Tips for freezer burned meat? 30 January 2022 at 5:48PM in Old style MoneySaving 6 replies 241 views

caroline1973lefty

I would love some old style wisdom! I have a bunch of meat (lamb and beef) and fish - from meat on the bone and chops, to diced and minced beef and lamb, also white fish fillets that’s all been in my freezer around about 2 years (long story, life got a bit complicated). Some is stuff I bought frozen (eg some of the fish), most is stuff I bought fresh on offer / reduced and bunged in there. So…my understanding is it should all be *safe* to eat (there hasn’t been any power cuts or anything, maybe once or twice I might have left the door ajar for an hour or two I think but no major defrosting happened). But some websites say it will be totally tasteless and texture less. What do people think - are there ways of improving this? To be honest I think I should eat it anyway (it’s just for me) - I’d feel really guilty and extravagant chucking it away - both cos of money and the animals involved - and some of it looks totally fine (especially stuff like chops/burgers in tight pacakaging) but stuff like mince and chicken breasts has quite a lot of ice crystals now so I guess that means it will have dried out. Any tips? (I like cooking but I’m not the world’s best?)

babyshoes

I've had meat in the freezer for some years in the past, because stuff sometimes migrates to the bottom and gets forgotten...

I tend to defrost it, make sure it passes the sniff test, (very fatty, processed meat like bacon or salami can go rancid) trim off any hard, freezer burned areas for the cats, (freezer burn tends to just be on the surface so you shouldn't lose too much) and then use it as normal. It may be a little less flavourful than usual, but if you use it in something with a sauce or gravy, you won't notice a difference. 

joedenise

I think most of the problem will be loss of texture.  Just do the sniff test when you defrost it - if it smells off bin it otherwise eat it.  I'd be more wary of the fish and mince than any joints for example.

elsien

I defrost it, do the sniff test, then cut off any particularly dried up looking bits and use in something spicy that's going to add a bit more taste any way. You can't tell before defrosting it how much freezer burn there is going to be - I've had a few things that looked ok to start with but I had to bin in the end,  but also things that looked better once they'd been defrosted. And the dog had a few treats with the things that I didn't want to eat but were still "dog edible."  He'll eat cat pooh and dead things, so a bit of freezer burn really  isn't an issue for him.

Brie

We recently had some wonderful merguez sausages we bought in France while on holiday in the summer of 2018.  They were fine.  I think that because they were processed (& quite spicy) and texture or flavour issues would have been less noticeable than you might fine with a piece of beef fillet or similar.  You may want to ensure that you are using the items that appear to have suffered in things like stews/ragu to ensure they are not wasted as the majority of the flavour will come from the other ingredients.  

I certainly would NOT follow @babyshoes advice of feeding the cats with the cut off portions...  they will either stick up their noses and walk away (which wouldn't be too dreadful) or inhale the lot and present it back to you in an un-ceremonial fashion probably at 3 am and on your duvet or in your slippers.  Or maybe I'm the only person that has owned fussy cats. 

mumf

If it’s been kept frozen,it will be fine. Back in the mid 80’s we were obliged to take a percentage of the EU beef mountain ( I am a butcher). That beef had been deep frozen for eight years,and some of the best we ever dealt with.Also,  a bit of freezer burn is neither here nor there. 

caroline1973lefty

Thank you! That’s all really helpful. Stews here I come!