and it has always kept fine. I can't disagree that a vacuum sealer would be a good move, but even without it you should have no problem for well over a year. When we started processing our own meat there was no vacuum sealing available and since we have never had a problem we didn't ever bother to switch to it.

 

I personally use a Vacuum Sealer but if you wrap it tight in Saran Wrap and then in Butcher wrap it will last a lot longer than straight Butcher Paper.

 

I found a package of 3 year old elk burger in the back of the freezer a couple months ago. It was packaged in a freezer ziplock bag, and was still the same color and flavor as all the others had been.

 

Should be good for a couple years if its packed right.... never lasts that long in my freezer so:noidea:

 

I agree with others on this a food saver is the way to go leave it wrapped then seal it for freshness Coscto has the new Stand up model out it works great.

 

Wrapped in Saran and then butcher paper, I've had meat from elk, moose, caribou, fish last 3 years. Foodsaver about the same.

 

Same here, my family's been doing this for as long as I can remember and is the way I was taught when I started hunting and learning to butcher my own. Every once in a while I'll find a package in the back of the freezer that got "skipped" and it will be fine even after 2-3 years.

 

always double wrap with freazer paper...that stuff is way cheeper then your elk meat... vacumn pack / seal a meal is a plus but not needed...depends on how much you have and how fast you go through it:set1_pot::nod::hungry::hungry::hungry:

 

i cant see meat staying in the freezer for more than 6 months...its too tasty:darkbeer:

 

I don't know! You should send it to me for quality testing to find out.

 

Part of it depends on your freezer. Self-defrosting freezers don't hold product nearly as well as the manual defrost models.

The self-defrosting models heat up the coils daily to defrost the ice on them; this also has a warming effect on anything inside the freezer thus shortening the shelf life. Manual defrost units never go on a defrost cycle so your shelf life is much longer.

The ratio is like 3 years vs 1 year, depending on how well your meat is packaged.

 

Don't know. My freezer is packed to the gills in elk and mule deer (I'm not the only one that killed elk...for a change). It never lasts very long before we run out. The elk Italian sausage we ground this year is REALLY good!! So is the the mule deer breakfast sausage. We outdone ourselves.

 

My butcher told me he vaccuum sealed some elk steaks and left them in his freezer for 5 years and when he tried them...they were still good!

 

I've always thought about buying one of those vacuum contraptions..Still using a good ol' double lock freezer bag and submerged it in water to all the air is out.. Been working great thus far...I guess it's the poor mans version of the vacuum sealer..:smile:

 

I have mistakenly "lost" some elk in the freezer and found it 7 years later. Is vacuum bagged with a Foodsaver and was still edible with only very minimal burn that could be cut off.

 

2 years is the max most of the time but if theres no freezer burn it could last even longer. i personally don't ever have meat last longer than 1 year

 

Air and light affect meat. Saran wrap or vacuum seal, have not found much difference if wrapped tight with no air, then wrap with butcher paper. The biggest difference as mentioned is the self defrosting freezers. These cause freezer burn much faster than the manual defrost ones. I have also eaten elk over three years old that tasted great.

 

food saver is ok but if you look around for a commercial like the bucher shops or a fishing guide uses you will never be happier.did 1 elk and it burned up the motor sent my food saver back 3 times the commercial one i bought was 100.00 more and has lasted for 3 elk and two mulies and hundreds of salmon and steelhead well worth the extra hundred bucks or so also the commercial one has a double piston in the vacuum and will give you a better seal

 

Can you vacuum seal frozen meat?

 

Yes you can..

Like people already stated, depends on how its packaged and most importantly is if you have a frostless freezer or not.. Frostless freezers will freezer burn meat far faster than manual freezers..

 

i rap it in plastic wrap and then wrap it twice in butcher paper and i still have deer steacks from 3 years ago that are as good as the day i put them in the freezer

 

i cooked the last of last years elk chops about 3 weeks ago (had to make room for this years elk) and it was fine. i wrap mine in Suran Wrap and then freezer paper. it showed no signs of freezer burn and tasted great.