I was at the grocery store last night picking out some chicken (boneless thighs and breasts). I only need small amounts, and only have so much money, so I was sorting through the packages pretty thoroughly to find the “right” ones.
Our grocery store keeps the packaged meats in a regular meat case (no doors). Not sure if that is freezing the meats or not. They do have a meat counter…and I suspect that they do a lot of their cutting and packaging right there (half their meat is store brand, half is, say, Tyson).
So I’m looking at these packages of chicken and I notice that on most of them there’s ice crystals inside the package, on the meat.
All of a sudden I get the idea that, even though I am going to go home and freeze most of what I buy, I don’t want frozen-thawed-frozen-thawed meat. And I don’t want any freezer burn. But I am not even sure what freezer burn is.
Those of you who are more attuned to how grocery store meat is packaged - what do you say about ice crystals on meat that is in a styrofoam tray covered in cellophane? Is that pretty normal? Does it indicate freezing or just a little bit of chill on the skin?
I’m trying to eat healthier here by buying and cooking my own meat (as opposed to uhm…sandwiches and pizza) but I want to make sure that I continue to eat meat by not getting turned off by buying meat that is already doomed.