is raw meat safe to cook if stored for a long time?

[LePatron7]

Hey everyone.

My dad had banned raw meat consumption in the house, however I still eat raw eggs and drink raw milk.

He says I can have raw meat in the house, I just can't eat it raw, so if I cook it it's fine.

So my plan is to buy about 2-3 pounds of chuck roast from Whole Foods, cut it up into little pieces. Fill up mason jars to the top. Then freeze everything except one jar.

My question is, suppose he's home when I'm home and I'm hungry for meat. Can I cook meat that's been stored in a jar for say a week at refrigerator temps?

Would it be dangerous in any way?

[eveheart]

Assuming you air your meat in the jars, it would be as safe to eat it cooked as it is to eat it raw.

[LePatron7]

Assuming you air your meat in the jars, it would be as safe to eat it cooked as it is to eat it raw.

for the refrigerated meat I'd need to vent periodically, but not the frozen meat right?

[eveheart]

Frozen meat needs to be protected from "freezer burn" which is caused by air contacting the meat. Prevention is by airtight wrapping such as freezer paper (wax-coated paper) or airtight bags. Freezer burn makes the meat dry and fibrous, so to speak.

[LePatron7]

Frozen meat needs to be protected from "freezer burn" which is caused by air contacting the meat. Prevention is by airtight wrapping such as freezer paper (wax-coated paper) or airtight bags. Freezer burn makes the meat dry and fibrous, so to speak.

Would packing the meat into air tight containers be enough? I literally pack it in, press down to fit more, then top it off and seal it.

[LePatron7]

New question.

Since I plan to unfreeze only what I'm going to eat for the day, ie. 4 oz salmon, 8 oz chuck roast, 4 oz tongue. Is it safe to freeze the individual servings of 4 oz in zip lock bags, then when I plan to defrost it stick it in a mason jar and transfer it to the fridge?

I know bags are a no no for storage in the fridge, or outside the fridge, but how about the freezer?

[Spirit Bear]

Freezing in bags is fine. Technically you don't need the bag, it's only necessary as others above said, to protect from freezer burn and keep the meat hydrated while frozen. The only thing to be concerned about is all the handling and air exposure that goes into chopping it all up and resealing etc so I'd be careful of hygiene there.

A week is fine to leave meat in the fridge if you're going to cook it, especially beef tongue, muscle meat, organs. If I have fish for more than a day then I'll cook it completely and never eat it under-done.

[PaleoPhil]

DaBoss, In my experience, you have it backwards. The two hazards I've encountered with storing meats are cooking and plastic, not rawness. Raw meat has lasted indefinitely for me if I don't put it in plastic or cook it and give it enough air (it hasn't gone bad, but it does eventually become very liquidy and thus not very appealing), whereas cooked meat or meat stored in plastic in less than freezing temps goes bad pretty quickly for me.

So my experience has been that meat lasts indefinitely if kept raw and given some oxygen, and then can either be eaten raw or cooked, whereas cooked meat should be eaten as soon after cooking as possible, though low-slow-cooked meat lasts longer for me.

[LePatron7]

Well my dad has recently changed his stance and allowed me to eat raw meat again. So you can bet I wont be cooking any meat.