Freeze raw meat, cook and freeze again?

pickarooney

I did this by accident the other night...
I got a big piece of pork, minced it and split it into three bags, which I freezed. Then (a couple of days later) I defrosted the pork and used it, along with some fresh beef mince, to make a spaghetti sauce. There was too much sauce so without thinknig it through, I froze the leftovers.

Is the frozen sauce now toxic?

neuro-praxis

No it's grand.

When you defrost it and reheat it just make sure it's piping hot all the way through before eating.

tommym037

No its fine really. I refreeze several times over and never have problems.

2 weeks ago I made a Red Thai Beef Curry. I made loads and froze the leftovers. I thawed it out last week and ate some more and then froze the leftovers again. Probably have it next week.

Enjoy

Cleansheets

I have never refrozen cooked food, but if it was frozen raw and the frozen cooked you are fine. It can be confusing though.

rubadub

Cleansheets wrote: »

It can be confusing though.

The only confusing think is the perpetuated myth that stuff magically goes toxic. The only problem with refreezing defrosted meat (or veg/fruit) is that water cells expand again and can alter the texture. So many companies with frozen products warn not to refreeze as it will not taste the best.

The thing to watch for is that stuff is not sitting at room temp for any length of time. Defrost stuff in the fridge overnight, and reheat thoroughly.

BaZmO*

pickarooney wrote: »

Is the frozen sauce now toxic?

Depends in what you're cooking is like!

rubadub wrote: »

The only confusing think is the perpetuated myth that stuff magically goes toxic. The only problem with refreezing defrosted meat (or veg/fruit) is that water cells expand again and can alter the texture. So many companies with frozen products warn not to refreeze as it will not taste the best.

The thing to watch for is that stuff is not sitting at room temp for any length of time. Defrost stuff in the fridge overnight, and reheat thoroughly.

I know that freezing, then cooking and then freezing again is absolutely fine, but isn't the big no-no freezing, defrosted (not cooking) and then freezing again?

Faith

BaZmO* wrote: »

I know that freezing, then cooking and then freezing again is absolutely fine, but isn't the big no-no freezing, defrosted (not cooking) and then freezing again?

If the food is defrosted in a fridge, then there should theoretically be no problem refreezing it, because it will never have reached a high enough temperature for bacteria to grow. If it spent any time at room temperature, it should not be refrozen.

As always, if in doubt, check a proper website like this or this.

rubadub

Faith wrote: »

it will never have reached a high enough temperature for bacteria to grow. If it spent any time at room temperature, it should not be refrozen.

Spot on.

BaZmO* wrote: »

the big no-no freezing, defrosted (not cooking) and then freezing again?

The big no-no is from the manufacturers recommendations. They often quick freeze stuff so the cells do not get a chance to expand and change the texture of the food. So on packets of frozen food it might say that it can be cooked from frozen, or defrosted and cooked. And then they often overemphasis the point of "once defrosted never refreeze". So people wrongly assumed that it caused bacteria. But really they want the food to taste its best, if you did refreeze it would taste odd as the cells expand. Also they are probably taking into account people who defrost stuff wrongly, i.e. that it might have been at room temp for a long time.

BaZmO*

Well there ya go. You learn a new thing every day.

I always knew that vegetables weren't great to freeze because of the cell walls expanding and altering the texture. But I didn't know that you could freeze, defrost and refreeze once the item is kept in the fridge. I've actually thrown stuff out because of it.