Vacuum sealing or Traditional butcher paper wrap and Why??

[jrebel]

Didn't want to thread jack the butcher thread but did want to tie this one in with it.

How do you package your meat? 

I started with vacuum sealing, which is a hug pain in the butt!!  Now I wrap mine in commercial plastic wrap and butcher paper.  It will last easily 2 years in my freezer and is much, much faster than vacuum sealing.  I also didn't like how the vacuum sealer would squeeze all the blood out of whatever you were packaging. 

What do you do? 

[Blacktail Sniper]

Tagging to se what info comes up. 

[kisfish]

Freezer paper all the way. I would hate to think of the amount of time involved in vacuum sealing an elk. The only thing I vacuum is fish. A good tight wrap usually keep it from getting freezer burnt. I have also seen people wrap the meat on the wrong side of the paper. bummer 

[kisfish]

The other thing I would add is having a good tape dispenser is a life saver. Freezer tape is white paper with glue on one side. As it's dispensed it runs over a wet brush activating the glue. Works like a charm and very fast.

[jrebel]

The other thing I would add is having a good tape dispenser is a life saver. Freezer tape is white paper with glue on one side. As it's dispensed it runs over a wet brush activating the glue. Works like a charm and very fast.

Totally agree.....a good freezer tape dispenser is a must.  I also had stamps made so I don't have to write on all packages.....a huge time saver. 

[kisfish]

  great point. I think 5 or 6 stamps can get anyone by.  Steak or chops, roast, stew, burger, Tenderloin, maybe cube steak if someone does a bunch of those.

[Ragdaddy]

FYI, freezer burn comes from a poorly managed freezer. Keep it de-iced and on its absolute lowest setting at all times.  A good plastic and paper wrap will last many years in a well running freezer. 

Water and Meats have different freezing temperatures.  Water at 32 and meats range 15-20 below zero. 

I just ate a beautiful beef pot roast from 2007. The meat was nice and red and the fat was clean and white. No freezer burn.  A heavy plastic wrap and a double paper wrap. 

Just my 2 cents.

PS, strapping tape (narrow) works great too. 

[huntnnw]

I dunno what vacume sealers u guys are using, but I wrapped all my game in plastic and butcher paper since i started hunting... I got a vacume sealer this year and will NEVER go back to butcher paper the ease of this was far faster!

[huntingbaldguy]

Plastic and butcher paper.  Haven't pulled a bad one out yet wrapped that way.  Fish is vacuum packed.  I can some of my game meat too though.  Then no need for freezer storage.

[HardCorpsHuntr]

I put all my grind meat into vacuum bags then push the meat out evenly across the bag.  They stack easy in the freezer and thaw quicker.  Steaks and roasts I wrap in freezer paper. 

[Fl0und3rz]

I put all my grind meat into vacuum bags then push the meat out evenly across the bag.  They stack easy in the freezer and thaw quicker.  Steaks and roasts I wrap in freezer paper. 

That.  And the ground meat thaws and browns more readily.

[TheHunt]

Plastic wrap + butcher paper...  Not much of a problem.   

I need a plastic wrap dispenser...  That would make it much easier.

[PolarBear]

I do a combo of both.  All the ground up stuff, roasts and stew meat is done with paper and the prime steaks are all vacuum sealed.

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

I do a combo of both.  All the ground up stuff, roasts and stew meat is done with paper and the prime steaks are all vacuum sealed.

 

[pianoman9701]

I guess it depends on how long you're going to keep the meat. There's no question that vacuum-packing will protect the meat better than paper, but if it's for less than a year, I doubt the difference would be noticeable. Then you get into cost v. benefit. If you're wrapping with film wrap and then paper wrapping, you could be close to the cost of the vacuum bag rolls, especially if you're buying the budget bags at Bi-mart which are about 1/3 the cost of the Foodsaver rolls. I've got liver and backstrap in vacuum bags and the rest in paper. It's not going to last long enough to show a benefit one way or another.