Bagging whole chickens in Ziploc bag vs Vacuum Packed

[GazeboGal]

Hi! Would you mind giving me your experience using Ziploc bags or Vacuum Packing whole chickens?
--Will the chickens in Ziploc bags be good for a year? Freezer burn issues?
--Will the Vacuum packed bags get holes punched in them and if so is that such a big issue?

I don't really want to go with the shrink wrapped bags because of plastic/heat concerns. Even is there are no know issues with the current bags, it seems to me that they could still be there waiting to be discovered.

Thanks in Advance!

 

[cassie]

I have used both but it has been a while. I don't remember any heat with vacuum packing. You are a whole lot better off to use the vacuum pack shrink wrap than zip lock bags. The zip locks work fine if you are going to store the chickens for a short time, but if you keep them too long there will be problems with freezer burn etc. You can keep shrink wrapped chickens for extended periods with no loss of quality. Not true with zip locks. Sorry.

 

[Nupe]

I use ziplocs. I do a pseudo-vacuum seal by sealing it while submerged in a sink full of water. I haven't had any problems with it so far,

 

[GazeboGal]

Thanks for your input. So if I kept some for a year that would be a "long time" and ziploc would be an issue?

 

[cassie]

Was for me. And in a lot less than a year, too.

 

[donrae]

I got freezer burn in Ziplocs around the 6 month mark.

Also, my whole birds don't fit well in the gallon sized bags. I like vacuum sealed bags much better.

 

[cottontail farm]

I just bought a vacuum sealer this year. I had terrible freeze burn from zip loc bags after 6 months and my homegrown/ local meat is too valuable to me to chance it again.