Butcher paper question.
- Thread starter Butcherbill
- Start date
ive been using cling wrap on the meat and then wrapping it in news paper. works really well and keeps the meat for 1 year or so. as long as you create an insulated barrier between the meat and the dry air in the freezer it wont get freezer burn.
Butcherbill
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
I have another buck tag to cut so next time I need freezer paper will hopefully be in the next 4 weeks, to town I go today for the right stuff lol.
If the butcher paper is not lined with wax paper i would highly recommended you wrap the meat in wax paper or plastic wrap prior to wrapping it in the butcher paper. The paper alone will allow the blood and fluids to leach through.
We use the waxed butcher paper for ribs and ground meat but always wrap in cling wrap first. Plain brown paper should work if it is cling-wrapped too.
Usually for most cuts I use plastic bags and squeeze or suck the air out.
Until I got this year's deer, we were still eating the 2018 deer. Still have two bags of stew left.
Usually for most cuts I use plastic bags and squeeze or suck the air out.
Until I got this year's deer, we were still eating the 2018 deer. Still have two bags of stew left.
Butcherbill
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
No need to plastic wrap while using waxed/poly coated freezer paper, in the last 5 years of using it on its own I’ve never had a freezer burnt piece of meat and I’ve found packages that were 2 years old that got lost in the back of the freezer. All were as fresh as anything from that current season, just my personal experience.
Anyway I have the new coated paper so disaster averted.
bearkilr
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Nowhere, ......just past the middle
The non coated will freezer burn and stick within 1 year. Coated is good for max 2 years. I had some pronghorn burger I found in bottom of freezer from 2018 and outer 1/4" was toast, that's coated paper.
Price has gone up, about $70 for a big roll.
I haven't done it with wild meat but a buddy's wife told me many years ago that the butcher up north told her to wrap the meat in plastic wrap then put it in a bag or whatever you want . don't cheap out on the plastic wrap . I buy the big rolls from Costco . I have had pork chops over 2 years in the freezer and they were excellent .
Cdnhunter117
CGN Regular
- Location
- Northern Ontario
I bought two rolls of unwaxed..being new to it all. I used some from a deer last year and it seems okay, then I did a bear and another deer, and 45-50 geese from this season until my buddy told me I should be using waxed inside. I noticed some of the goose breasts were a tiny bit freezer burnt, only one month in, and I wrapped them well I think and taped them off, and they're inside the cloth freshco bags... so maybe I should seran wrap the outside of them too now that they're already wrapped?
Just letting you know anyhow, they seem to not be doing so well but the deer has been okay, bear, 95%. Just depends on the cut maybe and if it's sealed 100% or not.
Just letting you know anyhow, they seem to not be doing so well but the deer has been okay, bear, 95%. Just depends on the cut maybe and if it's sealed 100% or not.
Butcherbill
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Can’t help you there, the wife bought the uncoated at one local big box grocery store, the place I get the waxed/coated paper from is a local hardware store that also sells hunting/fishing gear. Which is were I went back to for the new roll I just picked up.
Thanks, that’s was my hunch as to what could happen. As much of a pain as it was to unwrap 35 lbs of frozen ground venison and rewrap it with coated paper I’m glad I did. All the steaks and roasts I just double wrapped with the coated, I found that the plain paper once wet with blood would really stick the the meat so there was some scraping to get it all off the ground in places. If you let it fully thaw then it just peels off easy, we always fully thaw steaks, roasts etc before cooking but will toss a pack of ground in the insta pot still frozen which is why I completely unwrapped the ground from the plain paper.
If I see any freezer burning happening in the cuts as we start eating them I’ll do the same, thankfully the first half of the cuts were wrapped with the tail end of the original roll of coated Paper so I’ll be eating those packs last and starting on the double wrapped packs first. Glad I decided to re wrap it, hope yours keeps well.
burnt_servo
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- right in the middle of b.c.
i've been playing with this , but first saturating things with argon , pushing as much atmosphere out , then vac sealing ..... i also try to do it as close as possible to a "wet pack" as possible without getting the "wet" into the sealer .
i'll know in a couple years if it works any better
Make him/her a friend for life. I have started on local butchers as well. The national grocers were a disappointment. Walmart quantities are a bit large, minimum three rolls, and delivery time frames are excessive. Similar issue with Amazon. Canadian Tire - certain stores only - seems to be the best bet so far.
me too
all my fish and game meat gets vacuum packed.
I really like the small premade foodsaver bags for ground as well. We weigh the ground in the bag for 1 pound each , flatten it and vacuum it. Makes it so the ground stacks really nicely in the freezer in flat 3/4" thick rectangles.
I've used both coated and noncoated butcher paper and much prefer the coated for obvious reasons. I also wonder if the non coated is for short term and coated for longer term like the canning lids that also come in regular long term (3 to 5 years) and short term (3 to 6 months). We have both and only use the regular lids for fish and meats and the short terms for jams and jellies.
I haven't been all that impressed with some of the vac sealing results I've seen.
My share of an elk from last year was vac sealed by my hunting buddy (or his wife?
) and while most of the meat packs seem ok there are more than a couple that have lost their seal and let in a significant amount of air which defeats the purpose of using it. The meat from my mule deer buck from last year that I wrapped in plastic wrap then covered with butchers paper is still 100% in great shape however! To be fair I don't know the quality of the vac seal unit or plastic that was used or if the person sealing was using it properly.......
As I understand if you are not careful about keeping the seal area clean and dry you might not end up with a great seal or if you try and cram too much in that can happen as well.
Last edited:
Butcherbill
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Blaster land, Okanagan BC
Not sure where you’re located but have you look at Costco online, they deliver and the price isn’t too bad.
https://www.costco.ca/.product.100559226.html
I did the cheap plastic 5lb bags plus 2 layers waxed freezer paper on last year's deer, still have a lot left as I was deployed over the winter and it is just as good as the day I wrapped it. This year's moose was frozen on trays at the butcher (didn't want to process that much meat myself), I think I'll take it off the trays and vacuum seal because I had some pieces get freezer burnt last time especially when left for a year or more.
