Avacuum sealing machine was first designed for professional kitchens but is being used in home kitchens to preserve food for a longer period of time.
Today one of the most popular functions of a vacuum sealer is to preserve meat. By vacuum sealing frozen meat, you are keeping it fresh and reducing its risk of getting freezer burned due to long-term storage.
The best and appropriate way to do this is through a technique known as sous vide cooking. This Sous vide technique allows you to prepare food with more tenderness and flavor compared to other traditional cooking techniques. Sous vide cooking is therefore recommended for everyone who wants to unlock the full potential of the food.
This blog will guide you on what you should know about vacuum sealed food and the best ways to handle your frozen meat.
Can You Vacuum Seal Frozen Meat?
You can vacuum seal frozen meat, and you should often. When you vacuum seal frozen meat, it helps to keep it fresher and longer. If you have frozen meat that you need to keep for a long time, you can vacuum seal it.
Doing this will help reduce the risk rate of freezer burn and other complications that will make your food taste bad when you cook it.
How to Vacuum Seal Frozen Meat
For anyone who wants to vacuum seal meat, here are a few things you need to know.
#1. Keep Your Hands Clean
The first thing you should do is to keep your hands clean. This will prevent you from sealing bacteria into your vacuum sealed bag with your food. Having bacteria in your vacuum seal meat will cause your meat to break down faster and can even create a big smelly mess inside.
#2. Freeze Your Meat and Water Together
If you are sealing your game meat with water, then you need to freeze the meat along with the liquid. Freezing the meat and water together before placing it in a vacuum sealed bag will keep it frozen. However, including liquid in an already frozen meat will only ruin your storage process.
#3. Get the Most Suitable Vacuum Sealer
You also need to ensure that you have the most suitable vacuum sealing machine for sealing larger objects. This is because most vacuum sealing machines are designed for a small amount of meat; however, if you have lots of meat that is not completely frozen, you will need a stronger vacuum sealer.
#4. Get the Best Vacuum Seal Bag
Another thing you should know before you vacuum seal frozen meat is that you need to get the right vacuum seal bag. Look out for vacuum sealed bags that are thick enough to handle even the sharpest edges of the frozen meat.
You can implement this by carrying out research before buying the product that will be stored in the freezer. Moreover, you would not want a scenario where you want to take out your vacuum sealed food only to find out that the bag is torn and the meat inside it is bad.
#5. Ration the Frozen Meat into Manageable Portions
As much as possible, avoid storing meat in very large amounts in one bag. Before you use a vacuum sealer, ensure that you divide the meat into manageable portions. This will keep the meat fresh and ready for sous vide cooking and prevent issues that may occur with the seal.
How Long Will Frozen Meat Last If Vacuum Sealed?
What happens when you vacuum seal meat is that you remove all the air from the plastic wrap thereby preventing fungus, bacteria, and molds. All of these can make your food dangerous to eat and affect the sous vide cooking.
Generally, vacuum sealed food lasts five times longer in the freezer compared to the traditional wrapping methods. This means that depending on the types of meat, with a vacuum sealer, your meat can last for years in the freezer.
If your meat lasts for about six months to a year using the traditional method of storing meat in the freezer, the time can extend further to about two and three years when using a vacuum sealing machine.
Proper Ways to Store Meat for Long-Term Storage
In this process, you can remove the meat from its original package into a plastic wrap before putting it in the freezer.
However, the problem is that they might be moist, and the air in the meat can attract bacteria. To actually prevent this from occurring, you need to vacuum seal the game meat.
In this process, you are letting out as much air as you can while you vacuum pack the meat to be stored in the freezer. Vacuum seal meat can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks, which is a long period of time.
Vacuum Sealer for Freezing Meat
There are two primary types of vacuum sealer for freezing meat, which include the countertop and chamber vacuum sealer.
#1. Countertop Vacuum Sealers
This type of vacuum sealer is mostly found in home kitchens. They rarely exceed two feet in length and do not weigh more than a few pounds, which makes that a convenient and compact choice for smaller portions of vacuum sealed food. They are also cheaper and much easier to buy from the store.
#2. Chamber Vacuum Sealers
This type of vacuum sealer for freezing meat is considered to be the gold standard for sous vide cooking and can be found in most high-class kitchens today. They can be used in creating a tighter seal than countertop vacuum sealing machines because they hold vacuum sealed foods in a more pressurized chamber. They are also large and expensive but can also preserve the freshness of your food for as long as possible.
If you need a chamber sealer, it’s easier to find several models available on the market. On the other hand, countertop sealers are not easy to find, so you need to pay attention as many low-quality imitators are available online.
It’s Time to Get Your Vacuum Seal for Frozen Meat!
Vacuum seal meat is one of the best ways to keep your meat fresh and reduce the risk of getting the freezer burned. However, do not forget to keep your hands clean and get the most suitable vacuum sealer and vacuum sealed bag before they are stored in the freezer.
We hope you found this guide to your store meat helpful, especially if you are considering getting a vacuum sealing machine. Contact us today if you have more or further questions on vacuum sealed frozen meat!
