[Mo]

Well, it won't be bacon, just pork.
What do you guys do with your pork when you get it home? Do you slam it all straight in the freezer?
We shall want to make some sausages and also give some meat to some folk.
I'm wondering how long we can keep cuts in the fridge, never having had pork so fresh. It won't be in the kitchen fridge, so not being opened all the time.
We can't get some meat to a couple of people until Monday (Picking up Saturday) - should I freeze it?
And how quickly do we have to use the meat for sausages?

My brain's telling me to use my common sense but I'd appreciate knowing what other people do, I don't want to muck up our pork 

Thanks

[Sudanpan]

Our pigs were slaughtered on the Monday and we picked up the meat on the Thurs. We kept some of the belly pork and a few chops for fresh, gave a few joints away to friendly neighbours and then shoved everything else in the freezer. The belly pork we then minced up on the Sat (kept that in the kitchen fridge), ie 2 days after picking up from the butcher, kept a few out for eating the next day but everything else went in the freezer. I don't think I would have liked to have kept any of the fresh meat for any longer.
In the end we made about 4kg of sausages - at the time neither of us had the stomach to do any more mincing and stuffing. Dealing with about 130kg of fresh meat at once is quite an experience - I am a total carnivore but the smell became overpowering!
I now regret not making more sausages at the time because now  we have to defrost the belly meat, mince, make and eat the sausages within a few days as we can't refreeze the sausages 
Tish

[Hilarysmum]

Fresh pork will keep until you deliver on Monday.  Out of curiousity how long did it hang in the abattoir?  I would never leave minced meat more than a day or 2 in the fridge, always freeze asap.  If you freeze it in small amounts you can always thaw out enough to make sausages for your needs. 

We prefer to do all our sausages, burgers etc. at one go.  We make bacon on same day as butcher delivers, have the cure ready in chiller for gammons and if making pate also do that on delivery day.  From personal experience you can never have enough pork mince.

[Mo]

Thanks.

Our pigs go next week. We drop the very early Thursday morning and they have said they will do the deed as soon as we arrive so it can hang for a good two days and into a third. We pick up the meat late on Sat afternoon.

You've both been helpful, thanks

[Hilarysmum]

Enjoy your pork.  Hope it all goes really smoothly for you. 

[Eve]

Whoops, looks like we keep our fresh pork for longer than other people do...
Our pigs hang in total for at least a week. Then our butcher cuts it and freezes nearly all of it for us except enough for the coming week, as our freezers can't cope with freezing the meat of 2 pigs in one go.
We keep our mince as mince, and make it into burgers when we need them. Same thing with the bacon (and previously frozen bacon cures more quickly). Will be making salami as well this year.

Eve

[Mo]

I have an old book by Robert Carrier that has an excellent bit on what to do with half a pig - what cuts you can get, how much freezer space & etc.
It also says to get your larger bits into the freezer first, and in stages, then the smaller bits so that your freezer can cope. Rather than just throwing a load of meat straight in. Luckily we have the fridge and freezer space we need.

[JulieS]

Personally I like to get meat into the freezer as soon as possible.  But I've heard it said that there should be no problems up to 2 weeks after killing.

 At the abattoir I use their butchery department isn't the most reliable and it can be sometimes 12 days before you get the meat back.  One of the reasons we have the butchery here now!