Can meat be re-frozen?

[ChrisinNJ]

I bought a 7lb package of ground beef & browned all of it with onions, then froze it in 1.25-1.5lb packages. I pulled a pack out today & made tomato sauce with the fresh tomatoes from my garden. There is so much left over, I am wondering if I can freeze it. Or is that a bad idea because the ground beef was previously cooked & frozen??? I dont want it to go to waste. If I have to, I will serve it again on Saturday.

Christine

 

[becpee]

Definately not

Make a lasagna for dinner

 

[pixiewings71]

So, you froze the meat, cooked the meat, made pasta sauce with the meat and now you want to freeze the leftover pasta sauce......ummmmm I do this all the time and have NEVER had any issues at all. So yes, IMO you can do this.

 

[thebeesknees]

I wouldn't. Could you make a beef and vegetable soup out of it? Or taco filling, tamale pie, etc.? I guess I'd just rather be safe than sorry.

 

[Darcy03231]

I do that all the time and have never had an issue.

 

[beansmom]

i wouldn't think twice about it. It is cooked and should be perfect fine to freeze...don't we all freeze spaghetti sauce or lasagna?

 

[seashoreCM]

From this point I say freeze it again no more than once. Break it into portions first so you can thaw just one part at a time.

If in the future you forget to portion out the food (any kind, not just meat) and freeze it all in one lump sum, keep it frozen and cut off portions using a saw or an axe or a cold chisel (not a wood chisel). Then you don't have to thaw the whole thing.

 

[ChrisinNJ]

I have taken frozen meat, cooked it, and then re-froze it cooked. My concern is that I had browned it first, then froze it, then defrosted it & cooked it in sauce. It is different this time because I cooked it before I froze it & then cooked it again.

It wasn't a huge portion (1.5lbs for 5 of us) so wasn't expecting so much leftover, but my DD didn't like it & my ds stuffed himself with garlic bread & didn't have much room for pasta & sauce.

I think I'll just make a lasagne or baked ziti tomorrow & finish it up.

Better safe than sorry.....

Thanks

 

[mousebymarriage]

So, you froze the meat, cooked the meat, made pasta sauce with the meat and now you want to freeze the leftover pasta sauce......ummmmm I do this all the time and have NEVER had any issues at all. So yes, IMO you can do this.

me too! actually I never gave it a second thought ...until now.

 

[MineMail]

It won't make anyone sick, but the texture won't be so great when you defrost it in the future. The lasagna idea is great. (Now I want lasagna...)

 

[GoofyMomInOhio]

I work in the Food Service industry and as long as the meat/sauce combo is properly cooled before freezing, it is safe to refreeze.

 

[Alexander]

If the meat has already been frozen once in the cooked state, I wouldn't refreeze it again. It would probably be okay, but I wouldn't do it.

 

[labdogs42]

I work in the Food Service industry and as long as the meat/sauce combo is properly cooled before freezing, it is safe to refreeze.

Me, too. And, I'd be fine with re-freezing.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/focus_on_freezing/index.asp

 

[girli565]

If you defrosted it properly (it never got to room temp/warm or in the fridge) then it should be fine. I do that all the time. I made a huge pot of Beef Bourguignon from frozen meat and then froze it again once it was done so we could have a meal another night.

 

[daughtersrus]

I work in the Food Service industry and as long as the meat/sauce combo is properly cooled before freezing, it is safe to refreeze.

How do you properly cool something? I thought that I read a few years ago not to let food cool before putting it in the fridge or freezer?

 

[csharpwv]

Freezing raw meat, and freezing frozen meat are totally different.

Just because you've done one, doesn't mean that you can't do the other.

The meat was frozen raw, cooked to the proper temperature to kill bacteria, and now it can be re-frozen as cooked meat.

One biggie is COOKED TO THE PROPER TEMPERATURE!

You should NEVER freeze partially cooked meat in a regular home freezer. If you had a commercial flash freezer that is different, but the average home freezer is not capable of freezing meat fast enough to stall bacteria growth and inhibit it from 'invading'.

When in doubt, test it on someone you don't like!

 

[ilovemk76]

So, you froze the meat, cooked the meat, made pasta sauce with the meat and now you want to freeze the leftover pasta sauce......ummmmm I do this all the time and have NEVER had any issues at all. So yes, IMO you can do this.

Your order is wrong.

She cooked the meat, froze it, thawed it and then make pasta sauce. She can't refreeze the sauce or the meat.

If she froze the meat raw, thawed it, cooked it and make pasta sauce then she could have froze the sauce and cooked meat.

 

[mombrontrent]

Here's my take on it, if it's cold in your fridege now and you are going to cook something with it on Sat (pasta, lasagna ect.) What is the difference if you freeze it and then cook something with it in the future. It's just going to get colder in the freezer, either way you will be cooking it and eating it one more time. This has always been my take on it.

 

[labdogs42]

There is no food safety risk to freezing the sauce you made with the previously cooked and frozen meat. The only problem might be one of texture, but since it is cooked ground beef, that shouldn't be an issue. The texture won't change much.

 

[timmac]

Just want to add a +1 to posters who have pointed out (correctly) that re-freezing presents no substantial food safety risk. When you reheat it next though, do be sure to heat is sufficiently (e.g. over 145 minimum internal temperature)

Since it's ground beef, texture isn't likely a huge issue. However, in general, that would be my biggest concern, more than safety.