Smoking and vacuum sealing meals for later

[piaconis]

Hey all,

I'm doing a big smokeout today, and want to seal and store some meals for use later.  The wife and I are both busy with work lately, so quick reheatable meals are needed.

I have a Foodsaver vacuum sealer (typical Sam's club model), and was thinking I'd smoke, seal, and freeze a couple of roasts, some pulled pork, and other stuff.  I assume that keeping the moisture will be a good idea, so I plan to use drip pans to catch some of the pork butt goodness and infuse it back into the meat with a little vinegar like a finishing sauce.

Any helpful tips and tricks?  Do you find any specific meals on the smoker lend themselves to freezing and reheating better than others?

 

[jrod62]

We do the same. Smoke a lot at one time and use the Foodsaver to save them in small bags and freeze . Just enough in each bag for a meal.

great to be able to just grab a bag and throw into the lunch bucket !!

I smoke my butts in a pan so I get all the great juice to put back over the pulled pork. Just defat the juice and pour back over the PP.

I don't care for vinegar in the finishing sauce so PP juice is all that I use.

Schnuck has butts on sale this week for $1.29 lbs. Thinking about smoking few "hot and Fast" (350 degrees) Just to see how they turn out

at the higher temp.

 

[supercenterchef]

the only tip I can think of off hand is minding food safety...I usually throw my vac bags into an ice bath to cool them off before going into fridge or freezer...

 

[boardpuller]

Good idea I bought my food saver to save smokey goodness for later. We freeze Brisket, Pastrami, Pulled Beef, Smoked Hot Dogs and Sausage. We like to use food saver Freeze and steam bags but to pricey will be trying Vacuum Sealers Unlimited bags.

 

[sound1]

I just did over 75lbs of butts for PP and after some experimenting with the vacuum sealer found that leaving the vinegar out works best for re-heating in simmering water.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/125358/butts-vs-the-mes

 

[scarbelly]

I agree with the advice above - just a word of caution on heating the meal - put the bags in hot but not boiling water. 

 

[roxxtar]

I use this method quite often since the cuts of meat I typically smoke are just too much to eat for myself and the few people I usually cook for. So far the best result I've had were some country-style ribs I did and reheated by thawing, sealing tight in tin foil and baking at 350 for 20-30 minutes. They came out just as good as they were when I smoked them.

 

[jarjarchef]

Great way to save money and time. We too are a very busy household. We freeze and reheat all the time. In a 1 gallon size ziplock bag I will put about 2 -2.5lbs in it. I find it cools very quickly and thaws quickly in the fridge at the same time.

As mentioned before the biggest caution is food safety. In a perfect setting you want to go from 140 to

 

[chef jimmyj]

I just did over 75lbs of butts for PP and after some experimenting with the vacuum sealer found that leaving the vinegar out works best for re-heating in simmering water.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/125358/butts-vs-the-mes

 I agree here, you can add the dripping to the meat but leave any Vinegar or Finishing Sauce out until you are reheating. A couple of days in the refer with finishing sauce is no big deal but  long contact with Vinegar, even frozen, may give an undesireable texture to the meat...JJ

 

[piaconis]

Good stuff guys.  Thanks for the help.

 

[damon555]

Leave the extra stuff out until you reheat.....after smoking put the meat in the fridge and let it cool before you bag and seal it. Vacuum sealing cold meat is much easier than juicy freshly smoke meat.

 

[s2k9k]

Yep i do this too! I don't like burning propane for just one small piece of meat so I try and pack my smoker full when I burn it. Then vac/seal in individual portions and it makes lunches and dinners a breeze. Also seeing the jealousy or the guys at work at lunch when I'm eating some good smoked meat and they have a bologna sandwich makes it all worth while. .

 

[missed-em]

Also have a vac sealer and enjoy leftovers, but I have a problem with the vacum sucking liquid up and preventing a good seal. How do you prevent this?

 

[jarjarchef]

Also have a vac sealer and enjoy leftovers, but I have a problem with the vacum sucking liquid up and preventing a good seal. How do you prevent this?

 Don't add the finishing liquid till you reheat. Some finishing liquids can cause your product to change when frozen or stored for a period of time.

 

[supercenterchef]

 I have a problem with the vacum sucking liquid up and preventing a good seal. How do you prevent this?

Chamber sealer :D

 

[chef jimmyj]

Also have a vac sealer and enjoy leftovers, but I have a problem with the vacum sucking liquid up and preventing a good seal. How do you prevent this?

 If you have anything that is really wet...you can always Freeze it first in a Vac bag then run it through the Sealer to get that air out and seal it for long term storage without sucking up liquid...

Chamber sealer :D

 

...You Buyin'?...JJ

 

[bigcreekbbq]

 If you have anything that is really wet...you can always Freeze it first in a Vac bag then run it through the Sealer to get that air out and seal it for long term storage without sucking up liquid...

 

...You Buyin'?...JJ

VacMaster VP112 is a chamber machine made for home use.  Take a look!  http://vacmaster.aryvacmaster.com/cgi/ary.wsc/product.html?p-item-num=VP112  Before deciding it's too expensive, keep in mind the normal savings you're going to get with a vacuum sealer, the fact that it will last MUCH longer than a $200 FoodSavr "disposable" model and chamber bags are typically less than 15 cents each (as opposed to around 60 cents for the textured suction machine type of bags).  We package sliced brisket and pulled pork with a LOT of juices in them for re-heating in pots of really hot water and they come out so juicy, it's unbelievable!  Can't do that with suction machines!

 

[jayj123]

VacMaster VP112 is a chamber machine made for home use.  Take a look!  http://vacmaster.aryvacmaster.com/cgi/ary.wsc/product.html?p-item-num=VP112  Before deciding it's too expensive, keep in mind the normal savings you're going to get with a vacuum sealer, the fact that it will last MUCH longer than a $200 FoodSavr "disposable" model and chamber bags are typically less than 15 cents each (as opposed to around 60 cents for the textured suction machine type of bags).  We package sliced brisket and pulled pork with a LOT of juices in them for re-heating in pots of really hot water and they come out so juicy, it's unbelievable!  Can't do that with suction machines!

Can you fit a Whole Butt in the chamber of this small one? I like to seal and freeze my butts whole for reheat at larger gatherings, seems to taste fresher that way than PP.

 

[chef jimmyj]

VacMaster VP112 is a chamber machine made for home use.  Take a look!  http://vacmaster.aryvacmaster.com/cgi/ary.wsc/product.html?p-item-num=VP112  Before deciding it's too expensive, keep in mind the normal savings you're going to get with a vacuum sealer, the fact that it will last MUCH longer than a $200 FoodSavr "disposable" model and chamber bags are typically less than 15 cents each (as opposed to around 60 cents for the textured suction machine type of bags).  We package sliced brisket and pulled pork with a LOT of juices in them for re-heating in pots of really hot water and they come out so juicy, it's unbelievable!  Can't do that with suction machines!

 I would agree if I was frequently using it, cheaper bags and greater durability would warrant the $500-$600 price tag. But to bag a couple of Lbs of Chicken Boobs and Steaks once a week or 5-10Lb of Pulled Pork once a month and 3 Gal of Tomato Sauce every 4 months does not really justify paying 4X what I did for the FoodSaver...JJ

 

[biteme7951]

My favorite thing to vac and freeze is Chicken leg qtrs.  We buy them in the 10lb bag when on sale for around .69/lb and load the smoker up. 2 leg qtrs fit nicely in a qt bag and are just enough for me and the Mrs. when we need a quick meal.

Barry.