Is freezing really all that damaging?

[jamiekelly]

I recently found a farmer offering to sell me grass fed beef at a great price. The only thing is that I have to buy either a half or quarter cow at a time. So obviously I would need to freeze a lot of it. Im wondering what everyones opinion is on that. I know it would not be as beneficial as fresh, but I would imagine it would still be a lot of goodness left even though it is frozed...   

Thoughts?

[Projectile Vomit]

For the most part, frozen meat is just as nutritious as fresh. Vitamin C breaks down so that, depending on how long it's been frozen, you might lose up to 30 percent. Otherwise nutritional losses are negligible. There are plenty other ways to get vitamin C, so those losses aren't a big deal to me. I freeze a lot of my animal foods to store it, and make a lot of purchases in bulk to cut costs.

[Ioanna]

pretty much all of my meat is frozen too. like eric, i mostly buy in bulk to lower cost.  there's something i do, and i read something from jessica that she does the same... i let it age in the fridge for a day or a few days to let the bacteria repopulate again.

[ys]

I also buy half a carcase at a time. No worries.  I have not seen any evidence that freezing damages nutrients.  The only downside I can think of is when thawed it leeks more juice than fresh.  Lean cuts leak more and fatty parts leak less.  Ribs don't leak much at all (just a few drops).

[svrn]

I was just talking to a chef friend fo mine and he confirmed everything I said about frozen meat on this forum,

He is not a raw foodist and I was explaining to him how i dont eat frozen meat and he started telling me how frozen meat is horrible (even though he always cooks his meat)and you can tell the taste is worse even after cooking frozen meat. He says theres a big difference from the culinary perspective and that he would never serve frozen (cooked) meat due to the taste. He also explained to me how the water forming into crystals unbinds the ingredients in the water from the water thus the meat sepereates from the water during freezing.

basically he says in culinary school, they taught him frozen meat is definitly inferior from a taste perspective (even though it is cooked after you can still tell. I think frozen raw meat tastes worse too.

the reason it leaks more juice is because the water has seperated from the meat during the ice crystillization process.

[svrn]

and why freeze a quarter? Hang it in ur basement if its cold enough or hang it in your fridge. It wont go bad if its hanging at 40-50 degrees f