how long will meat keep if its vacume packed

[GregU]

I was wondering how long meat will keep if its vacumed packed and placed in the freezer. I had some fish from 2 yrs ago last night and it still tasted great!

[rasbo]

I found a package of deer from o5 last yr was good soo 3yrs

[billythekidrock]

There are a lot of variables, but the most important is how it was handled before packing. Usually a couple years is the rule at my house. Some stuff at 3 years old was freezer burnt or just bland, others were ok. Typically if I want to save long term I will can it.

[Big10gauge]

I always seem to find a stray package at the bottom of the freezer. The last one was some elk steaks from 04. Tried them and they seemed as good as the day I vacuumed packed it.

[ICEMAN]

Probably for a real long time, if the seal holds. One issue I have with vacuum packers, is that if the package gets banged around in the freezer....it is frozen and brittle and can get a small crack and leak. Now you have a freezer burnt item. I mostly plastic wrap (heavily) our meat products, then overwrap the plastic with waxed butcher paper, seem to work well for me. ON items I vacuum pack, I am carefull not to smack them around as I dig for steelhead bait at 3am....

[Cascade_Sherpa]

I've got elk sausage vacuum packed from '04 that still tastes great! Granted, there is so much preservatives in sausage that its not the same as comparing it to vacuum packed fish and cut game meat.  I tend to base my judgements first on color, smell (once it thaws), and finally the taste test.......