How best to package and freeze?

[justfine505]

I think I'm doing the packaging and freezing part all wrong, or at least, not very good. We butchered last night and I just stuck as many parts as I could in a freezer bag and put it in the freezer. Unfortunately, it doesn't look very appetizing now as the bloody water was still in the bag and now frozen in chunks around the meat. How should I be packaging and freezing in the most economical way?

 

[eco2pia]

I usually rest the meat in the fridge for a few days whole, then joint it (in other words cut it into serving pieces) and package it in ziplocs. I try to nest the pieces neatly together just so they take less space in the freezer. I used to use butcher paper, but I don't keep it long enough to make that worth the effort. Ziplocs are so fast.

I suspect that the resting means that the meat has less fluids still draining from it and so I don't notice the bloody ice chunk thing, that is all left in the bag/pan that was in the fridge. Mine looks just like chicken from the store in ziplocs--unless it has bruising on the meat somewhere.

 

[MaggieJ]

Do you drain the pieces well before packaging? When I take the meat out of the cold water prior to aging in the fridge, I drain it for a few minutes in a big stainless steel colander. Then I bag it for aging in the fridge for 3-5 days before freezing. Never had a problem with excess moisture.

 

[hoodat]

It may not look appetizing in the bag but actually the water around the meat helps avoid freezer burn. Once they are thawed the bloody water can be drained off.

 

[akane]

Soaking in salt water and then draining the water off will take the blood out of the meat. You can always repackage in fresh water if that's how you want it.

 

[oxrayfarm]

When I harvested our chickens and stuck them in a freezer bag right away I too noticed the less than appetizing bloody frozen messy bag.

However thanks to this forum I learned to rest the meat in the fridge for 2-3 days. Now when we harvest bunnz we do it like this... Rest the meat, in those few days the ziplock does start to fill with blood/water, but then I drain that off. Next cut up the rabbits into usable portions or I leave a few rabbits hole for a nice crock-pot dish. Then I either package by ziplock freezer bag or vacuum seal it. The meat looks clean and not