# Fridge or Counter?



## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Okay...this may be a stupid question, so don't laugh at me! 

Those that get out and unfreeze 2-3 days worth of food at a time....do you keep it in the fridge or just let it sit out on the counter? Once it's completely thawed then place it in the fridge?


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

I'll take a couple days food out of the freezer and the stuff I need to feed in the morning I"ll let sit out in the sink overnite, the other stuff goes into the fridge in the container for dogfood.


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

Depends on how flighty I am on thaw day. :biggrin:

Ideally, I would put frozen meat in the fridge a couple days before I need it. By the time I need to use it, it's thawed.

But MOST of the time, I don't realize how low the thawed meat supply has gotten until I have one meal left. Then I say to myself, "oh crap!" and pull something out of the freezer. By the next meal time, it's at least mostly (if not completely) thawed out.

But what I think you are asking is if it is okay to feed dogs meat that has maybe been sitting out a little too long. And the answer to that is YES! I've feed some pretty ripe stuff that I would NEVER eat myself with no problems. THe degree of ripeness that I'm talking about cannot be achieved by merely leaving meat out on the counter for any amount of time less than a week.:biggrin:


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Okay...that's what I did tonight, Robin! Thanks. :smile:


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Ania's Mommy said:


> But MOST of the time, I don't realize how low the thawed meat supply has gotten until I have one meal left. Then I say to myself, "oh crap!" and pull something out of the freezer. By the next meal time, it's at least mostly (if not completely) thawed out.


Your post has me laughing! I know I will be guilty of this more than once! :biggrin:


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

We are all guilty of it, even re, the dogs got canned tripe tonite and each a 1/2 pork rib because I forgot to take food out this morning, but it was my granddaughters 7th birthday party so I have an excuse.:smile:


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

Yeah, that is pretty much the scenario all the time with me. It's very a rare occasion when I actually plan ahead.  


Uuummm... Sometimes I even forget to pull something out of the freezer when I use the last bit of thawed meat out. I may have undiagnosed ADD... So in these cases, the fastest (and safest) way to thaw out a frozen block of meat is to put it in cold running/moving water. Sounds weird to use the cold water, but it works. And Alton Brown tips haven't failed me yet!


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## Ania's Mommy (Feb 8, 2009)

Oh yeah, and when all else fails, canned fish!


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## whiteleo (Sep 7, 2008)

Yeah the fish, but they just had fish and the fish farts!


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

whiteleo said:


> Yeah the fish, but they just had fish and the fish farts!


So which are worse? Fish farts or egg farts?? Hehehe! :tongue:


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

saraj2878 said:


> So which are worse? Fish farts or egg farts?? Hehehe! :tongue:


Well... when I feed egg, it's WITH fish.... so those farts are pretty rancid. 
Then again, with a Boxer... farts are somewhat expected no matter what I feed. 


Now to answer the question. I thaw one day at a time- usually. And that's in the sink. If I have more than one day thawing at a time, I put it in the fridge, and day1 food is just a little frosty... day two is just about right... and day three is not quite nasty.. yet. I buy MOST of my meat on sale the day or day before they expire, so when it thaws, it can get pretty rancid pretty fast...


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## xxshaelxx (Mar 8, 2010)

Well, I left stuff out for a week once, because I didn't want to put it in the freezer and have to take it out and thaw it again, but didn't have the time to take care of it. It turned pretty rancid. Then, I put some of the liver (that was left out for a week) in the fridge to thaw out so the dogs could eat that, and ended up accidentally leaving the fridge open one day (it's a small fridge dedicated to the dogs), and it turned REALLY rancid, and I pulled it out the next day. It was so bad the blood was literally black, but I fed it anyways, even though I probably shouldn't have, but what doesn't kill them will only help them, right? So anyways, they did just fine. I, on the other hand, almost died at the smell.


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## hbwright (Jul 14, 2010)

CorgiPaws said:


> Well... when I feed egg, it's WITH fish.... so those farts are pretty rancid.
> Then again, with a Boxer... farts are somewhat expected no matter what I feed.


I laughed out loud to this one. Just before I clicked to the next page I was going to reply that I just fed mine (boxer) fish and egg tonight. I came up to work and she was sleeping all sweet and adorable behind me. No warning and PHEW!!!!!!!!


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## MollyWoppy (Mar 19, 2010)

A few times when I've completely forgotton to thaw stuff, I've just given my dog the food frozen. My reasoning, rightly or wrongly, is that I reckon a wolf would eat a frozen deer or whatever if they happened across one in the snow. Mine just gnaw's away on it til its gone. Don't know if its recommended or not, but it hasn't hurt her at all, at least not from what I can tell.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

you guys are funny.....

alton brown is also my source for a quicker defrost....also, i take food out of the fridge to get it to room temp, so i can cook it....

cold food doesn't cook up as well as room temp food.

if i leave something in the sink defrosting...overnight.......and believe me, i have....i haven't yet been able to bring myself to feed the dogs or anyone else.....

i think i've done it twice now...both times i threw the food away.....yeah, yeah, starving dogs in appalachia...but, still....it's the doc in me....

i promise to try to get over it.

normally what i do is this.

i have two polycarbonate containers in the fridge...

defrosted proteins, usually three or four, are in one of them and the dogs eat off that for a week....except fish which is always frozen..

frozen food is in the other container....but some of that may be for honey and i....

so, here's the cycle....garage freezers to kitchen freezer to container to dogs.


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## Jodysmom (Jan 9, 2010)

Sara,

I have designated the bottom drawer of my fridge for raw meat. I found a plastic shoe box container that fits nicely and I can put it in and take it out. Another plus is it catches all of the meat dripping/juices. I have young children who are always in the kitchen so I probably wouldn't leave the meat out on the counter or in the sink. Like re I don't make meal bags I just choose a couple of meat protein and place it in the bottom drawer and use according what my dog needs "stool-wise". 

Tami


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

When we make a big order from our meat distributor all the meat comes in huge frozen solid cases. This is what takes several days to thaw. We put these cases in HUGE (the biggest money can buy) rubbermaid containers to thaw out either in the spare bedroom or garage depending on the season. Then we slowly pull off the thawed meat and pack it into smaller 12 quart containers which hold 1-2 days of food for the girls (7-15 pounds depending on what it is). We then pull one of these containers out of the freezer and let it sit out for 12-24 hours to thaw. 

We only make big orders like this 2-3 times per year, so it's not that much work at all.


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Jodysmom said:


> Sara,
> 
> I have designated the bottom drawer of my fridge for raw meat. I found a plastic shoe box container that fits nicely and I can put it in and take it out. Another plus is it catches all of the meat dripping/juices. I have young children who are always in the kitchen so I probably wouldn't leave the meat out on the counter or in the sink. Like re I don't make meal bags I just choose a couple of meat protein and place it in the bottom drawer and use according what my dog needs "stool-wise".
> 
> Tami


So far, this is what is working for me currently. When I thawed out my first big order I divided it up into 2 days worth of food for that particular protein. I will probably do the same, in having a couple different proteins out at the same time.....so I can feed accordingly. Who knows...I may do things differently as I get further down the road...:biggrin:

Thanks everyone for your input!!!


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Just FYI, thawing meat in a fridge is MESSY. If you choose to do this, I highly recommend using containers and not bags. Containers don't leak nearly as much as bags.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

danemama08 said:


> Just FYI, thawing meat in a fridge is MESSY. If you choose to do this, I highly recommend using containers and not bags. Containers don't leak nearly as much as bags.


i learned THAT one first off, when i was thawing out forty pounds of chicken backs...

blech....i had to clean my entire fridge, just to get the smell out.....

it was EVERYWHERE...

costco sells these polycarbonate containers....i don't care for plastic....

i wish they had lids on them, but that's okay....

i have two different sizes...the dogs own the top shelf of my fridge and i get the rest....

they are NOT getting the veggie/fruit drawer LOL


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Yup...I got both bags and a few containers to start with. I really had no idea how much the meat would turn out to be, how it would fit into my freezer, or exactly how much 2 days worth of food was size wise....I just couldn't visualize what 200 pounds of meat looked like....LOL....:tongue:

So I did pick up a plastic box (the size of a shoe box, maybe a bit bigger) to set meat to thaw in my fridge upstairs. Don't want any smelly meat juice to clean up! :biggrin:


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

saraj2878 said:


> Yup...I got both bags and a few containers to start with. I really had no idea how much the meat would turn out to be, how it would fit into my freezer, or exactly how much 2 days worth of food was size wise....I just couldn't visualize what 200 pounds of meat looked like....LOL....:tongue:
> 
> So I did pick up a plastic box (the size of a shoe box, maybe a bit bigger) to set meat to thaw in my fridge upstairs. Don't want any smells meat juice to clean up! :biggrin:


i think plastic shoeboxes are what danemama (natalie) uses....good idea...


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

The ones I use are a bit bigger than shoe boxes, but that would be a good size or two dogs to feed.


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## Jodysmom (Jan 9, 2010)

magicre said:


> i learned THAT one first off, when i was thawing out forty pounds of chicken backs...
> 
> blech....i had to clean my entire fridge, just to get the smell out.....
> 
> ...



I use those Costco containers too! A couple of them have cracked in the deep freezer but it may be because I stacked up lots of stuff on top of them. Re I really like your idea to not freeze meals. My first time raw feeding I spent time putting meals in zip loc bags and it became complicated if I had to fine tune what I fed that day. Now I always have chicken backs in my bottom drawer, pork, and bone in chicken (I'm only in it 1 month). This is much easier than planning meals baggies.


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## luvMyBRT (Mar 8, 2010)

Just scored some raw meat from posting an add on craigslist wanting freezer burned meat! All you raw feeders should try this and see what meats pop up! :biggrin:


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

saraj2878 said:


> Just scored some raw meat from posting an add on craigslist wanting freezer burned meat! All you raw feeders should try this and see what meats pop up! :biggrin:


We've been doing that for years now LOL!!! We have probably scored a few thousand pounds in the last year...It's amazing how much would go to waste because every person says that it would have all just ended up in the trash!!!


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

Jodysmom said:


> I use those Costco containers too! A couple of them have cracked in the deep freezer but it may be because I stacked up lots of stuff on top of them. Re I really like your idea to not freeze meals. My first time raw feeding I spent time putting meals in zip loc bags and it became complicated if I had to fine tune what I fed that day. Now I always have chicken backs in my bottom drawer, pork, and bone in chicken (I'm only in it 1 month). This is much easier than planning meals baggies.


i don't use them in my freezer....these are my defrosting containers...

we vacuum seal freezer food....and give each protein its own shelf....

anything we buy in bulk from the co op goes into the chest freezer...

but we have a shelf for poultry, a shelf for beef, a shelf for pork, and the offal goes on the freezer doors.

i keep baggies of beef heart and beef liver frozen in my kitchen freezer, since my kids get liver every day...and heart every few days as part of a meal....

oh my, those zip loc bags...every month, we'd make a month's worth of food...and then we'd intro a food and basically have to start over...or one of them needed more or less bone...or or or...

so now, those polycarbonate containers sit in my fridge on the top shelf...and food defrosts in one of them...and then i use plastic bags (gallon size) to hold the chicken or the pork roast or the llama or whatever they are getting that week....in the other one.

in one meal, my dogs could be eating beef heart, chicken back, sardine....

from start to finish it takes me less than ten minutes and they enjoy it so.


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