Can you freeze stuff from the butchers?

[Adultingshard]

Stupid question I know but I get paranoid about food safety so find not having detailed labels on things disconcerting!

DH bought some prepared italian meatballs in tomato sauce from the local butchers and froze it at the time.

It's now in the oven for dinner but then wondered maybe it's been previously defrosted and you're meant to eat it fresh?

You would need to ask your butcher. Ours sometimes does sell meat which has been frozen.

Ehen that happens, does it say itsay so on labep/packaging or do they proactively tell you?

With our butcher, I have to proactively ask if it has been previously frozen. There is no label etc (the meat is cut, portioned and then either vacuum sealed or placed in a suitable bag).

It’s absolutely fine.

It’s not unsafe to refreeze previously frozen meat, as long as it hasn’t been sitting around at room temperature fir ages prior to being refrozen. Although it probably won’t taste as good.

The UK recommendation not to is pretty unique ( the US doesn’t have it) and I expect it’ll get dropped because it’s a shocker for food waste

reliable source here -
https://theconversation.com/you-can-thaw-and-refreeze-meat-five-food-safety-myths-busted-51125

Thank you @continentallentil yes I was just looking at that. I had it drummed into me this should never happen under any circumstance but it seems that's a massive exaggeration!

DH just isn't sure how long it was left in the fridge before he decided to freeze it, that's the only bit that still makes me a bit nervous (In case it had been 1 or 2 days already when we bought it, and then it sat in our fridge for another 1 or 2 days.)

He doesn't remember and is super blasé about stuff like that anyway. I'm just worried about the little ones.

As long as it was in your fridge I wouldn’t worry at all, 1 or 2 days in the butchers fridge and 1 or 2 in yours would be fine.

It’s only letting it defrost at room temp and then refreezing that is dodgy - because it’s at room temp that the bugs grow.

I see no reason not to freeze butcher-bought meat and do it semi-regularly. If at all possible I get them to vacuum seal it and also try to freeze right away. If neither is possible I'd still freeze it but try to use it sooner rather than later, just because it's easier for the quality to deteriorate.