Why cant we re-freeze food?!


Question: i was doing my regular grocery's and i had to take meat out my freezer to put more stuff in there and i need to cook that meat now cus i know you cant re freeze already frozen things. i was just wondering why?


Answers: i was doing my regular grocery's and i had to take meat out my freezer to put more stuff in there and i need to cook that meat now cus i know you cant re freeze already frozen things. i was just wondering why?

when you freeze, ice crystals form. every time the meats get refrozen, the ice crystals form again- with one exception. when they refreeze, the crystals get bigger- every time. the meat loses its quality, and its not as tasty as it was. heres a website i found that might help you.


bacteria may grow and multipy, but thats why the food gets cooked. heating up the bacteria to temperatures often upwards of 300 degrees, will kill it all. the bacteria isnt the issue, its the quality.

From what I can remember, each time you defrost it, the bacteria multiply. So when you re-freeze it, you also re-freeze the bacteria. Then, the cycle begins again each time, with the bacteria only continuing to multiply.

I've done it many of times. Never a problem.

because bacteria will grow and you can become sick

Ice cyrstals thawing & refreezing can cause the kind of damage that spring thawing in day refreezing at night does to the road (potholes) - resulting in a reduciton in quality of texture & taste.
bacterila growth can be a problem too..
Some things also freeze poorly in a home freezer because you can't freeze as fast as industry quick freezing can.
THat being said I HAVE refrozen thawed things - and I assure you the quality drops- but I haven't died...

If you cook the meat that was thawed & put it into a casserole or something, you can refreeze it, & the quality should be just fine. I freeze chili, spaghetti sauce , meatloaf, etc all the time w/no problem, & it tastes like it was just made.





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