Meat Care Equipment Priorities

[Average-joe]

Bags
Cooler
Knife
Grinder
Get the 10000000 yard roll of saran wrap from costco, the 500000 foot roll of butcher paper and some freezer tape and you can cut and wrap anything you want.

Everything else just for funsies.

Never thought to look for bulk saran wrap and butcher paper. That’s a no brainer!

 

[Danny Hoey]

Never thought to look for bulk saran wrap and butcher paper. That’s a no brainer!

Not butchering related, but look at their aluminum foil roll too.

 

[Wrench]

If your meat grinder weighs less than 30lbs....it's going to break.

I've killed a lot of #12 &#22 "3/4 hp" grinders that were lightweight. I've ripped the gears out of a kitchenaid and oster.

If you throw a bear forearm in your grinder and it slows down....you'll kill it soon.

I do several deer and elk every year and I have a big cutting board to break down quarters. Tubs for grind, steaks and trim. Great knives. I pretty much just use a pair of henckels a boning and a chef's knife for all my work.

A mixer is a godsend if you do sausage and a stuffer is necessary.....mixer through the tube sucks.

Freezer paper and dispenser plus a tape dispenser. I have gone through plastic wrap, chubs and vac over the years and for us we use ziploc brand freezer bags inside freezer paper.

I've pulled steaks out that were 5 years old and you'd never know......AS LONG AS....and this is the critical factor

You use a freezer without a defrost cycle. NO FROST FREE FREEZERS.

 

[Wrench]

Our preference for the ziploc over chubs and wrap is because I may toss several packs of meat in the drawer and I hate cleaning up blood that leaks out....chubs are awful for that.

 

[cumminsbassguy]

FNG and newer hunter here. Slowly collecting gear to improve my meat prep, processing, and preservation abilities.

Let’s play a game: Rank this list in the order of importance if you were just getting started:

- Grinder
- Stuffer
- Dehydrator
- Vac Sealer/Chamber Vac
- Bigger/Better Cooler
- Better Knife/Bonesaw
- Scale
- Gambrel
- Game bags

Feel free to add items I missed!

Knowing what I know now,
Field care
-a good knife,
-good game bags ( if you have to 1/4 and pack out)
-good cooler to keep the meat on the drive home (if you bring out a whole critter this is null)

Home--
-good boning, fillet and butcher knife (personally I don't use a saw for anything )
-an actual grinder. if you make any amount of grounds and have the extra room (I did 140# of moose through the wife's kitchen aid.. that was a rough 5 hours and constant ice pack coolings)
-vac seal AND sranwrap / freezer paper. Vac sealer has so many other uses, but meat goes into the freezer paper.
-dehydrator for jerky and backpacking meals
-i don't use a stuffer but I don't make brats or stuff like that, I'll outsource those if I get an itch for em.
-kitchen scale gets you the majority of your needs for grounds or general roast weights
- gambrel, just use a 2x4 trimmed to your liking.

 

[Average-joe]

Knowing what I know now,
Field care
-a good knife,
-good game bags ( if you have to 1/4 and pack out)
-good cooler to keep the meat on the drive home (if you bring out a whole critter this is null)

Home--
-good boning, fillet and butcher knife (personally I don't use a saw for anything )
-an actual grinder. if you make any amount of grounds and have the extra room (I did 140# of moose through the wife's kitchen aid.. that was a rough 5 hours and constant ice pack coolings)
-vac seal AND sranwrap / freezer paper. Vac sealer has so many other uses, but meat goes into the freezer paper.
-dehydrator for jerky and backpacking meals
-i don't use a stuffer but I don't make brats or stuff like that, I'll outsource those if I get an itch for em.
-kitchen scale gets you the majority of your needs for grounds or general roast weights
- gambrel, just use a 2x4 trimmed to your liking.

Good tip on the 2x4. I hammered a spare piece of rebar into a make shift gambrel in a pinch last year but I’d like to refine my DIY design this off season. I’ll have to search old threads for inspiration on that.

 

[bowhunthard88]

Good tip on the 2x4. I hammered a spare piece of rebar into a make shift gambrel in a pinch last year but I’d like to refine my DIY design this off season. I’ll have to search old threads for inspiration on that.

Gambrels are probably cheaper than a 2x4 lol!

 

[cumminsbassguy]

Good tip on the 2x4. I hammered a spare piece of rebar into a make shift gambrel in a pinch last year but I’d like to refine my DIY design this off season. I’ll have to search old threads for inspiration on that.

We used a widdled out 2x4 growing up for whitetails. Hung alot of deer with that. It was always an afterthought when I moved out so a rope and a few quick chops with an axe to narrow down the ends to fit through the tendon cut. Meat buckets are also a must the white dish totes work great because they smaller and easier to store. And kinda multi use

 

[cumminsbassguy]

Gambrels are probably cheaper than a 2x4 lol!

You sir, drive a very valid point. A 2" tree branch also works

 

[Axlrod]

For a dehydrator I would get one of the sub $100 ones that will hold 5-7 lb. of meat. Jerky is the very best right out of the dehydrator, each day after that the quality goes down. So what I do is slice & season several batches, and freeze them. Then take 1 batch out and make "fresh" jerky several times throughout the year instead of making it all at once. I usually save the last batch to take to camp for opening week of archery.

For a mixer, unless you are doing over 100# at a time, your hands will do a great job. Get some white cotton gloves, then put surgical gloves over those. This will keep your hands warm. Get a meat tub (lug) that will hold 30-40# and only put 20# of meat in it to mix at a time. Depending on your sausage type, some liquid added makes mixing easier. You can mix a couple batches in the time it will take to clean a dedicated meat mixer.