James,
I would like to add a note to one of the observations of Don M., regarding re-freezing of meat. I too have heard many times that it is unwise to re-freeze meat or fish. I grew up hearing it. Often it is even implied that it is a health risk. Most folks don’t know why; it’s just what they’ve always been told.
Water expands when it freezes, and as we all know, will rupture whatever contains it – even steel pipe. The cells of meat and fish contain a high content of water. When it freezes, it will break the cell wall, leading to poor quality and texture upon thawing. This is not a health risk – just bad for quality. If the freezing occurs quickly, as in a production blast freezer, the cell wall will freeze hard enough before the inner part freezes, to prevent cell wall rupture. The notion of “flash freezing” is with very few exceptions, a myth. Most industrial freezers will bring the product to a core temperature below 0 F in as little as 2 hours and as much as 5 hours (depending on the thickness of the product and the temperature of the freezer). Remember – they are freezing thousands of pounds at a time.
It is a very common practice for fish caught in Alaska to be frozen “in the round” — after removal of heads and entrails. They are then shipped to processing plants elsewhere, thawed, further processed (into fillets or whatever) and refrozen.
If you regularly buy fresh meat and fish and freeze it at home, and are satisfied with the quality, then you should feel comfortable refreezing meat or fish if the need arises, as long as it never gets above refrigerator temperature. I do it often.
Best to You and Yours, – D.B. in Seattle