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.

[Rainier10]

Plastic wrap and butcher paper, if it aint broke don't fix it.

[bowhunterwa87]

 

[KopperBuck]

Used to wrap all mine. Never going back. Wife runs the vacuum as I'm cutting. Like said before, it's awesome for burger stacking and defrosting. I do not like my new standup one though, requires too much bag room to seal. My old one used way less.

[NRA4LIFE]

I used my new chamber sealer last year to do my whole mule deer buck.  I may be hooked on that.

[jasnt]

We wrap with freezer paper and plastic wrap. Its quick and lasts plenty long enough. We eat alot of game so it never sits in there long.  Normally we're out of bear and half way threw the venison by may or June.  One of these days I'll get an elk and the game meat may last us a year.  Plus butcher paper is great for targets lol.

[pianoman9701]

I used my new chamber sealer last year to do my whole mule deer buck.  I may be hooked on that.

Which one do you have?

[sirmissalot]

We vacuum seal everything. Not sure if its any faster than wrapping in plastic and paper but its certainly not slower, but I have a big chamber sealer. You can smash the burger, breakfast sausage, chorizo or whatever flat, stack it and freeze it and it thaws faster than a big ball of meat. The thing I don't like about vacuum sealing is stuff slides around a lot more when you stack it in a stand up freezer.

[NRA4LIFE]

P-Man,

I have a Vacmaster VP215C.  It is a great unit.  Bags are dirt cheap too.  I had been double wrapping everything in plastic wrap and then in butcher paper.  I think the vacuum sealing is actually quicker.  I also smash my burger flat for the same reasons as above.

[pianoman9701]

That's a nice unit. Do you use it for quick marinating, too? It's excellent for that.

[BOWHUNTER45]

Plastic wrap and butcher paper, if it aint broke don't fix it.

Yeah that's pretty much it ...Old school has worked this long so why change it ..BUT I do both now ...I usually vacuum seal the backstraps and steaks ...But again freezer paper is much cheaper and I really can not say I ever lost meat using freezer paper ...Just looks cool in the vacuum bag 

[BOWHUNTER45]

That's a nice unit. Do you use it for quick marinating, too? It's excellent for that.

works really well for that 

[NRA4LIFE]

Yes I do.  That is one big plus for the chamber sealers.  You can quick marinate with liquid.

[Buzz2401]

Jerky, Brats and breakfast links gets vaccuum packed. Burger, and italian sausage goes in the white 1lb bags and everything else is plastic and papered.

[Stein]

Red meat - plastic & paper.

Fish - vac pack.

Vac packs don't stack worth a darn in the freezer and red meat holds up perfectly wrapped.  Fish degrade much quicker and need the extra protection.

[PolarBear]

I vacuum packed 400 pounds of beef and even though I smashed all the ground stuff nice and flat, the slick surface of the vacuum bags made it impossible to stack and every time I opened the freezer it was an avalanche of meat.  This is one of the reasons why I only do steaks and fish in vacuum bags.  I had to swap out my freezers and put the vacuum bagged meat in my chest freezer where I normally keep whole fish, turkeys etc, and put the other stuff in the upright.

[coxral]

I cut my own game and I've sworn by plastic wrap and butcher paper for ever, tried a vac sealer years ago and didn't like it. Now with that said, my new Foodsaver should arrive today! Mom always said I was a couple bricks shy of a load! Don't know if I'll put deer or elk in it or not. I think the worst is those little burger tubes the butcher places use!

[The Weazle]

I bought plastic tubs that fit on my freezer shelves, vacuum seal everything, smash flat, and put in bins, like a file cabinet...works great, all the same meat in one bin, no fiddling around looking for what I want, or how much is left, instant inventory!


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[Bean Counter]

Vaccum Seal here. Yes, sometimes it Seems like it takes forever. I like the Smash to Compact Concept as well .

[Hawgdawg]

Couple of tips.

If you vac pack wrap your meat in cellophane first. Keeps your dollar a foot bags clean for re-use. If you do fish. Use a paper towel as a juice catcher. Or semi freeze first on a cookie sheet and have no juice/slime to fail your seal. Use those recycled bags for your smoked salmon etc. No cross smells.
For the paper boys. Don't waste your money on waxed one sided paper. Get yourself a commercial dispenser that holds cellophane and paper and you pull in out at the same time and is quick.
And here is the tip that most people don't know.
As you tuck your corners, do one end. Forward roll, then the other. It gives you two layers on the ends were most meat will burn. Blue tape works great in a pinch.