How long to freeze meat?
If the meat was on sale, you often buy more than you need. Then the freezer comes into play. But how long does frozen meat last? We have the answer.
How long can you freeze meat?
The durability of frozen Meat depends on several factors. The first thing to consider is which animal the meat comes from. Another point is the freezing temperature. Standard household freezers have a standard temperature of -18 °C. The meat should not be frozen at higher temperatures. It is particularly important that the meat is frozen as fresh as possible. If you take all of these factors into account, you can use the following guidelines as a guide:
- Pork: max. 8 months
- Beef: max. 12 months
- Veal: max. 9 months
- Lamb: max. 9 months
- Roe deer and deer: max. 12 months
- Wild boar meat (fat): max. 6 months
- goose: Max. 6 months
- chicken/ soup chicken max. 10 months
- turkey: Max. 8 months
- Pigeon: max. 12 months
A dear guest arrives unexpectedly and you don't want to go out of your way to give him something...
Freezing and defrosting meat – this is how to do it correctly
You can achieve the best freezing result with a shock freezer. Such devices are usually only available in industry and are not common for home use. Modern household freezers have a super freeze function. This allows you to temporarily set your freezer temperature below -18 degrees. With such devices you can get closer to the field of shock freezing and achieve better freezing quality.
Only very few households have access to such functions. You probably also have a commercially available freezer. So you have to lose quality Freeze of the meat. Due to the slow freezing process in the home, large ice crystals are formed which affect the structure of the meat thawing destroy. First, portion your meat according to the desired cooking size. Wrap the pieces of meat with cling film. Additionally use a freezer bag. This protects the meat from freezer burn and oxygen. Ideally, you have a vacuum sealer. Defrost the meat as gently as possible. It's best to leave it overnight in the refrigerator be around 7 °C.
Freezing thawed meat again – that’s what happens
Never freeze meat that has already been frozen. The belief that low temperatures can destroy bacteria is a common misconception. Freezing meat inhibits the growth of bacteria, but does not destroy them. As soon as the meat thaws, the bacteria are free to eat Water available. This allows salmonella, listeria and coli bacteria to multiply ideally. If you thaw meat twice, you breed disease-causing bacteria. Thawed meat must therefore always be cooked on the day it was thawed. You only kill all bacteria at temperatures above 100 °C. If you have frozen and thawed the meat twice, this heating process is no guarantee that you will safely destroy all possible pathogens.
We hope that our tips have helped you. Handle meat products consciously and only buy what you actually need.