Here at LGCM we’re the meat experts, and we love answering your questions. Every week we’ll answer a customer’s meat or LGCM related question on our blog and give a $5 Gift Certificate to the person who asked the question! If you have a question, submit it via Facebook, Twitter, email or comment on this article and we may choose to answer your question on the blog. This week’s question was emailed to us by Joanne. She asks:

I purchased a beef roast from your freezer sale. I was going to make it for dinner, and thawed it in my refrigerator, but plans changed. Can I refreeze it and use it later?

Excellent question Joanne, this is a very common question! Yes, you can refreeze your meat and use it later, as long as it has always remained cool. By thawing the meat in the refrigerator, there is no possibility of pathogen growth, so you can wrap it tightly, and refreeze it for later use. If you have thawed the meat using the microwave or cool water (the other safe methods of thawing food), the food should be cooked immediately due to the possibility of pathogen growth while the food was at room temperature. You can freeze the food after cooking it. Remember, leaving raw food out on the kitchen counter to thaw is not a safe mehtod of thawing food!

Keep the questions coming! We love answering them, and remember we’re not just meat experts, we’re food safety experts, with lots of training and knowledge under our belts, so if you have any food safety questions, let us know! You can also check with the USDA’s Food Safety Education website at any time for great food safety information.