Cryovac ??

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Steve

G'day Gronk

Our rule of thumb - from the butcher - is:

1. Up to 6 weeks for red meat without bones
2. Up to four weeks for read meat with bones
3. Forget about chicken - even though it is said to be OK up to two weeks, it smells after about one and you have to be brave to to cook / eat it.

We don't freeze it

Cheers
John

remember that you're machine will not cryovac the meat as would a butcher using a cryovac machine which replaces air with nitrogen. Will certainly do 3 weeks if cryovacd. May do with just vacuum but will certainly take up less space.

Peter

We purchased a cheap home vac machine recently. The vacuum on it is not as powerful as other models, you pay for what you get but it will give us a good idea of how useful we will find one anyway.

I found it quite funny how most vac machines (even the dear ones) list how long food normally lasts and then how long it lasts vacuum packed & frozen - why on earth they don't state the refrigerated life I have no idea - well apart from marketing.

Anyway on my el-cheapo I found it said somewhere that you can expect stuff such as red meat to keep for 3 x longer than normal if refrigerated. So steak which may normally keep in the fridge for 3 days should keep for 9 days. I did some celery and had it in the fridge for a few weeks or something and it hadn't gone real soft yet.

However I have found that if you put frozen meat in the bottom of the fridge (engel etc) it generally takes a couple of days or more to fully defrost anyway.

If you get the butcher to vacuum pack it then you can be confident of it lasting a few weeks or more I guess, their machines would be a lot more powerful and most certainly suck all the air out compared to say my cheapie which could be iffy.

Usually find red meat (beef) lasts 4 to 6 weeks vacumn packed by a butcher.
Running engel on about 3 deg., meat in bottom.
Don't like my milk, tomatoes etc or beer getting frozen.
We only open the fridge 2 or at most 3 times a day.
We don't drop in a six pack of beer to cool down for the night either.
In other words we try and keep a constant temp as much as possible in the fridge.
Chill the beer before you go or buy it chilled as you go, and replace as you use it, or get a seperate small drinks fridge.
We don't run the fridge on freezer either, better battery life that way.

Yes we have had the Sunbeam one for 2 yrs and find it great.
Red Meat up to 5 weeks at normal refridgeration IE 3%
Red meat with bone 4 weeks. As above.
Chicken 3 weeks as above.
Fish 5weeks however this is fresh caught and filleted by ourselves.

GO ahead and get one .
The other plus is no mess in engel or any other fridge.
Must stress when about to cook open package and let rest for 15min at least before cooking.
Also many vegetables can be vac packed to extend life.

Hi Gronk,

we have the same fridge but set it at 2deg. We get about three weeks out of butcher vacuum sealing (not cryovac) for things llike steak, roasts. Tried a roast at 3 1/2 weeks and it wasn't quite right.

Cheers
David

Don't want to steal your thread ......... I assume you are heading away from towns for sometime to bother with vac sealing your meat. I usually just buy mine where i can as I move around. I do understand your reason, I have considered getting one myself but keep talking myself out of getting one. I keep thinking is it worth it or is the meat that expensive out bush.

My next trip I was looking at buying meat and veg at say either Birdsville Marree Lyndhurst Innaminka Eulo as having a place to buy meat and veg if needed. Am i wrong?

The only thing i can say is watch the bones in meat don't punchure the bag while at the bottom of the fridge and beware of perservative or marinated meats I beleive they don't last that long.

Brian

Hi Gronk

I think three weeks is pushing it, it would be OK in a house fridge with a very low temp variance but any fridge in the back of a car is going to change by 4 to 5 degree up and down, this is bad when it comes to food preserving. I would think two weeks is safe and that is with a good safety net as getting sick will stuff a good holiday. Remember the fresher the meat the longer it will last, if you buy the meat and put it in the fridge for a day before you vacuum pack it you will loose two days. Some marinades will help, not a sauce, marinades where originally used to preserve food, so a low liquid one with curry, salt or sugar: eg a home made satay, has all three.

Have fun

Craig

Haven't read all the responses, sorry if someone has already said this, but don't freeze cryovacked meat - it makes the plastic very brittle and prone to splitting/damage, and if this happens you lose all cryovac properties.

D-Jack

Thanks for all the answers ; 1st reason I bought it was to keep the bottom of the fridge clean and to also enable me to take the meat out of the plastic packaging to fit in the basket area better......only have a narrow area as the rest is for beer !! As I don't drink water, liquid gold is more important than food !!!!!!!!

So now I will arrange the meat in order of whichever is most likely to go off 1st to go to the top to be used 1st !!!

2nd reason is it takes care of the hassle of any worry about trying to buy meat when your travelling !!! After a long days driving, all I want to do is relax with a beer !!

Just don't do broccoli, it gets a funny smell about it pretty quick, obviously you can't remove all the air and it must give of a gas anyway.

Had a sliced carrot left as extra the other night, now if you put it in a freezer bag or container it dries out, so I vacuum packed it to see and of course day or two later it was still fresh as and ready to go, so some veggies you may even be able to pre-prepare particularly for the first few days worth.

Hi Gronk

As a chef I buy Vacuum sealed meats from a butcher which is anything up to 4 weeks old when I buy it, I am then able to keep the meat for another 3-5 weeks before it starts to become an issue. I would recommend getting it sealed by the butcher, and ask him how old the meat is to start with as the longer the supplier holds it the less time you get on it, this is why when buying meat to vacuum seal it is best from the butcher not the supermarket. Your home machine would probably be good for 3 weeks in the bottom of the Waeco for red meat but wouldn't push chicken or fish past probably about 7-8 days. Also it is better to vacuum boneless meats as the bones will promote deterioration in the meat.
All Vacuum sealed meats have a distinct smell which can sometimes be confused for "off" meat especially the red meats as the blood begins to smell, but give it a good wash and this will remove most of that smell as you wash away the old blood.
Especially when camping the old saying 'if in doubt, throw it out' is always good to go by.
Hope this is useful and not too confusing!

Matt