Vacuum pack vs poly bags

[pikeman_95]

I would like to jump in here a little.

The vacuum seal bags are great but not fool proof. When items are moved around in a freezer and in vacuum bags when they are banged against each other and are frozen solid they can bang into each other and be nicked and released the vacuum.

Some of the poly bags have micro holes in them to facilitate the filling as they will vent off the air. It helps the butcher fill the bag but it allows very rapid freezer burn. I have seen hamburger that is less then one year old that has freezer burned almost 3/4 on an inch into the surface of the burger. If you look closely at the packages you can see the holes.

Others are just hole free and they do a better job of providing protection.

We have always wrapped our meat first with plastic wrap. Paying special attention to getting all the air out of the package. The air space it the killer to the product. If the meat has air space the moisture from the meat will soon start to dry out of the surface of the meat. [Freezer burn] If done right all the meat is against the plastic. I then wrap the package in freezer paper to protect the plastic wrap from getting nicks in it from moving the packages around in the freezer. I have had meat that is over three years old and had no freezer burn. It is just like I put it away. I always wrap meat that I intend to make sausage out of in 5 pound packages and in as large of chunks as I can. This minimize the air exposure to the meat. I pay special attention to make sure that there is no air between the meat and the plastic wrap. I find the larger rolls of plastic wrap from Costco is very economical. We also buy their large rolls of paper.

By the way frost free freezers do not cause all the product in the freezer to thaw every time they defrost the  freezer unit. They just heat up the evaporator unit to get the collected frost off of that part and the rest of the freezer and product in the freezer remains frozen. This water is collected in a tray the drains the water out of the freezer unit and drains it into a evaporator pan that blows air over the water surface to evaporate the moisture in the tray.

[Bagman]

Check out Cabelas, they are running a special right now on their vac sea bags. The premade bags come in different sizes, but I use a lot of the smaller ones and right now they are $7.49 per 100 of the 6x10". I ordered 500

Thanks much for the heads up on Cabelas.  Although Cabelas is usually my go to place I have been using Weston bags for the price and quality.  After comparing the Cabelas bags are less than half the price and have received very good reviews.  I use the 15"x18" bags for putting up my venison and they are on sale and at the best price I have seen.  It says limited quantities so I better get back and get my order in.  Thanks again!

[Bagman]

Well I was late to the party, out of stock and no back order.  Drat!  Anyone else seen good deals on the big bags?

[standles]

By the way frost free freezers do not cause all the product in the freezer to thaw every time they defrost the  freezer unit. They just heat up the evaporator unit to get the collected frost off of that part and the rest of the freezer and product in the freezer remains frozen. This water is collected in a tray the drains the water out of the freezer unit and drains it into a evaporator pan that blows air over the water surface to evaporate the moisture in the tray.

BAGMAN..

Please note this part of the reply.  It is correct.  Frostfree Freezers DO NOT repeatedly freeze and defrost your food items.   It is only the frost on the evaporator it eliminates,

Steven

[Roget]

Like  Pikeman, I wrap meat in plastic wrap & then vacuum seal it.
Other food items I just vacuum wrap.

If it is going into the fridge I just use baggies, but if it goes in the freezer it gets vacuum packed.

I regularly keep all kinds of food (including meats) for as long as 4 years or more with no degradation.

[Saber 4]

I just found out about this source of vacuum bags with what seem like good prices and free shipping in the US from Marvin at Rodak's Coffee and Grills in Ft Worth.
http://www.thesweetattack.com/page/page/1617042.htm

[Bagman]

Thanks to standles and pikeman for the clarification on the frost free freezer and to Saber for the link to the vac bags, just another example of the help and knowledge one can get from this forum!