Cost Effectively Freezing Smoked Meat

[Platinum]

Hi,
First post here. Several months ago we replaced our grill with a Char Griller gas and charcoal/smoker grill. Wasn't planning on getting into smoking, just needed a cheap grill for occasional use. I added a smoker box to the charcoal side, and after experimenting a little I am hooked!
Cold weather is coming in Virginia and with the cheap setup I have, smoking below 45 degrees is difficult as I have tried some colder evenings and it took a lot of fuel to keep it going. I was thinking I could take a couple warmer days and smoke a bunch of beef and pork and freeze it for the winter. I have frozen leftover brisket and it is still very good when reheated.
My question is, is there a cost effective way to do this? I realized quickly how expensive smoking can be and am wondering if it would be relatively cheaper per meal to smoke and freeze a large quantity. We can soups and freeze apple sauce and jams in large amounts as it is cheap and was thinking smoking a bunch of meat for the freezer could be cheap but I realize that is probably a ridiculous assumption since this is an expensive hobby by nature but I was wondering if anyone had done anything similar. Thanks in advance.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Welcome to SMF...Frozen Q is great. Reheating is easy, especially, if Vac-Packed and reheated in Simmering water or a 150°F, Sous Vide bath. As far as Cost Effective? Generally yes, Especially if you got the meat on sale!... JJ

 

[TNJAKE]

Agree with the chef. I vac seal pulled pork and brisket, chicken and lots of other stuff. Reheats amazingly. You won't even know it didn't just come right off the smoker

 

[mike243]

A SV heater works great to set the temp of the water and it will hold it right there, too hot on the stove and it will unzip your seals, I know because I turned my back while trying to simmer some brisket and ruined it.

 

[ChuxPick]

I agree with those guys up

there. What I do is watch for sells, stock up then load up the smoker. It pretty much takes the same amount of wood to smoke 2 or 3 briskets as it does 1, the same goes pretty much anything in the smoker. Once your smoker is at the temp you want it takes the same amount of smoking wood to get a1 item smoker or a full smoker to where you want it.

 

[chilerelleno]

Welcome to SMF...Frozen Q is great. Reheating is easy, especially, if Vac-Packed and reheated in Simmering water or a 150°F, Sous Vide bath. As far as Cost Effective? Generally yes, Especially if you got the meat on sale!... JJ

Ditto!

 

[Fueling Around]

Welcome.
I freeze smoked meat for later use all around the year.

Before I dumped a (cheap) offset, my fuel was mostly free from tree trimming and charcoal.
Kettle is charcoal that I use year around. I have more cold weather than most. Kettle does well in winter.

I got a pellet grill (pooper)in February. I use a Harbor Freight welding blanket to hold heat in colder and or windy conditions.
Maybe a blanket will help your winter smoking?

 

[tallbm]

Hi,
First post here. Several months ago we replaced our grill with a Char Griller gas and charcoal/smoker grill. Wasn't planning on getting into smoking, just needed a cheap grill for occasional use. I added a smoker box to the charcoal side, and after experimenting a little I am hooked!
Cold weather is coming in Virginia and with the cheap setup I have, smoking below 45 degrees is difficult as I have tried some colder evenings and it took a lot of fuel to keep it going. I was thinking I could take a couple warmer days and smoke a bunch of beef and pork and freeze it for the winter. I have frozen leftover brisket and it is still very good when reheated.
My question is, is there a cost effective way to do this? I realized quickly how expensive smoking can be and am wondering if it would be relatively cheaper per meal to smoke and freeze a large quantity. We can soups and freeze apple sauce and jams in large amounts as it is cheap and was thinking smoking a bunch of meat for the freezer could be cheap but I realize that is probably a ridiculous assumption since this is an expensive hobby by nature but I was wondering if anyone had done anything similar. Thanks in advance.

Hi there and welcome!

Oh yeah as long as u have a quality vac sealer that wont break down on you (cost a some money like $275+ but worth it) you can do exactly what you are thinking. Vac sealed smoked food is always good reheated. I rarely vac seal the whole thing as one giant chunk I usually slice up, pull, break down, and vac seal in like 1-3 meal size portions and eat that for like a day and a half :)
I defrost by putting the bag in the fridge from the freezer a day or so before. I usually heat the defrosted meat by just throwing the vac sealed bag on a paper plate and putting in a microwave. Open the bag and serve, nice and simple :)

How to approach smoking a bunch of meat? Buy whatever is on sale and do a bunch of it!

So right now turkey is on sale so buy whole turkeys and smoke whole, spatchcock, halve and smoke. Pull the meat off and vac seal.
You can also break down the turkey into parts and smoke the same way and vac seal what fits in bags or pull the meat apart and such.

Same goes for chickens. Whole chickens are often on sale for $0.99/lb or less so do them, and pull all the meat off and vac seal the meat.
***IMPORTANT: Bring or inject poultry so it isnt dry, cured/brined poultry is amazing. Also Understand that any poultry with skin on should be smoked at like 325F smoker temp or else the skin will likely be rubbery. This way u get edible skin.


Next, get pork butts when on sale and smoke 2-4 at a time. Get the 10 pounders.
Cut into chunks when done and vac seal into 2-3 meal sizes. You can also pull all the meat and do the same. I often don't want to pull apart 40 pounds of pork meat so i vac seal chunks and pull it apart once I reheat. Makes the vac seal process way more efficient but go either way.

When pork loin goes on sale (big backstrap cut) I cut them into like 2 inch chops, brine (super important to not be dry) and smoke. Then vac seal them.

Finally, if you live in TX like me and u get choice or certified angus brisket on sale for $1.67-$1.99/lb you smoke like 3 of these suckers at one time.
Slice em up and put slices into vac seal bags and done! You can also chop/shred brisket if you cook it a little longer and vac seal that too.

I have all of that stuff smoked and vac sealed in my freezers now. I hope this info helps :)

 

[SmokinAl]

Do it all the time. We are just a two people household so vac packing is a big deal. We smoke a 15 lb butt, pull it & eat it for a couple of days then vac pack it in 8 oz packs & freeze. We reheat it in the bag in a simmering pot & you can’t tell it wasn’t just pulled off the smoker.
Al

 

[Inscrutable]

Yup, same here. Always get whatever is on sale and do large batches, then portion out and vacseal, reheat in SV hot tub. Not restricted to food off the smoker ... vacseal/SV other stuff out of the oven and instant pot before too.

 

[Bearcarver]

Do it all the time. We are just a two people household so vac packing is a big deal. We smoke a 15 lb butt, pull it & eat it for a couple of days then vac pack it in 8 oz packs & freeze. We reheat it in the bag in a simmering pot & you can’t tell it wasn’t just pulled off the smoker.
Al

We do all the same things as Al, except we Nuke enough thawed pulled pork for one or two Sandwiches at a time.

Bear

 

[JLeonard]

Great! Reading this thread.......and yet another toy (vac sealer) I need to buy!
Jim

 

[cmayna]

Get two vac sealers in case one of them breaks down just when you need it the most. With Turkey day coming which develops lots of left overs,,,,,

Oh and stock up on lots of vac bagsrolls, etc.

 

[Inscrutable]

At the risk of jinxing it, I’ve had an LEM MaxVac 100 (<$100) for a year and still working great. I don’t get into butchering and run hard and long, maybe 10 times a week, so YMMV.
With all of them, moisture getting into the vacuum pump is your Achilles heel, so watch that. There is a paper towel trick to use to safeguard it.

 

[whistlepig]

Getting set up with a vacuum sealer and the bags does cost a little in the beginning. But when buying and smoking large briskets and butts that are on sale and then vacuum sealing and freezing packed with the vacuum sealer it's easy to grow fond of. There are just two of us now and I vacuum seal all are rubs and bulk spices. Some money to be saved there also. A vacuum sealer will quickly pay for itself.

 

[GaryHibbert]

Definitely get a vac sealer. I've had a Food Saver for a few trouble free years now. Not only do I vac seal what I smoke, but also fresh meat. We go to Costco about 4 times a year, and get 3 months supply of meat. We also butcher a pig once a year. The meat is divided up into meal sized amount (for the 2 of us), vac sealed, and frozen. Save a lot of money that way.
The best way I've found to reheat frozen smoked meat is to put it in the fridge to thaw. Then I put the vac sealed meat in a pot of cold water, and turn the stove on to Medium. When the water finally boils, the meat in the bag is at perfect eating temp.
Gary

 

[Fueling Around]

At the risk of jinxing it, I’ve had an LEM MaxVac 100 (<$100) for a year and still working great. I don’t get into butchering and run hard and long, maybe 10 times a week, so YMMV.
With all of them, moisture getting into the vacuum pump is your Achilles heel, so watch that. There is a paper towel trick to use to safeguard it.

I have a Ziploc brand vac sealer. Got it for about $50 from local box store. Over 2 years old and going strong. Trick on the cheap ones (as well as avoiding moisture in the pump) is to not rush the sealing element. Give it a 5 minute rest now and then.

I do the same as GaryHibbert with smoked and fresh from Costco.

 

[MJB05615]

I just bought an Inkbird vac sealer a few weeks ago for this very reason. I've sealed and frozen 3 bags of Brisket and 1 packet of Corned Beef. Gonna try the Brisket this week to see how it is. If it works out like everyone says, we'll be very happy. It's just the 2 of us now as well. Thanks for all of the info!

 

[doongie]

Look around for sales on last years models or overstocks. I found a Weston on sale at a nearby small town hardware store, it was $200. Must have sat awhile for them to mark it down that far. It was sitting next to several models between $70 and $100, so that was a factor too. Anyway, it cost me double what most of them do, but these guys are designed better, and have spare parts available. When the day comes and I burn out a sealing strip or vacuum pump, I can order a new one and be back in business for a lot less than another $100 for a new one.

Weston® Pro-2100 Vacuum Sealer, White

Preserve fresh meats and produce, bulk food purchases and leftovers 3 to 5 times longer than traditional methods.

westonbrands.com

 

[Bearcarver]

Vacuum sealers come in handy for other non-food related items:

Every 2 or 3 years my whole Log house has to be painted with "Woodguard" Preservative & insect repellant. We use big brushes, 1 1/2" thick X 5" Wide.
They cost between $60 and $80 each.
After the whole house is painted, I run the excess oil out of the brushes, and Vacuum Seal them each in their own bag. Then I put them in the bottom of my Freezer until next time (2 or 3 years later).
Been using the same 2 brushes for 18 years.

Bear