Vacuum Sealing whole birds?

[tsarge]

Has anyone successfully vacuum sealed a whole 5-7lb CX using a FoodSaver? Will the 11" wide bags hold a bird that size? I'm about to purchase a FoodSaver and cannot find anything larger than the 11" wide rolls.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

they work on mine; big birds, cheapy food saver from walmart, no problems.

 

[tsarge]

Thank you Katy! I have my new FoodSaver vacuum sealer and am going to test it out on some bear meat. Local farmer shot a small bear ripping apart his chicken coop. Bear was picking up a chicken, biting the head off, and moving on to the next one. I buddy of mine is a police officer and ended up with the bear. We skinned and quartered it and now I'm just trimming fat and sealing it up!

I have my own 24 CX and 40 other CX to package on June 26th, so this FoodSaver is going to get a workout!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

my kids LOVE bear salami. enjoy your food saver . . . did you know you can freeze eggs with it too? just scramble them (don't cook) and seal up the amount you will use per serving in the winter when production is down; I put three per pack.

 

[Dogfish]

Works just fine. They won't fit in a premade bag, but you can make a bag from the roll and it works fine. I just double seal each end.

 

[WildWoodsWoman]

I've used my Black & Decker vacum sealer to package whole birds and it works great with the 11 inch rolls.

 

[tboneranch]

They were up to 6 pounds and yes, the 11" rolls worked great. They made it through the winter without a drop of freezer burn! I think we have one left in the freezer

Do you pat the birds dry before sealing them? Last year the birds I did in the food saver did not seal the first time, I chilled them in the fridge and then had to get a new bag because the original bag wouldn't re-seal!! Very expensive for 100 birds!! So I guess mt only tip would be to dry them as much as possible-I think that's why mine didn't seal. They went from a cooler of ice into the food saver bags that I had made and double sealed at one end

 

[frozen1]

wife use 11" vacuum bag for the smaller birds and cuts up the larger one.
Love the vacuum packer.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

I took mine to the butcher today. They had this huge commercial vacuum sealer . . . I was sooo jealous! It did two bags at once . . . I guess it may be a sin to covet your neighbors vacuum sealer lol!