Butcher Paper vs Vacuum Sealing Meat
General Topic
Contributors to this thread:
Chris S 02-Oct-24
greg simon 02-Oct-24
Murph 02-Oct-24
Painless 02-Oct-24
Bowfreak 02-Oct-24
Buckeye 02-Oct-24
Acres4wildlife 02-Oct-24
Grey Ghost 02-Oct-24
scentmouse 02-Oct-24
xtroutx 02-Oct-24
Groundhunter 02-Oct-24
KSflatlander 02-Oct-24
Vonfoust 02-Oct-24
HDE 02-Oct-24
Mint 02-Oct-24
Will 02-Oct-24
VAMtns 02-Oct-24
jmiller 02-Oct-24
Tilzbow 02-Oct-24
DL 02-Oct-24
Kurt 02-Oct-24
tradi-doerr 02-Oct-24
butcherboy 02-Oct-24
Toonces 02-Oct-24
Charlie Rehor 02-Oct-24
Murph 02-Oct-24
Groundhunter 02-Oct-24
IdyllwildArcher 02-Oct-24
PECO2 02-Oct-24
Brian M. 02-Oct-24
Al Dente Laptop 02-Oct-24
Brian M. 02-Oct-24
butcherboy 02-Oct-24
scentmouse 02-Oct-24
tradi-doerr 03-Oct-24
TRnCO 03-Oct-24
Mule Power 03-Oct-24
WYOelker 04-Oct-24
DL 04-Oct-24
HDE 04-Oct-24
Stix 04-Oct-24
VAMtns 04-Oct-24
Hunts_with_stick 04-Oct-24
TEmbry 04-Oct-24
llamapacker 04-Oct-24
Corax_latrans 05-Oct-24
spike78 05-Oct-24
MA-PAdeerslayer 05-Oct-24
From: Chris S
02-Oct-24
Just curious of how many guys use butcher paper or vacuum seal their game after home processing. What are the pros & cons of each. I’ve used both for deer and bear but not for any particular reason than it is what I had at the time or it was on sale so I stocked up. I generally do more vacuum sealing as the prices have come down for bulk rolls to cut to size and are easier to store than a large roll of paper. But the paper is easier to write on with the sharpie. What’s everyone opinion? I know we have some experts and professional butchers on Bowsite. Thanks and be safe!

From: greg simon
02-Oct-24
I use a vacuum sealer. If done properly with a good quality machine and material I believe it is superior to any paper wrap. I routinely open sealed packages of meat that are a year old and the meat looks and smells fresh.

From: Murph
02-Oct-24
MEAT your maker chamber vac, bags are cheap as hell, and does an excellent job, one of the biggest pros for me is I’m not a great meal planner so when I get home after work I can throw a sealed bag in the sink with some water and in less then an hour it’s thawed and ready to prepare.

From: Painless
02-Oct-24
Vacuum sealer is definitely better than paper, especially if meat will sit in freezer awhile. O2 is your enemy when trying to keep things fresh.

From: Bowfreak
02-Oct-24
Agree with Murph on thawing out vacuum sealed bags. Also...I have eaten meat that was three years old that had been sealed in a vacuum bag and it was just fine. I don't have a chamber vac and buy my bags from Amazon. It is considerably cheaper than buying from Foodsaver. I can't tell you what is better but for me, I will never go back to freezer paper for the thawing in the sink method you get with vacuum bags alone.

From: Buckeye
02-Oct-24
I saran wrap them butcher paper over that. It will keep up to 5 years in a really cold freezer.

02-Oct-24
Also a MEAT chamber vac fan these days. Works great. I used to wrap meat in plastic wrap & freezer paper. No more.

From: Grey Ghost
02-Oct-24
Vacuum sealer for me.

02-Oct-24
I'm with Buckeye, saran wrap and butcher paper, easy peasy... I eat everything usually within 2 seasons, works perfect. scentmouse

From: xtroutx
02-Oct-24
Plastic wrap and butcher paper for me also. Never have and issue.

From: Groundhunter
02-Oct-24
Have 2 sealers, 90 percent of time, paper and freezer grade plastic wrap. Proper butcher fold and freezer tape,,

We eat our game, right along the year....I do like the sealer for walleyes though

From: KSflatlander
02-Oct-24
Plastic wrap and butcher paper for me. I may vacuum seal the loin or backstrap on occasion. I can butcher wrap a lot faster than vacuum seal so the time saving is why I don’t vacuum seal all of it. I also have butcher dispensers for the paper and plastic wrap so it’s pretty fast and convenient over vacuuming sealing for me.

From: Vonfoust
02-Oct-24
I have a vaccum sealer, but I like plastic coated freezer paper better and never had an issue with meat going 2-3 years.

From: HDE
02-Oct-24
Use both. Roasts are vacuum, grind and steaks are plastic and paper.

From: Mint
02-Oct-24
I use the commercial weston vacuum sealer that I've had for 15 years and it guys much faster than wrapping for me. Never had a problem with freezer burn. I get the Wevac vacuum sealer bags from Amazon since they work great and are much cheaper than the Weston bags.

From: Will
02-Oct-24
I vacuum seal if I butcher, and the butcher I often use also vacuum seals. I feel like well done butcher paper jobs last a surprising amount of time as well. But vacuum sealing feels a little better to me.

From: VAMtns
02-Oct-24
Saran Wrap and place in freezer bags , never could wrap a present or roast .

From: jmiller
02-Oct-24
Saran wrap and butcher paper. Cheaper and seems to work much better for me.

From: Tilzbow
02-Oct-24
Saran Wrap and butcher paper for all but ground. For ground, a twist tie plastic bag, load a pound of ground meat, lower the bag in a sink of water, tie the bag in an easy to remove knot while under water then wrap in butcher paper. Better than vacuum IMO.

When thawing meat, never thaw in water or on the counter if you can avoid it. Always thaw in refrigerator for a day or two. Thawing quickly will draw a lot of the moisture out of the meat, especially with fish. When thawing vacuum packed meat I also highly suggest poking a small hole in the bag so the bag can let in some air while the meat thaws and the bag expands, if there isn’t a hole in the bag, it’ll still expand and draw moisture out of the meat. Ever notice how much blood and other liquid is in the bag after thawing? Poking a hole will minimize this and result in a juicier cut of meat.

From: DL
02-Oct-24
I found elk that was hiding in my freezer that was vacuum sealed that was 10 years old. It was perfectly fine.

From: Kurt
02-Oct-24
Vacuum seal all game meat. Lasts for years and years...never had any go bad.

We did buy a chamber sealer a year ago. Unit was expensive (4 times the cost of the vacuum sealer, its bulky, heavy and about as loud as my air compressor in operation. Also takes 50 seconds per bag, quite a bit slower than our vacuum sealer.

Time will tell if it was worth the purchase price but I never see it replacing the vacuum sealer, especially to take along on hunts with the freezer and generator.

From: tradi-doerr
02-Oct-24
Vacuum seal all our meat, game or domestic. Going on 3yrs for my moose and the meat is in perfect condition, and ate the last of my deer from 2020 in August this year that was still good.

From: butcherboy
02-Oct-24
Plastic first then freezer paper not butcher paper. There is a big difference between the two. Freezer paper is polyethylene (plastic) coated and butcher paper is well, just paper. Everything I do is plastic wrapped then wrapped in freezer paper. Both personally and commercially with a few exceptions. Ham, bacon, jerky, snack sticks are all vacuum sealed. Even the ham and bacon are wrapped in plastic first then vacuum sealed. The problem with vacuum bags is they can become brittle in the freezer and get pinholes in the bag which causes the bag to lose its seal. I have elk meat from 2017 and it’s just as good as the day it went into the freezer. Have a little bit of Oryx left that’s even older and it’s just fine. The secret is getting it wrapped in plastic with little to no air pockets and then the freezer paper. All hb is stuffed into poly tubes and taped closed.

From: Toonces
02-Oct-24
I have done both, saran wrap under butcher paper and vacuum bags. I haven't noticed a difference between the two, but I rarely have meat frozen for more than a year.

02-Oct-24
I make a point to empty my freezer each year so nothing is ever more than 10 months old. Ha Ha. Vacuum sealed for me.

Bearded Butchers on Instagram are my “go to” for info. Ha Ha…

From: Murph
02-Oct-24
You guys that are still eating your harvest 3 yrs later don’t share a freezer with me I find myself craving venison every summer counting the days till fall..

From: Groundhunter
02-Oct-24
Who in their right mind would have 10 year old elk meat, are you kidding me

02-Oct-24
I vacuum seal everything. Where a vacuum sealer really shines is on fish - it lasts much longer.

From: PECO2
02-Oct-24
Vacuum sealer. Never a problem.

From: Brian M.
02-Oct-24
Chris S, write on the vac bags before filling them, much easier. Vac seal for me over last few years. Freezer paper if I run out of bags.

02-Oct-24
Vacuum sealer all the way. Mine has wet and dry settings on it to prevent seepage into the sealing area at the top of the bag, but they also sell absorbent strips. If you can afford a chamber vac, then you won't have any issue at all. You can seal liquids in them. Besides processing game, I buy in bulk and then breakdown into steaks and chops. Never has an issue with freezer burn.

From: Brian M.
02-Oct-24
"but they also sell absorbent strips. "

Half a paper towel works great. Fold the long way and tuck it into bag before sealing.

From: butcherboy
02-Oct-24
It’s actually pretty easy to have elk in the freezer for 10 years. It gets buried and forgotten or you make it last for as long as possible when you only kill an elk every 5-6 years. Also have beef, pork, fish, chicken, antelope, and oryx to eat.

02-Oct-24
Tilzbow, that's food for thought... good suggestions. scentmouse

From: tradi-doerr
03-Oct-24
+1 butcherboy, most years any venison is gone in 10 months. My deer/elk got buried under the moose, 400# moose meat will last a long time (about 70# left), yes I shared it, just sparingly ;)

From: TRnCO
03-Oct-24
"Plastic first then freezer paper not butcher paper. There is a big difference between the two. Freezer paper is polyethylene (plastic) coated and butcher paper is well, just paper. Everything I do is plastic wrapped then wrapped in freezer paper."

So, umm, do you not use freezer paper because of the "plastic" polyethylene but then you go ahead and use plastic wrap which in of itself is made with polyethylene, inside of butcher paper?

My wife does the wrapping and we have used freezer paper forever. Haven't lost any meat, but the wife can wrap pretty dang good.

From: Mule Power
03-Oct-24
Apples and oranges. Paper does not prevent moisture loss.

From: WYOelker
04-Oct-24
Plastic Wrap then paper is superior. I have had meat 6-7 years old perfectly fine. But the vacuum bags don’t last to moving around etc.

From: DL
04-Oct-24
Ground hunter, it’s just my wife and I. So between deer and elk in some years it’s a lot. I’m also a taxidermist and have 4 large chest freezers and sometimes things get lost in the shuffle.

From: HDE
04-Oct-24
Groundhunter - no reason to be mad about it for someone else that probably doesn't care...

From: Stix
04-Oct-24
Plastic wrap for me.

From: VAMtns
04-Oct-24
Plastic wrap and freezer bags , posted earlier but forgot to say I don't use a frost free freezer either , less freezer burn

04-Oct-24
I vacuum seal my steaks so I can soups vide them. Everything else gets put in a freezer bag then wrapped in freezer paper

From: TEmbry
04-Oct-24
Time is the only negative to vacuum sealing. It’s superior on all other categories.

I vacuum seal. Even my ground meat unless dealing with moose quantities. I like pressing the bags flat for easier storage in the freezer and much faster thaw times.

From: llamapacker
04-Oct-24
I use the plastic coated freezer paper exclusively for elk and deer, except for burger which goes into 2 pound plastic "tubes" sealed with a hog ring. I prefer to vacuum seal fish, but a certain percentage of the vacuum sealed bags will lose their seal throughout the year.

For us it is a volume question. I cut and wrap typically 4-6 elk per year and 5-8 deer / antelope. Much quicker and cheaper to do freezer paper, which we buy in bulk. I typically only go on two major fishing trips each year, and there is usually a vacuum sealer where we stay in Alaska, so much easier to vacuum seal.

Both methods keep the meat fresh multiple years, and usually fish will last well over a year.

Bill

05-Oct-24
“ when I get home after work I can throw a sealed bag in the sink with some water and in less then an hour it’s thawed and ready to prepare.”

I’m with Tilz — defrosting under vacuum just sucks the life right out of a piece of meat, and is an abomination on fish, especially. When I was 4 or 5, our house pair used to bring us blocks of trout frozen into blocks of ice. He was probably poaching WAAAY over the limit, but the fish were always in great shape.

Also, a frost-free freezer is a lot more likely to freezer burn your hard-won bounty. So I like a manual defrost chest freezer.

From: spike78
05-Oct-24
I have deer in the freezer from 2021 in Vac sealed bags that have zero freezer burn and other meat wrapped in plastic in the trays from only a year or two ago going freezer burned.

05-Oct-24
We vac seal everything.. on our PA trips there would be 6-8 of us hunting. Every night we would set up after dinner and cut and pack deer after it hung for X amount of time. I always left my steaks out so they could age but everything else gets food savered. We would all have a task. One guy breaking down off the hangers, two of us breaking down quarters, two guys cutting burgers and prepping mix for the grinder and two guys packing. Our friends wife would have all the bags cut one end sealed and labeled before we even arrived to deer camp for the 10 days or so. We do not miss the paper, tape, and plastic days.

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