Preparing & Storing

Nearly everything we sell online is fully cooked and ready to serve. The exceptions: our Peppered Bacon is raw and needs to be cooked, and so is our Fresh Sausage, sold frozen from the deli. Fresh cuts from the butcher counter are raw as well. Everything else — the smoked links, summer sausage, hams, smoked poultry, tenderloins, Canadian bacon, and cured meats — arrives ready to eat or ready to warm.

Storing Opa’s Smoked Meats. All Opa’s smoked meats require refrigeration, without exception. Unopened, smoked sausage keeps in the refrigerator until the best-by date printed on the package, and frozen in its vacuum seal by that date, it keeps up to a year. Once a package is opened, reseal it airtight and use it within five to seven days. Keep tenderloins and cured meats in a well-ventilated, dry area of the refrigerator — don’t store them in plastic wrap, plastic bags, or any sealed container. They keep best loosely wrapped in a clean kitchen towel or paper towel.

Preparing Opa’s Smoked Meats. Our smoked meats are fully cooked and ready to serve, so you’re heating them through rather than cooking them. Hams, turkeys, and tenderloins are excellent cold or gently warmed in the oven — don’t overheat them, or these juicy meats dry out. For sausage: warm it on the grill over indirect medium heat, in the oven, or in a skillet. Medium heat matters, because high heat splits the casing before the middle is warm. We don’t recommend the microwave — texture and flavor are best on the grill, in a skillet, in the oven, or in an air fryer.

One exception: our Peppered Bacon is raw and needs to be cooked, like any bacon. Fresh cuts from the butcher counter are raw as well.