plastic meat wrap?

[steeliedrew]

I'm gonna be butchering my deer in a couple hours from now. I need to pick a few things up on the way home. One item being butcher paper, and the other being plastic meat wrap. (Don't know technical name). It seems like any time I've ever been given deer meat from a friend it's wrapped with a plastic wrap and then butcher paper over that.

maybe this is not needed? I'm thinking cash and carry may have something. please let me know what you guys do for packing meat to freeze. My chest freezer is not frost free so it tends not to freezer burn anything.

Thank you,

Drew

[Buckmark]

Saran wrap, plastic cling wrap...yeah thats the stuff...

[Bean Counter]

If you plan to kill stuff every year, a Food Saver is a nice investment. Maybe do this one the old fashioned way and keep an eye out on the Costco circulars. Both the units and the bags go on sale from time to time.

If I lived nearby id let you bring your deer over and use mine to try it out but you'd be in for a 50 hour round trip for where I live now

[steeliedrew]

haha. It was thicker than cling wrap. Does it not matter?

[Bean Counter]

Oh yeah, check the Bargain Cave at Cabelas regularly too.

[2labs]

Costco has the big yellow box with the built in cutter. Works a lot better than the stuff from the grocery store. Plastic wrap can have a mind of its own.

[Bean Counter]

I've used ziplock baggies before, in concert with butcher paper. I haven't used cling wrap. I'm guessing the idea is to keep air off the meat. I don't see why it wouldn't work. I would just use a lot and make sure it's tightly wrapped, several times over, and it still gets a generous application of butcher paper as well. If I could only have one id rather have the butcher paper.

[steeliedrew]

I have a food saver that I use when I'm filleting fish and packing them for freezing but I few like that's more work than needs to be done. I found some deer meat I had forgot I had. It sat in my chest freezer for 2 years wrapped in plastic and butcher paper and didn't have any sign of freezer burn or anything. The key I think is having the right kind of freezer, not a frost free one.

[2labs]

Sorry, I just meant it worked better as in ease of application. I think plastic wrap is probably all the same.

[Bulldozer77]

I would definitely use the plastic wrap and butcher paper, or double wrap it in butcher paper. In my experience, single wrap in butcher paper will get freezer burnt.

[James E]

plastic bags, or saran wrap will work. make sure you get all the air out and you will be good.

[muzbuster]

I would go to Cash & Carry,  Im sure they have what you are looking for.

[deltaops]

If you plan on eating the meat in a short period of time, butcher paper over plastic wrap should be fine. When I processed my meat from last year, I used butcher paper on the steaks I was going to eat within a month and vacuumed sealed the rest.

When you get the funds to do so, invest in a good vacuum sealer. We use ours all the time when we buy other meat on sale in bulk. 

[HORSEPOWER]

I have a vacuum sealer but I still use Costco's poly vinyl film or Zip lock freezer bags under the butcher paper more often. 

[sirmissalot]

 

I vacuum seal everything.

[724wd]

get the thickest plastic you can find.  i used saran one year.  worked ok, but clingy and kind of a pain in the buttocks.  i use a really heavy non-cling material... will look it up when i get home. 

[jackelope]

I just wrap in butcher's paper but a year or 3 ago I got some venison from a friend who had it butchered at an actual shop and it was wrapped in a non-sticky plastic wrap, then wrapped in butcher's paper. Foodsavering a whole deer would take forrrrr ever if you ask me and it would cost about a million dollars in foodsaver plastic bags.

[Buzz2401]

The nice thing about using plastic and paper is that you don't lose any to a lost seal.  I have found if you handle the vaccum sealed bags to much or if you drop them they are prone to getting holes in them.  I use 4 mil vaccuum bags so i don't think it is from cheap bags its just the nature of frozen plastic.  If you lose your seal your meat will freezer burn.  Never had freezer burnt meat from plastic and paper and it is way quicker and cheap.  The plastic rolls and paper rolls you get at Cash n Carry will last many seasons.  We do about 5 elk a year and they usually last multiple years.

[NRA4LIFE]

I had 3 different vacuum sealers (non-chamber type) over the years and with all 3, I don't believe I ever had less than about 10% of the bags eventually unseal themselves over time.  That's why I never used it for venison.  I now have a commercial chamber sealer and I have not seen a single failure yet out of 300+ bags.  The bags are much cheaper and will eventually pay for the unit.  I still wrap all game meat in 2 layers of plastic wrap (large rolls from Costco) and butcher paper.  The burger I put in just regular non-zipper type food bags and get as much air out as possible, twist up real good and then in butcher paper.  Have never had a problem with freezer burn.

[Johnb317]

More importantly if you are freezing a lot of meat...
I like freezing it in a cooler with dry ice.  I layer it in and then move to the freezer about 10 hours later when it's hard as a rock. 

[jrebel]

Costco plastic wrap and  Costco butcher paper.  It takes way to long to vacuum seal are deer and the previous method will keep for up to two years in a good freezer.  Mine never last that long.

[pd]

We do about 5 elk a year and they usually last multiple years.

Hey, Buzz. We need to talk about your elk problem.

[steeliedrew]

thanks everybody. Man, processing a deer is no joke! luckily my next door neighbor stopped by just as me and my buddy where starting to break down the front quarters.  Turns out my neighbor has been a butcher for 30 years and I never knew! Haha. He grabbed a knife and had the deer done in 30 minutes! I've been cutting off sinew and fat, and wrapping meat for hours. I've got all my scraps separated and ready to take to the butcher tomorrow for grinding into burger and breakfast sausage and just have to do some finish work on the roasts and I'm done.

[huntnnw]

I just wrap in butcher's paper but a year or 3 ago I got some venison from a friend who had it butchered at an actual shop and it was wrapped in a non-sticky plastic wrap, then wrapped in butcher's paper. Foodsavering a whole deer would take forrrrr ever if you ask me and it would cost about a million dollars in foodsaver plastic bags.

  I couldnt imagine doing a bear or 2..2 deer and a couple  elk a year!!  I can wrap faster than a food saver

I started buying bread bags in the saran wrap aisle at the store. I hate dealing with saran wrap. The bags are long and easy to toss burger into and wrap or whatever your wraping.

[steeliedrew]

I was told about bread bags yesterday and checked at Walmart but they didn't have any. I was in a pinch so I settled for Saran Wrap and butcher paper. I still have to do the finish work on my roasts today though so I'll check a few grocery stores for bread bags. do any stores in particular tend to carry them more than others?

Thanks.

[DoubleJ]

Vacuum seal pro tip:

Pre-freeze your meat for 1-2 hours before vacuum sealing.  This stops the vacuum sealer from "Sucking out the juices".  You've all seen it I'm sure.  You go to seal up a steak and while it's sealing the bag turns red with juice and when you thaw it out, the steak sits in a pool of juice.  Pre-freezing fixes this problem.


BTW, vacuum sealing for steaks and roasts and gallon ziplock freezer bags for burger for me. 

I put 2lbs of burger in a bag and then smash it down flat.  They stack like plates in the freezer instead of a bunch of balls of meat.  Freeze no more than 4 in a pile at a time.  If you have room, you can make multiple piles of 4 but I've found that if you try to freeze more than that, the ones in the middle have a hard time freezing, if they freeze at all before spoiling.

[sirmissalot]

When I do the burger I also smash it flat, you can really stack it in the freezer nice that way. I vacuum seal it in one pound packages, seal, smash flat and freeze. Its only 3/4-1 inch thick so it thaws quicker too.

The sealer I use is a commercial chamber sealer, bags are only pennies a piece and the sealer has 30 second cycles, small packages like 1 pound burgers and most steaks I can do two at a time. So not sure how it could be any slower than plastic and butcher paper, I suppose maybe slightly  if you're real fast at the butcher paper method though.

[curlewkiller]

My grandma did double plastic wrap and she made sure all air was out.  It lasted a long time.

[KopperBuck]

Used to wrap with paper and plastic, but I hated doing it. Same thing around xmas time, I can't wrap worth a chit. So I went the vacuum seal route. Never had problems.

[ICEMAN]

The nice thing about using plastic and paper is that you don't lose any to a lost seal.  I have found if you handle the vaccum sealed bags to much or if you drop them they are prone to getting holes in them.  I use 4 mil vaccuum bags so i don't think it is from cheap bags its just the nature of frozen plastic.  If you lose your seal your meat will freezer burn.  Never had freezer burnt meat from plastic and paper and it is way quicker and cheap.  The plastic rolls and paper rolls you get at Cash n Carry will last many seasons.  We do about 5 elk a year and they usually last multiple years.

Totally agree. Exactly like we do, twice in plastic wrap, then once in waxed putcher paper with the final edge taped down. Easy to label, llasts forever.

Freezer burn is simply the air surrounding poorly wrapped foods drawing moisture from the food. Wrap it so tight that there are no air bubbles= no freezer burn. Simple.

I have opened 7+ year old steaks with 1 year old steaks and you could not tell the difference.

Wrapping your game is probably the most important part of meat care. 

[brew]

The nice thing about using plastic and paper is that you don't lose any to a lost seal.  I have found if you handle the vaccum sealed bags to much or if you drop them they are prone to getting holes in them.  I use 4 mil vaccuum bags so i don't think it is from cheap bags its just the nature of frozen plastic.  If you lose your seal your meat will freezer burn.  Never had freezer burnt meat from plastic and paper and it is way quicker and cheap.  The plastic rolls and paper rolls you get at Cash n Carry will last many seasons.  We do about 5 elk a year and they usually last multiple years.

Totally agree. Exactly like we do, twice in plastic wrap, then once in waxed putcher paper with the final edge taped down. Easy to label, llasts forever.

Freezer burn is simply the air surrounding poorly wrapped foods drawing moisture from the food. Wrap it so tight that there are no air bubbles= no freezer burn. Simple.

I have opened 7+ year old steaks with 1 year old steaks and you could not tell the difference.

Wrapping your game is probably the most important part of meat care.

7+ year old steaks ?  my pack of carnivores comes over and gives me a couple beers then heads to the freezer to find the goodies......finally smartened up and dated the stuff  way old to discourage the pilfering....had to make a cheat sheet that showed the "actual date" rather than the  "packaged date" and hid it in the safe.....they haven't caught on to that one yet

[ICEMAN]

Yeah, had some come back from the inlaws home. Mother in law never cooked them up, so I confiscated.

Around here I may lose track of a few between my freezers, so we get three year old or so steaks commonly...