Perfect for hamburgers, chili, tacos and more, ground beef really is magic meat — but you'll need to follow a few rules to keep your next meal safe and delicious.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Perfect for hamburgers, chili, tacos, and more, ground beef really is magic meat.
00:06But you'll need to follow a few rules to keep your next meal safe and delicious.
00:11Home cooks love keeping ground beef in their freezers because it's so dependable.
00:15In theory, it can keep indefinitely, if solidly, frozen.
00:19Very nice.
00:22But freezing anything for extended periods of time can jeopardize its flavor and quality.
00:26Texture burn, for example, is a phenomenon in which moisture is drawn out of food and
00:30freezes on its surface.
00:31This can cause the surface of frozen meat to brown and dry out, compromising its flavor
00:36and texture.
00:37Another risk is that ambient odors from the freezer or other frozen foods can be absorbed
00:41into your ground beef, giving it an off flavor.
00:44My condition has left me cold, to your pleas of mercy.
00:49One easy way to minimize these risks is by taking care to wrap your ground beef properly
00:53before freezing it.
00:54You have several good options for wrapping, at least one of which you probably already
00:58have at home.
00:59Aluminum foil, plastic wrap, freezer bags, or freezer paper will all do the job.
01:04To make your life easier, remember to label your wrapped packages of ground beef before
01:08storing them, noting the date it was wrapped and frozen and the quantity of ground beef
01:13inside.
01:14Ground beef is typically sold in packages of a pound or more, but this leaves cooks
01:18with a conundrum.
01:20What do you do if you only need half a pound of ground beef, but all you have on hand is
01:24a frozen, one-pound slab?
01:26You could thaw the whole thing, cook what you need, and refreeze the rest.
01:30According to the USDA, it's safe to refreeze thawed meat as long as it's been kept refrigerated
01:35and hasn't been thawed out for more than two days.
01:38But thawing twice as much meat as you need is time-consuming.
01:42Even worse?
01:43Repeated thawing and refreezing can dry out the meat and compromise its texture.
01:48What killed the dinosaurs?
01:50The ice age!
01:52Your best move is to be prepared.
01:54Before freezing your ground beef, divide it into smaller portions.
01:57You can weigh out and wrap equal-sized portions using a kitchen scale.
02:01Or you could pre-score a single batch of ground beef into smaller sections before freezing
02:04so they can be broken off later, as needed.
02:07To do this, remove a full-sized portion of ground beef from its wrapping, place it in
02:11a freezer bag, and flatten it.
02:13Then, using a chopstick or some other blunt object, press dividing lines into the meat
02:18based on portion size.
02:20After that, freeze the meat until you're ready to get cooking.
02:23It might be tempting to simply toss the beef you've bought in the fridge or freezer when
02:27you get home.
02:28Tonight, hell freezes over.
02:34Freezing well-wrapped ground beef in its original wrapping is a workable and convenient method
02:39of storage.
02:40Once you decide it's time to cook with it, waiting for a thick block of ground beef to
02:44thaw out can be a real pain.
02:46To keep safe, you'll also need to thaw your meat slowly in the refrigerator or cold water
02:51rather than simply taking it out of the freezer and placing it on the counter.
02:54In short, if you're going to cook safely with ground beef, you'll need to do some serious
02:58planning.
02:59And we all know how good most of us are with that.
03:02You can cut back your thawing time by doing a little preparation before freezing it.
03:06Take your meat out of its original wrapping and place it in a large freezer bag.
03:10Then press it flat, to about half an inch in thickness, and seal the bag tightly, squeezing
03:15out any air.
03:17This will not only remove air pockets, thus reducing the risk of freezer burn, but help
03:21the meat thaw faster when you decide to cook with it.
03:25If you want to stay safe and keep those nasty pathogens away, you'll need to know how long
03:29you can store your beef before it starts to go bad.
03:31To ensure it remains safe, refrigerated ground beef should be consumed within two days.
03:36It'll also need to be kept at sufficiently low temperatures, around 33 degrees Fahrenheit,
03:41to stay good.
03:42If your fridge can't handle that, or you're not sure when you'll be needing the beef,
03:46you're better off storing your beef in the freezer.
03:49The Iceman cometh!
03:52That said, there's a time limit on the freezer, too.
03:54In theory, ground beef can be frozen indefinitely and still be safe to eat.
03:59Safe to eat and good to eat are two different things, and the flavor and quality of frozen
04:03ground beef will naturally degrade over time.
04:06In addition, your frozen beef can also be affected by factors such as inconsistent freezer
04:10temperatures, meat that's been compromised during production or in transit, or exposure
04:14to open air.
04:15While ground beef may well last forever if hermetically sealed and secured in a professionally
04:20maintained laboratory freezer, your home freezer can't offer the same guarantee.
04:24For this reason, the USDA recommends storing frozen ground beef for no longer than four
04:28months if you want to enjoy it at its best.
04:31Wrapping your meat securely before freezing it and clearly labeling it with the freezing
04:35date will help preserve its quality, and remind you to cook and eat it in a timely manner.
04:41If you're an enthusiastic home cook or have a family, your refrigerator can be a busy
04:46place.
04:47It will be opened and closed dozens of times a day, with different foods being taken out,
04:51put in, moved around, and potentially spilled.
04:54All of this means the temperature of your refrigerator will fluctuate, with the coldest
04:58areas being near the back and bottom.
05:00Refrigerators with top-mounted ice makers are an exception.
05:03In that case, the top will be colder than the bottom.
05:06Let's kick some ice.
05:09This is useful information to know, because highly perishable foods such as ground beef
05:13should obviously be kept as cold as possible.
05:15And because raw ground beef can be a source of dangerous pathogens, it's also critical
05:20to keep it from potentially contaminating other foods, which can easily happen if meat
05:24juices leak onto other items in your refrigerator.
05:27You should therefore aim to keep your ground beef in a location where it will be both cold
05:31and unlikely to drip onto other foods, on a bottom shelf or in one of the refrigerator's
05:36drawers.
05:37You're probably well aware that beef is most commonly stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
05:42But there's a third, equally effective way to store ground beef for the long term.
05:50Canning.
05:51To pull this off, you'll need to fully cook your ground beef and drain the fat.
05:54Place it in a sterile canning jar, cover with water or defatted broth, and seal it.
05:59The meat can be seasoned before canning if you like, but bear in mind that some spices,
06:03such as thyme, tend to develop concentrated flavors when used in canning, so should be
06:07avoided.
06:08Another critical point to remember is that, because ground beef is low in acid, it must
06:12be canned in a pressure canner.
06:14The more familiar water-bath canning method won't get the meat hot enough to be safely
06:18preserved.