Thawing plates. Any good?

[user1471526265]

Sorry, wasn't sure where to put this question.

In advance of Christmas, I've been clearing out my freezer and there's meat going back months and months. I generally buy a good bit of meat at a time so I freeze some but keep making the same mistake - forgetting to take the meat out of the freezer on time to defrost (so I end up buying more fresh stuff for dinner!)

So while I'm sure it's too late to really make much difference to my freezer situation before my big Christmas shop (I've about 19 dinners worth of meat - chops, beef joint, whole chicken and chicken breasts etc) going forward I was wondering if these thawing plates /defrosting boards, whatever people know them as, are they any good? And are they just suitable for thin cuts of meat, so chops and maybe steak, or would they help with joints of meat also?

Any recommendations would be great. Thanks.

I just defrost things on a metal baking tray, it halves the defrost time.

Wow, that's good to know. No shortage of those around here!!! Will definitely give that a try. Thanks.

I often put things to defrost in a bowl of cold water, it really helps. Also, once things are separated, most stuff is fine cooked from frozen.

You can also defrost things more quickly by placing the bag/box in a sink of cold water. A couple of chicken breasts will defrost in under an hour. Or use the defrost setting on the microwave. Or try to make a habit of taking meat out at night and putting in the fridge in the morning. (And no, I've never had food poisoning by doing any of these).

But having googled thawing plates, it looks like a heavy baking tray will do exactly the same job.

I do the bowl of water thing alright but find I have to keep remembering to change the water as it seems to get too cold to be much use. My short term memory is pretty poor tho for various reasons.

I do try to remember to take meat out the night before and probably do about 5 times out of 7.

I actually want to get rid of the chest freezer and get a tall larder style with maybe 6 or 7 drawers instead, but funds won't allow for now. But I think having a more organised and accessible freezer might help me stay more organised too.

I'll give the metal baking tray a go before I buy one of these thawing plates anyway. I actually got new ones in aldi or lidl recently so I can dedicate one of those as the thawing tray.

I have huge chest freezer. I organise my meat in carrier bags. Small items separate from joints. I split chops, burgers sausages etc with separating film before overwrapping and freezing. so if nothing defrosted small items will cook from frozen. If you have nothing out for tonight use a 'cook from frozen item' AND get something else out now for tomorrow. Metal is a good conductor but a black ribbed skillet would probably work even better than a baking tray (not your best seasoned cast iron one ). Black will absorb heat from surrounding quicker, bigger mass of metal and ribs in skillet to increase area. That's just physics. I haven't tried it - I usually just plonk mine on one of the draining boards

Thanks for the tips.