Vacuum Packing Game: Pheasant, Partridge and Venison

Game season runs through the autumn and winter, with pheasant shooting open from 1 October to 1 February, so October is when game dealers, butchers and farm shops start vacuum packing in volume. Game behaves like other meat in a pouch with one exception: shot. Broken bones and stray pellets make game birds more likely to puncture film than a farmed chicken, and the fixes are simple once you know where to look.

What size pouch for game?

All 65 micron clear unless marked. Prices ex VAT per bag. Sizes are typical, so measure your own birds.

Product	Pouch	Per bag
Pigeon breasts, 4 pack	150×200mm	1.4p
Partridge, oven-ready	200×250mm	2.2p
Pheasant, oven-ready	250×300mm	3.4p
Brace of pheasant, side by side	350×450mm	7.1p
Pheasant breasts, 2 pack	160×250mm	1.8p
Diced venison, 500g	200×250mm	2.2p
Venison loin, whole	240×650mm	7.0p
Venison haunch, boned and rolled	300×400mm	5.4p
Venison rack or shanks, bone in	210×650mm, 130 micron	18.8p

To size anything not listed, add the product's width to its height, add 10mm, and that's your minimum pouch width. The size guide has the full method.

Why does game puncture pouches?

Shot breaks bones. A wing or leg bone snapped by a pellet leaves a sharp end inside the meat, often where you can't see it. Under full vacuum, the film is pressed onto that point hard enough to go through 0.065mm of film. Stray pellets near the surface can do the same.

• Feel each bird before it goes in. Run a thumb along the wings and legs. A broken bone feels like a step or a grind.
• Trim the wing tips. Taking the wings off at the first joint removes the bone most likely to be broken and sharp.
• Cover what's left. A folded square of greaseproof paper or a bone guard over any sharp point.
• Drop the vacuum to around 95% for birds going straight to a customer. The film still pulls tight.

For bone-in venison, where the sawn bone ends are big and hard, the 130 micron pouch is twice as thick and stops most bone ends. It's long and narrow, which suits a rack or a pair of shanks laid end to end. A bone-in haunch is too wide for it, so bone and roll haunches or cover the bone ends and use a 65 micron 350×450mm. The bone-in guide covers all four methods in order of cost.

Get the bird ready first

Pluck and draw before packing. Feathers and pin quills puncture film from the inside, and a single feather across the seal area leaves a channel for air to get back in. Pat the bird dry, and fold the top 50mm of the pouch outward while it goes in so blood doesn't reach the seal.

Pack cold. Game that's been hanging in the larder needs to be at chiller temperature before it goes in the pouch, not straight from a warm prep room.

How long does vacuum-packed game last?

Game is fresh meat, so the FSA's guidance on vacuum-packed chilled food applies: a maximum of 10 days at 3 to 8°C unless you can document a controlling factor, the most common being storage below 3°C for the whole life. The shelf life guide lists the controlling factors.

A lot of game is sold frozen, because the season is short and demand runs into spring. Vacuum packed and frozen at -18°C, game birds and venison keep their quality for months. Pack fresh, then freeze. The freezing guide explains why the order matters.

Who this isn't for

Our pouches are smooth film for chamber machines. If you're vacuum packing with a domestic edge sealer, they won't seal. The compatibility page lists the machines that take them.