Re-Freeze

[pjm099]

Discovered over the weekend that one of the kids had managed to switch off the chest freezer. I’ve got a red and roe in there, all fully butchered and vacuum packed. Most of the meat had defrosted, but was still ice cold, with some partially thawed. Questions is whether it’s ok to re-freeze? It’s all for own consumption. Cheers

 

[VSS]

Discovered over the weekend that one of the kids had managed to switch off the chest freezer. I’ve got a red and roe in there, all fully butchered and vacuum packed. Most of the meat had defrosted, but was still ice cold, with some partially thawed. Questions is whether it’s ok to re-freeze? It’s all for own consumption. Cheers

For home consumption only, I would re-freeze.

 

[weblyish]

For home consumption only, I would re-freeze.

Ditto.
I'd probably make sure it all got cooked fully rather than very rare but you'd soon know if it was off

 

[Cyres]

Had same once power breaker went out. Just re froze no issues. If red meat OK. I would be in two minds about fish though.

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

Yeah you'll be fine!

 

[SimpleSimon]

I've always thought the issue with re-freezing meat was more to do with impacting the quality of the end product than potential hygiene risks.

 

[Will the chippy]

If it never got above 3-4 degrees I'd refreeze quite happily.

 

[finnbear270]

Anytime we lost power for a good length of time, and the small amount that had started to thaw, we cooked & after standing to room temp then re froze portioned up.

 

[Tazz]

Re freeze its vacuum packed so that will help, we are far to risk averse on these things IMHO

 

[pjm099]

Thanks for all the replies and helpful comments- I thought it should be ok, but always good to get views from fellow stalkers. Cheers

 

[Apthorpe]

I've noticed that meant and fish bought from shops is often refrozen - but this is justified as being OK because it's in a "controlled environment". For example the carcase might be frozen, then defrosted, butchered and then refrozen.

In this case, it sounds fine.

 

[sy247]

I've been in the same situation. It will be fine.

 

[cjs66]

Sorry if this question derails the op, but it's on a similar note. Would it be ok to mince frozen venison, make burgers and refreeze, obviously the venison would need to be partly thawed out. Not too worried about the mincer, its a beast.

Ta.

cjs

 

[shakey jake]

Sorry if this question derails the op, but it's on a similar note. Would it be ok to mince frozen venison, make burgers and refreeze, obviously the venison would need to be partly thawed out. Not too worried about the mincer, its a beast.

Ta.

cjs

Normally the way i do burgers and sausages. Just keep cold. Prob not ok for sale

 

[cjs66]

Normally the way i do burgers and sausages. Just keep cold. Prob not ok for sale

Nice one, Shakey, yep, just home consumption.

cjs

 

[Hook'N'Bullet]

Sorry if this question derails the op, but it's on a similar note. Would it be ok to mince frozen venison, make burgers and refreeze, obviously the venison would need to be partly thawed out. Not too worried about the mincer, its a beast.

Ta.

cjs

I do that all the time

 

[weblyish]

Sorry if this question derails the op, but it's on a similar note. Would it be ok to mince frozen venison, make burgers and refreeze, obviously the venison would need to be partly thawed out. Not too worried about the mincer, its a beast.

Ta.

cjs

there's nothing magical about the freeze/thaw which inherently makes food unsafe it is more that frozen food thawed out has sat at potentially bacterial growing temperature for that long often in less than ideal conditions (in water, on the counter etc)

Quality does deteriorate for freeze thaw cycles but that is less of an issue for things like burgers

personally I wouldn't usually take a fully frozen block of mince,thaw it to make burgers and re-freeze them
just compounding of several minor sources of contamination - you would need to wait quite a while for the centre to thaw and by that time the outside would have been starting to get warmer or been at fridge temp for many hours - then you mix that back in to the centre - then if you thaw the burgers you are again allowing growth of bacteria and then not cooking it fully through (unless you love your burgers well done thoughout in which case crack on you heathen)

I often do take the freshly made mince and freeze it for a an hour or two (usually flat on a tray rather than in a massive lump) so it is less slimy and greasy for burger making - then freeze those

 

[moeggesit]

My personal view:
Meat has a shelf life, in real terms;
Frozen solid = several years, more than I care to count.
If it’s shot and kept below 4 degrees it will be fine for a couple of weeks.
Below 8 degrees one week.

If at any time above 8 degrees, starts degrade more rapidly - days or hours until spoil.

I then take the time from shot, transport, storage, butchery and zere zing to determine how long it has. Usually by the time it’s been through the whole process I recon on average I have two days left from defrost if kept chilled. .i.e. I can defrost it safely and leave in the fridge for a few days if I don’t eat it immediately.

Therefore in my case I would have no qualms about refreezing it, but it reduces the shelf life a little bit more.

If it’s not frozen it should be aired (hung or placed on wire shelves), bags and plastic will cause rapid decay unless vacuum packed.

This assumes good hygiene and meat is whole, i.e. not minced or cut for introduction of bacteria

 

[MAH]

Discovered over the weekend that one of the kids had managed to switch off the chest freezer. I’ve got a red and roe in there, all fully butchered and vacuum packed. Most of the meat had defrosted, but was still ice cold, with some partially thawed. Questions is whether it’s ok to re-freeze? It’s all for own consumption. Cheers

I had a similar thing happen, but just one roe.
I decided to have a massive cook festival with it, over the next day or so, rather refreeze as is.
I made batches of stew, and othere dishes that I could then safely refreeze after cooking.

If there was too much, and it was still solid, I'd refreeze, but Mark it as such.
I'd not wanr be serving the loin as pink medallions by mistake.

Good luck