Can You Freeze Store-Bought Meat in Its Original Packaging?

Store packaging has a job, and it does that job well: displaying meat at the counter, protecting it during transport, and keeping it in the refrigerator for a few days. For these purposes, the fact that thin stretch film lets air through is not a flaw; on the contrary, it is a feature. Maintaining the bright color of red meat also depends on some exposure to oxygen. But the freezer calls for the opposite. There, the packaging is expected to hold moisture in and dry air out, and thin stretch film cannot do these two jobs.

The second issue is the foam tray. Its ridged surface leaves a gap under the meat, and the air trapped in that space stays there for months. Moisture from the meat enters this gap, accumulates as frost on top of the tray, and the underside of the meat dries out and turns gray. The tray also adds thickness; without the tray, the same meat can be packed much thinner and flatter, which means it freezes faster. The two items, the foam tray and stretch film together make the worst combination for long-term storage.

The right way is to remove the meat from its packaging as soon as you get home. Pat the meat dry with a paper towel—the surface water forms the first frost when it freezes—and divide it into the portions you will use. Put the amount you will cook at one time into a single package; freezing a large piece whole and then using only part of it forces you to freeze the remainder for the second time. Small pieces of wax paper placed between slices such as steaks and chops make it possible to separate a single slice from the frozen package.

Use two layers for wrapping. First, wrap each portion tightly in plastic wrap or foil so it sticks to the surface, then put it in a zip-top freezer bag and remove the air from the bag. If you have a vacuum sealer, a single layer may be enough; otherwise, this two-layer wrap gives the best result. Write the type and cut of meat and the date it was frozen on the package. Meat from the butcher wrapped in paper should go through the same process; butcher paper lets moisture through, so it does not count as freezer packaging on its own and needs a second layer if stored for more than a few weeks.

There is 1 practical measure for situations where this step was skipped. If meat was frozen in its original packaging, it should be used within a few weeks; if you know it will be stored longer, you can still open the package and rewrap it later, because this can be done without harming the frozen meat. It is not possible to rescue meat that has been in the freezer for months and is still in its store tray; it has dried out. The best use for that piece is in a ground-meat dish or a long-cooked dish, where dryness will be least noticeable; if you cut off and discard the dry surface, you can still use the rest of the piece.