Can I Refreeze Food After It Was Thawed?

Did you get more food out of your freezer than you can use? Are you wondering if you can safely refreeze it? Wonder no more! Find out here.

Can I Refreeze Food After It Was Thawed?

Did you take some ground beef out of the freezer and decide to go out for dinner at the last minute? Did you thaw some steaks, but something came up and had leftovers instead? Did you just get too tired to cook and had cereal for dinner?

Yeah, me too.

OK, so now what? You can keep thawed foods in the refrigerator for a few days, but it’s best to use them as soon as you can.

If you won’t get around to using the defrosted food soon enough, you can refreeze it! That’s right, you can put it back in the freezer.

Food Safety Issues and Refreezing

We do need to talk about food safety for a minute. Keeping food in the refrigerator doesn’t kill bacteria, and neither does freezing it. In the refrigerator, bacterial growth is slowed but not stopped. In the freezer, bacterial growth is stopped – until the food is thawed. Then the bacteria pick up right where they left off.

Just because you freeze, thaw, and refreeze food won’t make it unsafe. But it does increase the risk of bacterial growth to unsafe levels. Be sure to that your refrigerator and freezer are at the recommended temperatures. And refreeze any thawed food as soon as you know that you won’t be using it. (Remember, keep these guidelines in mind for how long food can stay in the refrigerator.) When you do thaw it (again) to cook it, be sure to use a food thermometer and cook it to the minimum recommended internal temperature.

Food Quality Issues and Refreezing

Although food safety isn’t a major concern when you refreeze something, quality can be. When water is frozen, it expands. (Ever overfill an ice cube tray or water bottle? I didn’t think so. Me neither.) All food is made up of cells, and the inside of those cells is mainly water. When food is frozen, the water inside those cells expands and some of the cells break. When the food thaws, the water that was inside the cells leaks out of the food.

When you refreeze food, you can’t recapture that moisture inside the food. And more cells will break and a little more moisture will be lost. You can expect foods to be a bit less moist after they are refrozen.

This just means you need to be a little more creative when you’re cooking. It’s not a very big deal with ground meat or with a big roast that’s going to hang out in a slow cooker all day. But for chicken breasts or nice steaks, you need to think about different methods of cooking. Think about brining or marinating meats, searing quickly over high heat instead of cooking for a longer time over low heat, or adding sauces to the dish to keep (or add) more moisture.

Packaging for Refreezing

Air is always the enemy when you’re freezing foods. Air inside a package will make food dry out faster (leading to freezer burn) and can introduce strange odors or tastes to frozen food. Always use air-tight packages for the freezer. My favorite is Ziploc freezer bags. I squeeze all the air out before I seal it. You can also use a straw to suck the last few air bubbles out. Or invest in a vacuum sealer if you freeze a lot.

It’s best to repackage anything that you will be refreezing. Throw away the original packaging and wrap the food in a new air-tight package. Be sure to label and date the food. Mark the package with both dates the food was frozen – the first time and the refreezing date. This will help you to use the foods that have been in the freezer longer first.

What other questions do you have about freezing? I’d love to read them in the comments below. I’ll answer as many as I can in the comments, and I’ll also use them as ideas for more articles!

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