How old is your MEAT
Contributors to this thread:General Topic
From: Bou'bound
20-Jan-20
What is the longest you have kept and enjoyed vacuum sealed frozen game meat.
From: Nick Muche
20-Jan-20
Several years and if properly wrapped it’ll be just fine.
From: caribou77
20-Jan-20
Still enjoying caribou from 2017
From: smarba
20-Jan-20
Yep 3-4 years I've had no problem. Usually give it away if my freezer is so full I have a stockpile of much more than a couple years. Occasionally the older meat will have a little freezer burn to be trimmed. That's in a NON DEFROSTING freezer. A Frost Free freezer will dry out meat much, much quicker and is not recommended for long-term storage.
From: elkmtngear
20-Jan-20
How's this for old? :
"However, one true tale of a Pleistocene repast comes from the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Paleontologist Dale Guthrie and colleagues, who excavated a 36,000-year-old steppe bison carcass called Blue Babe, stewed and ate extra neck tissue while prepping the bison for display. The meat was tough and had a strong aroma, Guthrie wrote in the book "Frozen Fauna of the Mammoth Steppe: The Story of Blue Babe""
From: EmbryOklahoma
20-Jan-20
51 years old
From: jingalls
20-Jan-20
Hands down, Dale Guthrie for the win!-)
From: JohnMC
20-Jan-20
So Rick your 51 year old meat is vacuum sealed?
From: Grey Ghost
20-Jan-20
2 years is my limit on big game, usually because we eat it all in that time frame. Fish, birds, and small game are 1 year for us.
Matt
From: Shuteye
20-Jan-20
All of my deer meat is vacuum sealed and two or three years is fine. I try to keep it eaten up but have found some that was three years old and couldn't tell the difference.
From: Trial153
20-Jan-20
Just used the last of my 2016 moose. It was perfectly fine. Havent even touch this years yet. I dont vacuum seal red meat either, except for sausage and shanks..double wrap with commercial frezzer paper.
From: butcherboy
20-Jan-20
2013 on 2 elk. 1 elk from 2017, Oryx from 2019, antelope from 2019. Elk from 2013 are almost gone. Wrap in plastic first then in freezer paper. I vacuum sealed all the antelope from this past year.
Working toward vacuum sealing all meat for customers. We already do it for all ham, bacon, jerky, and snack sticks.
From: badbull
20-Jan-20
Just ate some venison that was dated 2014. It was not vacuum sealed but just double freezerpaper wrapped. There was no sign or taste of freezer burn. I have had to cut freezer burn off 6 year old and fresher meat but was always able to salvage it. I would never plan on keeping meat that long but sometimes it seems to get buried. I eat hamburger within 6 months and try to keep game meat dated and well insulated to be eaten within 1 year but sometimes it turns into several years. Smarba is right on with what he said.
From: Jaquomo
20-Jan-20
This summer I found some muley round steaks dated 2010 buried in one of my freezers and it was as good as the day I froze it. I believe it makes a big difference if it's in a frost-free (bad) freezer vs. non-defrosting (good).
From: Kurt
20-Jan-20
6 year old elk roast we found was as good as the day it was vacuum sealed.
From: Ermine
20-Jan-20
I don’t vacuum seal. Double Saran Wrap and butcher paper. Eaten 5 year old steak no problem. Typically 2-3 years is longest before it gets eaten
From: EmbryOklahoma
20-Jan-20
John, sometimes.
From: TrapperKayak
20-Jan-20
4 years ago I found a box of cow elk steaks wrapped in freezer paper at the bottom of my chest freezer, dated 2004. There were 15 or so packages and they were all in nearly the same condition they were in when I placed them in there. They were still delicious. Undisturbed for the whole time basically, way at the bottom in a box. And kept as cold as the freezer setting will go. So 12 yrs old. Not as old as the wooly mammoth meat found frozen in a glacier....That was served for lots of $$$$$$.
From: llamapacker
20-Jan-20
Cleaned out one of the chest freezers this year and found some deer and elk from 2012, 2013 and newer. All was edible with no apparent change in quality. Just wrapped in Costco butcher paper, not vacuum sealed. It will last a very long time if kept frozen. Bill
From: Bou'bound
21-Jan-20
So my 2012 moose is not unprecedented. Still about 20 packs of him left in freezer and tastes and looks fine.
From: PREZ
21-Jan-20
" 51 years old"....hahahahaha
From: EMB
21-Jan-20
2 weeks ago, in the back of the freezer, I found an antelope roast from 2007. It was vacuum sealed with no freezer burn. I slow cooked a stew adapted from a vegetable/beef stew recipe. No issues. Honestly, I don't know what else you would do with a piece of meat that old.
From: fastflight
21-Jan-20
I will eat game meat daily come august and September just to make sure it doesnt go over a year old. Many posts above have proven that longer isn't going to make the meat inedible but not preferable. This is on deer though where I can be pretty confident the freezer will be filled soon. If I ever get an elk it might last a few years as who knows when the next one comes. Lol
From: Fuzzy
21-Jan-20
I can everything left in the freezer come September
From: lawdy
21-Jan-20
I found several jars of canned venison in a spring while logging up in the Parmachenee, Maine a few years back. Our village didn’t get electricity until 1960, just generators, so those mason jars had to be at least 30 years old. We tried eating the meat and it was as good as if canned today. The old guy cutting on the yard took the rest home and ate it. I have salted cod hanging in my upper barn that is 5 years old. We grab some for chowder but have to soak it for a day or so. Our freezer meat lasts just a year as we don’t buy much meat, we pretty much eat it all, and that includes at least one roadkill per year, 20 broilers, cod, halibut from Newfy, and a small hog. We only have beef at Christmas, prime rib. My wife cooked 50 rutabagas last fall, and vacuum froze them. Veggies are great like that.
From: LINK
21-Jan-20
I found some meat at the bottom of my freezer once that had been overlooked. 8 months old and still good. ;) Seriously I freeze a few deer a year, an occasional elk, a pig every year and a half a beef every year. More often than not I’m out of meat. I’m feeding four kids and I’m glad I’ve got a beef at the butcher shop now.
From: Ace
21-Jan-20
I firmly believe that vacuum sealing and a non-frostfree freezer is what gives you maximum shelf life. My moose didn't last for more than 2 years, deer rarely lasts longer than 2 years unless I overlook a package. Once, When I was cleaning out a chest freezer I found a few packages of ground beef (way at the bottom, frozen into that mess of frost/snow/ice that collects) that was 10-11 years old from the last cow my girlfriend had raised. It was delicious, absolutely no deterioration in taste or texture that you could notice.
From: APauls
21-Jan-20
I only started with a vacuum sealer a few years ago but I have eaten 8/10 year old roasts and steaks with absolutely no ill effects. Prior to vacuum sealing I used shrink wrap which I actually think is a superior method to vacuum sealing but it takes much longer. So now I vacuum seal. We’ll see what I get for age on this.
I do know vacuum sealed fish does not last near as long as fish frozen in water which lasts indefinitely. I have had some freezer burn on vac sealed fish
From: Mule Power
21-Jan-20
Lawdy you must really enjoy that Christmas prime rib!
From: lawdy
21-Jan-20
Mule power, yes I do, but still love wild meat. I really love our home cured ham and bacon. I mix tiny pieces of bacon with deer and beaver burger. The absolute best. Eating pork loin tonight. We eat a ton of cod that I bring back from Newfy. We would have had wild turkey for Thanksgiving if he hadn’t flown away with my wife’s arrow through him. Being on the fire dept is nice as we all get roadkill deer and moose.
From: greenmountain
21-Jan-20
I try to use up all of my venison by the next hunting season. I have had a package or two hide but I still ate it when found. Really old stuff has been ground into sausage and used that way.
From: LINK
21-Jan-20
I wish there were roadkill moose in Oklahoma. Then maybe I could put some venison in the freezer. Lol
From: Treeline
21-Jan-20
Damn, had the same thought as Embry. That’s SCARY
From: EmbryOklahoma
21-Jan-20
You ain't 51, Tavis!
From: DL
21-Jan-20
I’ve had elk that was vacuum sealed that was 10 years old. It was just as good as the day I put it in the freezer.
From: willliamtell
26-Jan-20
Non defrost freezer, vacuum sealed meat, up to 2 years. I don' t try to freeze ground or sausage for more than a few months. I put odd scraps and trim into 5 lb packages, and only thaw and make enough of that into ground/sausage that can be eaten in 3-6 months. You get a sense of how much meat you'll eat within a reasonable amount of time, and I like to divy it up early rather than give away old meat.
From: Treeline
26-Jan-20
Nope, 53.
From: Zim
27-Jan-20
I got whitetail cuts from ‘16 that are still good. I’ve dug elk out of my dad’s freezer that was 5+ yrs old and it was wonderful. The key is vacuum sealed with no damage to the packaging.
From: weekender21
28-Jan-20
At least 5 years old with no problem. I've eaten vacuum sealed fish that was three years old.
From: Fuzzy
29-Jan-20
lawdy I've eaten canned beef, venison and lean pork that was nearly 20 years in the jar as well. fatty pork will develop off flavors after 10 years or so.
From: Bou'bound
07-Apr-20
From: x-man
07-Apr-20
I think probably 4 years is the longest I've "lost" a venison package in the freezer. I've never thrown anything away and, never noticed any damage.
From: x-man
07-Apr-20
TBM double-tap-itis.
From: Wayniac
07-Apr-20
Just had venison sausage from 2017 season (that means processed Feb 2018) last night with no issues. Oldest I think I’ve had was 3.5yrs old
