Deuteronomy repeatedly says not to eat the blood, but to pour it out on the earth like water Deuteronomy 12:23–24. It states, “the blood is the life,” as the reason given in the passage Deuteronomy 12:23. The rule is applied to both ordinary slaughter in towns and worship-related eating Deuteronomy 12:15–16.
Deuteronomy 12:20–25 allows ordinary meat-eating once Israel is settled and their territory expands. If the chosen worship place is far away, people may slaughter animals at home and eat “within your gates,” meaning in their towns. This home-slaughter meat is treated like wild game: both clean and unclean people may eat it. This unit sits inside Deuteronomy’s instructions about worship after entering the land, especially the move from many local slaughter/worship sites to one chosen place where Yahweh puts his name.
Deuteronomy 12:20–25 assumes Israel will move from a mobile life to settled towns spread across a larger land. In that setting, the passage treats eating meat as normal and permitted, not only for special worship meals (explicit: verses 20–22). It also keeps a firm boundary: blood is not to be eaten.
A careful answer keeps the immediate passage, the book's argument, and the whole-Bible storyline together, so the question is answered in context instead of as a detached idea.
Start with Deuteronomy 12:23-24, then read the surrounding section so the answer stays connected to the passage's flow.
23Only be sure that you don`t eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
24You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth as water.