How long will meat keep?

[leejay99]

I am able to get some beef at a great price but I don't need it until later in the month. How long will beef keep in the Cryovac? I can get it this Friday, 7 Dec, but don't need it until the 18th. It goes off-sale while I will be on vacation. Will it keep 10-14 days?

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

Not sure you can keep it that long in the fridge. But You can freeze it in the cryovac and then thaw it out no problem. The freeze wont hurt it at all. Vacusealed meat will last up to two years and even beyond.

Scott

 

[leejay99]

Thanks, Scott. I just might just freeze it and call it a day.

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

10-14 days scares me. I’d freeze it.

 

[chilerelleno]

Buy it and freeze it.

 

[johnmeyer]

Two weeks is a little long for just the fridge, although it will still be safe, I'm sure. Since freezing has no downside (it doesn't change the meat much), I'd just do that in order to have the freshest taste possible.

 

[old sarge]

Freeze it for sure. And if you buy in quantity and the product is not in cryovac. get a good, not cheap, vac sealer. Many good ones on the market: PMG VacUPack, LEM MaxVac, Weston,VacMaster, and the venerable FoodSaver models. Cabella's sells some of their own branded models. Prices vary amongst the brands. Then there are chamber vac for wet foods. Interestingly, the VacUPack has a siphon on there machine that diverts liquids when sealing very moist foods so that the pump is not ruined. Pretty pricey.

 

[leejay99]

Is there a way to find out when it was packed?

 

[old sarge]

If not on the label, then you need to go by the sell by or use/freeze by date. You could also ask the meat department to help in reading the packing codes.

 

[old sarge]

Good informative article. From the article: "The third thing we do at WSB is vacuum seal all our meat. Vacuum sealing removes a large part of the oxygen and creates a perfect seal so that the remaining water cannot expand when it is freezing. What you end up with is a densely frozen protein that will stay firm, thaw with integrity, and taste as delicious as if it were cooked fresh."

Thus my recommendation to get a good vac sealer.

 

[old sarge]

True. But some cryovac'd meats have a tighter seal than others. And many of us do not have the money or the option to purchase dry aged beef regularly, so I always choose the tightest seal I can get as when buying brisket as an example. If the packaging is weak, I reseal using my vac sealer at home.

 

[HickoryHillBBQ]

Yup, vac seal if possible, especially if for more than a couple of weeks.

I read this a long time ago and assumed it to be true, certainly don't know where I read it, and never went to double check but ... meat benefits from freezing and thawing slowly. This is due to the cell wall/water crystal thing mentioned in the article above. When I freeze meat I put it in the top (warmest part) of the chest freezer and lump it all together, same for when I thaw it ... I put it together at the bottom of the fridge so it thaws as slow as possible. Veg is the opposite and benefits from freezing quickly then being cooked and eaten quickly.

 

[smokerjim]

If you ask the meat dept. Like mentioned they can probably tell you the pack date it's on all boxed beef if they still have the boxes or if they keep records, when we get our beef in its usually 2 to 3 weeks from the packed on date, sometimes it's 1 week before we use it and it's fine.

 

[SonnyE]

so that the remaining water cannot expand when it is freezing.

I take exception to that statement. Put a filled glass jar of water in your freezer and freeze it.
Now go back and clean up the broken glass.
Ice crushes hulls when a ship gets trapped in ice.
What papered Butt came up with that, Sarge?

I grant that Cryovac beef/meat can be frozen as is in the package. But because the plastic is forgiving.
I do wonder how many days or weeks it takes to thaw some half a cow so you can enjoy it. :confused:o_O

 

[Bearcarver]

I Vac Seal my own when we get it home, because most of the meat we get is just put on a styrofoam plate & they stretch shrink-wrap over it. Plus we get family packs of Chick Thighs & Drums, and split them into smaller amounts for the two of us. And like Mrs Bear just got two packs of Pork Chops---9 in a pack, so I broke them into 6 packs of 3 for 6 meals.
And My Prime Ribs, when I get them are wrapped like that too, so I unwrap them, cut the bone end off, and Vac Seal the roast. Then I save the bone ends for a big Beef Rib Smoke.

Vac Sealers Rule!!!
Bear

 

[smokerjim]

Your right bear, that shrink wrap is made to breath so it's not made to freeze for long periods.

 

[SonnyE]

I Vac Seal my own when we get it home, because most of the meat we get is just put on a styrofoam plate & they stretch shrink-wrap over it. Plus we get family packs of Chick Thighs & Drums, and split them into smaller amounts for the two of us. And like Mrs Bear just got two packs of Pork Chops---9 in a pack, so I broke them into 6 packs of 3 for 6 meals.
And My Prime Ribs, when I get them are wrapped like that too, so I unwrap them, cut the bone end off, and Vac Seal the roast. Then I save the bone ends for a big Beef Rib Smoke.

Vac Sealers Rule!!!
Bear

Same for us Bear.
She was resistant to the Vacuum sealing at first.
But she's come around now. ;)

 

[old sarge]

SonnyE - That statement you found offensive is from the body of text supplied by a poster as written by the folks at West Side Beef. It is what it is.

 

[johnmeyer]

I am not sure what shrink wrap is made to breath; the Foodsaver wrap and Lisa's bags most definitely do not breath.

BTW, I routinely vac-pac cured and smoked meats in the fridge for several months at a time. For instance, I buy both bacon and ham at Costco and simply put that in a large vac bag in the fridge. I just had some bacon the other day that's been in there for 6-8 weeks and it was perfectly fine. Same thing with hot dogs. So, if the meat has any sort of preservative, it will take forever in a vac-pac to deteriorate to the point of being "off."

As long as it is refrigerated, it will be safe, and if it passes the smell and taste test, then I eat it without a second thought.

As far as freezing, I often use meat that has been frozen for as long as two years, and it is fine. Heck, back when we closed down the house I grew up in, back in 2005, my wife and I had some of our wedding cake from 1978. It had been packed in a Baggie, no vacuum, and stored in my parents' Deepfreeze that had been running (except for power interruptions) since 1946.

 

[hillbillyrkstr]

I feel like this “debate” is really uneccessary.

Take a prime rib, cut a steak off it, seal it, and freeze it for a few days. Pull it out and thaw it. Then cut another steak off that prime rib. Cook them the exact same way. How many people do you really think will tell any difference? I’m guessing it’s an extremely low percent.

I had a case of prime, packers that I bought in June/July of 2017. I pulled two of them out this past September, thawed them, and smoked them for the fattie contest. Well over 100 people ate those briskets with nothing but the highest compliments. Some of them members of this board. Some of them telling me they were better than lockharts in Dallas Texas. Now that last part is just crazy cause I’ve had lockharts brisket and it’s the best I’ve ever had. But my point is these two briskets were in the freezer for over a year and most thought they were the best they’ve ever had.

I feel like a slight texture change that freezing the meat “may” cause is something very few people will notice. And the OP is talking about a very short freeze in the original cryovac. Nobody will notice anything and I’m certain of that.

Scott