Can I Still Eat It – How to Safely Store Meat

Summers are meant to relax and rejoice with your family and friends. But, with the ever increasing temperature, changing climatic conditions and outdoor gatherings lasting from morning to night, it has become utmost important to take proper care of your food items, especially animal-based food products.

As per a survey published by one of the leading medical houses of the world, nearly 48 million people fall sick from food poisoning, whether it’s by binging into delightful dishes at home or in a restaurant. All thanks to improper storage and handling of food. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) states that there are two kinds of bacteria that can grow on your food, which can cause great damage not just to the food item but to its consumer as well.

Pathogenic bacteria – These are particularly dangerous and are known to cause foodborne illness. They quickly grow on unrefrigerated food items and are usually hard to detect.
Spoilage bacteria – These grow and develop as a food item spoils. Unlike pathogenic bacteria, they do change the look, smell and taste of your food and are easy to detect. However, they are less likely to make you fall sick.

In any case, following strict rules to safely store your food is utmost essential, not just to keep the food you eat healthy, but delicious and safe as well.

Here, in this post, we’ve defined some smart ways to safely store your food items, especially animal-based ones, to prevent them from spoiling.

Best Practices for Storing Meat

Storing in the Freezer

No matter if it’s beef, chicken, pork, or fish, you can easily and safely store your meat the longest in the freezers.
According to USDA, freezing these foods to 0°F (-18°C) inactivates microorganisms like yeasts, bacteria, and molds and slows down spoilage enzyme activities as well.
The upside is that you don’t need any kind of fancy vacuum sealers to safely freeze meat. Through sealing out moisture certainly helps in keeping your meat fresh and tasty for as long as you can think.
Safely storing these foods in their original packing and adding an extra layer like wrapping or foiling can significantly increase their shelf life. This is because the extra layer helps in keeping out moisture and the nutrients pretty much intact.
You can even safely refreeze a thawed meats,which you end up not cooking, provided you have thawed your meet properly before restoring.
Try and avoid refreezing meat that has been left out for as long as two hours at room temperature. Here, the chances of bacteria developing on the food increase to manifold.
Despite the fact that your freezer has the capacity to store meats and fish for years, it’s probably a good idea to cook them within a week of their purchase.
Freezing uncooked meats is a safe practice. But at some time, it loses its nutritional content and becomes less tasty as well.

Just remember, raw meats and fish always last longer when stored in freezers than they do in the fridge.

Defrosting your Meats

In addition to following food storage guidelines as defined by the USDA, it is equally important to properly defrost your meats once taken out of the freezer.

The USDA’s guidelines define that you must only thaw frozen meats in the fridge or store them in leak-proof plastic bags and submerge them in cold water. This is because, defrosting meats at room temperature allows bacteria to quickly develop and spoil your food items in no time.
As you begin defrosting your meats in the fridge, make sure they do not drip on any other food item as they thaw out. The same rule applies to marinating raw meat in the fridge.
Always place your meat in a covered dish to avoid any kind of spillage.

Canned Meat and Fish

Beyond the freezers, you can also store canned meats and fish for as long as two to five years, assuming that you store them under proper conditions.
However, only some specific kinds of canned meat and fish can be stored for such a long duration. So, check your seller’s storage remarks on the food box before storing them away for months or maybe years.
Canning particularly involves a different process which helps in keeping your food items safe and unspoiled. The food is typically heated to kill any kind of bad bacteria present in the body and then vacuum-sealed to create a sterile environment for the food to survive for long.

Freezer Storage Guidelines

Follow the below-mentioned freezer storage guidelines to avoid your food items from spoiling.

You can store frozen steaks for as long as 6 to 12 months only.
Chicken parts such as wings, thighs and breast are good to eat for up to 9 months only.
Pork chops must be used within 4 to 6 months of their packaging.
Lean fish can be stored for about 6 to 8 months, while fatty fish must be consumed within 2 to 3 months of their packaging.

Fridge Storage Guidelines

Follow the below-mentioned fridge storage guidelines to ensure your food items remain tasty and nutritious.

Uncooked beef must be stored for about 3 to 5 days only.
Raw poultry must be eaten away within 1 to 2 days of storing in the fridge.
Fresh, uncooked pork can be refrigerated for as long as 3 to 5 days in the fridge.
Lean, fatty fish and shellfish must only be refrigerated for 1 to 2 days at max.

Canned Food Storage Guidelines

Adhere to the following guidelines to safely store your meats.

Canned food items can be stored for as long as 2 to 5 years no matter if its pork, beef, poultry or fish.
Cans that begin to bulge or smell bad must be discarded right away.
Storing canned food in a place that’s cool, dry and dark is ideal.
Once you’ve opened a canned food item, it’s best to use or cook it as soon as possible. If not, then make sure to quickly refrigerate and store any unused portion in sealed packs.

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