help solve this argument (food safety related)

[A&A]

You take a frozen package of hamburger, defrost it, and make dinner. Is it then safe to freeze the leftovers from the dinner? (So, essentially, the hamburger would be getting re-frozen, but now in a cooked form.)

I say--just re-use the leftovers the next day, throwing out what's left.

Dh says freeze the leftovers (again, essentially re-freezing the hamburger.)

[Princess ConsuelaB]

Um, yeah...it's cooked, it's totally safe.

[Irishmommy]

You can't refreeze thawed raw hamburger, but you can freeze cooked previously frozen hamburger, not an issue.

[BedHead]

Freezing the cooked product is definitely fine - sorry!

[Daisie125]

Perfectly safe to freeze it once it's cooked! I do it all the time (I cook up all the hamburger when we get home from grocery shopping and freeze it in 1lb portions)

[LaLaLaLa]

We do it all the time--thaw hamburg when we have the time, cook a big batch of something, then feed our freezer stash. It's never been a problem for us.

[lil_earthmomma]

It is safe to freeze thawed meat that is then cooked, but it is UNSAFE to freeze thawed raw meat.

Many of us feed the freezer this way, making two casseroles instead of one etc.

[Arianwen1174]

Interesting to hear that it's not safe to refreeze thawed raw meat. I do it fairly often when plans change and have never had a problem. But many people would have a cow (pun intended!) if they saw how relaxed I am in the kitchen. I don't leave things out for ages or anything, but I also don't sanitize anything (but do keep things clean, of course). I do use a fresh dish towel and dish rag each day. I'm definitely not saying anyone else should refreeze their meat if they're not comfortable with it, but I honestly have never had an issue with it, haven't gotten any sort of illness that way or anything. Just my two cents...

[Lilcrunchie]

I wouldn't cook meat, freeze it, and then thaw/heat up/eat again, and then refreeze that.

If you thawed raw meat, cooked it, and had leftovers, yeah...you can totally refreeze.

i always assumed refreezing thawed raw meat was bad, but actually read somewhere (and then verified for myself) that as long as it was thawed in the *fridge* the USDA says it is okay to refreeze (oddly enough, right?). It will likely impact the quality, but apparently can be done. But if you thaw in the microwave or are someone who thaws on the counter, it would be a no-no to refreeze the raw meat.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fact_Sheets...g/index.asp#14
http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ftsep03.htm

[A&A]

Thanks everyone! This will save us money, so it's an argument I'm ok losing!!

[Alyantavid]

Once it's cooked, it's fine. I freeze cooked hamburger often.