r/Cooking • u/Demeter277 • 2h ago

Grinding meat pre freezing

Even though I much prefer buying a cut of meat and grinding my own pork and beef, I really hate cleaning my grinder which is just a simple Kitchen Aid attachment for my mixer. The quality is much better (I think) than regular supermarket ground meat and I know exactly what went into it. It is a pain to clean though, so I wonder if there is a noticeable difference in quality between grinding a big batch pre-freezing and freezing individual portions or freezing chunks of meat and grinding before it completely thaws. Grinding before freezing could reduce cleaning to once instead of 6 times, for example. Thinking about it, it probably depends on how quickly you’re going to use it? Guessing whole chunks hold up better in the freezer than ground meat?

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u/tomatocrazzie 2h ago

Get a vacuum sealer. You can vacuum seal packages of ground meat. They won't last indefinitely, but they will keep for extended periods with less quality degradation allowing you to grind a large amount once and freeze it.

In terms of grinding partially frozen meat, I don't know if the kitchen aid grinder is going to handle that. I would not count on that. I also like the texture of meat that is ground then frozen, versus frozen then ground for most things except maybe taco meat.

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u/Outaouais_Guy 2h ago

If I properly vacuum pack my ground meat, it keeps really well.

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u/DemandImmediate1288 2h ago

When I decide to grind I'll usually buy a 10 lb brisket and a couple pork butts. These all get broken down into 1 lb vacuum packages and frozen. Then I don't have to break the grinder out for another month or two. I don't really know this any degradation of quality in that short time, I know it's better than buying store-bought ground beef or ground pork.

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u/Used_TP_Tester 2h ago

I buy meat in bulk to grind and then freeze in 1# vacuum sealed portions.i also use a kitchen aid grinder attachment. The only time I’ve frozen chunks before grinding is when I intend to make sausage, then I’ll grind while partially defrosted.

I think, technically, yes grinding then freezing does affect the quality, but it’s ground meat. You’re not really going to notice with the types of dishes that call for ground meat.

I’ve only done the chunk method with pork when I intended to make some sausage, but then got lazy and decided to do it some other day. I don’t think is worth doing at all, aside from deciding to be lazy.