I was reading on a blog about free cryovacing of meat purchased in Kununarra and it being stored in the fridge.

What's about the length of time meat can stay cryovac sealed in the fridge before it's
' out of date ' i.e. unusable. ?

Is there any differences in using a home one as against a bigger shop type and obviously it works...never really thought about it before. Did see it at the Caravan Show and meat in the supermarket has roasts cryovaced...just realised that ham is conserved also like that.

Could you also store vegs that way or too dear..not worth it ?

Any with experience to pass on please.

Hey countryroad Good question, I saw a couple of different vacuum packing machines at the Sydney Boat Show, at varying prices, the cheapest was about $200 with a couple of rolls of the wrap. Anyone with any feedback would be appreciated here too. Cheers Grumps

We cryo a lot and it is brilliant. We have a Sunbeam our daughter bought us for Xmas. This time we cryoed pumkin to see how it went but have not opened it yet just for an experiment. It still looks good and that was three weeks ago.

They say meat stays good in the fridge for about four weeks but we freeze ours and thaw as necessary as we have that option.

I know a lady who cuts her avocado and cryos it and she told me it is perfect.

I do stews and the like, only make sure you partly freeze them to crunchy freeze if they have a lot of liquid or it will suck out as you seal.

We will be using ours a lot more now we have given it a fair go.

The butcher we found in Kunnanurra a month or so ago, was out of town somewhere. I will see if I can find the name of it, it is a wholesale one next to Wicked Campers. So if you google Wicked, the address is next door to it in an industrial type place.

Firstly we went to the butcher in the Woolies Plaza and he wanted 24 hrs notice and $1  a bag to do it so we went to this other one we had found by googling. When we went to see him, he was very busy (Plaza one had no customers) and we asked him if he could. He asked for a couple of hours to get it done as he had orders he was getting out so we toddled off and came back three hours later and it was done. He did them up in two person serves for us and we had the last of the meat the other day, beautiful. Highly recommend him guys, he does not serve you inferior meat in any way.

Ooops the Other Half just informed me that the butcher that was so wonderful is actually at Broome.

I must have that old timers thing going on, sorry guys.

The one at Kunanurra we go to, he thinks is called Ord River Meats and he is brilliant as well. And he didn't charge for cryo so sorry I mixed that up.

Firefly.... When you have cryovacced something such as that piece of pumpkin, and you use part of it, do you re-seal the bag or do it again with a new one? We have one of those machines bought at a caravan show, and havent really used it except for a few tests, still havent decided whether its worth taking in the caravan.

why not cryovac in meal  size  packets  so as not to let air in to the pack  after all that why it stay fresh  all air is out of it  .....

Hi Grumpy,

Just a side line if I may, it looks to me that you may be a Vietnam Vet - what unit were you with, and where are you travelling at the moment?

Pejay

You could easily re do it Gerty, we have at times. I always try to do my stuff up in meal size portions though, just a little tic I have.

We take ours but only because we know they work so well. Play with it at home for a while to get used to it, thats what we did.

Thanks for the replies on the cryovac subject...interesting,

but another gadget to carry but could be one of the best things.

Have to see how much they cost assume most brands abt same.

Then ongoing just the plastic wrap, available at camping places ?

-- Edited by countryroad on Tuesday 10th of August 2010 11:52:37 AM

I know Aldi has them from time to time around $100 and Sunbeam have two sizes. My daughter bought us the larger one for Xmas a couple of years ago along with the bags and bag cutter. I think it was rather expensive when she did that. But try ebay etc for maybe one someone has no more use for.

I think the bags would be available at bigger retail outlets and for sure where you purchase it from. We haven't bought any replacements yet.

Thanks for answers...might watch out for Aldi advert in the letterbax

our son has one he bought on ebay and he also gets the rolls of plastic cheap on ebay too

Ahhh now thats an idea, never thought about ebay for the bags, thanks for that.

I just picken one up from Aldi, reduced to clear for $79 and two boxes of rolls for $9.99 each.......should keep me going for a bit I would think.....they were almost $300 at the boat show here in Sydney. Hoo Roo Happy Days Grumps

BigW have a small handheld one that runs on batteries or AC for around $30

The Bags are quite large and reuable, ideal for one or more meals although I don't think they would hold a joint.

The food lasts for ages, better in the freezer or fridge --- when I first  got mine I put some bread in it and just put the bread in a cupard --- forgot all about it but around 2 mths later the bread was still o/k. ---- bit squashed though

cheers
Coyotte

epends what kind of joint ya talkin bout there Coyotte........Ha Ha ha ha......got the nibblies again.....darn it.. Just joshin. Hoo Roo Happy Days Grumps

How timely is this thread. We were just talking about cryovac machines this evening, saw the sunbeam one in the local paper.

For those of you who have used a cryovac machine, two questions, example, piece of rump steak (for his benefit) how long can it be stored in fridge, how long in freezer, bearing in mind that freezer is not Deep Freeze. I think my other question has been answered - you obviously can cryo veggies - but do you have to blanch them first.

Ah, just thought of another question, crossing borders interstate with frozen veggies, cryo veggies, preserved veggies - any thoughts, any problems, in particular that "fruit fly exclusion zone"?

We didn't blanch our vegies mate, just fresh and they were great.

Over the border? I would say for sure they need to be cooked. We didn't have any cryoed when we went over but no fresh fruit or veg at all is my thoughts.

They say in the fridge meat keeps for about a month and the freezer, well because its cryoed it would keep longer than in a freezer bag because it suffers no freezer burn.

Thanks Linda. Amazing how a dotted line on the map makes a no go zone for fruit & veg. that is the other thing we discussed this evening, when coming close to those borders, just cook everything up into stewed fruit or veggies - then if cryo'ed shouldd be OK. I have become adept at making tomato salsa during home bumber crops - and planning on sundrying as much as possible this summer in prep for next year's adventure.

We just came home from seven amazing weeks away and its been hard trying to get back in the swing I can tell you.

We went from NT over the WA border and they were great people. Not too invasive like the first time we went.

They take honey and hession bags as well, in case you are not aware.

Anything cooked up is fine.

I would ask your butcher about the length of time you can keep meat in the fridge too mate, I am not 100% on the info given to us.

Aware of honey, with the hessian bag issue, dog sleeps on "stretcher" which has "custom" made hessian cover on it. Do you think this is an issue?

How can I survive the next 10 months?

I would be very wary of the hession cover mate, I am told they won't let it in.

I found this site for WA border mate, have not read through it but I will put it up for your viewing, hope it helps.

http://www.agric.wa.gov.au/PC_93008.html

The next ten months??

Just wile away your free time on here searching great ideas and ask heaps of questions is my advice. Well thats what I did.

We met up with Ma and Guru a couple of times and had a ball.

Yep, the time will come quick believe it or not.

I know this is dumb, but thats me. People seem to be recommending that casseroles, etc., be frozen before being cryovaced - can we do this and then just store them in the fridge? We don't have a freezer as such. I always thought once something that had been frozen was thawed in the fridge, it had to be used. Sorry, but I'm totally confused.

TassieDevil, I would cryovac before freezing, however, as you dont have a freezer, the cryovaced product should have a better shelf life in your fridge, however, I am yet to find out what the shelf life would be. On another note, I have bought from Anaconda, a manual vacuume system called ZipVac. It comprised of a pump, similar to those that you pump the air out of a bottle of wine, and six samples of plastic bags. The bags are zip lock, then all the air is pumped out, and are washable and reusable. I am currently trying out on cheeses, ham slices, nuts and biscuits - (but I think the biscuits might be crushed), so far successfully. The ham is now over a week old and is just fine. I am yet to try it out with cooked meat. The starter kit cost $30.00 with the pump, 3 x .9 litre bags & 3 x 3.8 litre bags. You can also buy for around $30.00 boxes of extra bags - various sizes. I will be doing so before we depart on our travels.

Should have gone to Anaconda while we were up your way DM.  Got one in Big W for around $50 (I think) with some bags included but can't find a Big W that stocks supplies of bags down here.

Hi Ma, was that the one that someone mentioned earlier in this thread by coyette - that needed batteries? The one I bought needs no power other than elbow grease! I must check out Anaconda throughout aust for replacements when we travel

Ma, in NSW they aree in Penrith, Moore Park & Auburn

Yes, you need batteries.   Think yours sounds like a better propostion.  You can bet your bottom dollar that I will want to use it somewhere in the outback and run out of batteries and not a shop in a 1000 miles.

That is exactly why I finally decided on the one I bought, no need to be in Caravan Park for power or run the genny just to cryo, no hassle in running out of batteries - even though we have some vartas & recharger. I am, however, going to buy a spare, just in case it gets dropped, squashed or similar I will check out Big W next time I am there to see what their bags are like - if they would work with the anaconda pump - they might be cheaper (not that I am complaining about the price of them)

Hi, Have been lurking for some time (as you do). Have been using machine for some time. Was about to use it yesterday but it would'nt seal. I am pretty sure that it was my fault and am waiting to see if son can fix. However, they warn about avoiding sucking liquids into machine and I think this is what happened. I sealed some soup without freezing it first. Have a good day