best way to freeze deer meat

[dirty]

this year i plan on processing my deer myself. i was wondering what everybody thinks.

for the meat going into the freezer. would i be better off wrapping it in freezer paper or would it be better to vacuum seal it?



this is likely to be the first in a series of deer meat how to

[bbird]

Depends on if you are going to eat it fairly fast, lol. I use freezer paper on everything that I figure will get eaten withen 6 months, other things I will vacuum seal in baggies if I am stocked up on that item so I feel safer keeping it for longer. Actually I can a lot of meat too if I have a lot of a certain thing. So I guess it all depends how long you feel comfy keeping it in the package.



I have two deer that other people have given us over the weekend(Why oh why do people hunt if they don't eat the meat?!). Its all getting turned into thuringer, and it won't last long between 6 of us! Yum!

[Kathy]

I'm with Deb; freezer paper for 6 mos or under storage but I use the vacumn sealer on all meat that I plan to have long term. My personal preference is the Food Saver sealer bags since they're thicker and made for storage. I buy the roll and cut mine to size.

Oh one other thing, I bone as much of my meat for the freezer as possible-that way I'm not using space for bones. I take the bones and make broth and can that.

[Deleted]

OK, I'm lazy. And cheap. I wrap venison tightly in plastic wrap, then freeze on a cookie sheet, then put like packages in Zip-Lock Freezer Bags, marked with which type of cut and the date I froze it. I just pulled out some steaks that I froze in December of 2004 and they were wonderful. No freezer burn, either.

I think the freezer paper takes up too much space in the big scheme of things - the plastic lets me get MORE deer in the freezer. Speaking of which, we should be getting either one or two does in the next couple of weeks. The last two I butchered I had to do on the dining room table - that was backbreaking! This time, Rich is making me a butcher table out in the "butcher shop" so at least my back won't hurt so bad this time. I still need a sharper knife, though...

~Lannie

[kyosa]

lannie said:

The last two I butchered I had to do on the dining room table - that was backbreaking! This time, Rich is making me a butcher table out in the "butcher shop" so at least my back won't hurt so bad this time. I still need a sharper knife, though...

~Lannie

On the dining room table??! OK, I'm picturing you up on the table wrestling the hide off of a spread-eagled carcass while a bunch of dinner guests are seated around the table looking on in shock and horror. Chunks are whacked from the carcass and passed on the point of a knife out the window to Rich who is manning the grille. As the meat is cooked it's passed back into the dining room while the stripped carcass is dragged out the other side of the room. Then..... Oh, that's enough! I DO have a vivid imagination! (some might call it bizarre)

[Deleted]

You forgot about the pack of drooling snarling dogs waiting for me to drop something!

Then after I dragged the carcass out the other door, they fell upon it and devoured it!

But seriously, they were already skinned and quartered when I got them, so it wasn't as icky as you would think. Just hard to do, because each quarter was about as big as my (not so big) dining room table, and there WERE 3 drooling dogs waiting for something to fall! LOL!



~Lannie

[Deleted]

When I butcher I put things in a ziplock freezer bag & then wrap in paper.

[Deleted]

try canning it.... no worries if the power goes out for a week or so.

What did you end up using Dirty?

Kaza