Silly question about freezing

JimmyB27 · Feb 5, 2016

So, if you freeze something (say, some beef mince, for example), you're not supposed to defrost it and then refreeze it, right?
But what if I use said beef mince to make some delicious chile con carne, or some bolognese, or something? Can I freeze that? That would be ok, wouldn't it? Right?

Maryn · Feb 5, 2016

Yes, you can refreeze meat after cooking it. I've done this many, many times. It's a good way to double up, making two dinners and popping one back into the freezer to be deployed on a busy day.

Edit: The whole deal on freeze-thaw-refreeze being risky is that the thawing meat spends time at a temperature which allows any bacteria it contains to reproduce. If you refreeze it with those bacteria--now large in number--and thaw it again, the bacteria which reproduced during the first thaw now has a chance to reproduce enough to make whoever eats it sick. But if you cook it before refreezing, you've killed the bacteria which reproduced during the first thawing of the raw meat.

JimmyB27 · Feb 5, 2016

Maryn said:
Yes, you can refreeze meat after cooking it. I've done this many, many times. It's a good way to double up, making two dinners and popping one back into the freezer to be deployed on a busy day.

Thank you! Although, unless I'm really, really hungry, this will make more than two meals :tongue

Edit: The whole deal on freeze-thaw-refreeze being risky is that the thawing meat spends time at a temperature which allows any bacteria it contains to reproduce. If you refreeze it with those bacteria--now large in number--and thaw it again, the bacteria which reproduced during the first thaw now has a chance to reproduce enough to make whoever eats it sick.

So, would thawing it in the fridge make it better?

-Riv- · Feb 5, 2016

JimmyB27 said:
Thank you! Although, unless I'm really, really hungry, this will make more than two meals

So, would thawing it in the fridge make it better?

Thawing in the fridge is always advisable (but still don't refreeze raw).

Tottie Scone · Feb 15, 2016

Yup. Freeze once raw, once cooked. When you cook it you basically reset everything from a bacterial point of view.

Mutive · Mar 15, 2016

Aside from bacteria, freezing can often damage the cellular structure. (Since solid water is bigger than liquid water.) So every time you refreeze, you pulverize the structure of your food. A few refreezes is fine (and if you cook it again, it's fine from a health point of view). But each freeze will make things mushier.

Maryn · Mar 16, 2016

True, and for some dishes that loss of texture will matter. But for tacos, pasta sauce with meat, chili, and similar ground-beef (or turkey) dishes, refreezing after cooking is fine. I wouldn't do it with a burger, though.

Maryn, wanting a big burger

eskay · Mar 28, 2016

When you cook it you basically reset everything from a bacterial point of view.

This is not quite correct--if enough bacteria had grown to start producing toxins in significant amounts, those will not necessarily be destroyed by cooking.

GregFH · Sep 6, 2017

Here's the official advice from the U.S. Government: http://food.unl.edu/it-safe-refreeze-raw-meat-and-poultry-has-thawed.

Also, all this advice seems to presume that you're re-cooking the item long enough and hot enough to destroy bacteria.

That being said, I would be leery of refreezing fish since it often contains bacteria that can reproduce at just above freezing.

Silly question about freezing

JimmyB27

Hoopy frood

Maryn

Baaa!

JimmyB27

Hoopy frood

-Riv-

The much appreciated

Tottie Scone

Mutive

Blissfully Clueless

Maryn

Baaa!

eskay

GregFH