freezing meats...

I have done it both ways and have had good results. There is something very satisfying in getting meat at a great price and stocking the freezer. We just did that with CAB chuck roasts - I have 6 sitting in my freezer right now. They were a great price and I couldn't pass them up.

I don't mind freezing pork and beef but I do not freeze chickens if I can help it. The blood in the bone turns the bone dark when frozen and the cooked and it is just not appetizing to me to bite into chicken and see a black bone. Frying, smoking or grilling I use fresh chicken if I can.

Freezing physically changes the meat and breaks it down. How much of a noticeable difference there is depends on how you are cooking, what you are cooking and you. Some people can not tell the difference or do not mind. Whether this compensates for the bulk-purchase discount is up to you.

I buy meats a on sale and freeze them all the time. I put a butt in the freezer yesterday, in the cryovac package it came in. It will be just fine when I thaw it and smoke it -- even if it is six months from now.

The trick to freezing is to remove air from whatever you freeze it in. I have a Foodsaver I use to vacuum-seal meats before they go to the freezer. No air, no freezer burn.

The only chicken I freeze is boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I seal them individually in pint Foodsaver bags so I can pull one out for a quick dinner whenever I want one. If I plan to grill regular chicken parts, I buy them fresh.

I buy family packs of steaks, and put them in individual Foodsaver bags, too. If I am hungry for a good steak, I just pull one out of the freezer, stick the bag in a pot of room temperature water, and I have a thawed steak in about 20 minutes.

Properly frozen in a vacuum sealed bag, I can't tell any difference from a fresh butt, steak or chicken breast.

CD