Do you refereeze stuff that was previously frozen?

I've done it before with no issues. I'm not sure how refreezing something to thaw it and eat later is anymore dangerous than thawing it, having it sit in your fridge for a few days and then eating it.

Folks generally think this rule is due to the refrozen food potentially being dangerous, but its mainly due to how ice crystals form in meat.

Ice crystals will form different each time and potentially make the meat mushy or tough. That’s the thought anyway. I’ve never noticed much difference.

The two factors you’re concerned about with refreezing is quality and safety. Let’s discuss.

Quality - when you freeze food, ice crystals form in the food and can affect the physical quality of the food. Refreezing simply makes that process happen again and increases risk of affecting quality. Not really a big deal in most cases, but can be for some foods.

Safety - There are two main issues. The first is how safe the food is before you freeze it. For example: how old is it, was the food stored at the right conditions before freezing, and what type of bacteria may have been introduced and grown on the food?

The second is your thawing process. How safe is your food when thawing? If the first issue is not good, the thawing can make it worse and increases your chances of bacterial growth. Again, it’s not really a big deal most of the time.

Also, you must know that freezing does not kill bacteria, it only inhibits the growth.

In summary: Is it safe to refreeze food? Most of the time yes, but it does increase your chances of being unsafe. It just depends on how you handle it and what food you have. Refreezing simply increases your chances of unsafe food and lower quality food, but it doesn’t mean it’s bad.

So much meat comes frozen and gets put out fresh. Leg quarters were mentioned, but anything cheap, lots of pork, wings, etc. Even lots of "fresh" fish and shrimp is frozen then thawed to put on display.