Freezing Meats???

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IronHavoc

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 27, 2024
75
224
Ok, I usually dont freeze meats often. But with prices going up, having a larger family, and some of the newer vacuum sealers. I might start buying larger cuts on sale, butchering them up, sealing them, and freezing to use withing a 2-4 month window.

Wanted to see who uses a good vacuum sealer, and freezes meats on regular basis?

Do you notice in real difference in flavor and/or texture..... especially in steaks, like cowboy rib eyes?
 
When I have a beef processed, everything comes back from the processor vac sealed and frozen, steaks and all. It's always top notch. When I make sausages, some are always vac sealed and frozen for later use and are as good as the ones that have never been frozen.

By vac sealing, storage times can actually be pushed out to 2 or 3 years in a lot of cases. Freezer burn is the main issue with frozen meats degrading and vac sealing eliminates that problem.
 
Wanted to see who uses a good vacuum sealer, and freezes meats on regular basis?
I do . That's how I do 99% of my beef and pork . I grind my own . Cut steaks , roasts , bulk grind and sausage . Vac'd up and freeze .
Do the same now and then with whole turkeys when I get them at a good price .
Chuck roll ,
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Broke down .
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Vac'd up and headed to the freezer . This stuff doesn't last long ,
but no loss in quality .
20230708_150117.jpg
Made this run the other day .
Cut some nice steaks out of the butt , then made some summer sausage ,
and 2 pounds of bulk Italian out of the rest of the butt .

Brisket point ends will get smoked , the flats go for grind , roast beef or taco meat .
20241217_100403.jpg
The beef knuckle in the middle breaks into sirloin roasts and cap .
That knuckle was $4.39 a pound . Broke down and cut into roast or steaks would cost you close to double that at the store .
Starts out like this .
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I break it into roasts and grind or stew meat .
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Just some examples . It's a great way to save some money , and up the quality of certain
things .
 
I have bought bulk meat for years and vac sealed. Better price and I can cut and package the way I want. About a year ago I stepped up to a chamber sealer. OMG, I should have done that years ago.
 
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I don't butcher the meat but do buy it, vacuum seal, and freeze. Once you start vacuum sealing there's all kinds of things to do with it. Just recently I smoked (2) ten pound butts then vacuum sealed, and froze. Pulled pork done this way tastes as good as it did when it came off the smoker.
 
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...
Wanted to see who uses a good vacuum sealer, and freezes meats on regular basis?

Do you notice in real difference in flavor and/or texture..... especially in steaks, like cowboy rib eyes?
Ditto on the above replies.
Once I started vac sealing was a head slap on why didn't start doing this years prior.
Vac sealing ANYTHING you want to freeze is a game changer for quality of preservation.
The only major difference I find is with ground beef. I prefer to keep it whole muscle, then thaw and grind for consumption. Not trying to push you into a grinder, but that is what I found.
I grind a lot of pork and freeze and don't notice the loss in quality
I don't have good access to a Gordon Food Service where the primal cuts that chopsaw chopsaw often sources the primals he posted, but here in Orlando area, the Costco Business Center has a great selection of meat.
Do you like smoked cheese? Smoking and vac pac packing for the equalization rest is the only way to go in my book.
 
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The longer you own a vacuum sealer the more uses you will find for it. I have some rubs that came in plastic shake containers that I purchase that were turning solid if I let them sit for a period of time. I started vacuum sealing these plastic rub containers and it greatly lengthened the time I can store them.
 
The longer you own a vacuum sealer the more uses you will find for it. I have some rubs that came in plastic shake containers that I purchase that were turning solid if I let them sit for a period of time. I started vacuum sealing these plastic rub containers and it greatly lengthened the time I can store them.
I keep rubs and spices like granulated garlic and onion powder in the fridge. This also keeps them from turning into a brick.
 
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The only thing I don't vac is ground meat, large items tend to freezer burn less, I will pull out steaks or roasts thaw and grind. I have been vac sealing for probably 25 years, 2-4+ deer a year, meat is still good 2-3 years if vac not lost.
 
I never have freezer space because I not only vac seal but also some stuff like a corned beef comes in a cryovac and they can last a couple years will little damage.

I have bargain and freezer syndrome. I freeze so much stuff I have to use space in my parent's freezer because my two freezers are maxed out. Sometimes that results in a loss of proteins and bargain meats because my mom mixes up who's is who's...next thing I know all my ground beef will be gone! They are waning in mental capacity at 82 years old, so I give her slack and tell her anything she wants to take, we'll call it "rent" for the freezer space!
The longer you own a vacuum sealer the more uses you will find for it. I have some rubs that came in plastic shake containers that I purchase that were turning solid if I let them sit for a period of time. I started vacuum sealing these plastic rub containers and it greatly lengthened the time I can store them.
I do this for bulk granulated bouillon. I get those big containers at Sam's and vac seal in smaller portions. Will keep for a couple years or more in a cabinet in my garage that I climate control. It's usually never below 45 or over 80 out there.
 
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This time of year I regularly stock up on the rib roast sales. Cut into steaks and vacuum seal. Put 32 up last year.
Yup, same here. And smoke up the rib section! I also buy whole strip loins and tenderloins when on sale at a certain store. Steaks always come out great.
 
FoodSaver I vacuum seal nearly everything: raw and cooked. I have a FoodSaver Linked. Ive had it 9 years. works great! use their bags.
 
I have a similar FoodSaver, but don't use their smallish rolls that fit in the machine.

I buy bulk boxes on Amazon from wevac. Comes in a big box with its own cutter for cutting to size. I usually buy a combo box with both 8 inch and 11 inch rolls.
 
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The only thing I don't vac is ground meat, large items tend to freezer burn less, I will pull out steaks or roasts thaw and grind. I have been vac sealing for probably 25 years, 2-4+ deer a year, meat is still good 2-3 years if vac not lost.
Ground beef is the only item I don't vac pack and freeze (see post #8). Ground pork and ground venison are great, but I don't let the pork stay in the freezer more than a few months. Venison has held for a couple of years.

FoodSaver I vacuum seal nearly everything: raw and cooked. I have a FoodSaver Linked. Ive had it 9 years. works great! use their bags.
I had to get a FoodSaver (FS) as I forgot my Cabelas unit back north.
Of the 3 vac sealers I own, the Ziplock branded was my favorite. DS me ruined it by sucking in a big gulp of liquid clam juice.
I also preferred the Ziplock bags before they went out of business.
The only FS bags I like are the thicker (game saver?) rolls.
 
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