I've been here for a while and I know that most of us tend to buy food in bulk in order to cut the costs. So say you found some cheap meat and bought a few pounds then froze the stuff for later cooking. You cooked some but until you got to finish all the meat you had you bought some more (hey, the price was good!). And voila, you have more meat than you can eat. For how long do you store it?
After you cook the meat, it's only good for a few days afterwards. I wouldn't recommend freezing the cooked meat either to try and save it. Before though you cook the meat though, you're going to want to freeze it within a day or 2 of buying the meat to keep it from spoiling. So really, what you need to watch out for is leaving uncooked meat in the fridge for too long before it spoils and only eating cooked meat at maximum a few days after you cook it. The nice thing is that if you made too much for one meal, you already have your next meal already planned out!
If I buy meat on sale and freeze I try to use it before the 3 month mark. After that I find that the texture and taste declines. I cook at home a lot so I usually don't have a problem using meat within a month or 2.
I try to eat it within a few months but I have been that person that thaws and eats meat at the 9 month mark too and I've never gotten sick or had it taste bad. I think it all depends on the way you store it. If you vacuum package the product it will last much longer than if you just throw it in a ziplock bag and let it sit in the freezer. If it's just in a bag I wouldn't push more than three or four months like everyone else said unless you enjoy eating meat that is bad tasting.
I usually store meat for about a week. I understand that you can store meat for a very long time, but food in my house just doesn't last that long. lol! However, I will freeze meat as long as it needs to be until I eat it. If it goes too long, that just means I'm not going to eat it. Overall, I say the more the merrier.
I do not store meat no longer than a month. There is six people in my household so meat does not last very long anyways. We buy a lot of meat because my husband cooks everyday.
When I purchase a large amount of meat I will store it in the refrigerator for no more than 3 days, if it has not been cooked by then I put the meat in the freezer and really try to use that meat before adding more. If we have not used the meat within 90 days, I will toss the meat. The meat has probably gotten freezer burn by then and will not taste good.
