How do you thaw meat?

[ktgrok]

With trying to be better about stocking up, and having a second fridge/freezer now, I need to get into a better habit of freezing meat for later, and then actually thawing it before I need to use it. 

How long before use do you take stuff out to thaw, and how do you thaw it? Fridge? Counter? Sink with cold water? 

I have found I can take say, a family size tray of chicken legs out of the freezer, put them in the fridge, and 2 days later the ones in the center are still frozen partially! This throws off cooking, as now some are thawed, some aren't, etc.

Maybe I need to get in the habit of freezing in smaller portions? I know from experience that off brand freezer bags don't work as well asd tend to leak when thawing 😞  If I repackage, how should I do it? Double bag, particular brand, other? 

Do you precook things like chicken breasts and then freeze? Or just raw?

I feel like I REALLY should have taken a home economics class in school, lol. Both my parents worked full time by the time I was in middle/high school, and my mom had anxiety issues and although she's a good cook, she doesn't like to cook, so didn't learn much there. At that point we ate a lot of take out. And money was tight, so we didn't often stock up....there were days when I was younger than that where they didn't know at the start of the day how they'd buy food at the end of the day (my dad was a fisherman then, so we ate a lot of fish, lol). So I just didn't learn this stuff. And her mom was NOT domestic at all, and had grown up with servants. My paternal grandmother WAS the type that could have taught me all this, but we never spent that much time with her. She was...particular....and not always nice to my mom - didn't think anyone was good enough for her son type. And she tended to favor me over my sister so my mom wisely kept visits short/infrequent...good for my sister but meant that particular example of how to raise a large family wasn't one I got to really learn from . (Grandma had six kids, 5 boys in less than 4 years - two sets of twins and a singleton, before the single girl)

I do remember her actively teaching me how to clean a sink after doing the dishes - but that's about it. I don't blame my parents - they, like me, had busy lives and did a much better job of prioritizing relationships over cleaning, but at the same time, I'm clueless. 

Help!

[marbel]

I have a smaller family than yours, so this might not work as well for you.

When I buy packages of small cuts of meat, like chicken parts, pork chops, sausages... I spread them on a baking sheet, not touching, and put them in the freezer for a few hours so they freeze separately, rather than in a big chunk. Then I pack them into ziplocks and store them till I need them, and only take out the amount I need for the planned recipe/meal. I put the meat in a bowl or pan; even if a am taking out the whole bag of meat to defrost, I set it in something in case of leaks. They defrost more quickly when they are separated. 

My preference is to defrost in the fridge overnight, but I will also  leave something out on the counter to defrost if I'm going to cook it that day. 

Brining chicken also helps defrost it all the way, though I am not sure that would pass food safety tests. (I don't know why it wouldn't, just saying that I am not pretending to be an expert in that area.)

I have no memories of learning anything about cooking or housekeeping in general from my mother, who did not work outside the home when I was growing up. I picked up ideas here and there, reading cookbooks, magazines, cooking blogs... I did take home ec in high school, but that was a long time ago and I don't know how much I remember from those days. 

Edited June 11, 2020 by marbel

[klmama]

I rarely freeze raw meat.  I prefer to cook, then freeze in meal-sized portions.  That way, dinner is just 15 minutes away from the freezer.  Reheating in the microwave at 70% power keeps the meat moist.  

Edited June 11, 2020 by klmama

[ktgrok]

4 minutes ago, klmama said:

I rarely freeze raw meat.  I prefer to cook, then freeze in meal-sized portions.  That way, dinner is just 15 minutes away from the freezer.  Reheating in the microwave at 70% power keeps the meat moist.  

Does this work for bone in meat as well as boneless?

We just got an air fryer, and it has a reheat setting, which I love for just warming things up, but not sure if it would work from frozen. And not sure if say, chicken thighs work frozen then thawed if already cooked?

[TheReader]

Okay, so, I am only somewhat ok at this, but....some things I do:

...coming from the deep freeze, stuff will take longer. So, yes to taking it out sooner, or learning to adjust cooking times to start from frozen. Ex: I took one of those family sized packs of legs out, thawed in the sink all day, it was still mostly frozen by dinner cooking time. So, I bumped the temp up on the oven (and have already tweaked the cooking time on that particular method, b/c I so often have semi-frozen chicken to use....). 

....when I need something thawed, yes to sink of water. Dare I admit, even hot water to start with? We haven't gotten food poisoning yet, so....

....for ground beef that's going to be anything other than hamburger patties, the microwave defrost button is handy....

....for storage, first, be sure you are getting FREEZER bags not just STORAGE bags, and then I guess name brand if your store brand isn't good. My store brand (Texas Tough, from HEB) is great but I'm guessing not available outside our lovely state, so....but I've not had leaking from most bags, so....

....with chicken, I don't tend to precook it, but will separate it and add a marinade or sauce to it at that time. Then I can pull it and it's already sauced, so can be baked or thrown in the crock pot as-is and will cook and be yummy w/o me having to think about it. 

...the crock pot (or I hear the instant pot, etc. also) is your friend for still frozen stuff, if you remember to start in the morning. High vs Low and you are good to go. (I mean, seriously, I've done a whole pork butt on high, from frozen, for about 10 hrs and it's delicious) (I suppose this mostly only works if you get up early enough &/or eat late enough; we do)

...I *do* sometimes brown ground beef and then freeze; so, when I buy a large pack on the day I plan to use it, I'll go ahead and brown all of it and then package that into the portions we need. Lately I've not been finding the large packs, though, so haven't been doing that as often. 

...I try and menu plan at the start of each week, so then anything big that will take time to thaw, I can take down to the fridge that day (or put a note on the menu of what day to take it out); so, for ex, yesterday was the chicken legs, today is pork loin in the crockpot. So, yesterday I took out both -- chicken legs to the sink to use that day (still didn't thaw) and pork loin to the fridge for today (24 hrs later, it was thawed on the outside/frozen on the inside). If I were *really* on top of things, I could do something like on trash day, take out whatever meat to thaw for the next # of days until the next trash day (so, on Tues, take out the meat for Tues, Weds, Thurs; on Fri, take out the meat for Fri/Sat/Sun/Mon; or maybe on Tues I take out Weds/Thurs/Fri, and on Fri it's the Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues meats; either way, if they go into the fridge, that's few enough days of thawed out that they'd still be safe. Toss in a meatless meal on the day that it would be the 4th day out of the freezer, and even better). 

...I try and keep a mix of "takes a long time to thaw" and "quick to thaw/easy to cook from frozen" items. So, chicken legs take a while; ground beef, not so much. Chicken breasts, Italian sausage. Stew meat, bratwursts. Etc. This way, if time gets away from me, I can still grab an "easy to thaw" item instead. This is also where having the pre-browned ground beef or other items helps, because then you can grab something like that which is already cooked and then only has to be thawed/heated up, so the cooking time/thawing time is all one thing. When you make big stuff (pulled pork, or shredded chicken breast, or whatever) go ahead and make too much and then freeze the extra portion instead of having it for leftovers for lunch the next day(s). 

Hope that helps! I'm not the best, so maybe we'll both get better ideas, too....

[Pawz4me]

I have a smaller family--only cooking for three currently--and almost never use bone-in meat. So obviously take this FWIW. I generally decide what I want to fix for dinner around lunch time, then I take a package of chicken or beef out of the freezer and put it in a pot of water. I change the water during the afternoon whenever I think about it, and the meat will be thawed by the time I'm ready to start cooking. If it thaws sooner I stick it in the fridge until I'm ready. If I'm going to be fixing something in the crock pot I try to decide that ahead of time and take whatever meat I need out the day/evening before and put it in the refrigerator to thaw. It often won't be fully thawed, but will be close. I know you can put frozen meat in a crock pot, but I don't think it's ideal.

[gardenmom5]

how long ahead depends upon item.  we put the meat on an aluminum tray with airflow below it on a stone counter.  the cold is conducted out of the meat through the metal.  because there is airflow underneath as well, the bottom will thaw faster than if it's sitting on a solid surface.

[JustEm]

40 minutes ago, Arctic Mama said:

In a ziplock bag, in hot water in a plastic dish pan.

 

Yeah. The USDA does not recommend it.  But it is faster and we have never gotten sick.  I don’t have the fridge space to thaw it on a shelf, and I don’t like puddles on my counter where frozen bags thaw all day.  Plus I’m lazy and live dangerously.

 

This is what we do.  Never gotten sick either so I'll continue this method until then.

[73349]

Here are the USDA-approved methods, which are taught in home ec and 4-H: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsis/topics/food-safety-education/get-answers/food-safety-fact-sheets/safe-food-handling/the-big-thaw-safe-defrosting-methods-for-consumers/bigthaw2

Edited October 2, 2020 by Carolina Wren

[cintinative]

I defrost in the fridge. My meat is usually either in a freezer bag or in it's original package wrapped in foil. I will sometimes remove the foil when thawing because I have a theory that it helps it thaw faster. I menu plan so I pull stuff out a couple days in advance for chicken breasts, ground beef, or ital sausage,  and three days or more for whole chickens, roasts, etc. If I forget, I put it in a cold water soak and change the water regularly and/or thaw in the microwave (I really only thaw ground beef in the microwave). 

I put it in something like this to defrost in case it leaks.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00237X6KY/ref=twister_B084NWL368?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

[Chris in VA]

microwave. Easy peasy. 

Turkey at TG, however, goes into the sink after 3 days in the fridge (because it is never thawed!). 

[klmama]

2 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

Does this work for bone in meat as well as boneless?

We just got an air fryer, and it has a reheat setting, which I love for just warming things up, but not sure if it would work from frozen. And not sure if say, chicken thighs work frozen then thawed if already cooked?

I don't know how an air fryer works.  I usually use the microwave.  It does work for bone-in meat; it just takes a little longer.  You might reduce the power to 60% for that, just to be sure you aren't overcooking the meat.

[Sneezyone]

3 hours ago, marbel said:

I have a smaller family than yours, so this might not work as well for you.

When I buy packages of small cuts of meat, like chicken parts, pork chops, sausages... I spread them on a baking sheet, not touching, and put them in the freezer for a few hours so they freeze separately, rather than in a big chunk. Then I pack them into ziplocks and store them till I need them, and only take out the amount I need for the planned recipe/meal. I put the meat in a bowl or pan; even if a am taking out the whole bag of meat to defrost, I set it in something in case of leaks. They defrost more quickly when they are separated. 

My preference is to defrost in the fridge overnight, but I will also  leave something out on the counter to defrost if I'm going to cook it that day. 

Brining chicken also helps defrost it all the way, though I am not sure that would pass food safety tests. (I don't know why it wouldn't, just saying that I am not pretending to be an expert in that area.)

I have no memories of learning anything about cooking or housekeeping in general from my mother, who did not work outside the home when I was growing up. I picked up ideas here and there, reading cookbooks, magazines, cooking blogs... I did take home ec in high school, but that was a long time ago and I don't know how much I remember from those days. 

 

I don't have a big family but I have a growing boy eater who only sleeps and eats so he compensates. LOL. I do the same. I don't defrost on the counter as that's a general no-no but I will run a water bath and leave the meat submerged for an hour or two to thaw and, yes, I will start with warmer water. It's usually cold in an hour. I don't like to leave meat out for too long. I find the microwave tends to cook the meat and/or make it rubbery. My peeps are spoiled and can tell the difference. If I'm making chili or pasta sauce tho, I will use partially frozen meat with no problems. I want the fond on the bottom anyway.

Edited June 11, 2020 by Sneezyone

[Bootsie]

My father worked for the state department of health--in my younger years in infectious disease and as I was older in food safety issues.  He was fairly laid back about a lot of issues, but raw meat and thawing was NOT one of them.  There are approximately 1.2 million illnesses from salmonella alone in the US each year.   He insisted that we:

1)  Never thaw meat on the counter

2) Do not use sponges to clean kitchen sinks and counters

3)  Be extremely careful with crockpots (wanting to avoiding a temperature of 40-140 degrees for any prolonged period of time)

4)  Be very careful about cross-contamination--do not put the cooked meat on the same plate as the raw meat

I use a variety of different freezing techniques, depending on the food item and the intended final usage.  For chicken, I would not pre-cook a chicken breast to be eaten just as a chicken breast.  Often I will dice the cooked chicken breast and then freeze it in a bit of broth to use in a soup or casserole dish; the liquid helps prevent freezer burn and the flavor/texture after freezing aren't as important if the chicken is in some type of sauce rather than simply as a chicken breast.  The Styrofoam packing with plastic film that chicken is purchased in is not good for freezing.  It should be rewrapped either in freezer wrap, heavy duty plastic bags, or vacuum sealed to minimize freezer burn.  Freeze in the size packaging you are likely to use.  If you put the chicken in the fridge to defrost and the center is still frozen, it will not take long submerged in cold water for that part to defrost.  I generally find that it takes longer for items to defrost in my fridge than many guidelines suggest.  If I am in a bind and need it faster, I will use the microwave, watching carefully that it does not begin to cook.  Sometimes that means that I have to microwave/defrost in stages, removing some parts from the microwave as those parts defrost.  

 

 

[sweet2ndchance]

For ground beef that I buy in large ten pound packages (of course not anymore because now I can only get 2 1/4 lb packages and two them cost more than then 10 pound package did...sigh) but anyways when I ground meat in any size larger than a pound, I break it up into 1 lb portions, wrap it in plastic cling wrap, then in foil and put it in the freezer. Double wrapping it this way helps immensely with freezer burn. When I'm ready to cook with it, I don't thaw it at all. Straight from the freezer to the pan. It cooks on one side at medium heat and then I flip it over, scrape the cooked meat off with a spatula and let the other side cook. I keep stirring the scraped off meat and flipping and scraping the frozen meat until even thing is cook and no pink remains anywhere. You can add onions or whatever spices toward the end of you need to cook something with the meat.

I took HomeEc. in 7th grade. The only thing I remember cooking in class was cookies. We had to meal plan for an entire week but it's easy to meal plan when money is no object because you are only focusing on well rounded healthy meals and not having to take into account that lots of ingredients makes a meal more expensive or the store being out of something you needed and having to substitute on the fly. It is easy to pick recipes out of a cook book for a lovely meal plan when you don't have to pay for all those ingredients or worry that the store is out of this or that.

[Momto6inIN]

I get something from the freezer out every morning and put it in the sink. If I forget, that's what the Instant Pot is for 🙂We get almost all our meat from family farmers and local meat lockers, so the risk is fairly low, but I do it with supermarket meat too.

[Ali in OR]

I freeze meat in dinner-sized portions for our family (2 oversized chicken breasts are more than enough for the 5 of us, 1flank steak, 2 tri-tip steaks, 1 pork tenderloin, 1 lb of hamburger, etc. So not huge amounts of meat). I have a rectangular disposable-tupperware type container that I thaw meat in. If I remember the morning before it will be eaten for dinner, thawing it in the fridge in the container is sufficient. If I remember the night before, I'll put water in the container too for faster thawing. Most of our cuts of meat would be in a freezer ziploc bag and do just fine in the water. Hamburger and chicken breasts will thaw in water in the fridge even if I don't get them out until the morning of the day I need them for dinner.

[Terabith]

Fridge.  But I have cats.  Nowhere else would be safe.  

[regentrude]

In hot water in the sink immediately prior to cooking. There is no point in thawing it in cold water because it's being cooked, i.e. heated, right away anyway.

[Junie]

I always thaw raw meat in the refrigerator over several days.  If it is a meal that I cooked ahead, I will thaw it in the microwave if I don't have time for it to thaw in the fridge.

[Moonhawk]

Stick with me here just a mo':

We don't freeze meat until it's been cooked into edible form.

[Now, this may not work in this instance, because of the time crunch to buy enough meat for a while, but ]

We do this because by the time the meat defrosts, I'm usually going to be late for dinner. Overnight in the fridge is hardly enough time for me for some reason. And, If I forget to start defrost it the night before, I can put it on the counter, but what if it still isn't done? What if we were supposed to eat earlier? What if I accidentally break a fork trying to pry the meat from it's container? I end up going out and buying another pack of fresh meat so I can cook today, and put the other one away "for next time." I also tried buying large packs and then portioning smaller so they'd defrost faster, but I hate touching meat, so usually would just chuck the whole package into the freezer anyway.

So after that happening a few infinity times, we moved to the rule that meat must be bought and cooked into a dinner THEN frozen. Or, at least, prepped: so steaks can go into the freezer raw if they are in a marinade. 

I defrost the dinners on the counter usually. 

[In current circumstances, I do need to figure out if this is a rule I'm going to continue. I know my planning abilities need to get better, but wondering if having more freezer packs of dinners ready to go wouldn't help overall anyway. And just know that these next few weeks are going to be kitchen heavy. ]

[Arctic Bunny]

I bring the raw meat home, divide, and package using the vacuum sealer.

So Costco pork loin: divide into smaller loin pieces for pulled pork, etc, and done sliced into boneless chops.

Club sized chicken things get divided into amounts I would use for one meal.

 Chicken breasts I buy individually frozen.

 The lamb and wild meat comes as ordered from the butcher.

I thaw either on the counter if I take it out in the morning, in the sink if I’m running short on time, or defrost in the microwave if I’m really short on time - ground meat for example, I can get mostly done in the microwave, then finish in the pan.