New Farmers. Disaster Resource Center. An official website of the United States government. Have a Question? How long can you freeze beef? Information Knowledge Article. To avoid freezer burn and a general decline in quality, aim to buy only as much food as you can use in a reasonable amount of time. What's reasonable? It depends on the food. Read below for more details. Depending on the type of meat you're freezing rabbit , pork , ham , it can last anywhere from one month to one year.
See below for specifics. No matter the duration, you'll want to package your meat well. As a general rule, if you're planning to use it within a couple of months, simply place the meat in the freezer in its original packaging. If you are planning to freeze it for longer than a couple of months, you'll want to wrap it in another layer of aluminum foil or freezer paper or place the original contents in a sturdy zippered plastic bag.
In either case, be sure to label the package as to its contents and the date it was frozen. Freezing milk isn't common, but it's a perfectly safe way to preserve extra milk. Be sure to remove about a cup from a gallon container or the equivalent from a smaller container to allow for expansion as the liquid freezes.
Buttermilk can be frozen in ice cube trays, as can cracked and beaten eggs. Type keyword s to search. Today's Top Stories. The 74 Best Halloween Costumes for Couples. Good Housekeeping con Tom Llamas. Getty Images. Related Stories. Hannah Jeon Editorial Fellow Hannah is an editorial fellow at Good Housekeeping, where she loves to cover home, health, entertainment, and other lifestyle content. A number of compounds in meat oxidize and break down rather quickly at room temperature, which can lead to a noticeable loss of flavor.
Proper storage techniques — such as curing, smoking, and freezing — may help slow this process or prevent some or all quality loss. In most cases, it is OK to store meat purchased from a market in the package it came in.
Check for any holes or breaks in the package first, but an airtight package will keep the meat safe at the recommended temperature.
For butchered meat, wrap the cuts in an airtight package first. The Food and Drug Administration FDA recommend overwrapping the packaging with airtight foil or plastic wrap if freezing for longer than 2 months. Freezing temperature is a crucial aspect of storing meat.
The USDA note that this temperature inhibits the growth of bacteria and shuts down any other microbes, such as yeasts and molds, in the food. People can use a thermometer to check whether or not their freezer will reach this temperature. Some freezers that see frequent use may not reach temperatures this low consistently, which may put the food at risk of bacterial growth and spoilage.
The slowest and perhaps safest technique is to thaw the sealed package in the refrigerator. Smaller cuts of meat may defrost in a few hours, whereas larger cuts of meat may take a few days to defrost.
To safely thaw meat faster, a person can place it in a leakproof plastic bag and set it in a tub of cold water. They should change the water every 30 minutes and cook the meat immediately after thawing. Some microwaves also have specific settings to help defrost frozen meat.
If using the microwave method, cook the meat immediately after defrosting it. Never thaw meat out in the open at room temperature, such as on a counter or in the sink. Once raw meat has defrosted properly, many experts recommend not freezing it again unless the person cooks it first.
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