Frozen Sausage

[sss3]

Bought lbs of sausage from farmer at a good price.  Can't remember what pkg is called.  One of those, with no air.  How long will they keep in freezer?  Hope I explained that well enough.  Being tired makes me ditzy.  

[feather]

A couple years with no air in the package.

[sss3]

feather,  Good.  Won't have to can.

[Use Less]

Vac-packed. They will keep a long time, especially in a chest freezer that seals tight.

[dustawaits]

It will keep only as long as the vacuum holds.
I no long am fond of vacuum pack.
I was given a small freezer full of vacuum pack meat badly
freezer burned because the vacuum let go, yes in the freezer.

Vacuum pack cheese molds with air......

[Deleted]

Depends on what it is packed in

Those thick heavy vacuum pac bags will protect it for a long time. The thin wrap not so long, it will freezer burn right through it. I still like the white freezer paper, double wrapped, the best. Over a thin plastic, wrapped tight. I wrap in the thin plastic, mold them square in a plastic sandwich container, 1/2 or 1 lb size, stack the bricks in a cardboard box to hold their shape, freeze for a day or 2 and then double wrap. I like to eat any meat within 6 months especially when spices are added, 3 is best. No meat longer than a year, for best flavor....James

[feather]

Jun 25, 2018 12:35:48 GMT dustawaits said:

It will keep only as long as the vacuum holds.
I no long am fond of vacuum pack.
I was given a small freezer full of vacuum pack meat badly
freezer burned because the vacuum let go, yes in the freezer.

Vacuum pack cheese molds with air......

If the vacuum packs have good quality plastic and a good seal, they will keep the air out. A thinner plastic, a less expensive plastic (more cost saving) may puncture and a poor seal will let air in.

About cheese in vac packs (I have my own plastic and food saver sealer), cheese will mold with air in the package. I also noticed, some cheeses 'off gas' as they age, not all cheeses, but when they give off gas in the package, it is not oxygen and so the package may balloon out, the cheeses don't mold. The cheeses that do this are mostly swisses and parmesans. If you look at cheeses packaged in stores, the swisses especially, the packages have ballooned slightly.

[Ozarks Tom]

We've all heard the saying "Nature abhors a vacuum." Environments will always try to equalize, dried wood absorbs moisture until it's equal with it's environment, and a vacuum will try to equalize with outside air pressure. Plastic, believe it or not, is air permeable over time, that's why long term storage of dried grains requires mylar bags, as the thin metal film blocks air penetration.

The key to extending storage life of a vacuum packed food is the thickness of the plastic, Foodsaver plastic seems to be about as thick as there is on the market. We've used meats vacuum packed by the Foodsaver a couple years with no problem.

I'm going to experiment with cutting two gallon mylar bags into sections, and heat sealing the edges with the Foodsaver. That would be the best of both worlds if it works.

[feather]

Jun 25, 2018 14:54:02 GMT Ozarks Tom said:

Plastic, believe it or not, is air permeable over time, that's why long term storage of dried grains requires mylar bags, as the thin metal film blocks air penetration.

This is true, that plastic is air permeable over time. I have honey in gallon size, thick plastic jugs, and over a few years, they begin to indent, moisture and air is lost through the plastic which ultimately makes the honey crystallize and difficult to remove.

[sss3]

Thanks, all.  Never thought of double bagging.  Sausage is packed tight in a thicker plastic.  If it can last indefinitely, double bagged, I'd buy more.

[feather]

Jun 25, 2018 15:17:03 GMT sss3 said:

Thanks, all.  Never thought of double bagging.  Sausage is packed tight in a thicker plastic.  If it can last indefinitely, double bagged, I'd buy more.

On a previous homesteading type forum, there was a story. Someone cleaned out their chest freezer and found a package of liver that was 8 years old (or maybe 7 or maybe 9) and they were going to eat it. For a long while they didn't post, and I wondered if they got sick or something. Turns out they were fine, the liver was delicious! It still makes me laugh.

I wouldn't suggest that frozen meat can last indefinitely. It's possible it's just not recommended.

[sss3]

feather,  Indefinitely, to me; means 2-3 yrs.  Looks like that will work.

[Skandi]

We keep many things 2-3 years in the freezer just in normal freezer bags, if it isn't burnt it doesn't bother me

[dustawaits]

The freezer burned meat was packed at the slaughter house.
They very well through ignorance or thrift may have used the wrong grade
of plastic film.
I was thinking of cheddar cheese where I worked occasionally. If the machine
was not sealing tightly as it should, it resulted in a 40 blockof cheese molded in the cooler.

[Deleted]

Like I said above I would be more worried about the change in flavor from the spices added. Many times fat is added to sausage and it can go off taste quickly. We no longer make sausage and freeze it. We thaw frozen meat, grind it and make sausage 1 batch at a time. Much, much better flavor. We even do ground meat this way, much better. Something about ground meat and the air spaces and ice buildup in the meat. Many places ground ice with ground meat to cut down on the air spaces and to keep meat from drying out, adds weight, and ice is cheap. This is done with older bull meat to help with off flavor....James

[paquebot]

In theory, purists will tell you that uncooked sausage should never be frozen. Something about losing the qualities of the spices. We made lots of venison bratwurst and froze them in ziplocks with no problem that we could tell. But then, we also had them mostly gone in a year's time.

Martin

[sss3]

Guess I should say, have 5 1 lb pkgs.  If they keep 2 yrs, I'd buy more.  That's how good the price was.