HOW TO VACUUM SEAL YOUR WILD GAME MEAT

[Graybeard]

https://www.wideopenspaces.com/how-to-vacuum-seal-your-wild-game-meat



Posted by Staff Writer

If you want your wild-game meat to last in the freezer, you need to vacuum seal it.
As hunters, the ultimate measurement of success isn't the score of an animal, but rather the amount of meat in your freezer.

In fact, many hunters make it a point to only eat wild-game meat instead of shopping for farm-raised meat at the grocery store.

Because game meat can come in bunches--one deer can fill a standard freezer--making sure it'll stay fresh for a longer shelf life is paramount.

While a standard Ziploc bag will preserve meat temporarily, you need to vacuum seal your protein if you want it to maintain its freshness for extended periods of time.

Lucky for us, Ryan Callahan is here to show us how the folks at MeatEater vacuum seal their wild-game meat.

Watch the video below:


https://youtu.be/5mG1j6uS-SA

So, as you can see, Callahan recommends the Weston Pro 3000 Vacuum Sealer, which he claims is MeatEater favorite.

What I find the most interesting about his method is that he packages each cut of fresh meat with seasoning other flavor enhancers. Instead of waiting until it's time to prepare the meal, he lets each cut soak up flavor in the freezer.

As he says, however, there's a trick to doing it right, where you don't overpower the meat or create air pockets in the packaging that could result in freezer burn.

[Lloyd Smale]

buddy has one of those weston pros. Its hands down better then my food saver is. Thing is people know i prosess meat so when the wife and i got married i ended up with 4 of them as gifts. down to my last one now and when it fails ill buck up and get the weston. I do backstraps with them seasoned like the article. I think vacuuming in and the thawing draws the flavor into the meat better then just sitting it out for the night spiced.

[DEACONLLB]

I have one of the deluxe food savers and it works great except for things that have moister in them then I have to put it in the bag place in freezer for several hours then I seal and it works great, If I do not do that then it fills the little moister catcher full and wont seal. I noticed that the young couple on Life below zero was processing salmon she was doing the sealing but the machine she was using she just stood in front of held the bag up to the machine with both hands it vac sealed it maybe took only a few seconds and then she did another one. Him being a guide outfitter it may be something very special. I have it on my recorder so I will watch and pause and see if I can tell what they are using.

Deaconllb

[Lloyd Smale]

I have one of the deluxe food savers and it works great except for things that have moister in them then I have to put it in the bag place in freezer for several hours then I seal and it works great, If I do not do that then it fills the little moister catcher full and wont seal. I noticed that the young couple on Life below zero was processing salmon she was doing the sealing but the machine she was using she just stood in front of held the bag up to the machine with both hands it vac sealed it maybe took only a few seconds and then she did another one. Him being a guide outfitter it may be something very special. I have it on my recorder so I will watch and pause and see if I can tell what they are using.

Deaconllb

another thing that works is putting a sheet of paper towl in the bag right before you suck the air out. When you thaw just toss it away

[Buckskin]

I have one of the deluxe food savers and it works great except for things that have moister in them then I have to put it in the bag place in freezer for several hours then I seal and it works great, If I do not do that then it fills the little moister catcher full and wont seal. I noticed that the young couple on Life below zero was processing salmon she was doing the sealing but the machine she was using she just stood in front of held the bag up to the machine with both hands it vac sealed it maybe took only a few seconds and then she did another one. Him being a guide outfitter it may be something very special. I have it on my recorder so I will watch and pause and see if I can tell what they are using.

Deaconllb

another thing that works is putting a sheet of paper towl in the bag right before you suck the air out. When you thaw just toss it away

Yeah, the paper towel trick works well, I do that a lot with fish. I still lay the fish out on paper towel to get most of moisture off, but they usually still need the paper towel.  I'm on my second food saver as well and will likely up grade.   Lloyd, I've never seen a Weston in action. What's the benefit over a food saver?  I've also considered getting a chamber vac sealer, such as one below, which would eliminate the moisture issue when sealing.  Those units are generally more expensive, but the bags are way cheaper than the food saver type.

https://www.amazon.com/Avid-Armor-USV32-Liquid-Rich-Professional/dp/B07YLGRZFJ/ref=sr_1_12_sspa?_encoding=UTF8&c=ts&dchild=1&keywords=Vacuum+Sealers&qid=1629641376&s=kitchen&sr=1-12-spons&ts_id=1090768&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRzJLSzdURDlRUzBUJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwOTAzOTA5M1JXS0tQMDZXMFZDRiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUExMDQxODU2WDI3RzdTTEc1UVVFJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfbXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

[Mule 11]

My food saver is kinda pasty. So any info appreciated before the next necessary purchase.

[Lloyd Smale]

the better weston and LEM units (i think there the same) vaccum quicker and if your doing alot you dont get the foodsaver stall where you have to let the sealing strip cool down. That and his has been going for 15 years and in that time ive had at least 5 different foodsavers. Now i dont know if the new weston is the same as the old one. They do look the same. Bags are to expensive period. I it in the  bulk rolls and make my own. That way your not wasting alot of bag for smaller pieces of meat. i looked at that chamber vac. It wouldnt work for me. I vac pack whole shoulders off of small deer and even hind quarters on the real small ones. They would never fit in that machine My buddy even took apart an ar15 and vac packed it for long term storage. Not something id bother with but the point is that chamber is only so big and the only thing that restricts you with the normal ones is the width of the bag.

[Buckskin]

I use a big roll of stretch wrap for shoulders, everything else is cut to muscle group for steaks and roasts for me.  I think I'm leaning toward a chamber for my next one and if I do it before my food saver goes out I would have both options. I really tire of the moisture in the seal issue and that way you could even use marinades with the vac and you can get 250 bags for the price of 2 rolls of food savers.

[DEACONLLB]

In experimenting with my food saver I tried Hamburger buns and they went into a clump of dough :

Deaconllb

[Buckskin]

Yeah,,,, you would need a chamber sealer for bread...

[Lloyd Smale]

I do have to chuckle at the articles reference to a deer filling a typical freezer. Maybe a top freezer in a 15 cf refrigerator. A butchred boned out deer sure doesnt take up a huge amount of freezer space. 

[DEACONLLB]

Back when my adult son owned his own meat processing plant we bought the saran type film in large rolls and we put the meat in trays then heat sealed it then freezer wrapped with the white butcher paper. I have a number of those large rolls of film and I found that if I just wrap the meat in that and then put in bag and heat seal I don't have a problem with the bags not  sealing so far that has worked great for me.

Deaconllb