How to freeze meat/fish for beginners
March 16, 2020 4:54 PM Subscribe
Can anyone give me some tips for how to safely freeze meat and fish? I have never done it before and I really don't wanna get food poisoning at this time in addition to everything else going on.
Some specific questions are:
- Is it safe to freeze meat in their original packaging? If so, does the kind of meat matter, like ground beef/pork vs chicken breast vs pork loin?
- How do you seal meat that you have portioned into smaller chunks, like the size of a palm?
- Is it a bad idea to cut meat into even smaller chunks, like stir-fry size, and then freeze?
- Is a vacuum sealer necessary?
- What are the steps for defrosting meat? Just leave it in the fridge overnight?
In addition to these, I have a feeling there's stuff I don't know I don't know so any further advice would be very appreciated. Thank you for reading!
Some specific questions are:
- Is it safe to freeze meat in their original packaging? If so, does the kind of meat matter, like ground beef/pork vs chicken breast vs pork loin?
- How do you seal meat that you have portioned into smaller chunks, like the size of a palm?
- Is it a bad idea to cut meat into even smaller chunks, like stir-fry size, and then freeze?
- Is a vacuum sealer necessary?
- What are the steps for defrosting meat? Just leave it in the fridge overnight?
In addition to these, I have a feeling there's stuff I don't know I don't know so any further advice would be very appreciated. Thank you for reading!
For most meats, excepting chicken which we tend to freeze in its original package, we wrap them tightly in a cheap plastic bag (like Baggies) so there's little to no air inside, then wrap it in foil (for pork tenderloins) or a freezer-type plastic bag (for steaks). Even if you've cut the meat up for stir-fry the same principles apply: wrap it tightly in plastic, squeezing all the air out, then put it into an outer container. Definitely mark the packages with the date they were frozen, so nothing lingers too long in the freezer. Since we never seem to plan far enough ahead, defrosting usually takes place in our (Panasonic) microwave.
posted by DrGail at 5:14 PM on March 16, 2020
posted by DrGail at 5:14 PM on March 16, 2020
You can freeze in the original packaging but depending on what that is it may use more space than a freezer bag and be more likely to result in freezer burn. Freezer burn is not dangerous but causes the texture of the meat to deteriorate and it won’t be as nice to eat. And in my experience at least the defrost setting of just about every single microwave I have ever had has caused meat to start to cook round the edges, which is again not very nice in terms of texture. So I’d buy some freezer bags, they are a bit more sturdy than sandwich bags, and freeze portions. The freezer bags are a bit more expensive but also a lot less likely to result in freezer burn. Squeeze the air out of each bag manually as you close it.
posted by koahiatamadl at 5:16 PM on March 16, 2020
posted by koahiatamadl at 5:16 PM on March 16, 2020
Ground beef is the easiest meat to freeze ever. Get it in 1lb increments and stuff each into a quart-sized Ziploc. (Sorry if you live somewhere that does metric, because that ratio works out perfectly, volume-wise.) Flatten each and squeeze as much air as you reasonably can out while you're sealing it (just the regular Ziploc seal, nothing fancy). Stack them in your freezer and forget about them until you need one, at which point you can thaw it in hot water as long as you're doing something that needs crumbles instead of balls/patties. I know hot water thawing is usually a terrible idea with frozen meats, but because you squished it flat, it takes like five minutes to thaw enough to get it out of the bag and I just don't see how that's any different than cooking from frozen. If you disagree, or need the fat part semi-solid so the meat can be formed into something, then use cold water to thaw.
posted by teremala at 5:17 PM on March 16, 2020
posted by teremala at 5:17 PM on March 16, 2020
For smaller cuts of meat, like the beef you were talking about for stir fry, you don't even have to put them in the fridge to thaw. Just throw them right in to what you're cooking and they'll defrost and cook. Because they're small, it won't take long for them to get cooked through.
As a matter of fact, depending on your recipes, you could very easily just cut everything up, package it back up for the freezer, freeze, and then use it when you're ready without having to defrost it.
posted by cooker girl at 5:32 PM on March 16, 2020
As a matter of fact, depending on your recipes, you could very easily just cut everything up, package it back up for the freezer, freeze, and then use it when you're ready without having to defrost it.
posted by cooker girl at 5:32 PM on March 16, 2020
Ziplocs are preferable because a lot of meat packaging can get brittle or leave a sub-optimal amount of air/moisture under the wrapping. This doesn't make the food unsafe, but can make it tough or otherwise texturally unpleasant, and in the case of fish can make other things in your freezer smell fishy. (But if you buy fish already frozen it will almost certainly be frozen individually wrapped in plastic, which is awful for the environment but it's already there, might as well leave it on until you're going to use it, and you can throw the bag into the freezer as-is.)
Freezing is not a big food poisoning risk. The food safety rule you need to follow is the same for ALL perishable meat: don't leave it between 40 and 140 degrees F for more than 4 hours total. Do anything you want to it in that time, using clean hands and surfaces just as if you were preparing it to cook. Then put it in the freezer and make sure the door closes and stays closed.
Most food you'll want to thaw in the fridge for 1-2 days (fridges run at about 38 degrees, you'd be surprised how long something can remain a block of ice in there). But there are many foods you can cook from frozen, which you can find out by googling "cook X from frozen" for ideas.
And from experience: Label Your Stuff. Don't decide you'll come back and do it later, don't think you're going to recognize it. Unless you freeze it in the original packaging with the label (but! some of those labels can fade in the freezer), food that goes into the freezer unlabeled transmogrifies into a blob of unidentifiable weird-colored stuff you will eventually throw out because it looks like someone froze a ziploc full of wet socks and you just don't want to deal with Sherlocking what it might be. Use ziplocs and sharpies.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:54 PM on March 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
Freezing is not a big food poisoning risk. The food safety rule you need to follow is the same for ALL perishable meat: don't leave it between 40 and 140 degrees F for more than 4 hours total. Do anything you want to it in that time, using clean hands and surfaces just as if you were preparing it to cook. Then put it in the freezer and make sure the door closes and stays closed.
Most food you'll want to thaw in the fridge for 1-2 days (fridges run at about 38 degrees, you'd be surprised how long something can remain a block of ice in there). But there are many foods you can cook from frozen, which you can find out by googling "cook X from frozen" for ideas.
And from experience: Label Your Stuff. Don't decide you'll come back and do it later, don't think you're going to recognize it. Unless you freeze it in the original packaging with the label (but! some of those labels can fade in the freezer), food that goes into the freezer unlabeled transmogrifies into a blob of unidentifiable weird-colored stuff you will eventually throw out because it looks like someone froze a ziploc full of wet socks and you just don't want to deal with Sherlocking what it might be. Use ziplocs and sharpies.
posted by Lyn Never at 5:54 PM on March 16, 2020 [4 favorites]
I often defrost frozen meat by sticking it in a bowl/pot full of cold water and then leaving it in the fridge. I’ll do it in the morning before work and it’s ready to cool by dinner.
posted by gnutron at 5:58 PM on March 16, 2020
posted by gnutron at 5:58 PM on March 16, 2020
I have chopped up pork butts, chicken and beef and portioned out mince (ground) before freezing in ziplocks. All fine. No deaths, no lurgy.
Also, check fresh fish and shellfish, as it's sometimes previously frozen and says 'do not refreeze' on the wrapping. I don't think you'll die if you do, it's more about the fact that it's been at fridge temperatures longer than you might anticipate, and in any case it's an easy rule to follow.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 6:19 PM on March 16, 2020
Also, check fresh fish and shellfish, as it's sometimes previously frozen and says 'do not refreeze' on the wrapping. I don't think you'll die if you do, it's more about the fact that it's been at fridge temperatures longer than you might anticipate, and in any case it's an easy rule to follow.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 6:19 PM on March 16, 2020
I usually use a vacuum sealer (bought cheap at Costco) but it is hardly necessary. Before I had the vacuum sealer I just did what everyone above is suggesting -- sometimes the original packaging, other times using freezer bags. Thawing is either in the fridge overnight* or in a tub of cold water.
* Note the special issues with thawing some frozen fish.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:25 PM on March 16, 2020
* Note the special issues with thawing some frozen fish.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:25 PM on March 16, 2020
I just put things in the freezer in their original packaging. Unless, as others have said, it's a big bulk pack, especially if it's a mixture of different cuts that I may not want to use at the same time.
I don't have a vacuum sealer, but an efficient way to press most of the air out of a ziplock bag of meat is with water pressure. Seal it almost all the way, lower it into a sink or tub full of water (with the open edge sticking out, obviously), press out the air forced outwards through the opening you have left, and seal the bag all the way.
Repackaging meat like this also makes it possible to (cold!) water-thaw it more quickly and evenly, assuming that it comes from the shop on a styrofoam tray. Because styrofoam is an insulator. But I'm too lazy to repackage everything.
I thaw meat in the refrigerator if I know I'm going to need it well in advance, otherwise in cold water. If you thaw it in cold water, cook it immediately. You can cut meat when the side that was touching the styrofoam is still half-frozen, so do that instead of waiting longer for it to be fully thawed (unless it's on the bone and you need to debone it before cooking). It also makes the meat easier to cut because it's more rigid and less slippery.
posted by confluency at 11:47 PM on March 16, 2020
I don't have a vacuum sealer, but an efficient way to press most of the air out of a ziplock bag of meat is with water pressure. Seal it almost all the way, lower it into a sink or tub full of water (with the open edge sticking out, obviously), press out the air forced outwards through the opening you have left, and seal the bag all the way.
Repackaging meat like this also makes it possible to (cold!) water-thaw it more quickly and evenly, assuming that it comes from the shop on a styrofoam tray. Because styrofoam is an insulator. But I'm too lazy to repackage everything.
I thaw meat in the refrigerator if I know I'm going to need it well in advance, otherwise in cold water. If you thaw it in cold water, cook it immediately. You can cut meat when the side that was touching the styrofoam is still half-frozen, so do that instead of waiting longer for it to be fully thawed (unless it's on the bone and you need to debone it before cooking). It also makes the meat easier to cut because it's more rigid and less slippery.
posted by confluency at 11:47 PM on March 16, 2020
Another vote for just tossing it in the freezer in its original package, or if bought in bulk, baggie up separately, don't need to vacuum seal or get fancy. I wait for hamburger to go on sale for < $2/pound, then buy a bunch of the 1-pound packages, and all go right in the freezer exactly how I took them out of the grocery store cooler. I often get a dozen bacon-wrapped pork chops from the meat counter, which are then bagged in pairs and frozen for easy tasty meal preparation for my wife and myself. So, if you want to freeze portion-sizes, go for it.
As a sidenote, my grandfather worked on a farm well into his seventies (1990s - early 2000s), and the farm often rewarded him with a significant pile of hamburger and other cuts when they butchered cows, and these were distributed among their kids/grandkids as frozen chunks wrapped in just butcher paper, which were then tossed in our freezer until we wanted to eat it, and then just thawed it in the fridge.
In support of vacuum-sealing, though, the freezing style of 'just toss it in the freezer' probably loses quality faster than if you go through an elaborate freezer-preservation process, but if you're eating the meat as you go you likely won't ever have anything sitting in the freezer super long.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:57 AM on March 17, 2020
As a sidenote, my grandfather worked on a farm well into his seventies (1990s - early 2000s), and the farm often rewarded him with a significant pile of hamburger and other cuts when they butchered cows, and these were distributed among their kids/grandkids as frozen chunks wrapped in just butcher paper, which were then tossed in our freezer until we wanted to eat it, and then just thawed it in the fridge.
In support of vacuum-sealing, though, the freezing style of 'just toss it in the freezer' probably loses quality faster than if you go through an elaborate freezer-preservation process, but if you're eating the meat as you go you likely won't ever have anything sitting in the freezer super long.
posted by AzraelBrown at 7:57 AM on March 17, 2020
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put the chunks (eg chicken breasts) on a tray in the freezer so they freeze separately (Free flow) and then you can put frozen in a big bag and they won't stick together.
- or wrap them in cling film and put them all in a big bag
- or just put them each in a little ziplock
Make sure you write the date you froze them on the big bag or the individual bags
If you like stir-fry it's easy to do that and freeze them after slicing up. Some people like to put the marinate in the bag with the stirfry so it's faster on the day (Look up freezer cooking)
You don't need a vacuum sealer.
Thawing stuff in the fridge overnight is the safest way to thaw it. Otherwise you can run cold water over them in the sink til they thaw, or use your microwave defrost setting.
posted by slightlybewildered at 5:04 PM on March 16, 2020 [7 favorites]