Shelf life of minced meat in the refrigerator and freezer: vegetable, mushroom, meat and fish

Any housewife seeks to optimize the cooking process. And therefore, it is often stocked up with products for future use. Something like this happens with chopped meat. Of the purchased 2 kg, part goes to cooking cutlets, another part - to stuffing pepper, and the rest goes to the refrigerator or freezer until the next time. To correctly calculate the shelf life of minced meat in the refrigerator, you need to take into account the degree of freshness and look at the expiration date, additional products included in the meat filling, as well as the state in which the minced meat was brought from the store (frozen or fresh).

Life hack: you will never get confused about the shelf life if, before sending the product to the refrigerator, stick a sticker on it indicating the date and even time. In the freezer, minced meat and fried meatballs are well matched.

Not meat alone

Stuffing is a semi-finished product, which is obtained by grinding a specific product in a blender or meat grinder. Its main ingredient can be not only meat. Thus, the following types of this product are distinguished:

• meat;
• fish;
• vegetable;
• mushroom.

However, most often, the word "minced meat" means precisely chopped meat (or fish), into which finely chopped onions and spices were added. The calorie content and nutritional value of the most common types of meat fillings are presented in the table below.

Table - Calorie content of different types of minced meat

How much minced meat is stored in the refrigerator: chilled ...

The answer to the question of how much raw minced meat is stored in the refrigerator directly depends on the main ingredient of the ground mixture. The refrigerator involves short-term storage of the product at a temperature of 4 ° C for several days, provided that the filling is properly prepared.

Table - Storage standards for different types of stuffing for trading enterprises

In practice, freshly prepared pork, beef, turkey and chicken mincemeats in the refrigerator may well be stored for about two days and can be used without concern for health. If you do not plan to use this product for cooking for 48 hours, it is better to send it for storage in the freezer.

... and thawed

Proper defrosting is the thawing of the product on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. However, in domestic conditions, housewives most often thaw chopped meat in a microwave. When defrosting mushroom and vegetable stuffing, a lot of water is released. Therefore, immediately after the procedure, these products must be decanted, getting rid of excess moisture, and sent to a pan or in the oven.

The answer to the question of how much minced meat can be in the refrigerator is practically no different from the shelf life of the chilled product:

• semi-finished meat - 12 hours;
• chopped fish - 6 o'clock;
• minced vegetables and mushrooms - 24 hours.

We choose the semi-finished product in the store ...

It is absolutely not worth buying meat semi-finished products from unverified sellers. Such a purchase may result in intestinal infection or poisoning. And in this case, you can pay not for the real weight of the goods, but for the ice, which wings and hips are densely covered. Packaged shredded meat has a sticker or label on which the packaging date and shelf life are indicated. Pay attention when choosing four more points.

1. Colour. The most common types of minced meat should have the following colors: chicken should be light pink, fresh pork has a reddish color, and beef - dark red. Contact with air changes the color of the fresh meat filling, making it darker. Do not be afraid of this phenomenon, which is easily explained by the knowledge of the school chemistry course. But gray fresh minced meat does not happen under any circumstances.
2. Consistency. The mixture of minced meat should be homogeneous and sufficiently dense. Blotches of gray are not allowed. The only thing that can take place is blotches of white color, indicating the presence of fat in the meat filling.
3. Smell. After smelling the minced meat, the buyer should smell fresh meat and nothing more. In stores and supermarkets this product should not be sold with onions, garlic or with spices already added. The pronounced flavor of seasonings can only say one thing: they are trying to sell you, at best, stale, and at worst - spoiled minced meat.
4. Additives. You should carefully study the label or sticker. Crushed meat should be free from all kinds of additives, including soy protein and soy. Product with additives is not intended for long-term storage. It is suitable only for the fastest (within a few hours) eating.

... and cook at home: 3 rules

If you intend to cook chopped meat for the future yourself, follow three rules.

1. We remove moisture. Before grinding, the meat must be blotted with paper towels. By removing water from its surface, it is possible to extend the shelf life of the semi-finished product as much as possible.
2. Exclude additives. No need to add onions and other vegetables. Any additives should be added to the minced meat immediately before cooking.
3. Do not pepper or salt. These seasonings make the meat fibers too stiff. As with spices, salt and pepper should be added immediately before preparing the final dish.

What to put

The ideal container for short-term storage of minced meat is a glass container with a lid.Glass does not react chemically with the substances contained in the product and does not absorb the smell of minced meat.

Many people are interested in the question of whether it is possible to store minced meat in a refrigerator in a bag, because it is this type of packaging that is most common in supermarkets and stores. Given the fact that the short-term storage of the product under discussion does not exceed 12 hours, the use of plastic bags is quite acceptable.

Shelf life in the freezer

You can extend the shelf life of minced fish and meat by sending these products not to the refrigerator, but to the freezer. The table shows how long it is possible to store the minced meat in the freezer so as not to spoil the product and not suffer from its use in food.

Table - Shelf life of different types of minced meat in the freezer

Shredded mushrooms and vegetables are not recommended to be stored in the freezer. When defrosting these types of fillings, too much moisture is released. In addition, milled vegetables in mashed potatoes lose a lot of vitamins when frozen. Exposure to low temperatures adversely affects the density of vegetables and mushrooms.

Suitable packaging: 3 options

Long-term storage of minced meat requires appropriate packaging. The following three options are the best solution.

1. Packages with zip-lock. Such packages allow you to properly store minced meat in the freezer, preventing the spread of a specific meat smell to other products stored in the chamber.
2. "Native" packaging. You can use the factory packaging for storage. For example, plastic containers securely sealed with plastic wrap, or one-piece polyethylene packaging. Therefore, do not open or damage the packaging of the store product if you intend to send it for long-term storage to the freezer.
3. Plastic container. It is worth choosing the so-called non-contact plastic, which does not react with the products contained in it. The container must be equipped with a vacuum lid.

Escherichia coli, listeriosis, salmonellosis and staphylococcal food poisoning are just the beginning of an impressive list of diseases that can result in the use of spoiled meat. Knowing the shelf life of minced meat in the refrigerator, and what packaging is acceptable for this, will help protect yourself and your family from serious health problems. And it will always allow you to have on hand a supply of high-quality frozen chopped meat.