A woman whose father-in-law brought round boxes of frozen meat was left horrified when she discovered the beef had first been frozen in 2014.
In a Reddit post, the original poster (OP) described how her father-in-law arrived with enough meat to fill two household freezers, claiming he didn’t want it to go to waste.
But when she examined one package of T-bone steaks, the label confirmed it had been frozen for more than a decade.
While frozen meat technically doesn’t expire, the quality of food stored for that long can degrade severely.
According to the USDA, “frozen foods remain safe indefinitely” if kept at 0°F. Yet taste and texture don’t survive the same way.
The USDA’s freezer storage chart advises that uncooked steaks and roasts should ideally be used within four to 12 months for best quality.
A commenter from the Reddit thread who identified themselves as a food engineer explained why.
“Even at frozen temperatures, chemical and physical degradation reactions continue to occur, albeit very slowly,” they wrote. “Lipid oxidation leads to rancid flavors, proteins gradually denature, and ice crystal formation damages muscle structure.”
They added, “After something like 10 to 12 years, it would almost certainly have severe quality loss… it would most likely taste like cardboard.”
Other users shared similar stories, including one who recalled, “My gramps once served my parents steaks that my dad later discovered had been in the freezer for 10 years. Dad said it was like eating literal shoe leather.”
‘Dry and leathery’
According to Coleman Natural Foods, “freezer burn doesn’t make frozen meat unsafe; it will make the texture dry and leathery.”
The site echoes USDA guidance that raw beef steaks can be frozen for up to 12 months before taste begins to deteriorate.
Despite being told the meat was safe to eat, the OP said neither she nor her partner had any intention of cooking any of it: The label check was enough.
Reddit Reacts
Reactions in the thread ranged from disbelief to amusement to disgust, with some suggesting the father-in-law likely viewed the gesture as practical rather than offensive, possibly influenced by Depression-era values where waste was unthinkable.
Others questioned why the meat hadn’t been offered first or disposed of properly, and a few joked about the idea of hosting a vintage meat tasting event.
One commenter quipped, “Imagine the chew time on a 2012 ribeye.”
The USDA and Coleman both emphasize the importance of labeling and dating frozen foods to avoid scenarios like this. As Coleman put it, “Always label and date your frozen foods!”
Newsweek has reached out to Ok_Pension_1451 for comment via Reddit. We could not verify the details of the case.
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