Your Guide to Frozen Beef

Here at Crowd Cow, we flash freeze our beef and ship it directly to you. Freezing beef is an ideal way to preserve quality and taste.

How Long Can Beef Stay In The Freezer?

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), “frozen foods remain safe indefinitely” in the freezer. So if you’ve had something in there for years, it’s still safe to eat. But that doesn’t mean it will taste all that great.

The USDA offers recommendations on how long to keep meat in the freezer. Note: Beef that is vacuum sealed -- which is how all of our beef is shipped -- can be kept in the freezer for significantly longer periods of time.

How Can I Best Store Frozen Beef?

You’ve probably heard of freezer burn, which is the result of air coming in contact with the surface of your food. While it’s still completely safe to eat, it usually dries up your food and can leave it discolored. Not very appetizing! The best way to protect against freezer burn is to vacuum seal your beef -- or let us do it.

Also, how quickly you freeze your beef is a major factor. Flash freezing prevents ice crystals from forming on your beef, which creates a leathery texture. That is why we flash-freeze all of our beef. The process freezes deeper and faster than any home freezer can handle, yielding a frozen product that retains its flavor and visual appeal.

If you are freezing beef at home, you’ll want make sure you don’t stack your beef in the freezer. Instead, spread it out to ensure each piece freezes through as quickly as possible. Once it’s frozen, you can stack it.

Can I Re-Freeze Beef?

We’ve all been there before. You thaw food out in the fridge intending to cook it the next day … and it never happens. Maybe you’re too tired to make a meal, or maybe an opportunity to meet up with friends came up instead. Whatever the reason, you’re left with a thawed piece of food that you don’t want to waste.

It might be tempting to put it back in the freezer. We don’t recommend this, mainly due to safety concerns.

Freezing essentially stops the growth of any bacteria on your beef, but it doesn’t kill it. During the first thaw, your beef will increase in temperature allowing existing bacteria to grow. This is normal.

We recommend you thaw your beef by leaving it on a plate in the fridge overnight.

For best practices when thawing beef, check out our guide here.