Ground Beef Safety Question
I defrosted a pound of ground beef for a planned dinner yesterday. It didn't happen and the meat got shoved to the back of the fridge for use tonight. I just took the meat out of the fridge and found it frozen solid. Yes, I know it means I probably have the refrigerator set too cold. But my question is whether the meat will be safe to use after it is defrosted again.
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I am sure you are going to get tons of opinions here. I would say that if you want to use frozen use it. If you want to thaw, use it. Meat is frozen, thawed and refrozen all the time. Just my opinion. -
The same thing happens to me from time to time. Never a problem. Go ahead and thaw as usual and cook it up.Comment
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Based on what you wrote - yes. I’ve done the same. I freeze ground beef. Thaw. Use what I need and freeze again. It only thaws for one day before freezing and I don’t do it a third time. The issue I have with refreezing is freezer burn and consistency. I really don’t like the consistency of twice frozen ground beef for anything but chili/enchiladas etc.Comment
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As long as you defrosted it in the fridge it should be ok to re-freeze or use. If you defrosted it on the counter or (the horror!) the microwave, I wouldn't risk it.Comment
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I’ve done it all the time. Only thing that suffers could be the quality of meat. But if you thaw it properly, which it sounds like you did you should be fine.
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition...thaw-it-safelyLast edited by radiodome21; March 29, 2022, 05:28 PM.Comment
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I would go for it.Comment
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+1 tbob4 If it were a fine steak or something, I wouldn’t because here you are talking about the structural integrity of the cut. But with ground beef, you’ll be fine. At my old job, I never encouraged it because who knows what the heck people do in their homes. Not only do you know, you are surrounded by people who know, ya know? 😜Comment
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Cook it and eat itComment
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What they all said. No problemo. Let us know how it came out!Comment
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Thanks everyone. That's basically what I thought. But, I wanted to play it safe and ask. I could deal with giving myself food poisoning, but would REALLY prefer not to get my wife ill.Comment
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An update: Both my wife and I survived the burgers without ill effects. Once again, thank you everyone for your advice.Comment
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The thinking that you can't thaw, refreeze, and thaw raw meat safely is an old wives tale. As SheilaAnn noted it may have a negative impact on the texture (not so much for ground beef) but it has no safety implications.Comment
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if thawed correctly it would not have entered the danger zone
The world according to noobComment
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