Ground meat packaging options

[7mmfan]

I have always vac sealed all of my meat. A friend of mine uses the Cabelas meat bags that go with the grinders, and the little metal crimps. I just watched a video where someone was stuffing those bags and man it looked like it went fast. Does anyone have experience with these? Does the meat last as long? Are they cost effective? Worth the money to invest in the equipment to go that route?

[C-Money]

Burger does great in the burger bags, we twist and close with freezer tape. Lasts a good long while...out to a year or more...found a pack of burger approaching 2 years old in the back of the freezer once, thawed and ate. Was fine.

[jrebel]

We have had many a butchered animal packaged this ways (years back) and it always worked great.  Easily last 2 years in a 0 degree freezer.  Now that we butcher our own....we use the costco plastic wrap and butcher paper method, very cheap and last equally as long.  Also very easy.   

[Lightning_Rider]

We stuff into the meat bags and have the tape dispenser, i like the tape dispenser better than the metal clamps. The meat bags do get pin holes occasionally especially they are moved around or bumped into eachother. But overall they are great, easy to stuff into and last a long time.

[7mmfan]

I'm trying to find a more time/cost effective route than the food saver. Stuffing and sealing those takes forever, and they're expensive, even the cheap generic ones. Might look into this.

[Stein]

The plastic tube bags work great and are cheap.  I am working through my stockpile of 1 lb bags and will switch to 2 lb bags because my kids are growing and we pretty much don't do anything with 1 lb.  The tape dispenser works great, I haven't used anything else.

When you fill them, run the meat through the grinder and out a sausage tube, without the grinder blades and plate if you can do that with your grinder.  Filling them by hand isn't much fun.

[7mmfan]

The plastic tube bags work great and are cheap.  I am working through my stockpile of 1 lb bags and will switch to 2 lb bags because my kids are growing and we pretty much don't do anything with 1 lb.  The tape dispenser works great, I haven't used anything else.

When you fill them, run the meat through the grinder and out a sausage tube, without the grinder blades and plate if you can do that with your grinder.  Filling them by hand isn't much fun.

We have the 3/4 HP Cabelas grinder, with all the attachments, just need to get the bags and tap dispenser I guess. After watching the video and how fast they moved, it looks like a guy could do 3 or 4 bags in the time it takes me to weigh/stuff/seal one vac seal bag.

[Stein]

If you want to save time on the weighing, either don't weigh the bags or weigh one and make note of how far you have to fill the other bags and you will be pretty close.

The main factor in how fast you can go is how fast you can get already ground meat through the grinder.

[Twispriver]

I've been using the bags for a few years and it saves a lot of time and money over the vacuum sealer - I buy twist ties at cash & carry instead of tape and that also works good

[Lightning_Rider]

If you have a sausage stuffer, load it with your ground meat and stuff into bags... if not, buy a sausage stuffer and enjoy! I would recommend 2lbs bags, you can still stuff 1lbs in them if needed.

[quadrafire]

Run the ground directly into bags. Vacuum
Seal press flat and makes for easy storage. 

[grundy53]

If you have a sausage stuffer, load it with your ground meat and stuff into bags... if not, buy a sausage stuffer and enjoy! I would recommend 2lbs bags, you can still stuff 1lbs in them if needed.

This is what I do.

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[robodad]

I use the fold top sandwich bags and double them up. Fill one and flatten then put the other one on opposite direction. They are super cheap for 500 of them and the meat lasts forever almost like being vacuum sealed !

[ctwiggs1]

I just did all my wild turkeys with these bags and so far so good.  The vacuum seal bags are really expensive so I wanted to find a better solution. 

I just run the meat through the grinder with the sausage stuffer attached and it pours ground meat into the bag. 

Curtis

[NRA4LIFE]

Do what Quad said.  If pressed flat, you can thaw them in a matter of minutes.  I vacuum seal everything now.