Can you freeze lunch meat?

[lmw80]

Sometimes my grocery store has buy a pound of ham or turkey, get a pound free. If I were to freeze one of those pounds for a week or two, would it be good and edible when it thawed?

Thanks.

 

[urmaniac13]

we often buy a large chunk of ham or roasted turkey breast, slice them up and divide them into portion sizes, wrap them as tightly as possible and put it in a freezer. They are fine when they are defrosted. The texture of some items suffer a little change, but at the worst you can use them for cooking. Also once defrosted, they should be used up asap (thus wrapping into portions).

 

[silvercliff_46]

I would imagine it would depend on how much water was in the meat. Chicken and beef should be ok (maybe) but I bet balogna and ham would get funky.

I froze venison sausage (salami) it was okay, but not as good as fresh. I think freezing put the keibash to the spices. Texture was quite right either.

 

[mish]

I buy fresh deli sliced roast beef, turkey breast, chicken breast etc., and have pressed all the air out and frozen in a zip lock, then let it defrost in the fridge and pat it down with paper towels to absorb any moisture. It's not as great as eating it fresh from the deli, but it still tastes good, imo. You could always, freeze, defrost and use it in stews, pasta dishes, etc.

 

[Seven S]

you can, but the texture does change somewhat... slices will be more likely to tear when pulling them apart.... you will see a large amount of water when thawed out, these were the ice crystals that formed when the freezing process took place and have now melted... taste will still be good

 

[Constance]

I almost always have balogna in the freezer for a delicious sandwich spread I make with it. It tastes just fine, except I think it gets a little "slick". Ham gets some ice crystals in it from the water added, but it works fine for cooking or sandwich spread. I've never tried to freeze the deli turkey, because I'm not fond of it, but I'd imagine it would have water crystals, the way the ham does.

 

[Half Baked]

When I thaw packaged ham, once I take the packaging off, I wrap it in a paper towel before I put it in a ziplock, to absorb the juices which I think extends the life of the thawed meat.

Everytime I take out some slices, I wrap it in a new paper towel.

 

[Gretchen]

One idea. When they have a buy 1#/get one free--first make SURE that you have to get the other pound. One of our supermarkets just marks the meat at half price even if you get only one package. COOL!!
The other idea for either ham or turkey--get one pound sliced and the other in a chunk. Make "chicken" or ham salad by chopping the other chunk. Or even turkey tetrazini or other cooked dish. Ham and mac and cheese for ham chunks.

 

[Barb L.]

I aways take advantage of buy 1 get one free, bologna, hot dogs, bacon, and sausage. I can't tell any differance when unthawed, I like having backups.

 

[Yakuta]

I buy the healthy choice turkey or roast chicken (comes in a green pack) and freeze it regularly. I just let it thaw and then use it on sandwiches for my kids. The texture is fine and you would never know it was frozen. My kids have yet to get sick from it and I have been doing this for over a year.

 

[VeraBlue]

I've done it before, usually when I'm closing an account for a couple of weeks and don't want to lose any deli meat I have. You'll have the best results if it's not sliced first.
I find that turkey and roast beef and other cured meats freeze better than ham. The deli ham, unless 'fresh ham' usually has way too much water. When you thaw it, it's going to be like a sponge.

May I also suggest that the reason they are having a buy one get one free sale may have something to do with expriation dates..

 

[Barb L.]

I've done it before, usually when I'm closing an account for a couple of weeks and don't want to lose any deli meat I have. You'll have the best results if it's not sliced first.
I find that turkey and roast beef and other cured meats freeze better than ham. The deli ham, unless 'fresh ham' usually has way too much water. When you thaw it, it's going to be like a sponge.

May I also suggest that the reason they are having a buy one get one free sale may have something to do with expriation dates..

I worked at a grocery store for almost 16 yrs. -- my whole family knows to check dates ! Got too !

 

[Claire]

Mom always did. Just remember that when you thaw it, it will lose water (thaw on a paper towel) and become saltier.