ButcheryGearGuide.com

Half a steer, one deer, and a freezer to fill.

Grinders, stuffers, sealers and smokers, explained by what they have to do rather than by their spec sheet. Written for the hunter who processes his own game and the family that buys a side of beef and works out the rest.

Browse the guides ›

Four things to work out

From breaking it down to getting it into the freezer without losing it.

Cuts of beef laid out on a wooden board Butchering & Bulk Buying ›

Reading a cut chart, ordering half a cow, and getting a deer from the field to the freezer.

 Meat grinder on a kitchen counter Grinding, Curing & Smoking ›

Grinders and sausage, what cure number one and two actually do, smokers and drying biltong.

 Vacuum sealed packs of meat Freezing & Storage ›

Chest and upright freezers, vacuum sealing, freezer burn, and how long things really keep.

 Digital probe thermometer beside a cutting board Tools & Food Safety ›

Knives and sharpening, thermometers, and the temperatures the USDA puts a number on.

Three places people start

Most people arrive here with one of these in front of them.

A half cow is on offerWhat you actually get, how much freezer space it needs, and the questions to ask before you commit. A deer in the garageCooling, hanging and breaking it down, and where the line runs between a home job and a processor. The cure has two numbersWhat sits in each one, which cures they belong to, and why the ratios are not a place to improvise.

About the numbers on this site

Core temperatures, cure ratios and storage times are not opinions. Where this site gives one, it comes from the USDA or from a university extension service, and it is named as such. Where a manufacturer sets the number, that is what we point you at.

We do not test equipment in a lab and we do not pretend to. If you are unsure whether a batch of meat is still safe, the answer is not to look it up, it is to throw it out.