Well, personally...no more than 6-9 months. Now, were you to ask my hubby...years. So, now, when I decide that the meat is getting old, I just take a couple packages a day out to the field and pitch it. He does not catch on. LOL Seriously, since it is just the 2 of us now and we do not use so much...I try not to have more than a qtr of a beef or half a hog in my freezer at a time. I don't think there is really any danger in eating older meat as long as it has been firmly frozen all the time, however, it would not have the same taste/quality.