Recipes

[RinaRina]

I bought a huge container of hamburger meat today.

Many times, when I get home, I'll put the meat in the freezer for 15 minutes, then in the fridge.  The next day, I'll make patties, then wrap and freeze them.

Well, I forgot to remove the burger meat and it's been in the freezer for at least 8 hours.

What do I do now?  I just put it in the fridge (to defrost) so I can cook it tomorrow.

I suppose I have to cook ALL the meat because you can't refreeze -- is that correct?

Shame on me!

Such a waste!

SMH ...

[NicksmomESQ]

@RinaRina  You can't refreeze raw meat but you can cook it & then freeze it.Maybe make some chili, sloppy joes, & or meatloaf. Then freeze in portions.

[Tribesters]

@RinaRina 

Could you cook hamburger patties & freeze them? Then just reheat? I just googled it & it says you can freeze them cooked. They'll keep for 4 months.

[KBEANS]

@RinaRina  I'm curious as to why you put the meat in the freezer for 15 minutes? You could make meatballs they go over big, and freeze well.

[Love my grandkids]

@RinaRina Why do you put the meat in the freezer for 15 minutes? Never heard of doing this and wonder why.

Cook the meat and then refreeze it. This is perfectly safe.

[retiredatlast]

You could just cook up all of the ground meat in a skillet and then freeze it in individual bags or containers to add to pasta sauce, make chili, soups, or other recipes that use ground beef.  I often cook ground beef up and freeze it just for that purpose.  Comes in handy to have it already cooked.

[sandy53]

I'll take the other point of view.  I think you should try making the patties and refreezing the meat without cooking it first. The main problem with refreezing is a change of texture.  I don't think that will happen noticeably in ground beef.  Wrap the patties well for freezing so they don't get freezer burn.  I really think you should be fine. 

Try it and then report back to all of us. 

[Bhvbum]

no need to waste any meat.  All my meals come from meat that has been frozen cooked and then put it back in the freezer. Whether it's meat sauce, chili, meatballs, meatloaf. I have never noticed any difference.

Often I will let the meat just get soft enough to pull off chunks roll them in a ball and freeze them that way, that way you're not totally thawing them and when you get ready to use them you can let them thaw all the way and flatten them out into burgers. 

You won't waste any meat from all the suggestions. 

[jannabelle1]

I'm with some of the others here in that I don't understand putting the meat in the freezer for 15 minutes and then in the refrigerator. Anyway - now that it's frozen, I'd let it thaw in the refrigerator and then cook all of it and divide the crumbled meat into freezer bags for soups, chili, tacos, Manwich, or casseroles, and freeze the bags. That would be a great time saver!

[lovesrecess]

Just make the meat into hamburger patties and cook.(if that's what you were intending to make anyway). Freeze them and you can reheat them anytime you want.