Freezer Burn

[cheshirebite]

I currently have my soon-to-be 7yr old cat in raw & canned diet (50/50...hopefully 100% raw soon). I'm feeding him radcat as my local store has it and I've heard wonderful reviews about it. My problem is that the containers doesn't seem to be tight enough to prevent freezer burns. In fact they don't seem to be that durable because I've seen some cracked ones in the store. And my cat seems to turn it's nose up on the parts that have been burnt. So I'm wondering what type of tupperware do you guys use to prevent that / how do you guys deal with it?

 

[lalagimp]

It might depend on how long it's been frozen and the humidity in the environment.
I don't seal my raw in the freezer. I put fresh batch into ice cube trays all stacked up into 3 rows in a big cardboard box without a lid in my freezer and pull out a tray every day or two. Move the cubes into a Containers Medium Square | Ziploc® brand to thaw in the fridge, and when they thaw there is still a bloody fluid in the bottom of the container so the nuggets were still moist in a frozen state. Frozen stock gets used within 6 weeks. We've been doing this since New Years Eve.
I've actually heard from someone who knew someone that they were soliciting freezer burned meats from their neighbors to feed their dogs raw.

 

[orange&white]

I have a freezer in the garage and a freezer on the patio. I was rotating recently and found some really old meat in the garage freezer. The cats won't touch freezer burned meat. The dog loves it. So...get a dog?

My cat mix goes into 24 oz food storage containers (one container holds about 20 ounces by weight), 2 days of food for 2 cats. I like the rectangular tubs because I can fit more into the freezer than round ones.

Identical to these, only I buy a local store brand:

Also, the types of freezers that are not frost-free and freeze to zero degrees take forever to freezer burn, unlike the frost-free freezer in my refrigerator.

 

[sophie1]

Freezer burn is a perennial problem with all commercial frozen raw foods. The logistics of supplying them to pet stores is just too difficult. The way I deal with it is not to use them - sorry!

Feeding a combination of homemade raw, using Hare Today products, and freeze-dried raw has worked well for me. I freeze homemade in glass Mason can/freeze jars. Square tubs is a great idea! There are glass ones out there, too.

 

[LTS3]

Freezer burn is a perennial problem with all commercial frozen raw foods. The logistics of supplying them to pet stores is just too difficult.

What about frozen foods for supermarkets? Those can be freezer burned too and people still buy them

 

[sophie1]

What about frozen foods for supermarkets? Those can be freezer burned too and people still buy them

Personally, I don't. If I bought freezer burned meat I'd return it or throw it away - and then never shop there again, at least not for that item. And my cats won't eat it, either.

That has come up mainly for things that are rarely bought, e.g. supermarket gizzards. I once got a package of gizzards from Whole Foods that was not just freezer burned, it was rotting. I've quit trying to buy such things from supermarkets. It's even been a problem with the local poultry farm, which butchers its own pastured chickens. They save giblet packages from whole chickens when people decline to buy them, and throw them in the freezer to make into pet food. They get freezer burned in the process so my cats refuse to eat the pet food (darn!!!!). So I started asking for fresh packages. Lo and behold, my cats demolish them in seconds. They get "giblet" days up to once a week now: chicken necks, livers, hearts, and gizzards. I just dump them into the chilled bowl, and they never last long!

 

[orange&white]

My supermarket sells the hearts, gizzards, stripped chicken frames, chicken feet, wings, and liver at the end of the meat aisle, next to the "normal" poultry. It's the "pet food" aisle for alternative feeders! Always fresh, and often sold out of items.

I can see how there would be transit and storage issues with pre-made raw food for pets going to small pet stores versus large "people food" stores where there is higher turnover.

 

[missmimz]

Rad Cat says the ice crystals on the top of the food isn't freezer burn it's just from the water evaporating and then freezing. Their containers are flimsy though. I go through them so fast I don't usually portion them out, but sometimes I will portion into either 4oz or 8oz mason jars and re-freeze.

 

[cheshirebite]

It might depend on how long it's been frozen and the humidity in the environment.
I don't seal my raw in the freezer. I put fresh batch into ice cube trays all stacked up into 3 rows in a big cardboard box without a lid in my freezer and pull out a tray every day or two. Move the cubes into a Containers Medium Square | Ziploc® brand to thaw in the fridge, and when they thaw there is still a bloody fluid in the bottom of the container so the nuggets were still moist in a frozen state. Frozen stock gets used within 6 weeks. We've been doing this since New Years Eve.
I've actually heard from someone who knew someone that they were soliciting freezer burned meats from their neighbors to feed their dogs raw.

Thanks for the link. I'll probably end up buying that and a few mason jars to see which ones are better since I do warm the food up via a warm bath.

I have a freezer in the garage and a freezer on the patio. I was rotating recently and found some really old meat in the garage freezer. The cats won't touch freezer burned meat. The dog loves it. So...get a dog?

My cat mix goes into 24 oz food storage containers (one container holds about 20 ounces by weight), 2 days of food for 2 cats. I like the rectangular tubs because I can fit more into the freezer than round ones.

Also, the types of freezers that are not frost-free and freeze to zero degrees take forever to freezer burn, unlike the frost-free freezer in my refrigerator.

I do have a dog, but he's not on a raw diet. He prefers his meat cooked lol And thank you. The Glad & Ziploc ones are in my prize range so I'll probably do that. And yeah, I prefer rectangular ones over the circles.

Freezer burn is a perennial problem with all commercial frozen raw foods. The logistics of supplying them to pet stores is just too difficult. The way I deal with it is not to use them - sorry!

Feeding a combination of homemade raw, using Hare Today products, and freeze-dried raw has worked well for me. I freeze homemade in glass Mason can/freeze jars. Square tubs is a great idea! There are glass ones out there, too.

Any good mason can/freeze jars you know?

Personally, I don't. If I bought freezer burned meat I'd return it or throw it away - and then never shop there again, at least not for that item. And my cats won't eat it, either.

That has come up mainly for things that are rarely bought, e.g. supermarket gizzards. I once got a package of gizzards from Whole Foods that was not just freezer burned, it was rotting. I've quit trying to buy such things from supermarkets. It's even been a problem with the local poultry farm, which butchers its own pastured chickens. They save giblet packages from whole chickens when people decline to buy them, and throw them in the freezer to make into pet food. They get freezer burned in the process so my cats refuse to eat the pet food (darn!!!!). So I started asking for fresh packages. Lo and behold, my cats demolish them in seconds. They get "giblet" days up to once a week now: chicken necks, livers, hearts, and gizzards. I just dump them into the chilled bowl, and they never last long!

Oh wow. I still haven't fed my cat gizzards since I'm not too sure if he'll like it, and I can't use Hare-Today unless I buy it bulk lol

Rad Cat says the ice crystals on the top of the food isn't freezer burn it's just from the water evaporating and then freezing. Their containers are flimsy though. I go through them so fast I don't usually portion them out, but sometimes I will portion into either 4oz or 8oz mason jars and re-freeze.

Yeah their containers are super flimsy. And did they really? That's great... now I wonder why my cat won't eat it.

 

[missmimz]

From their FB -

"The ice build-up you see is present on many of the containers and is simply due to the way the containers that sit on the top of the case box are frozen. Containers that sit in the middle or bottom of the case boxes typically don't have that problem."

I buy a lot of RC and most of the containers have ice crystals on them. My cats never have an issue with it.