In recent times, buying meat in bulk or directly from a farmer has become very popular. Local meat processors have been very busy processing home-grown and locally purchased animals. With a new way of purchasing meat comes new questions and concerns about the best way to package and store those cuts so they will feed your family for several months.
The most common method for storing pork over a long period of time is freezing. It seems so simple to simply freeze pork and know that it will be ready when you need it, but as a meat scientist, I get lots of questions about freezing meat. Decisions have to be made about packaging, timing, size of cuts, what’s the best freezer and so on.
Package it Right
Whether you buy pork at the grocery store or if you have a hog custom harvested, your cuts are going to arrive at your house packaged. That packaging can be a friend or an enemy when it comes to the longevity of your cuts in the fridge.
Air is the enemy when you are freezing meat. Air on the surface of cuts causes oxidation and the freezer burn. So, the best packaging for freezing pork is vacuum packaging which removes all the air from the package. Some butchers and meat processors use vacuum packaging, or you may want to consider buying a small home vacuum packager.
Ground pork and sausage may be packaged in chubs and those are essentially vacuum packages with a little exception near the opening.
Older butchers may use wax paper wrap, and that usually works almost as well as vacuum, but may not last as long. When you have a whole hog processed, you have to remember that some of the cuts may not be used for several months. Zip-close freezer bags are another option, but you need to remove as much air as possible from the bags before you freeze them.
The worst packaging type for freezing is the foam trays with the plastic overwrap that you find in the grocery store. Those packages are designed to allow air in contact with the product, so they are very prone to freezer burn.
Freeze it Fast
Many times, cuts will come from the butcher already frozen, so just sticking them all directly in the freezer is easy, but if you have a large number of fresh cuts to freeze, think strategically. When you place non-frozen items in your freezer, spread them out. A big block of non-frozen cuts placed together in a freezer will take a long time to freeze completely, and sometimes cuts in the middle may even spoil before they freeze. If you have a large quantity of cuts to freeze at home, consider doing so over several days. Spread out a layer of cuts, allow them to freeze, then add another layer. The whole muscle cuts will be fine to store in the refrigerator for a few days or even a week while you freeze the ground cuts and sausages first.
Remember, smaller packages will freeze faster than larger packages. If you buy in bulk, you may want to repackage cuts into smaller portions. This will also make it handy when you thaw and cook them. I like to arrange the cuts with as much surface area as possible. Flattened-out ground pork packages and chops arranged in a single layer will freeze faster.
Nothing is better than knowing that you have a freezer full of pork, but it is even more comforting when you know it is properly packaged and frozen so you can enjoy it for many months. Discover more tips for freezing on my blog at momatthemeatcounter.blogspot.com.
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