Preparing raw food

[Spyglass Sally]

I've been doing some reading about preparing raw food, including some recipes from people like Dr. Pitcairn. Also, whitedaisy had suggested Raw Dog Food by Carina Beth MacDonald which I'm going to pick up at the library today.

Anyway, thinking about making some larger recipes and then freezing smaller portions made me wonder if you can refreeze uncooked previously frozen meat. I'd always been told no but am realizing much of what I've been taught was wrong so I thought I'd recheck it.

According to the US Dept of Agriculture Food Safety & Inspection site :

Meat and poultry defrosted in the refrigerator may be refrozen before or after cooking. If thawed by other methods, cook before refreezing.

Don't know if that will make anyone else's life easier, but I found it helpful. Buddy's still on kibble but doing fine. I'm hoping to make some recipe paddies and start to introduce him to them again soon.

[AussieGirl]

I always thought that once it's defrosted you can't refreeze it (uncooked), but then I read of raw feeders getting large amounts of free raw meat sources off craigs list and they would defrost it and then package it into meal size portions and refreeze it. Not sure if I would be game enough to do it for people meals. I usually mix the vegetable puree with the ground meat and freeze it in largish containers (stackable ones to use freezer space efficiently) that hold approx 2.5kg - enough for a few days meals. Works well for me.

[whitedaisy]

Heck yeah!!! Remember, these are dogs LOL. It is very okay to thaw and refreeze for them.

I think you'll like the Raw Dog Food book. It's a good book.

[KeeperBoy]

We somethings get our food frozen (depending on when it was ground, we usually are lucky and get a batch ground that morning). If not, we thaw the batch, sometimes add in eggs and veg and then refreeze it into 2 pound containers (a daily feeding for Keepers).

[Spyglass Sally]

Originally Posted by whitedaisy

I think you'll like the Raw Dog Food book. It's a good book.

Just finished it. My favorite part was the Complete Field Guide to Poop.
Funny & informative book. Thanks for the tip.