Ham frozen for a year

11 years ago

So while attempting to find a place for this year's Christmas ham in the freezer, I found a chunk of last year's. It has been frozen solid for a year. I know, food safety says six months and then throw out, but what is the risk? Is it a quality or health concern? I'm thinking I could make some soup with what is left. I hate to waste food and I'm not that fussy about aesthetics.

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Comments (8)

grainlady_ks
11 years ago
It's not a health issue, it's quality. If you happened to vacuum-seal it with a FoodSaver, you won't have the quality issues. Otherwise, you'll have to thaw it and give it a "test" - looks, taste, texture.....

-Grainlady
morz8 - Washington Coast
11 years ago
Is this a regular long term storage freezer, or the freezer compartment of your self defrosting refrigerator....

I've kept ham a year in my manual defrost upright freezer, well wrapped. I use the vacuum sealing Foodsaver for some things, but I'm adept with butchers freezer paper too.

I've frozen them whole for baking, pieces for smaller meals and chunks with a bone for soups. All fine.

We did get a gift ham this year though that had no use by date on the box. I called the meat company (Portland Oregon) and they said by the lot number it was good refrigerated until about April. They said not to freeze it, and not to rush the cooking time. I followed their directions and baked it yesterday, 8 full hours at 275F. Delicious. And all my dinner guests went home with leftovers which could then be frozen.
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prairie_rose
11 years ago
I have found well wrapped meat in the bottom of the deep freeze that has been over a year old. We have our own beef butchered and it is in butchers wrap. Never have had a problem with freezer burn or quality issues of any kind.

I have found that the freezer in the fridge, because it is self defrosting, burns the crap out of most anything put in it for more than a couple of months. Only use it to store ice cream, a dozen buns and a loaf of bread. Everything else goes in the deep freezer.

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lpinkmountain
Original Author
11 years ago
It was the freezer on top of my fridge. It was way in the back, got covered by other meats, sealed in wax paper surrounded by tinfoil, pretty tightly. I'm thawing it now. It does seem a bit "dry" lol! I may cut the outside part out and use the insides for soup. We are having this year's ham for New Year's dinner!
lpinkmountain
Original Author
11 years ago
Just want to add that the ham made super duper yummy soup and also delicious stir fry. I just cut off the outer dry parts and it was fine inside, luckily.
annie1992
11 years ago
L, I never doubted it. I just made some barbacoa with a chuck roast that Amanda found in her freezer. Shrink wrapped and dated 2011. Yeah.....

It was fine, not freezer burned and we at it all and didn't die. Frozen food is safe to eat, it's the quality that suffers after a period of time, and depending on packaging.

Funny, we had bean soup today too. The ham bone was left from Christmas and the beans were some Italian Horticultural that we grew last year and dehydrated.

Annie
iris_gal
11 years ago
A caveat about freezing salted meats from Univ. of Missouri.

Special considerations
Cured meats
Salt increases the rate at which rancidity develops in meat. For this reason, bacon and cured hams have an extremely short freezer life and should be used within one month. Freezing is not recommended for hot dogs and luncheon meats because their emulsion will be broken and the product will "weep."

Here is a link that might be useful: U. of Missouri info. on freezing
lpinkmountain
Original Author
11 years ago
This wasn't a cured ham, but interestingly I had some bacon last night in pasta carbonara for dinner that was also an ancient freezer find. So far I'm OK. But I guess I can't recommend it!