The Frozen Meat Red Flag You Should Never Ignore

There are many reasons to shop for frozen meats or to buy fresh meat and freeze it yourself. You might want to stock up on frozen ingredients to limit your trips to the grocery store, for example, or you may meal-prep and freeze already-cooked meats for later.

However, freezing meat, whether raw or cooked, comes with its own challenges compared to using it fresh. You need to think ahead and thaw what you need, for example, and you absolutely must store frozen meats correctly. If you don't store it properly, you could face a major frozen meat red flag: tiny ice crystals covering it, otherwise known as freezer burn. These ice crystals form as moisture is pulled out of food while it sits in the freezer, and while it's typically still safe to eat freezer-burnt meat, the lost moisture makes the meat dry and tough. If you don't want to see that frozen steak go bad, we'll say it again: Make sure it's properly stored.

Thankfully, freezing meat properly isn't difficult. You just need airtight storage containers — the type of container will change based on what you're trying to freeze. You can tightly wrap a couple of steaks in plastic wrap before tucking them all into a large freezer bag, for example, or you can use a hard-sided container to stash away a few chicken thighs. Whichever way you decide to go about it, eliminate as much air contact as you can since this is the reason freezer burn can pull out moisture.

However, just because you can freeze meat for what feels like forever doesn't mean you should. In the interest of quality, you should only keep meat frozen that you know you can use within a few months. Try freezing your meat in individual serving sizes so it's easy to stay organized and avoid thawing more meat than you need. Or, if you ever need to thaw a little more than you need, thaw it in the refrigerator and refreeze. But make sure it's thawed in the refrigerator, or else it won't be safe to refreeze.