Healthiest, Most Economical and Environmental Way To Freeze Meat
I don't 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 substantially, destroying surrounding molecules, including vitamins, proteins, other flavor 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 don't have time to dry it.
When I do freeze, I consider the following guidelines.
Flash freezing is best: hanging in a very cold, very breezy place. The cold air will blow away the warmth of the product and rapidly "vitrify" the ice molecules in the meat; do this outside if the air is clean—most people in this situation know and do this already. You can do this in a freezer with a strong fan, but the food must be covered (which negates most of the airflow function).
When the unwrapped meat is frozen, wet your hand and rub the icy meat all over with water and put it 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 the splash process over the next few days and put it right back in the freezer after treatment. The thicker the ice shield, the better. Three times is sufficient.
After a barrier has formed, store it in a loose reusable bag, as water will still evaporate from the surface with time.
You can use a covered steel pot to store while going through the water splash cycles; it's easier to crack items apart in the bowl than taking on the process in a glass bowl.
I would suggest trying to hang the meat in the freezer, as modern double-door fridges often 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. Chest freezers can be equally dirty, but maybe not if you keep them clean.
Though large-scale and impractical in terms of time, freezing in bowls will help you save money on bags as you can reuse any loose bag to hold the frozen meat once the ice shield 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 don't freeze in bowls 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 shield; the fishing industry often applies the same freezing and water spray process to their products while they're blast frozen on the ship, which is the best storage method.
If you are a lazy ass and don't want to do any of this, I'd suggest separating 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 label, and sometimes put diced meat and fat in these to freeze. Again, I don't freeze meat often—as I dry most meat—but this is an option to avoid plastic bags or plastic-lined butcher's wrapping. Don't overfill 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 don't have brains to care about the pollution 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; this may not be an option—I've never looked for one recently, and they usually have to hang the meat for a long time before butchering, which I also know is never good for meat quality—just figure it out for yourself—you now have the information.
When an animal dies, the nutrients immediately begin to deteriorate—you will need to evaluate the pros and cons of all preservation methods.
Meat preservation at best uses many forms: freezing, drying, and jarring.
