As long as you freeze ground beef within two days of purchase, it should not go bad. However, if you are pushing the limits, ground beef starts to smell sour, will become a grayish color, and slimy if it’s gone bad. If you see any of these signs, you should discard the meat immediately.
You should be thinking “Does freezing meat ruin it?”
If your beef is loosely wrapped and frozen slowly (or frozen marginally), you risk losing the quality of the meat and subject it to freezer burn. When meat is frozen slowly, the water in it turns to ice crystals that grow large and rupture the fibre or muscle cell structure. This damage results in moisture loss upon thawing.
How long before meat goes bad in the freezer?
So the USDA recommends tossing uncooked roasts, steaks, and chops after a year in the freezer, and uncooked ground meat after just 4 months. Meanwhile, frozen cooked meat should go after 3 months.
Whole turkey or steak: 12 months. But in a deep freezer, the USDA says food can last decades, saying, “food stored at 0 degrees should last indefinitely. Only quality suffers with long term storage.” Wittekind says she’s never had a problem. “It seems to be OK,” she said.
How much beef will a freezer hold?
Every cubic foot of freezer space can hold 35-40 pounds of packaged beef. If the beef is in odd shapes, like some bone in roasts or if you got a ton of soup bones, go with the 35 pounds of beef per cubic foot. A rule of thumb is one cubic foot of freezer space for each 35-40 pounds of cut and wrapped meat.
So in all cases, packaged beef needs less space in the freezer thus saving space and energy! As I said before, there’s a general rule of 28 pounds of beef per cubic feet- which means that a standard chest freezer or deep freezer can take around ¼ of a cow.
So, what size freezer is needed for half beef?
This is the minimum size for a half beef order. But if you are using your freezer to store other things, including other meats, then drop down to a quarter beef. 9-12 Cubic FT Freezer If you plan to store anything else in your freezer, 9-12 cubic feet is a good size for half a beef.
You’ll need at least 10 cubic feet of freezer space to accommodate your freezer beef. You’ll receive approximately 220 – 260lbs of beef when you order a half beef. Your freezer beef will require at least 20 cubic feet of freezer space.
How many pounds of meat can a 5 cubic foot freezer hold?
The rule of thumb is one cubic foot of freezer space for every 35 – 40 pounds of packaged meat. A quarter of beef will easily fit into a 5 -7 cubic foot chest freezer. A half beef needs about 8 cubic feet. Considering this, how much will a 5 cubic foot freezer hold? A cubic foot of freezer space holds about 35 pounds of food.