# Can I defrost my dogs food (raw meat) and then freeze again?



## Baby_Lola (May 20, 2015)

Hi all

I have put my dogs on a raw diet and a couple of days ago i got 2 months supply of meat for them from naturesmenu.co.uk and put it all in the freezer as soon as it arrived (it came frozen).

My dogs are quite small and I feed one 160g per day (Chuwawa) and 260g (Yorkie). So i cant defrost the food i want to serve them every time as the food would just go to waste since ill only be feeding a little bit of it to them.

I want to cut up ALL the food and divide them up in to sized portions for the whole 2 mnths, so that each day i can just pull out 1 portion for each of them and feed them.

I just checked the food and theres NO WAY i can cut any of it up while frozen, most are meat on the bone (Chicken, Turkey, Lamp) and the rest are different types of mixed minced meat with offal + Vegetables.

Can I defrost all the food, cut them up and freeze them again? I'm thinking maybe not to defrost all the way, just for a few hours so that i can cut them.

Any help would be appreciated. 

Also anyone have experience with the meat sold by naturesmenu.co.uk ? 

Many thanks


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Sounds like a plan to me. I would do the same thing. Better than thawing the meat every time you want to cut it.


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## Rock knocker (Sep 14, 2015)

You can probably do that, but remember that due to destruction and alteration of some cell walls, unthawed meat becomes more susceptible to some bacteria than raw meat which has never been frozen.


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Keep the meat cold and if it is on the bone with air spaces between the bits you can run cold water over it to finish getting it apart once you can start pulling chunks off the surface.

The ground stuff can be cut 1-2 hours out of the freezer with a good knife. It's actually easier to deal with semi frozen like that, just figure out many chunks to cut each chub into then refreeze the chunks on a cookie sheet or wrap in foil. After an hour out of the freezer test cut to see if it is thawed enough. There would less chance of bacterial growth since it hasn't been completely thawed.

My dogs want to come live with you. 14 pound Ginger gets 100 grams of raw a day and 11 pound Bucky gets 150 plus about 28 grams of string cheese as training treats. They do get veggie and fruit trimmings on top of that though.


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## Shell (Oct 19, 2009)

Yes, as long as you thaw it properly. You'd want to thaw in the fridge or in cold water, fridge is better. You want to keep the temps at or below 40 degrees F (fridge temps)

USDA food safety guidelines (for humans of course)

"Refreezing
Once food is thawed in the refrigerator, it is safe to refreeze it without cooking, although there may be a loss of quality due to the moisture lost through thawing. After cooking raw foods which were previously frozen, it is safe to freeze the cooked foods. If previously cooked foods are thawed in the refrigerator, you may refreeze the unused portion. Freeze leftovers within 3-4 days. Do not refreeze any foods left outside the refrigerator longer than 2 hours; 1 hour in temperatures above 90 °F.

If you purchase previously frozen meat, poultry or fish at a retail store, you can refreeze if it has been handled properly."

Remember that a lot of meats sold thawed in the grocery have been previously frozen and then people come home and re-freeze all or part of the package.


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