Five Really Good Tips for Freezing (and Thawing) Meat
Twelve hamburgers for the price of ten. An incredible deal on stewing beef at the organic butcher. And a pack of ground meat is always handy, right? Don’t just cram everything haphazardly into the freezer until kingdom come—do it a little more cleverly and you’ll be the master of the deep-freeze.
1. Meat doesn’t last forever
Things in the freezer don’t last forever. Spoilage simply continues, and if you don’t want to throw handfuls of money away, this household tip is essential: buy a freezer marker. It’s a waterproof marker that you use to write on your freezer bags what’s inside and, above all, when you put it in there. Meat keeps for about three months in the freezer; fish stays good for only a month or two. Hide the marker from your housemates to prevent pets from being scribbled on, T-shirts from being decorated and eyeliner from being applied with it.
2. Thawing meat is an art
Thawing meat in warm water or in a sunny spot on the counter is just as bad an idea as getting a tattoo on your forehead. At that lukewarm temperature, bacteria multiply at lightning speed. So how should you do it? If you’re in a hurry, let the (watertight) package dangle in a large bowl of ice-cold water. Refresh the water every half hour, adding a few ice cubes if necessary. This allows the meat to come up to temperature slowly. A pound of ground meat takes about 45 minutes to thaw properly. If you’re an organized type, you probably remember in time that you want to eat pork chops or ground meat. Take it out of the freezer the day before—or at least in the morning—and put it in the refrigerator. Place a plate or bowl underneath it, otherwise the melting liquid will drip into your fridge—and that’s a disaster (see point 5). Is there a panic situation? Try the microwave—but we can’t make any guarantees.
3. Wrap it properly
Have you scored an amazing special offer? Then package the meat in individual portions. So don’t throw a kilo of ground meat into the freezer as one lump; make bags of 100 or 200 grams instead. A small package freezes much faster, thaws faster and, besides: when you’re cooking and don’t need the whole kilo, you won’t have to saw half of that rock-hard frozen block off with a circular saw or pry frozen schnitzels apart with a crowbar.
4. Is the freezer getting empty? Fill ’m up
An empty freezer guzzles electricity and does its job less well than a full freezer. Is your freezer half empty? Fill ’m up with a box of ice creams, fish fingers, a kilo of fries—anything that’s handy to have in the freezer. If you’re trying to run down your stock, you can also put pieces of Styrofoam or cool packs for the cooler in your freezer. Anything to fill up that unused space.
5. Meat juices are the enemy
When you thaw frozen meat, extra liquid is sometimes released. Some of it may be snow from the freezer that has remained on the packaging, but some of it is also moisture from the meat. What should you do with it? Throw it away. Bacteria absolutely love that liquid. Rinse the thawed meat well and pat it dry, and don’t mess around with that nasty dripping liquid.
Also read:
- 6 things from the freezer
- Common deep-frying mistakes
- People find the strangest things in their freezers and all of Twitter goes wild
