How long can you Freeze meat?

Question

~~~If meat comes right from the market to your freezer, how long can it be kept frozen with out going bad? Do different meats have different freezer shelf life,,,Beef vs Chicken vs Pork ? and the store wrap vs vacume sealed?

Answer 1

Cold Storage Chart
http://www.foodsafety.gov/~fsg/f01chart.html

Answer 2

Meats can normally be frozen for up to a year, but I prefer to do a 6 month period. Meats wrapped from the grocery are not vacuum sealed and therefore if frozen in the store package, it probably last 1-2 weeks and will probably picks up flavors of other foods in the freezer. What I do and swear by it and I do not work for the cry-o-vac companies (food saver) but once you get home with the meats (reddish in color, minimal juices,eye appealing) and or chicken (eye appealing, no milky juices, no slime) I remove the store packaging and divide how and what to be frozen and then place them in a vacuum bag and vacuum according to the instructions. I tested a New York Strip years ago and sealed (vacuum) it for 9 months, defrosted in the refrigerator and I swear it was like I just bought it that day. Color was perfect, no slime, smell etc> well worth the money

Answer 3

Factors such as how the meat is wrapped, the type of meat in the bologna and how cold the freezer is all will affect how long bologna can be frozen without noticible deterioration. In general the tighter the packaging the better. Vacuum packaging with high oxygen barrier is best. Also colder is better. Finally beef will last longer than pork which will last longer than chicken. All that being said, a beef bologna that is vacuum packaged, frozen quickly and held below 0°F will be acceptable for more than a year. Products with pork in it will likely last 6-9 months and bologna with chicken will last around 6 months. After that the product will develop off flavors caused by rancidity in the fat. It will be safe, just not taste as good as it did when fresh.

Answer 4

According to the US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, it is best to freeze meat at 0°F (-17.78°C) for safety reasons. If frozen meat is stored at a constant temperature of 0°F, it should be safe to eat. Although freezing meat doesn’t kill the microbes that can cause foodborne illnesses, it slows their growth by forcing them into dormancy. Some parasites however, are killed at sub-zero temperatures, although home freezing cannot guarantee this.

To freeze meat, it is a good idea to repack meat from store packaging or to put another layer of wrapping over it for optimal storage and to prevent freezer burn. Freezer burn, while not dangerous, impacts frozen meat in both taste and consistency. For long-term storage, it is best to keep frozen meat in a separate freezer unit, as the freezer section in a refrigerator is opened frequently on a daily basis. This makes it difficult to maintain the optimal temperature to store frozen meat.

Once frozen meat is thawed, the microbes come back to life and continue their life’s work, which is to multiply and consume. The safest way to defrost frozen meat is in the fridge, the microwave or a bowl of cold water. A rule of thumb for defrosting frozen meat in the fridge is to allow one day for every five pounds (2.27 kilograms). Defrosted meat is safe to refreeze as long as it was thawed in the refrigerator. If there is a power outage, frozen meat should remain safe for approximately two days in a closed, full freezer and one day in a half-full, closed freezer.

Theoretically, when meat is frozen correctly and maintained at the optimal freezing temperature, it should stay good forever. However, it is hard to guarantee, particularly with home freezing, that the meat will remain safe and of good quality for eating. The following is a list of how long most meats can be frozen and maintain a high quality.

Bacon or sausage, one to two months
Ham, hot dogs or cold cuts, two to three months
Raw roasts, steaks or chops, four to twelve months
Raw ground meat, three to four months
Cooked meat, two to three months
Raw, whole poultry, one to two months
Raw poultry parts, nine months
Cooked poultry, four months
Raw, wild game, eight to twelve months

Some folks like to marinate or season meat before freezing.

Answer 5

if you look in the back of your better homes and gardens cookbook there is a chart in there.