What's in your Wild Food Larder?

I've got pigeon, duck, pheasant, red, munty and Chinese venison and lamb. With the lamb I swap equal amounts of venison for it with the farmer in the village. Where you shot my 22/250 VSS!
 
I've got pigeon, duck, pheasant, red, munty and Chinese venison and lamb. With the lamb I swap equal amounts of venison for it with the farmer in the village. Where you shot my 22/250 VSS!
I remember it well! Horrendous weather and outstandingly accurate rifle.
 
We got 4 freezers in the house, and at the moment they are full with fallow, roe, muntjac and pigeon.
We eat about 90% wild, the other 10% being the odd pork bought to mix up with venison sausages (we're doing it in the house)
 
Currently, Roe, Muntie, pheasant, woodcock, mallard, pigeon, rabbit. Friends home grown lamb and some Gloucester Old spot pork. Other staples are from Lidl but thats all Red tractor UK sourced.

D
 
Roe, a little red, pheasants up the ying yang, partridge, ducks, grouse. Cumbrian style venison sausage rings, Thai style pheasant sausage, venison pastrami (gooood!), venison carpaccio, wicked venison chilli burgers. We buy saltmarsh lamb from the Solway, and some bacon and fat pork for our bangers, but rarely buy any beef these days. Mince is all venison, as is the cubed meat for casseroles.

Life is tough....:)
 
Like many, this time of year mostly game: venison, pheasant duck and rabbit. Supplemented by half a lamb from my brothers small holding. Have a tiny garden though so only do homegrown veg on a micro scale. In summer I generally buy a bit more from the butcher, but venison rabbit and pigeon will usually feature.

It’s a nice feeling to be self sustaining for meat as much as possible and the challenge of doing a full year of wild game and reared pheasants gets more and more tempting.
 
My current situation means I can only keep a small % so everything I shoot I give to friends/family.
When my situation changes a chest freezer will be on the list.

On average how long does meat last in the fridge and when frozen?
A week from shot? A week from butchery? More? Less? Does hanging it make it go off quicker?
 
On average how long does meat last in the fridge and when frozen?
A week from shot? A week from butchery? More? Less? Does hanging it make it go off quicker?
A lot depends on handling and storage of the meat.
Vacuum sealing it will help, temperature makes a difference....there are many variables affecting how long something will keep for.
I know guys that hang venison in a chiller for a month. I eat meat that’s been frozen for over a year sometimes.
 
Decent vac packer and labels and you can eat stuff well over a year but year recommended....

I rotate stock but missed a bag of mince .... from 2015😳.... had for tea tonight was great !

See if I’m around tomorow 😂😂

Paul
 
Fallow, roe and muntjac, usually in freezer, occasionally rabbit. We have a lot of pheasant from one the shoots we beat on. So pheasant casserole or bolognaise once or twice a week, legs and thighs for the dog. Previously we have swapped our small hay crop for organic lamb and beef, but the horses that used the hay developed a dust problem, but we still buy some lamb from the same friend. Next years crop will be swapped with another friend for some of his beef. Occasionally organic sausages and bacon from Abbey Home Farm shop and sometimes Duchy Original sausages from Waitrose. Mum buys smoked salmon pieces from the market which she contributes as a starter for Sunday supper which she joins us for every week. Most weeks we buy fresh fish from the same excellent market fish stall.

We grow (well, she grows) all of our own vegetables in raised beds and we have poly tunnels for year round salads...last fresh tomato just before Christmas. Apple, Pear and Plum Orchard, but we buy bananas and citrus (marmalade bottled today). Lots of stewed apple frozen.

Alan
 
Just roe, various cuts, some Salami which should be ready in March, loads of chorizo and venison sausages, oh and a 'venison ham' about to be chucked in the bin, it went wrong!
Cheers
Richard
 
Just roe, various cuts, some Salami which should be ready in March, loads of chorizo and venison sausages, oh and a 'venison ham' about to be chucked in the bin, it went wrong!
Cheers
Richard
It would have to have gone very wrong to justify the drastic step of chucking it in the bin! Couldn't you boil it or something?
 
I lied about the good crop of tomatoes lasting until Christmas above, just had a fresh one in the salad at lunch

Also forgot to recommend VSS' book which is full of good topical information.

Alan

PS I lied about lying. Apparently the one we had today was bought in from the Organic veg. stall in the market, (bought for seed because it looked interesting) :( She confirms that ours did last until the week before Christmas though.
 
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It would have to have gone very wrong to justify the drastic step of chucking it in the bin! Couldn't you boil it or something?
It did!
I did one a few years ago and I salted it too long, for my taste anyway, so I reduced the curing time as per Fernley Whitingstall, I should have know better, I hung it for about a month, 2 weeks ago it was fine, a week ago it started to smell like cheese!
This week it had green and black mould, white is good, no sign of white!
However, the Salami is looking great!
Cheers
Richard
 
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