Hunting Washington Forum
Community => Butchering, Cooking, Recipes => Topic started by: Ajj828 on December 29, 2016, 05:56:29 PM
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So I got my first deer this year and I realized I packed too much meat into each package. Whenever I want some meat I always have way too much and I'm the only one who eats it in the house. Can I unthaw all the meat and re package them into smaller packages? I currently can't eat all this meat once I unthaw it
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I freeze all my grind untill season is over ,then thaw,grind and refreeze. :tup:
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Have Hunt Wa BBQs. :tup:
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Oh I see you survived your duck jerky :tup:
Yes you can refreeze. No worries.
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But you may only want to do it as you need it :dunno:
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Would it be good to just unthaw it all in my fridge and re wrap? I feel like it's getting freezer burn because when I'm pulling out meat there is a slight brown color on some sides of the meat. What's the quickest and safest way to unthaw the meat?
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Just leave it in the fridge to unthaw.
There is a thread on here about proper wrapping technique.
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Take unused portion and chuck in crop pot with what ever sounds good. Have another meal than freeze the rest for quick meals. More than once I have thrown a freezer meal in a cooler only to eat it later on out in the woods some place.
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Take cooked leftovers in crok pot ,tomato paste,stew tomatoes,beef broth,garlic ,onions,green bean,corn ,potatoes,can of black beans, then u have vegtable deer stew for a day or two.
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I freeze all of my elk and deer meat in bulk, and then thaw it enough to work with it, IE, cut steaks, cut roasts, grind, mix in seasonings for sausage, make burger, etc, then regrind, package in 1 lb packages, and then vacuum seal and re-freeze. I have never gotten sick, and neither has anyone else I have shared my meat with. I do however only thaw enough to break it up into the chunks I froze it in, trim it, rinse it, and then put it in the garage fridge and only get it out while I get out the required pounds for each recipe I am working on at the time to ensure it is always cold and never starts warming up too much. I do one recipe at a time until that batch is done, then vacuum seal it, put it in freezer and then start the next batch until I am done.
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Thawing and refreezing is safe but not recommended. It doesn't have a positive effect on meat, as cell damage is multiplied and once thawed again, will leach more blood than the first time, often resulting in a drier finished product. In lieu of having a food-use band saw and re-portioning it all at once (maybe you have a good relationship with a butcher????), you can do it with a hack saw still frozen, one piece at a time as you use it. Buy one blade just for food and make sure that the housing/frame is perfectly clean with no metal or sawdust. Then just put the frozen unused portion in a ziplock and use it soon after.
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Would it be good to just unthaw it all in my fridge and re wrap? I feel like it's getting freezer burn because when I'm pulling out meat there is a slight brown color on some sides of the meat. What's the quickest and safest way to unthaw the meat?
Freezer burn is a lighter color(whiteish) The darker color is jst how meat reacts to exposure to air, or the lack here of. Think store bought burger, usually redder in color on the inside.
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best not to refreeze... it's not good... give it all to me, I'll get rid of it for you... :IBCOOL:
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Spice steak or roast liberally with costco prime rib rub or montreal steak rub or both. Put in crockpot on low. Cover with Apple Juice or Apple Cider. Cook 6-8 hours. Eat some, save the rest in a ziplock in fridge. Thinly Slice leftovers cold for sandwich, french dip, salad, etc. Good for couple days.
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What I sometimes do when cooking or smoking a large cut or quantity of meat is cook it in a freezer friendly recipe, something that freezes and thaws well. Cook and eat for a hot meal, leave enough out for lunches/usable leftovers. Then take the extra and vacuum seal to be rewarded for a lazy meal later on. Stewed meat without bones works well when vacuum sealed in a bag and frozen, just rewarm the whole bag in a pot of warm water and poor it out into a bowl when serving.
This works great for those meals that take a long effort like smoking for numerous hours to cook and you just don't have time for. I figure it makes it a lot easier to cook all at once and freeze for meals than to cook too much and have left overs go to waste.
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As mentioned refreezing is OK, maybe not the best. The main thing to remember is spoilage time doesn't reset each time it is thawed, it is cumulative.
My moose was not ground to my standards by the processor so I thawed for or five packs out at a time to regrind and freeze again, no problems with it. Steak is a little different. I used to cut my steaks before freezing, but I no longer do that as I think it keeps better in one big chunk than with all of those edges, plus I'm not tied into a certain thickness of cut.
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Spice steak or roast liberally with costco prime rib rub or montreal steak rub or both. Put in crockpot on low. Cover with Apple Juice or Apple Cider. Cook 6-8 hours. Eat some, save the rest in a ziplock in fridge. Thinly Slice leftovers cold for sandwich, french dip, salad, etc. Good for couple days.
Crock pot is great, pressure cooker is better IMO
