How to store ground beef
Best place: the fridge. USDA gives ground beef a fridge time (1 to 2 days, from the package date) and no pantry time, so it belongs in the fridge as soon as you get home. The freezer gives 3 to 4 months.
Where these times come from. USDA FoodKeeper has no entry named "ground beef". The times on this page are the USDA figures for ground beef, copied without change from its Beef entry. The full entry lists other kinds too.
No guideline
1 to 2 days
from the package date
3 to 4 months
best quality within
How to tell ground beef has gone bad
- Fresh beef is bright cherry-red on the surface. The inside of ground beef is often greyish-brown because oxygen has not reached it, and USDA says that is normal.
- After about 5 days in the fridge beef may turn brown throughout. Brown beef that also smells off or feels tacky to the touch has spoiled and should not be used.
- A sticky, tacky or slimy surface, or a sour or off odour, means spoilage bacteria have grown. Throw it out.
- Ground beef keeps 1 to 2 days in the fridge, steaks and roasts 3 to 5 days, and cooked beef 3 to 4 days.
Sources: Ground Beef and Food Safety (USDA FSIS); Beef from Farm to Table (USDA FSIS); The Color of Meat and Poultry (USDA FSIS). The times on this page are quality guidelines, not safety limits; food that shows these signs goes out regardless of the date.
Storage habits that make the difference
Keep raw meat in the coldest part of the fridge, ideally on a tray to catch drips, and use within a few days of purchase. Freeze anything you will not use in time, wrapped tightly to prevent freezer burn. Thaw in the fridge, not on the counter, and never refreeze raw meat that has fully thawed.
How to store other meat: fresh
Source: USDA FSIS FoodKeeper dataset (public domain). How we decode the data.