How long can you freeze meat printable, how long is frozen chicken good for, and how to store it to avoid freezer burn are answered here. It is possible to cook frozen meat right out of the freezer too and we will show you how.
We have a great freezer printable you can keep on hand for reference. Shares how long frozen meat lasts before it goes bad or the taste changes, not in a good way. From frozen ground beef, veal, lamb and pork to chickens and turkeys, seafood, eggs, bacon too. (affiliate inks present)
How Long Can you Freeze Ground Beef?
Before we look at the chart or talk about how to cook it right out of the freezer we need to go back to the basics. If you don’t buy it already rock hard you need to know the proper way to wrap it. Like should you repackage meat before freezing? If so what is the best way to repackage raw meat? Let’s talk about that for a minute shall we.
If you bought it frozen it will (or should be) already in freezer safe packaging of some kind. When it comes to ground meats in general you can store meat in the freezer for 3-4 months safely before losing flavor and the texture changes. That goes for frozen ground turkey, chicken, lamb, beef etc….
How Long Can You Freeze Chicken?
So we have a lot of this. We found a great butcher nearby that has a farm so all their poultry is organic and free range which we love. I will buy frozen whole chicken which they will wrap in freezer paper, tape shut and all I need to do from there is store in a freezer bag from there. If you have never cooked from rock hard to tender it is a game changer.
When wrapped properly your pieces, will stay well for 9 months. That gives you plenty of time to then cook frozen chicken wings in oven for the big game of the year when guests come over. You’ll be surprised at how frozen – straight to cooked poultry still comes out tender and delicious.
A whole chicken frozen lasts up to a year too! I will cook a baked whole frozen chicken often time, shred the meat and serve with little tortillas, lettuce, cheese and slices of avocado as tacos for dinner. That is right, no defrosting is necessary if you don’t have time to do so. Of course you can buy packages at the store too if you don’t have a local farm near you too and do the same thing.
To do this properly you should follow a few steps. Remove fresh meat from original packaging. Wrap in parchment paper (I don’t like plastic wrap, it will stick). Then wrap that in a piece of aluminum foil and the last step is to slide that into a freezer bag.
Make sure to mark the date on the outside so you can then follow our freezer chart on how long it should last.
As you can tell I am all about cooking frozen meat to tender, like for everything. I have shared just about every different kind of protein cooked right out of the freezer. Why? Because I have lots of moments where I don’t meal plan well and think about dinner just a few hours before.
This still makes me the dinner hero of the household because little do they know I had a moment because food is on the table, homemade, and healthy too. Sometimes I just pull out some frozen hot dogs if I have buns on hand, others like lunch meat can just be defrosted and made into a sandwich bar. You don’t always need cooked meat for a meal. 😉
How Long Can Fish be Frozen?
You can take a peek at other types of meat listed here on our second sheet too. Seafood and lean fish of all kinds like shrimp, scallops, crawfish and squid can store well too. They don’t last quite 12 months but some fatty fish selections can be kept for 6-8 months. Believe it or not we share how to cook frozen fish perfectly in a number of different ways.
How Long Can You Freeze Bacon?
You can actually keep this for 1 month before the texture changes. It isn’t like you will get super sick if you eat it after 45 days but you know how each piece gets soft the longer it sits, the same goes for the longer it freezes. I find ways of how to cook frozen bacon right out of the package too because I thought it turned out better than defrosting overall.
How long does frozen meat last in the freezer?
And then I have information for freezing eggs too!! Have you ever thought of doing this? There are tons of possibilities from cooking and then freezing them hard boiled, raw egg whites, the whole thing cracked into egg trays, the list goes on and on. You just can’t do this inside the shell but there are lots of other options if you find them on sale!
Printable Frozen Meat Chart PDF
Time needed: 5 minutes
How Long You Can Store Frozen Food
- Print
Our printable frozen foods chart with information on beef, chicken, lamb and ham is here. If you wanted both or just the page that references how long can you freeze eggs and seafood we have that here too.
- Keep
Use a magnet to keep this on your fridge or in a drawer for future use.
With all this said I will say that it is best to defrost chicken in microwave and/or seafood or ground beef in a bowl of cold water but that isn’t always possible.
Hope this free printable helps you learn how to store food properly and how to cook it a few different ways. We have an air fryer frozen food cooking times chart for you too if you have that machine.
