that meat wrapped in cling film and then wrapped in butcher paper last longer
Cookie and I are older than dirt and have gone both ways. All total about 50 cubic feet of freezer space in the house and we use it. Idealy, one would like to live on an annual schedule, but we'll at times maybe score something like 3 elk and 3 deer in a single fall. That lead to some aging.
Vacuum vs Saran Wrap? For meats, the best performer for us is a tight Saran followed with a tight drugstore wrap of butcher paper. We just did a long overdue defrost and I pulled out several of our larger cuts and burger packs going back 10+ years with zero freezer burn. Also seems one has more control over shaping packages going the manual Saran wrap/paper route, and with its pliable clingy nature, there's virtually no air beneath the wrap. Working through the burger now and doing some jerky with the larger roast cuts. Vacuum is fine, but we will get sealing failures with some that over time allow burning. Also the excesses of material around the edges and ends of the vacuum bags makes for inefficient use of space in ones freezers. That's especially a problem in uprights where stacked packages tend to slide off shelves. Less of an issue in chest units, but still a lot of wasted space.
Another couple things with our meats is that everything is boned. No sharp points to pierce wrappings. Two, we wrap and freeze larger chunks and do not slice steaks until we're in the thawing process. Must less exposed surface area with that method.
I think some of our vacuum failures are due to fluids being sucked out and hindering the heat sealing to some degree.
We still go the vacuum route mostly with fruits (peaches/cherries/berries/some fish/etc) as they are products that we don't want to crush when attempting to get the air out with Saran Wrap. When vacuuming those we use something like a chubby soup can with both ends cut out to tube feed the goods into the bags. That helps one keep the upper interior surfaces dry to facilitate sealing. For things like whole birds etc, it's wash, as there will be voids regardless of method. Hence avoid extended storage.
Finally, one can pick up an industrial sized roll of Saran wrap at Costco that will be 18 inches wide and thousands of feet long dirt cheap. It will do most households for decades. Same for the paper and it would be handy to also maybe get a rack for at least the paper and tape allowing one to rapidly rip off desired size pieces. The vacuum folks have one by the short hairs and at about 3 times the cost for the tubes. As to process speed, I think it's a wash. Regardless of method, two workers, with one handling product and the other doing the wrapping, makes for speedy work. A pain in the butt though if one is working by himself.
Have a good one and best of luck,
