Does frozen venison meat expire?

[HogSniper2]

I found some frozen venison dated 12/2003 at the bottom of the storage freezer.  Is it still eatable?  It's been frozen since that date and never thawed.  I've heard it should be eaten within a year from the butcher date.

[Rwalter63]

If the meat has been wrapped well before freezing it will be fine. The main way frozen venison goes bad is due to freezer burn, just like beef or chicken. I use heavy duty freezer wrap and then use freezer paper and tape to seal the entire package. I have venison from 2003 still in my freezer and ate some last night for dinner and it had zero freezer burn on it. Once you open it you'll know. Its not going to spoil for a long long time in the freezer especially if you remove all the fat of the meat before you freeze, which is what I do. The fat is the first thing that goes bad, but it takes a very long time at freezer temperatures.

[longwinters]

RWalter63 is entirely correct.

Long

[HogSniper2]

Thanks guys.  

[JPSaxMan]

If the meat has been wrapped well before freezing it will be fine. The main way frozen venison goes bad is due to freezer burn, just like beef or chicken. I use heavy duty freezer wrap and then use freezer paper and tape to seal the entire package. I have venison from 2003 still in my freezer and ate some last night for dinner and it had zero freezer burn on it. Once you open it you'll know. Its not going to spoil for a long long time in the freezer especially if you remove all the fat of the meat before you freeze, which is what I do. The fat is the first thing that goes bad, but it takes a very long time at freezer temperatures.

One suggestion. DON'T buy any ShurFine/w/e brand of Freezer Bags. They work for crap. I had my venison in the freezer for a week when I pulled a package out and noted that the meat was showing slight signs of freezer burn :eek: . Upon wrapping the meat in saran wrap and then baggin them again, they were ok. Buy Glad or Ziploc, or w/e

But other than that, ditto.  

[Rwalter63]

To freeze my venison I use a heavy saran freezer wrap first then I wrap them using freezer paper. It works great for me I once found a piece of venison in my freezer that was 4 years old. It had fallen off its orginal shelf and was mixed in with some current venison. Since the all the packages looked the same I didn't notice it. When I opened up and not a speck of freezer burn on the meat. I cooked it up that day and it was just fine. I have some 2 yr old venison in my freezer right now and would have no problem eating it.

[Chuck White]

I used to wrap my venison in Saran Wrap, then in heavy wrapping paper!  This worked well and the meat would last at least a couple of years!

Now I have a vacuum packer and I think that as long as the air is completely removed, that the shelf life of the venison is almost indefinite!

The vacuum packers can be bought anywhere from $75.00 to several hundred, depending upon your choice!

[JPSaxMan]

I think ima get me one of those FoodSavers. My bud had one at hand one year, but he didn't have bags, so we had to do it the traditional way. Seems like one of the only sure-fire ways to keep the meat fresh.  

[grizzy57]

The "Foodsavers" work great! good investment !! Not only for meat but what ever you can get in the different size Bags.
                                                   Grizzy57 :lol:

[upnorth]

freeze your meat in large zip-loc bags filled with water. the water seals the meat fron the air. works great!!

[rickyp]

Most of my deer meat last lest then a year. I use heavy duty freezer wrap. I double wrap it and then date it. I then put the deer tag on the outside of the freezer (just incase the man showers up)

I normally use my food saver for pork,beef, and chicken this is a way to tell the deer from other meat.

I have heard that wet packing is a great way to freeze your meat, but haven't tried it. I was also thinking about trying canning the deer meat.


on a few side notes:
you Can get the food saver bags at walmart.

I also use my food saver to vacuum pack all my little things I take hunting with me  that I don't want to get wet.

[JPSaxMan]

Canning meat, tried it...it's ok. Nuttin spectacular. It's actually limited b/c obviously you can't can backstraps (whole) steaks or whatever. And when ya throw in the stuff like the onions and everything else you use, the meat barely tastes marinated. Hmm... :? . I didn't much care for it. But that's me  :-D .  

[trophyhunter]

Ive eaten some venison found in bottom of freezer up 3 yrs old some freezer burn but it never made me sick so i guess it was ok the taste was not as good fresh but i was not complaining.

[James B]

We canned about 28 quarts of deer meat this year. I love it. I always put a little beef tallow in the jars before we cook it. I open it up and thicken the juice for gravy and put it own homemade bisciuts. YUM YUM.

[JPSaxMan]

We canned about 28 quarts of deer meat this year. I love it. I always put a little beef tallow in the jars before we cook it. I open it up and thicken the juice for gravy and put it own homemade bisciuts. YUM YUM.

I might want to try that. My bud canned them with just juice and vegetables. That sounds good *licks chops*.  

[rockbilly]

If you vaccum pack the meat with one of the food processors it should stay good for three-four years.  It woorks well on fish too.  Course it doesn't stay around my place long enough to get old.  We usually have deer meat in some form at least twice a week.  I always have a tube of summer sausage ready when the grandkids come over.

[WD45]

Seems to me that the older meat in the freezer makes the best jerky

[Leverdude]

I wrap it in plastic bags & then freezer wrap & put as many packages as I can in big zip lock freezer bags & havent had trouble at all. I've ate venison 3 years old that was as fresh as this years wrapped this way.