Freezing your meat for the flight

[Bean Counter]

Hey guys,

I just bought my ticket from Southwest airlines. I'll be back in November for the rifle hunt on my buddy's dairy farm    I bought from Southwest with the ideation of packing two-three suitcases full of frozen meat and flying it home.

There were no direct flights back to my neck of the woods, so I have a connecting flight. All told the trip is supposed to last five hours. Supposed to, assuming no delays.  Is five hours long enough for meat that has been frozen for a few days to not thaw out? Keep in mind it will be packed next to other frozen meat so it should keep cold longer, right?  Or will I need dry ice? SWA only allows five pounds of dry ice per package.  Also, is a duffle bag ideal? Or should I get a hard-sided suitcase or a semi-hard one?

Thanks

[Bob33]

I've checked meat in a duffel bag with dry ice before.  Five pounds is more than you might think. I've used it for 100 pounds of meat on a flight. To be safe I'd put some dry ice in.  Why not?

[walt]

We used waxed cardboard boxes for fish when coming home from Alaska and they worked fine.  I would check with a butcher/meat processor over there.  Also check the regs, depending on what state you are coming in from there are specific ways the meat needs to be processed to bring it in to Washington.  Check page 89 in the regs.  5 hours shouldn't be a problem if its frozen solid and packed right.

[sako223]

I used an Igloo plastic cooler with a strap around it(not tape) with no ice. Dry ice would be fine as I think you can't use regular ice. Packed with dry ice may need a vent.

[sako223]

Just remembered some other passenger helping us pack those coolers and thinking the ones with wheels on the back would have been much nicer.

[norsepeak]

I just came back for AK with meat...went to wally world, bought a couple plastic totes ($3.00ea), filled them with frozen meat, and some clothes for insulation, taped them up with duct tape.  Total travel time was 12 hours, and most of it was frozen solid still, some of it was still frozen in the middle.  Worked well.

[lokidog]

Don't mess with a cooler, too much weight lost with it (a 100 qt cooler weighs about 12 pounds, mine anyways).  Wax fish boxes work great as well as the Rubbermaid tubs.  Five hours is nothing for thaw time (an airplane's hold is pretty cold), a roast sitting on the counter at my house during the winter might not even thaw completely by then.  Also, the bigger the piece of meat, the longer it will take to thaw, so don't steak out all of your cuts ahead of time (IMO).  I came back from AK years ago, driving with two caribou and a bunch of halibut in U-haul boxes that I lined with one inch foam.  Two day drive and it still took a couple of days for all of the meat to thaw enough to steak it out as we left it in big chunks mostly just boned out.

[Bean Counter]

Thanks guys.

What are these fish boxes some of you mention?

I agree that the cooler is too much weight. There's a weight limitation on these suitcases. 

I understand that the bigger the piece of meat, the longer it takes to thaw. Just wondering what you do when you fly home, though? Thaw it out, cut it up, and then refreeze it?  I thought that's bad for flavor and what not.

Yes, it needs to vent--dry ice turns to C02.. co2 + pressure =  on a flight

[lokidog]

There is no problem refreezing meat.  The problem lies in the fact that thawed time is cumulative, you don't start at zero degradation each time it is thawed.  For example, if a piece of meat has a fridge life of a week and you thaw it for three days, then it only has a four day fridge life left.  Bacteria are not killed by freezing, they are just slowed wayyyy down.  Refreezing may break the cells down a bit but it will also tenderize it slightly.  The flavor does not change from my experience, unless you leave it too long.

The fish boxes are a heavy waxed box with a slip-over lid.  We got them in AK from someone for shipping our fish.  You might be able to get them from a seafood distributor or something.  Maybe a neighbor/friend that has been to AK recently.