Freezer... savior or villain?

I have a stand-alone freezer, bought it on a huge blow out at Home Depot. It's great, plugged in, runs like a champ. BUT, my life long aversion to freezing anything other than water and frozen pizza has prevented me from stocking up on meats when they go on sale, which is why I bought the damn thing in the first place. Just can't seem to bring myself to freeze fresh meat, because somehow I'm convinced that it will detract / alter the taste and texture. Plus, I never know what I want to eat that night until I'm done with work and heading home... stop at the store, buy it, all good. Bachelor life. It's expensive though, and I need to get over me aversion to freezing stuff.

HELP! Talk me through it, brethren. Convince me it's ok and that the boogey man doesn't live in the freezer.

 

Man you're on some good shit just be normal and freeze stuff. You're not gonna die.

 

My freezer is full of fish, deer and now some antelope. Get yourself a good vacuum sealer and it will last just fine. Up to a year most times

 

Should have said... I also bought a real good vac sealer. I'm all set! Just... Resistant... Must... Get... Over... It.

 

Just wondering what it does to quality.

 

Vacuum seal, wrap in foil and meat lasts a long time in the freezer. Just write a date on it so you know how old it is.

 

I freeze meat all the time,
steaks on sale, I date & put in freezer bags, move to fridge 24 to 48hrs before they hit the grill,
hamburger same thing, buy on sale & freeze, patties I will wrap individually in foil, so about an hour on the counter and they thaw enough to open and put on the grill.
You just have to change your dinner mindset to get away from the daily shopping.

 

I know it will last, but my question is about the quality. Maybe I need to do a real A/B test where I buy the same cut at the same time, freeze one for a night, and then cook both the next night.

 

Like stated vacuum sealing does wonders.

 

YES! I know

 

Never had a quality issue from freezing, they taste the same.
If you really want to test theory, buy a steak and freeze it for a couple weeks, then test against a new bought steak.

 

Freezing fruits and veggies for out of season use is quite useful as well.

Beef, venison, pork, chicken, turkey and shellfish all freeze well. I don't care much for frozen fish, unless its slated to be deep fried.

Frozen pizza is a sin against pizza and should be outlawed.

OTOH, unless you have lots of guests you cook for, or you hunt a lot, I can't imagine being single and needing a freezer.

 

Good point. Technically I'm single but my GF lives with me, so there's two of us. We're trying to save money, and my habit of every day shopping is expensive. The shopping every day thing is left over from after I got divorced and was alone for a few years... got into that habit because I could, because I could afford to, and because I like to cook every night.

That's the other part of all this, as I stated in the op... I gotta somehow train myself to use stuff I've frozen and still be able to cook every night. I'd have to decide what I want tomorrow night, instead of deciding an hour before I want it.

 

Most fish was frozen before it made it to the grocery store. All sushi you eat was frozen, as required to kill parasites.

Freeze your steaks without fear, I buy whole rib, strip, or tenderloin primal at Costco, portion up and fill the freezer.

 

But flash frozen. Which does make a difference. My dislike for most frozen fish is based on what I catch and freeze. Not that I don't do it right, I just can't flash freeze it.

However, as I said, it's fine if it's headed for the frier end of season party. Barracuda, cobia, trout, mackrel, kings, etc. all come out pretty good.

 

As long as you're vacuum sealing you should not really see a difference. The colder the freezer the faster the meat will freeze the less likely it is to alter the texture or flavor of the meat. Dedicated freezer is the best way to go. That way you can stock up on good quality meat on sale. To me the initial quality of the meat is going to have more to do with the end product than the freezing as long as you have taken good precautions from the start.

 

Some places are previously frozen already...If its sealed right and doesnt have freezer burn its good to go...or you can wrap in plastic wrap then butcher paper and it keeps well over a year. Just make sure theres no air pockets. Just plan ahead a little is all it takes.

 

i hunt. so i have gotten great a freezing meats.

i dont like the vac bag things. i think ice crystals perforate the packages and i get leaks. nothing appetizing about pulling out a bag of meat that is "loose" in a vac bag.

i portion everything. two people sized. (wife and i)
i cover the portion with two layers of plastic wrap. one layer of foil, and into a zipper bag..labeled with a sharpie.

i buy big cuts of meat at Costco and cut into portions and do the same thing. i dont eat much meat, but it saves tons of cash. just pull out a few packs and toss them in the fridge.

or if you need a quick thaw. put the packages in water with the slowest possible trickle of water. my packages are thawed in about an hour.

 

I think too a freezer that defrosts itself dries food out quicker than the other.

 

Interesting... so you're saying a modern stand-alone freezer which obviously defrosts itself (because there's never any frost built up inside whenever I open it) will dry out the food inside of it to some degree? Even if it's been vac bagged properly by a very high quality sealer, meaning it never gets the loose seams that lead to ice crystals (and therefore is air-tight)?