My entry for this week's Kitchen Tip Tuesday is actually a question. I'm hoping that readers of this week's carnival will be able to help me out...
Last night, I made a batch of Cowboy Stew (recipe on my other blog).
Needing ground beef for this recipe and needing to cook it before adding to the crock pot, it made sense to use the frozen pre-cooked ground beef that I made last month. It made making this recipe so much easier.
After seeing how much this recipe made for just the two of us, I thought it would be great to freeze the leftovers. But then I remembered that the meat was already cooked, frozen and thawed. And now I am not sure if it's safe to re-freeze that meat in the stew.
Does anyone know? Can I re-freeze the cooked meat?
Although, it would mess up my Menu Plan for the rest of the week, I'm fully prepared to eat the stew for the rest of the week if I need to. :)
Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through defrosting. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion.
ReplyDeleteYes, it is safe. You do lose some nutrients each time something is reheated. I will see if I can track down the chart that shows how much is lost.
ReplyDeleteUgh, my comment got lost - these embedded forms always give me trouble!
ReplyDeleteI do this all the time - chili, baked spaghetti, meatballs, casseroles - I've not noticed a loss of quality, possibly because the overall flavor improves as the other flavors meld, so maybe that makes up for it? Anyway, I say go for it!