Freezing, Thawing, and Freezing Again

As the meat warms up any bacteria can grow, freezing does not kill it just stops it from growing. The next time you thaw it out the bacteria pick up from where they left and start growing again. So they have a head start and can spoil meat quickly as their numbers can be way up due to the previous warming. The solution is to freeze your meat then partially thaw thin grind and make sausage with the semi frozen ground meat. The colder the the meat the better,most Bacteria don't grow much until 40 F. They are killed in the cooking process. But if the meat has spoiled the toxins produced can make you sick even after cooking.
 
Where's Jaimie?

This is one for the Mythbusters. Its been floating around for as long as freezers have existed.
Go ahead and thaw/refreeze/thaw.
The only thing you may encounter is an increase in damage of the cellular structure of the meats surface (ie freezer burn). Do NOT worry about the boogey man stories of bacteria SO LONG as you have not left it out on the counter several times for a long time, which is a STUPID thing to do in the first place. Thaw it in the fridge, refreeze as many times as you want, and if this worries you, just keep the total time unfrozen less than or equal to the unfrozen time you would normally accept for a piece of REFRIGERATED meat without refreezing.
I have no proof of this, as I am not a scientist, but I have a close personal friend who's been known to freeze a couple million pounds of meat each year for a living. We had this argument once in detail:rolleyes: , he won.

Of course I could be wrong and just trying to kill you... you evil murderer!
Try calling the Fed Food inspection guys and find someone in the know....
 
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Yeah - you have to consider your total time thawed, not just the 'last' time, but other than that go ahead.

For example - you wouldn't leave meat out for 5 days and then freeze it ... don't thaw something, leave it out for two days, freeze it, thaw it, and then leave it out for 3 days, freeze it, thaw it, etc. But as long as you're thawing and then re-freezing fairly quickly (especially if it thawed in the fridge) and you cook it soon after thawing it the last time it's no issue.
 
We've hung deer at camp for the full two weeks outdoors, going through a number of freeze/thaw cycles, with no issues.
This year, we put the quarters in the freezer, and took 'em to the butcher later. He thawed them before proccessing, and refroze them. Excellent venison.
 
Thaw in cold water in the fridge.

Larger pieces are the most dangerous as the outside may be thawed long before the middle.

The biggest problem is people who lose track of how many times they have thawed and refrozen and how long the meat was sitting. Handling is also very important. keep it to a minimum on wht you're not immediately going to consume
 
Great thread!
I always thought thawing and refreezing was complete tabu.
I have about 25lbs of venison in the freezer, good but small cuts that I wanted to make into hamburg. So according to the majority here I can thaw this stuff enough to grind then repackage/refreeze it if done in an acceptable amount of time?
 
That is what I do whenever I make sausage I freeze the venison pieces and when time permits I thaw them out and grind them mix my sausage spices ,stuff the sausage and then refreeze. It works best if you have a good grinder to only partially thaw the meat, semi frozen grinds much better than totaly thawed meat.
 
Big Guy said:
That is what I do whenever I make sausage I freeze the venison pieces and when time permits I thaw them out and grind them mix my sausage spices ,stuff the sausage and then refreeze. It works best if you have a good grinder to only partially thaw the meat, semi frozen grinds much better than totaly thawed meat.
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i agree 100%. some of the sausage recipes i have from my grandfather actually recommend freezing the meat first to "kill the bugs".

also tried one of the eastman outdoors jerky cure & seasoning kits from wal-mart(sorry gramps, but it was on sale for $3.00!!) which say " when using wild game, freeze the meat for at least 60 days at 0 deg F(-18C) before preparation as a precaution against parasites". not bad jerky, actually!!
i usually make ground jerky(dehydrated and/or smoked)and have never had a problem, besides over-indulgence,in the last 15 yrs or so
 
also tried one of the eastman outdoors jerky cure & seasoning kits from wal-mart(sorry gramps, but it was on sale for $3.00!!) which say " when using wild game, freeze the meat for at least 60 days at 0 deg F(-18C) before preparation as a precaution against parasites"
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BTW - just so you know, that would be to fight trichinosis. While that method will kill trich found in domestic animals, it will not reliably kill trich found in wild meat such as bear. It would have to be much colder and longer. Only heat is a guaranteed way to kill trich, so pick a jerky method that will heat the meat sufficiently.
 
bill c68 said:
I have been arguing this one with my mother for a few weeks now. Actually ever since coming home from deer camp with a cooler with some unused meat in it.

From the USDA website:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets/Focus_On_Freezing/index.asp

Yes you can refreeze meat. I tis recommended to only do this if the meat has been kept cold or has been cooked.
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You've been arguing with momma :eek: - Well....we all know who's gonna win "that" argument, right or wrong. :D Great thread here, learned a bit myself.
 
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