Flash-Frozen and Vacuum Sealed 

So, by now you’re a great meat-shopper but how does your Papa Earth meat stay fresh and store well, especially if you’ve bought meat in bulk? We’ve got that covered and can explain to you how your meats and fish are initially frozen and then packaged to help keep everything delicious.

Flash Freezing

Flash freezing is the process of freezing an item extremely quick and at an extremely low temperature with cold, circulating air, also know as blast freezing. Some Papa Earth products, like our shrimps, are individually flash-frozen so they stay separate and you can defrost only what you need.

Flash freezing preserves the product quality. Most freezers for personal use, like the ones in our homes, are not designed to freeze food quickly; they are made to maintain foods at a frozen temperature. Though eventually most items put in to our home freezers will freeze, it could take quite some time, more than a few hours even, to freeze completely. During this slower freezing process ice crystals can form between the fibers and can result in the breakage of those fibers. The juices and nutrients that were sealed in to the grains of those meats and their natural, juicy flavours are forced out of them. This can also cause freezer burn and the meats will dry out quicker when you cook them. Flash freezing prevents crystals from forming and you have the juicy, nutrient-filled meat you intended to have.

Vacuum sealing

Vacuum sealing meat has a major impact on meat and fish preservation. Almost all of Papa Earth’s products are vacuum sealed with a transparent BPA proof vacuum bag, airtight to protect the meat from freezer burn, discoloration and dehydration. Flash freezing in combination with vacuum sealing allows the food to stay fresh for up and over a full year! It’s the best way to freeze meat without the use of any preservatives and is therefore 100% natural. It also deprives the food from oxygen and from picking up any spores that allow for mold and bacteria to grow.

Below is an example of a typical store-bought product stored in a home-freezer for (add amount of time) and one of Papa Earth’s packages left in the freezer for twice the time.

Store bought freezer burned meat

Papa Earth vacuum sealed meat

The store-bought products showed signs of freezer burn within weeks of storing it in the freezer. The Papa Earth package maintained its freshness, juiciness and colour.

Benefits of frozen food; Convenience, no preservatives and no food waste

There’s many benefits of frozen meat and food. You can check out this must-read article published in Men’s Health article about frozen food.

Aside from keeping the meats and fish preservative-free, flash frozen and vacuum sealed products are also very convenient to defrost. The best way to defrost Papa Earth’s meat and fish is simply to put the unopened packages in a sink or container with cold or room temperature water and let it stand. Most products will defrost between 20-30 minutes depending on the size or thickness (a roast will take a bit longer). If, for some reason, you are not ready to cook the meat right away it will still be safe to store your meat in a fridge for a few days since our meats are packaged and frozen the same day. All Papa Earth meats and fish are individually packaged and almost all are vacuum sealed. This allows our customers to take out only what they need and our products will easily last inside the freezer for a year. As the meat is less likely to spoil before you need to use it, this reduces the potential for waste and really respects the animal.

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