I have something this article does not – empirical data. And I feel rather qualified to say that this article is utter and total BS. IF you vacuum seal the meat and IF you store it in a deep freeze (not the freezer in your fridge) I can say without any trace of doubt that it will last years.
I routinely eat meat out of my freezer that is a couple years old and it’s fine. In fact, I have half a turkey from 2016 thawing out for dinner tomorrow. I believe the oldest meat I’ve eaten out of my freezer was over ten years old and it was fine.
Articles like this try to be helpful, and I know many people would be aghast at the thought of eating meat that is years old, but I and my content gastrointestinal system are here to tell you that IF you freeze it properly you can get years and years of storage life out of your meat.
So when you see a big deal on bulk meat, don’t hesitate to purchase it because you’re worried it’ll “go bad” or “Won’t keep” until you’re ready to use it up. Seal it, freeze it, and it’ll be good for a decade. Thats years of personal experience talking.
Your insight is priceless. Thank you
I’ve been a deer hunter for 30+ years and I process my own venison, from the field to the freezer. I’ve date my packages and have eaten venison that’s easily 6-7 years old and it’s perfectly fine. Not only does it taste fine, when you thaw it there’s no “off odor” at all.
My next prepper project is to brown some ground Bambi (burger), dry it in my dehydrator, then vacuum pack it. I have a generator, but when the grid goes down, running that genny will be like ringing a dinner bell. I’d rather hunker down, go dark, and eat my dry and canned food. Any cooking smells beyond boiling water will attract a lot more than ants.
Yup. At this moment, I’m nuking some potato soup with ground chuck that was vac-packed five years ago. Haven’t tasted it yet- doesn’t matter. Like “you kill it, you eat it” I follow “I paid for it, I’m eating it”.
A while back, when we got our freezers and started to really store food, I tried to research frozen food lifespan and found that there were “recommendations” and all sorts of guidelines – both for consumers and commercial freezing. The bottom line turned out to be; we’re not sure but if done right damn near forever.
I did find an article about some far northern native types who dug out some very frozen ‘extinct’ mammal flesh and ate it without issue. I have a hunch that’s a myth but I’ve had several year old burger and it was never an issue. For fun:
https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/12/permafrozen-dinner/604069/
I’ve never had any problem old meat in the deep freezer. The only one that ever was not good, was a 10 year old turkey. It had almost no flavor, and the texture seemed a bit off, but that’s all. I’ve used steak, venison, chicken, roasts, 2 or 3 years old with no issues. Same with green beans and corn.
I seem to remember the old timers using freezer paper, maybe newspaper would do the same thing, to prevent ‘freezer burn’. Wonder if some experts could weigh in with some thoughts.
Never had an issue using just plastic and vac pac, but we try to eat frozen foods before 6 mos old or so. Lately I prefer to buy steaks the day or two before cooking, fresh seems to be a bit better than frozen.
Freezer burn, as I understand it, is the result of the meat coming into prolonged contact with dry cold air. “Freezer burn” is actually just a form of freeze drying. Regardless, the solution is to not have any portion of the meat that is exposed to air. Vacuum sealing usually has the bag conform tightly to the meat, thus preventing contact with air. I cannot imagine that paper would provide this sort of coverage unless the meat is remarkably uniform in contours…like a cube. I have found that if I thoroughly wrap a piece of meat in plastic wrap, making sure it does not have any air contacting the meat, it freezes just as well.
I used to always use freezer paper; found it makes little difference.
I used to almost-submerge my bags to be frozen in a sinkful of water, driving most of the air out, then sealing them–redneck vac-sealing. It got most of the air out, but now that I have a vacuum sealer, that’s it. It’s the best method. As Commander Zero noted, freezer burn is caused by air trapped with the meat.
Several years ago, waaaaay in the back of my freezer, I ran across a steak that had been vac sealed and frozen nearly 15 years prior. I was a bit skeptical about it, but cooked it up and ate it anyway. It was fine. The taste was a little different than I would expect of a fresh or recently frozen steak, but certainly not a bad flavor, and definitely not spoiled or freezer burned.
Another food that lasts a very long time if vac sealed and frozen is butter. I recently used some butter I froze in 2006. No detectable difference between it and something that came from the store yesterday.
Another method used by commercial packers (especially seafood) is to freeze then dip in water and refreeze with a ice coating,no contact with air greatly increases freezer life. The ultimate is a commercial cold house with constant -40f, preservation is a function of temperature (reduces bacterial activity) and contact with air(freezer burn).
I’m.going to try that. Thanks.
I remember an old article in outdoor life, the guy would use an empty 1/2 gallon carton of milk, put his fish in it, top it with water and freeze the whole thing as one block of ice. He claims he never had a fish go bad freezing it this way.
I’ve done that with rabbit and squirrel since they are easily freezer burned and it made a difference – but it does take up freezer space.
In case of a power outage that mass of ice would keep the temp down for quite a while
My former spouse, Dragon Lady, used to take fresh shrimp, immerse them in containers full of water and then freeze them. The result was a block of ice containing shrimp that lasted years.
Last year I finished off the last of my 2016 chicken breasts from a massive haul I made at Walmart.
Butter freezes really well and the price of it has doubled since I put it in the Deep Freeze.
I’m not an expert but I do confirm from personal experience that vacuum sealing is the key. You can notice the difference between a frozen piece of meat that has been vacuum sealed and one that has been not just after about a month in the freezer. I do also vacuum seal cheese and cured meat (ex. salami) to prolong their shelf life in the fridge.
Thanks from Italy,
Daniele
Thanks, Daniele!
Two key points: Vacuum freezing (in a bag that remains sealed), and deep freeze (chest freezer)
I’m not an expert, but I think I got a world-class example. A friend of mine was in the Soviet Army. He told me once he had to go to a warehouse to pick up meat for the cooks. The warehouse was some kind of deep freeze. The side of beef he got had a blue stamp on it labeling the meat 1954. This was in the 1980s.
Keep up the good work.
The USDA also has these facilities in major cities, most are to contain 3 weeks of food(dry,canned and frozen) for the population in case of emergency.
I’m with the others. I’ve noted that proper wrapping/ sealing and consistent cold makes the difference.
Even in my fridge, food lasts longer at 34 to 36 than at 40 – if it is sealed.
Some countries, Japan is one, have large scale freezers with national stockpiles of meat that are stored for many, many years.
I read about the Japanese stockpile in an article about what they do with the whales they take…
A couple nights ago we pressure cooked a large pot roast. It was wrapped in freezer paper, frozen in 2015, and stored in our chest freezer. Not vacuum sealed. It was just fine, albeit a little tougher than a fresh cut.
Just ate a steak yesterday that was put in my freezer about 2 years ago. Not even vacuum packed. I had only put into a feezer bag then pushed out as much air as possible before sealing it and throwing it in the freezer.
I’m curious. Why was the comment I sent yesterday sent to the circular file?
Sorry buddy…looking at my previous comments and I dont see one from you in any of my folders.
I find a child lock on the freezer in my fridge does help a lot. You may believe the door is closed but with the lock on you know it is.
In my experience, beef, chicken, turkey, deer, rabbit, squirrel, quail, fish, hotdogs, brats, and seafood have a long shelf life when frozen, but pork is another story. I have never had pork last more than 6 months without it getting strong, and if you’ve ever smelled it, you’ll know. Hams, shoulder, bacon, and belly last much longer, salt cured or smoked. Before we ever had a freezer, sausage, ribs, jowl, lard and anything you couldn’t smoke, or salt cure was canned. Cracklings was fried and canned. Tongue and brains were cooked fresh, usually mixed with eggs. Do remember how they did kidneys, heart and liver, and we didn’t do chitterlings.