Healthiest, Most Economical and Environmental Way To Freeze Meat
I dont like to freeze meat. During the slow, regular freezing, most people apply to their meat, in a fridge freezer or chest, water molecules turn to ice crystals slowly and subtatially destroy surrounding molecules, including vitamines, protiens, other flavour compounds, and texture.
Even with the following process, the effect is present, but this process mitigates the loss somewhat.
Sometimes I do or need to freeze meat; but not because I don't care, am lazy, or not have time to dry it.
When I do freeze i follow the following guidlines.
Flash freezing is best; hanging in a very cold, very breezy place. The cold air will blow away the wamth of the product and rapidly "viterfy" the ice molecules in the meat; do this outside if the air is clean. You can do this in a freezer with a strong fan, but the food must be covered (which negates most of air flow function) .
When the un wrapped meat is frozen, spash or spray with water and put back in the freezer. A thin barrier of ice will form which will protect from freezer burn and act like a natural zip lock bag. Repeat splash process over the next few days and put it right back in the freezer after treatment. The thicker the ice shield the better.
After a barrier has formed, store in a loose reusable bag as water will still evaporate from the surface with time.
Once item is frozen, you can use a steel pot to store in freezer while going through the water splash cycles; it's easier to crack items apart and from the bowl than taking on the process in a glass bowl.
I wouldt sugest trying to hang the meat in the freezer as modern double fridges circulate air through cheap white foam air channels, which slowly break down over time - which is why you should not leave food uncovered in a fridge. And chest freezers can be equally as dirty, but maybe not.
Though in large scale impractical in terms of time, freezing in bowles will help you save money on bags as you can reuse any loose bag to hold the frozen meat once the ice sheild has been made. No worrying about broken seals down the road. You also won't be introducing new plastic to the environment when you throw out plastic lined butcher wrapping or plastic vac bags.
Know that ice still evaporates in your freezer. I dont freeze in bowle much, but the loose bag wrap should mitigate too much loss of ice.
Next time you buy frozen whole fish in a loose bag, check the outside for the ice sheild; the fishing industry often applies the same freezing, water spray process to their products.
If you are a lazy ass and don't want to do any of this - I'd suggest separate your wrapped food while it freezes in your freezer, freezing in batches.
If the meat won't be frozen for long, I often save jars, remove the lable, and sometimes put diced meat in these to freeze. Again, I dont freeze meat often - as i dry most meat - but this is an option to avoid plastic bags or plastic lined butcher wrapping. Don't over fill these jars. You may end up with some broken jars. The frozen meat can be washed of glass.
Most of my suggestions are idealistic and impractical, so the risk and rewards are yours to choose to take.
If you have to process a moose and you dont have brains to care about the polution caused by using plastic, I recommend that with what little you do have, you use it to find a facility that will FLASH FREEZE the meat.
When an animal dies, the nutrients immediately begin to deteriorate - you will need to evaluate the pros and cons of all preservation methods.
