preventing freezer burn

[mn angler]

I just pulled a bag of walleye fillets out of the freezer for supper tonight. The fillets have been in the freezer for 5 days and are already showing signs of freezer burns. i currently wash the fillets throughly and then place them in ziploc freezer bags. obviously this is not the best method. thanks for sharing your thoughts and ideas!

[Jim O]

put you fillet in the bag and fill it with water before sealing it. Burb all the air out of it and your fillets will last 6 to 12 mths easy.
Good luck
Jim

[Jon'eye']

Hello mn angler:

I put mine in sealable plastic bags and then wrap them in that white freezer paper. I haven't ate any yet, but they should be "freezer burnless".

Good freezing, good fishing!

Jon'eye'

[Eyez]

Ditto, that's the best way I've found too.

Eyez

[ibfishn]

I use old whip cream containers or any plastic storage container, the bags will work good too, just make sure all of the fillets are covered with water before freezing.

[Red Dawg]

Freezer burn is caused by air being in contact with the fish. Freezing while submerged or packed in water is one way to get around this but it is kind of a pain when going to thaw the fish out. I found by wrapping them tightly in saran wrap (so very little air in contact with the meat) works well. A buddy uses one of those FoodSavers which vacuums out all the air and it works great, very little if any burn even after a year. Since the prices are starting to come down I may get one of these as well.

[sandman]

MN Angler,

I use the Cardboard milk containers. Place the fillets in the container and fill with water and freeze. The thawing process is simple. Run luke warm over the fillets and they come out just like the way you put them in there.

Good Luck.

P.S Do the same thing with and Upland Game and Waterfowl and it will keep for a long time.

[Like 'em fresh]

Best way I know of to prevent freezer burn is to fillet 'em, batter 'em and put 'em in a pan.

[Here here!]

Did that tonight!
Yum!!

[Nofish]

LAST EDITED ON May-24-00 AT 08:50PM (CST)[p]Hey MN Angler,

I kinda do it like killing a fly with a hammer.

First, I put a meals worth of filets at a time into a ziploc bag. Then I put in enough water to cover the filets, without crowding the bag. Be sure to burp out as much air as you possibly can. Then I lay them flat in the freezer.

When the bag(s) have frozen, I put a frozen baggie bag with the fish, into an even bigger zip bag. Take the bag to the sink you have already nearly filled with water, and submerge the big bag, with the smaller bags in the water open end up. Just at the point of the water rushing in. I zip the big bag shut.

This works best with only one other bag of fillets in the bigger bag, and the bigger bag is reuseable as there are no raw fish in it. The water really helps push the air out of the second bag.

I have kept fish fresh for several months like this. I would imagine they would go a year, but they don't stay in the freezer much more than a couple of three weeks in my house! ;-)

Like I said, killing a fly with a hammer, but I cannot remember freezer burn on the filets. :-)

Good luck......R

[IaCraig]

I ditto the cover in water method too, but if you are on a week long fishing trip(especially in Canada) and want to freeze a few to transport home I do not think the Mounties would accept that technique if you get stopped at the border. So in those cases, I use my 2nd favorite method. I lay the fillets out flat & wrap them individually in Saran wrap very tightly. This way you can even see the skin patch left on the fillets. Then after they are quick frozen put them in larger zipper bags. They will keep many months this way.

From what I hear all regions of Ontario will soon require just gutted & gilled. In a couple years we will probably have to bring em over the border alive so then all our problems will go away. (pardon the sarcasm)

Happy fishing Matey

IaCraig