Raw meat or prepared food? Which lasts longer? - Short term
Let's say you buy all the ingredients for your meal. You choose a recipe which is using meat.
From the shop, you get raw grinded meat that is still good for a week. (label says so.)
Which will last longer?
A) The raw meat in the fridge (and prepare it when you want it.)
B) Prepare the meal, cool it down properly and put it in the fridge.
C) Freeze the meat and unthaw when you need it the next few days.
(C is an extra option, as I doubt it's a handy option if you just want to prepare the meal the next day or the day after that. But again, I couldn't find any evidence back anything up.)
Best Answer
Option C lasts longest, then option A, with option B being the shortest.
When you have no other information, the official fridge life of any cooked meal is 3-5 days, starting from the day you cooked it, and no matter how old or fresh the ingredients were.
When you have information from the producer, as in the case of your label, then this information supplants any standard assumptions. So your raw meat will last for a full week, assuming you cook it all at once. This is longer than the 3-5 days.
The information on the label assumes that the package stays closed. The moment you open it, the date on the label becomes irrelevant, and you are left with the typical fridge life of ground meat, which is 1-2 days. So you cannot cook small portions every day for a week.
Freezing "stops the clock" on shelf life, so it lasts as long as you want it to.
The answer about "This helps to kill bacteria which will otherwise make the meat go bad." is based on oversimplified reasoning which is not in line with food safety standars. For more info on this and other typical myths, see https://cooking.stackexchange.com/tags/food-safety/info.
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Quick Answer about "Raw meat or prepared food? Which lasts longer? - Short term"
Overall I trust option B) the prepared meal in the fridge will last longer. This being because the former raw meat has been cooked or more basically heated above a certain critical temperature for a certain amount of time. This helps to kill bacteria which will otherwise make the meat go bad.Does meat last longer cooked or raw?
\u201cRaw meat and poultry maintain their quality longer (when frozen) than their cooked counterparts because moisture is lost during cooking.\u201d \u201cMeat and poultry defrosted in the refrigerator may be refrozen before or after cooking.Does meat last longer after its cooked?
No, cooking the meat does not extend the 'Use By' date, however it does give you longer to use the meat. Once the meat has been cooked, the 'Use by' date becomes redundant, as this is the date that the meat needed to be either cooked or frozen by. Once cooked, the meat has a useable time of up to three more days.What meat expires fastest?
If you feel like ground beef goes bad faster than other cuts of beef, well, that's because it does. The USDA recommends that ground beef be used within one to two days of purchase, while other cuts of beef have a three- to five-day window.Is it better to store food raw or cooked?
Store raw food separately from cooked food Bacteria from raw food can contaminate cold cooked food, and the bacteria can multiply to dangerous levels if the food is not cooked thoroughly again. Always store raw food in sealed or covered containers at the bottom of the fridge.How Long for Results on Raw Food Diet?
More answers regarding raw meat or prepared food? Which lasts longer? - Short term
Answer 2
As for the cooked meal, it also depends on what else is in there aside from the meat. Because a meal could go bad even though the meat is still safe, because another ingridient goes bad earlier. It also depends on how you store the meal (aside from storing in the fridge) like wrapping it up in foil, putting it in a closed box, etc.
Overall I trust option B) the prepared meal in the fridge will last longer.
This being because the former raw meat has been cooked or more basically heated above a certain critical temperature for a certain amount of time. This helps to kill bacteria which will otherwise make the meat go bad.
As for option C) Basically frozen food lasts longer than only cooled. But I wouldn't find this practical as in "coming handy".
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