For members of our community who have shopped with us before, you would know that our meat is sold frozen. As a business we spent a lot of time researching and understanding the pros and cons of freezing meat and in the end, frozen trumped fresh.
The pros
- The ageing of meat stops when it is frozen and the meat can safely be stored for months.
- When meat is frozen straight after it is butchered (which is how we operate at Ethical Farmers) your meat couldn't get fresher. Despite the stigma around frozen, the impact on the quality of your meat is negligible.
- The number of days fresh meat spends in a distribution network further declines the quality of your meat. This is before the meat then sits on shelves or in cabinets before it reaches its sell by date and is disposed of.
- If you suffer from hives, have a histamine intolerance or are on a low histamine diet, buy meat that was frozen while it was fresh as it contains lower histamine levels.
- Frozen negates the need for preservatives. Especially relevant to sausages and burger patties where all sorts of sneaky additives can be added in.
The cons
- Frozen meat requires thawing which essentially adds a small step to your food prep and some thinking ahead. The best way to thaw meat is in the fridge over a day or two, but otherwise on your bench, making sure it remains cold.
- Frozen meat can be a touch dryer than fresh although this is not always the case and most people don't report any difference. If you defrost carefully this will mitigate moisture loss.
- The further meat gets away from being truly fresh (consumed in a few days of being butchered) the more the histamine levels in the meat will rise.
How we process your meat
In keeping with our commitment to transparency, the animal leaves our farm, or the farm of our producers and travels to the abattoir. From there, the carcass travels back to us at the farm where we will butcher within a week and freeze immediately after. To distribute we pack your meat on our farm and either use our truck or take to our courier to deliver on our behalf.